There is a lot of mixed views out about the performance of the mercedes. The british media view is that Mercedes have the quickest car. And looking at the testing with a face value point of view they do. But are they? Please tell me your views.
Hmmmm I reckon the car isn't fast enough to match the top 4, but I reckon the struggling with the tyres with everybody might help catch them napping and (maybe) steal a win very early on in Australia and Malaysia only.
I still think Red Bull are hiding a lot of performance. I think they'll be a cut above Lotus and Ferrari, with Mercedes and Mclaren close enough that we can have some good fights between them.
Well we have to remember the weather wasn't that hot this test, could be 27-32c at Melbourne and you can wave goodbye to Mercedes because you can see which teams are fast at this temperature and others which look more designed for hotter climates.
Questions still over their overall down force levels and tyre management, until they are resolved I don't see them winning in a straight dry weather race in normal conditions.
Hamilton overtakes Vettel around the outside of Clark Chicane, vettel parks up and goes to pub........then offers to be Hamilton's tea bi*ch! haha
I dont think they are fast enough yet, I am unsure whether the tyre managemnet will affect them and I am still dubious that Nico wont step up.
I'd love to be wrong but I doubt it too for the simple reason that Merc seem to have shown their hand already whereas the other top teams, RBR in particular, appear to have held back. Obviously though, I have know way of knowing if this is really true
Personally i think they could steal a win from somewhere (flyaway races) because these cheese tyres are acting like sluts so most teams will be trying to get the most out of them more than others (by accident) they may heat the sweet spot. For people saying there gonna eat there tyres for breakfast is a bit silly . Remember this is the first car to be designed by aldo costa they have been focusing on suspension geometry and the new exhaust layout is not over heating the tyres. mercedes have been also saying theres alot going under the skin so im cautiously optimistic. I think this has been there best starting platform for there car in years , however they are lacking downforce more than the other teams but if they could keep up in the development race that would be another encouraging sign. there are no excuses this time they are not dealing with DDD,EBD or DDRS.
The plain and simple fact is, Mercedes were fastest during testing with a given set of conditions, no other team came close, given the ego's of these F1 types they surely would have tried to take on Hamilton and Mercedes, it appears on the face of it that they failed. We don't have long to wait to find out the truth.
I don;t think they'll be there to take a win on merit, but should be there or there abouts to capitalise on someone else's bad luck
I'm saying no. If Sauber or Williams had posted the time Mercedes did, nobody would bat an eye-lid. It's testing, and glory runs by mid-field teams to appease/attract sponsors is part of the game. I support Hamilton, but the car is not going to win anything unless he can rag it around Monaco or their's some kind of Spa-esque pile-up. Mercedes might be more competitive than last year, but they will most likely struggle to get into Q3 in the first few races as I see it.
I think they are going to be front runners for the first quarter of the year and then back off to about 5th in the WCC after that
I voted no because i still reckon they'll be the fifth best team, if not immediately then eventually sliding back to that position. I do reckon Lewis will win a race though, during a China style sweet-spot so it'll be a "winner" in that sense.
