Car upgrades boost Mercedes hopes for Formula 1 season

vectra

Mercedes believe they have closed the gap to Formula 1's pace-setters Red Bull and Ferrari after fitting their final pre-season upgrade in testing.
Michael Schumacher set the fastest time of the winter at Barcelona's Circuit de Catalunya on Friday and team boss Ross Brawn said it was "quite encouraging".

Full story here

frostie500

vectra wrote: »

Mercedes believe they have closed the gap to Formula 1's pace-setters Red Bull and Ferrari after fitting their final pre-season upgrade in testing.
Michael Schumacher set the fastest time of the winter at Barcelona's Circuit de Catalunya on Friday and team boss Ross Brawn said it was "quite encouraging".

Great stuff from Schumi, he set the time on a one lap qualifying simulation so its encouraging that their ultimate speed has improved so much with the upgrades. I was following the action earlier on today and on some of his longer stints I was impressed that he had a lot less tyre drop off than most other runners. If the upgrades can keep the tyre performance relatively consistent Merc could be well placed. Each test has shown us that there is a huge drop off in performance throughout longer stints so if a car can keep the life in its tyres it will be very competitive in races

frostie500

Rosberg is looking handy as well!

Grim.

c'mon schumi! cant wait now getting my sky hd box next week aswell

vectra

Gonna have my Humax HD receiver repaired on time for this..
When Kimi walked away I had to find someone else to support.
I decided "Why not Schumi"
Stuck with him last season as I will this season.. Looks like it could be entertaining :cool:

vectra

Too early to assume that Merc's upgrades are working really well??

Nico Rosberg put his Mercedes at the top of the timesheets as pre-season running for the 2011 season came to an end at the Ciruit de Catalunya on Saturday. The German driver put in a late effort to narrowly beat the FW33 of Pastor Maldonado, who had been the pace-setter for much of the afternoon session in Barcelona.

Full story here

dinjo

LIGHTNING wrote: »

Testing times rarely mean anything in all fairness. Unless you have some insider information its all a guessing game!

i agree that winter test results can be very hard to judge but the fact that he has set the best winter test session in barcelona is a real sign of pace in the car. This time last year Sebastian Vettel had the honour of the quickest car from winter testing. im NOT saying this means schumi is destined for the title this year but its a great sign that we might actually get to see schumi on the podium this year....

id pay anything to see him do his victory leap !!

frostie500

Well I definitely wouldn't read anything into today's test it was absolutely soaking in Barcelona today. I was talking to a mate of mine that was at the test and he said that there was minimal running right until the end of the day.

vectra

LIGHTNING wrote: »

Testing times rarely mean anything in all fairness. Unless you have some insider information its all a guessing game!

No inside info
BUT
It is only a few days ago Ross and Co. did say they needed to fins one full second.
It does appear with the upgrades this may have been found. ?

frostie500 wrote: »

Well I definitely wouldn't read anything into today's test it was absolutely soaking in Barcelona today. I was talking to a mate of mine that was at the test and he said that there was minimal running right until the end of the day.

True.
But Nico sat in the car for an hour or so and almost Pipped Alonso's time.. Must be something there

EvilMonkey

Wasn't Sauber one of the fastest cars last year in pre season. Maybe Ross is trying to persuade merc to give him some more €€€ to get the extra second. We wont know until Australia qualifying.

frostie500

vectra wrote: »

But Nico sat in the car for an hour or so and almost Pipped Alonso's time.. Must be something there

But who knows how much fuel either driver had in their car? Alonso set his time just before lunch while Rosberg set his at the very end of the session. Track conditions were different etc. It will only be when we get to the opening round that we see how all the cars are actually performing. I think that the upgrades were very positive for mercedes, especially from a tyre wear perspective, but its still early doors for their chances of winning races/titles.

AugustusMinimus

Considering Merc pace now and also considering that Merc themselves said that the car which started testing didn't have any bells or whistles on it, then Autosports article on Merc being in big trouble is some of the worst, sensationalist garbage I've ever read.

Without even knowing Merc testing times, it still looked bad.

frostie500

AugustusMinimus wrote: »

Considering Merc pace now and also considering that Merc themselves said that the car which started testing didn't have any bells or whistles on it, then Autosports article on Merc being in big trouble is some of the worst, sensationalist garbage I've ever read.

Without even knowing Merc testing times, it still looked bad.

I think its a bit harsh to call it "ome of the worst, sensationalist garbage I've ever read." The Merc was woefully off the until Friday of this week and while it's fair to say that Merc have said that they had gone into testing with a car that was no their definitive 2011 package all that you can do from testing is analyse the data that you have and at the time of writing. At that time Merc had shown nothing to give any encouragement in relation to their performance potential this year.

In addition to this in the past the team has struggled to develop their car well throughout the year. They have started the season at a disadvantage, since 1999 they have been, on average, approximatively 1.5% off the pace and they have consistently not been able to close that gap to any great degree in the past.

The team has consistently failed to develop their cars well, even though they have had the advantage of mammoth budgets in their various guises; Even in 2009 the team lagged behind Red Bull in the development war. Their struggles in the past to develop their package gave Autosport, and many other magazines etc, little reason to trust that they could turn it around with this upgrade.

The one thing that we have to remember is that testing is one thing and racing quite another, until Mercedes can show pace like this during a race we shouldn't all be heading to the bookies to put money on them to win races or the title!

vectra

frostie500 wrote: »

The team has consistently failed to develop their cars well,

The only thing ( Hope ) I would have is that I was convinced that Schumacher was not there solely to race last season but to put his expertise into the development of this years car.
After all.. he was ( is ? ) the brilliant at developing cars.

frostie500

vectra wrote: »

The only thing ( Hope ) I would have is that I was convinced that Schumacher was not there solely to race last season but to put his expertise into the development of this years car.
After all.. he was ( is ? ) the brilliant at developing cars.

Combined with that you also have to believe that this year plays into Ross Brawn's strengths with so many unknowns about the tyres and how to approach races from a tactical standpoint.

mickdw

frostie500 wrote: »

Combined with that you also have to believe that this year plays into Ross Brawn's strengths with so many unknowns about the tyres and how to approach races from a tactical standpoint.

Absolutely. Brawns tactics can turn many a podium into a win.

lolie

Came across this video online of Rosberg training, interesting. As for what he's doing at 3mins 50?? Maybe he has another career lined up if Schuey shows him up this year;) http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=g-KYASQKdSU
Also BBC have their 2011 season preview videos up on their F1 hompage, they were made before the last Barcelona tests so doesnt take into account Merc's upgrades. http://news.bbc.co.uk/sport2/hi/motorsport/formula_one/default.stm