Mercedes AMG Petronas F1 Team 2014

[WaikeCU]

Or is it a long term vision of Mercedes F1, to make it an all German team? It could...

[prince]

The antics of creating fear have never served any purpose in any form of work, if anything, they only create more trouble. When there is respect for the decision makers, the decisions get generally accepted with good intent. Ross was a good example of this where he used to make decisions and people accepted it, because of his credibility and respect that he had and not because he was some kind of fearsome personality. Whatever happened of late, Merc management and the whole team has to move on and should set clear and acceptable goals for the drivers and the also get the buy in, without that, no amount of punishment would get them understand what is in the best interest of the team.

Panicking would be the last thing Merc want in these situations. This is also an opportunity for people like Wolff and Lowe to demonstrate their abilities and to earn respect. Fans are always emotional and as the people responsible for carrying on the teams, these guys cannot simply get carried away and try to satisfy the fans, especially with their decision making.

[basti313]

Or is it a long term vision of Mercedes F1, to make it an all German team? It could...

No. Schumacher/Rosberg did not sell at all, although Schumacher has fans worldwide. Zetsche, the guy who has the last word, supports Ham for example just because the marketing value is higher. Merc will not sell a single car more if Ros wins the title instead of Ham.

With Wehrlein it is a different situation than really setting him up as a driver for the next season. He has the full backing at the moment. He is one of the youngest and best drivers in DTM and the simulator driver for the F1 team. Promoting him to a "reserve driver" is just another piece of backing they give him after his crash in Italy to keep him. And to keep him strong as he just one his first race in DTM.
So if Ham or Ros leaves the team, we may see Wehrlein in the F1 car. But I strongly doubt that a team Ros/Weh will last. If Rosberg leaves a long term team Ham/Weh is possible.

[mrluke]

Or is it a long term vision of Mercedes F1, to make it an all German team? It could...

No. Schumacher/Rosberg did not sell at all, although Schumacher has fans worldwide. Zetsche, the guy who has the last word, supports Ham for example just because the marketing value is higher. Merc will not sell a single car more if Ros wins the title instead of Ham.

Peter Windsor was suggesting the opposite in his round up post Spa.

[SectorOne]

10:1 or whatever he said.

[dans79]

some of the quotes from Toto in this article are amazing, it makes you wonder what the internal dynamic of the team really is.

http://www.bbc.com/sport/0/formula1/29173761

I say to Wolff that Rosberg effectively caused a collision, and he says: "Absolutely," adding: "In Spa, he wanted to make a point. And that was an error of judgement. He shouldn't have done it. Not there. Not on lap two. Not with the effort that went into that weekend.

[SectorOne]

Had no idea they had it on the pitboard. Not to different from Lorenzo´s hammer in MotoGP.

[MrBigglesworth]

... If Hamilton does not suffer any more mechanicals, my money is on him.

That's a big if based on the season so far. Anyone know what the statistic is on engines used by Ros and Ham - could be a deciding factor near the end of the season.

[MrBigglesworth]

Bahrain where he was faster in qualifying and the race, or in Barcelona where he was faster in the race and strategy separated them and Hamilton used engine boost. Why should he be ashamed of second place in China where his telemetry didn't work and his race ended before the start?

Making the picture more broader, Lewis had a good cushion of 10 seconds after the last stop. He was on medium and Nico was on faster Soft rubber. Safety car got deployed and an easy looking strategy for Lewis, ended up in eroding his lead making them fight. Nico was faster only because of different compounds. Had there been no Safety Car, there would not have been any fight at all.

Nico was easily as fast as Lewis in Bahrain, probably a few tenths faster overall.

Let's look at the facts;

1. Rosberg out-qualified Hamilton by 0.279 seconds on Saturday. Hamilton got the better start and leapfrogged Rosberg.
2. Rosberg consistently stuck within 1.5 seconds of Hamilton for the first 15 laps or so.
3. Hamilton's tyres went off before Rosberg's, and they had a great tussle for the lead which Lewis won.
4. Lewis had to push his tyres harder to maintain the same pace as Nico. This would imply that Lewis had less pace overall.
5. Hamilton was given a 6.0 second undercut by pitting several laps before Rosberg. Lewis went on the option tyres, Nico on the primes.
6. The gap increased from 6.0 to 10.0 seconds in the next 20 laps (from lap 21 to lap 40).
7. This means that Rosberg was only losing an average of 0.20 seconds/lap on the prime tyres, which are typically significantly slower.
8. When the safety car came out, Rosberg was right on Hamilton's gearbox with the better tyre, and Lewis well well to defend the win.
9. It was a better start and better race-craft, not raw pace, which won Hamilton the race in Bahrain.

Look at this stint comparison between Nico and Lewis:
http://i.imgur.com/P3Y5hOC.png
Nico maintains the gap at 1.5 seconds while taking care of his tyres better (which suggests better pace), then attacks from lap 14 onward and catches up to Lewis quite rapidly.

Look at the lap chart and tell us, how Nico was faster.

