Silver I swear on my father's grave...thats not me...the person seems to be asking the same question though...maybe it's Miggins dont you think? Miggs agreeing with me?....lol
sorry i wasnt on earlier..we had some very nasty weather...also a little scare with an earthquake that shut down my computer friday night too...but everything is ok.
Mercedes aims to uncover and match Renault engine mapping trickery 14 October, 2013 Renault Sport, Viry Chatillon, France 2012 Mercedes has vowed to catch Formula 1′s runaway Renault-powered teams, as it risks losing millions in Concorde Agreement bonus money. Formerly looking set to finish second behind Red Bull in the lucrative Constructors’ Championship, Mercedes had a bad weekend in Japan and is now ten points behind Ferrari. Not only that, Lotus – whose Romain Grosjean was challenging for victory at Suzuka – is no longer far behind in the teams’ title chase. Mercedes, on the other hand, has lost ground. “Red Bull has taken a big step forward since Singapore,” Toto Wolff told Auto Motor und Sport, adding that the similarly Renault-powered Lotus is now a few tenths ahead. “We need to analyse what they have done,” said Mercedes’ motor sport chief. The German report said that Wolff suspects that the top two Renault-powered teams are now streaking away with a clever engine mapping and exhaust-blowing solution. “If that’s the case,” Wolff said, “we need to find out why we have missed something. “We think we [now] know what they’re doing. The only question is whether we have the resources to implement something in the last four races. Perhaps we will need to reallocate some resources,” he added. The problem is that, at Mercedes’ Brixforth engine facility, all the test benches are reportedly being used for next year’s turbo V6 development. (GMM)
Mercedes: Renault behind Red Bull/Lotus surge Monday 14th October 2013, 12:45 by TF1T Staff An all-Renault powered podium (© Getty Images) Mercedes motorsport boss Toto Wolff believes Renault could be behind Red Bull and Lotus's recent surge in performance. The Austrian suspects that clever engine mapping, throttle control and exhaust flow could be the reason why the two outfits have made significant steps forward at such a late stage in the season. Renault is engine supplier to both teams and could have found a clever engine map to give its customers an advantage, or so Wolff thinks. "I think what you can see is that Red Bull from Singapore onwards looked like having made a big step forward, and then in Korea the Lotus made a big step forward of 0.2-0.4 seconds," he said. "The question we need to look at is what they do in terms of engine mapping maybe. "Is there something there? The blowing strategy maybe? "In terms of development over the last races, we seem to be behind. Is it because there is something we don't understand in terms of mechanical set up? "Or did first Red Bull and then Lotus do something which is related to engine strategy?" Mercedes are pushing to finish second in the constructors' but lost ground to Ferrari after only Nico Rosberg scored in Japan and Lotus are beginning to catch up. Wolff is hopeful they can recoup some lost ground, but doesn't want to compromise 2014 to do so. "We need to balance the resources right in terms of 2014 versus 2013," he said. "Then we have to be looking at finishing second in the championship. "That is our target and we can't let that go." Renault has been at the forefront of sophisticated engine mapping over recent years to improve driveability. The legal use of engine cylinder cutting and exhaust blowing to the floor area to help in its quest has often wrongly been interpreted as evidence of traction control. It's Red Bull so it's Legal!
This is really funny Q: Mark, I guess you were hoping you were going to be able to challenge Sebastian during the closing stages. That's what the engineers suggested to both of you in fact - but you just couldn't get past Romain. MW: Ah, no. I don't think the battle was going to be with Sebastian at the end to be honest. I think that it was pretty much done when we didn't do enough damage on the three-stop against Seb's pace on the two. I think we tried to race Romain at the start and then in the end we switched to the three. So I was the meat in the sandwich, trying to beat Romain on a two and then all of a sudden we decided to do a three. I was a little bit surprised. I asked was it the right thing to do because I felt we could get to the lap we were looking to get to. Of course Seb was two or three laps longer, four laps maybe but in terms of the target lap that we looked to get for the two-stop I thought was achievable but in the end Seb did a good race, the strategy worked out perfect and yeah, the three was... not absolutely ridiculous but it's a bit more high risk we know, and you have to clear people obviously, so yeah, piggy in the middle, trying to do both. In the end, we got back to where we were in terms of position but Seb jumped both of us. But a great result for the team, a sensational result for me in my last time here in Japan in Formula One. The fans are incredible. I enjoyed the grand prix today, it was nice to have fresh tyres a bit more, which is always enjoyable around Suzuka. So that was today's race.
So Red Bull is afraid to release Peter Prodromou. Maybe they think that he will give Mclaren the secrets of their traction control system? I am willing to bet mercedes, Mclaren, Ferrari will run their versions of that next year. I believe Grosjean was running something extra too. I am sure lotus will have the same system too. Red Bull says ‘not so fast Peter’ While McLaren are making the right moves to bolster their technical department, getting those moves executed may take some time. The recent announcement regarding the signing of Red Bull aero chief, Peter Prodromou, may be great news for McLaren but they also may be waiting a while before the change can actually take place. According to Red Bull’s Christian Horner, there is time left on Prodromou’s contract and they expect him to see that to the end as AUTOSPORT points out: “The content of any contract obviously is confidential, but the duration of his contract runs for quite a while yet. “We are certainly in no rush to release him early and he will be with the team until the end of his existing agreement.” McLaren boss Martin Whitmarsh knows this and said: “Currently he is employed by Red Bull and we have to respect that. “So that is why we are not talking about time frames or anything. “It is for Red Bull to discuss. It is not in my power.”
Well tbh why should Red Bull give away an important member of staff away to a rival early?.... Oh wait this makes Mclarens early release of Paddy lowe to mercedes look pretty dumb...
The spending war will continue as all teams try to replicate the Red Bull traction control smart system.
Sounds like the same snitching Horner who was sat in the corner of the FIA 'tyregate' tribunal, trying to shaft Mercedes any which way. As for the elusive traction control, would such a device be within the remit of an aerodynamicist like Prodromou?
Don't worry...other teams have some time to figure out the smart traction control..lol Any bet when other teams figure it out Horner will go crying to the FIA.... Remember he is the I am going to tell mama type.
You should watch Andersons take on why they are so fast, then you can switch your allegations to some sort of illegal ride height control to add some freshness to your complaints of shenannigans
"The result? It did not move," said Auto Motor und Sport correspondent Michael Schmidt. "Consequently, the Red Bull RB9 is legal, at least in this area." (GMM) And now we see if the rest can pass the same test *cough* Ferrari *cough* flexi floor since Bahrain *cough*