They were on different tyres.

The first stint was the only comparable stint, as they were both on the same tyres. Nico was faster in that stint.

And didn't Rosberg use a higher engine mode than Ham near the end of the race?

[Edax]

some of the quotes from Toto in this article are amazing, it makes you wonder what the internal dynamic of the team really is.

http://www.bbc.com/sport/0/formula1/29173761

I say to Wolff that Rosberg effectively caused a collision, and he says: "Absolutely," adding: "In Spa, he wanted to make a point. And that was an error of judgement. He shouldn't have done it. Not there. Not on lap two. Not with the effort that went into that weekend.

For me this quote stood out.

Many in F1 - including most drivers privately - believe Rosberg's actions in Monaco were deliberate.
Wolff does not want to go back over that day, but does say this: "There are 22 guys out there and all of them are ruthless. They know what they want and they will try to take it.
"Nico has always been like this. I don't know why anyone had the perception of him being Mr Nice Guy."

I don't know in how far this is suggestive journalism, linking a quote out of context to a question, or Toto basically suggesting that the incident in Monaco was no incident. Toto might be outspoken but he is also pretty carefull with words, so if he says something like this it has a meaning and a goal.

Do I read too much in to it or do you also get the feeling that Mercedes is more and more positioning Nico as "the Villain" in this drama?

[SiLo]

Could be true, obviously Rosberg probably wouldn't have admitted that Monaco was on purpose, but I guess if Toto looked at the telemetry he could have decided for himself.

Rosberg may well have been doing this sort of thing for years, but only now is it being questioned because he is gunning for the championship.

[dans79]

I'm sure some of its quotes being taken out of context,some of it's the reporter guiding toto.

some of the quotes themselves are fairly long and hard to take out of context, for example.

Having our guys going the extra mile, working 24/7, spending weekends in the office, is only possible because they are emotionally engaged in the company. To get that motivation out of our great people, you need emotion. We spend a lot of time on that topic.

And sometimes, when you have a difficult day, like that was, when within a fraction of a second, all the effort of all those people is thrown away on lap two, all the frustration bursts out.

This quote alone suggests to me, that everything isn't ok between Nico and the team. Since his reprimand (whatever it was), he seems less smug, and less entitled. like in this video for example. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=l5mdNJNLZy0

[SiLo]

Still really want to know what that punishment was.

[ScottB]

some of the quotes from Toto in this article are amazing, it makes you wonder what the internal dynamic of the team really is.

http://www.bbc.com/sport/0/formula1/29173761

I say to Wolff that Rosberg effectively caused a collision, and he says: "Absolutely," adding: "In Spa, he wanted to make a point. And that was an error of judgement. He shouldn't have done it. Not there. Not on lap two. Not with the effort that went into that weekend.

For me this quote stood out.

Many in F1 - including most drivers privately - believe Rosberg's actions in Monaco were deliberate.
Wolff does not want to go back over that day, but does say this: "There are 22 guys out there and all of them are ruthless. They know what they want and they will try to take it.
"Nico has always been like this. I don't know why anyone had the perception of him being Mr Nice Guy."

I don't know in how far this is suggestive journalism, linking a quote out of context to a question, or Toto basically suggesting that the incident in Monaco was no incident. Toto might be outspoken but he is also pretty carefull with words, so if he says something like this it has a meaning and a goal.

Do I read too much in to it or do you also get the feeling that Mercedes is more and more positioning Nico as "the Villain" in this drama?

Nico has effectively positioned himself as the villain, as the booing seems to suggest.

They may as well run with that, that have him try to look contrite and sorry. Of course, being the villain isn't a big problem, it certainly wasn't for Schumi back in the day, what is a problem is that Schumi has a huge fanbase, and Nico certainly appears not to, certainly if the turnout in Germany is any indication.

Which is the key factor when thinking whether Merc would want an all German super team; they'll want whoever gets the most exposure, the most interest and therefore the largest boost to car sales. I suspect that's not Nico, and if there is a desire to have a German presence in the team, them grooming their own youngster is probably more a threat to Rosberg's position than it is Hamilton's.

[Pierce89]

I'm sure some of its quotes being taken out of context,some of it's the reporter guiding toto.

some of the quotes themselves are fairly long and hard to take out of context, for example.

Having our guys going the extra mile, working 24/7, spending weekends in the office, is only possible because they are emotionally engaged in the company. To get that motivation out of our great people, you need emotion. We spend a lot of time on that topic.

And sometimes, when you have a difficult day, like that was, when within a fraction of a second, all the effort of all those people is thrown away on lap two, all the frustration bursts out.

This quote alone suggests to me, that everything isn't ok between Nico and the team. Since his reprimand (whatever it was), he seems less smug, and less entitled. like in this video for example. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=l5mdNJNLZy0

It suggests to me that he's trying valiantly(but failing) to fight the notion that the German team favors the German driver. Just because the members of F1T know that the idea of a German or British or italian team is a fallacy, I doubt the wider f1 fanbase really understand that.