Mercedes AMG Petronas F1 Team 2014

[FoxHound]

Wanted to jump in here quickly as I wanted to put this down in writing before qualifying.

<snip>

Very well said. I just wish Brawn was here

Nod to our old veteran Norbert too. I feel he had to fall on his sword after the W03 debacle, while the W04 was a very good car.

To be pragmatic, we don't know what promises were made to the Daimler mothership, but I do feel the board were a bit too impatient. They literally needed to wait a few months for the W04 to arrive.

The but of many jokes on here those 2 guys, Norbert Haug and Ross Brawn. All of it rubbish.
Huge amount of kudos to Brawn for his hirings and firings that has transformed the team.
And to Haug, the man who brought Mercedes to the table.

Looking over at McLaren, they seem a fair bit off Mercedes and you have to say Haug got it spot on.
Some argued that Mercedes bureaucracy would stifle this team. I've seen none of that.
If anything, it appears these guys can just get on with things in autonomy from the mothership. Again looking over at McLaren, things are starting to get murky as to how this team works.
If the split has been good for McLaren....it has certainly been better for Mercedes now that the decisions of 4/5 years ago come to fruition.

Nothing in the bag for Merc AMG just yet, but a tantalising season awaits us silberpfeil-istas.
Enjoy it lads, we took some stick over the years!

[NewtonMeter]

The new nose again in that image?

By the way, Toto said on AMuS that:

"We have a few things we would like to bring in Bahrain. Whether we do it, is not entirely clear. "

That to me suggests they want to bring the new nose but it depends if it passes a crash test before?

I cant tell if its different.

The section of nose in front of the joints with the front wing is much longer in the current nose. Compare it to this (current - the overhang is much bigger):

[GrizzleBoy]

Its a render of the car guys, not a leaked image.

I'm sure if we went into it enough we could find more stuff that is not geometrically similar to the cars they've been racing, but that's because its an artists depiction, not a photograph.

[Cocles]

Anyone know who that was who accepted the constructor's trophy at Malaysia?

[pmneo]

They've use this rendered model also after Melbourne:

[Anon123]

Its a render of the car guys, not a leaked image.

I'm sure if we went into it enough we could find more stuff that is not geometrically similar to the cars they've been racing, but that's because its an artists depiction, not a photograph.

I doubt they would've missed it, I do a bit of 3d modeling and I would never have missed that, it's quite a significant part of the car's look and they've done a great job on some of the real minor details. I imagine they made these renders before the season started and they expected the nose to be approved before Melbourne.

[Emerson.F]

Anyone know who that was who accepted the constructor's trophy at Malaysia?

He is Chief Race Engineer Andrew Shovlin.

[rowano]

With Lewis being faster than nico and also nico using more fuel (from the new fuel graphic on the tv coverage) I wondered in maybe nico had issues with energy recovery not working as efficiently as Lewis?

[turbof1]

I doubt they would've missed it, I do a bit of 3d modeling and I would never have missed that, it's quite a significant part of the car's look and they've done a great job on some of the real minor details. I imagine they made these renders before the season started and they expected the nose to be approved before Melbourne.

It's likely they convert their CAD models to other departments of the team; we've seen the same nose in the simulator too.

I see this as a sign of a very high synergy inside the team: seamless transaction of data between all parts of the company, because chances are high that every aspect of runnning a team is handled this way. Very efficient.

With Lewis being faster than nico and also nico using more fuel (from the new fuel graphic on the tv coverage) I wondered in maybe nico had issues with energy recovery not working as efficiently as Lewis?

Perhaps Hamilton was able to drive in a much more efficient manner then Nico due the latter being pushed by Seb? It also isn't necessary a disadvantage: hamilton burned off too little fuel. That results in extra weight carried along. Nico divided his fuel better through the race.

I have to say though Nico was abnormaly slower then Lewis. So perhaps did have issues.

[NewtonMeter]

With Lewis being faster than nico and also nico using more fuel (from the new fuel graphic on the tv coverage) I wondered in maybe nico had issues with energy recovery not working as efficiently as Lewis?

From what I gather, Nico just struggled a bit more with the tyres than Lewis. Presumably this is setup related. I guess the extra fuel flow is due to consequently trying extra hard to get a way from Vettel.

So in effect, he tried to make up for lack of tyres with more power. But it's my theory based on gut feel.

[diego.liv]

With Lewis being faster than nico and also nico using more fuel (from the new fuel graphic on the tv coverage) I wondered in maybe nico had issues with energy recovery not working as efficiently as Lewis?

Can we read into that that HAM's engine hasn't done much racing in Melbourne? It seems odd, from this consideration we could expect ROS 1 win 4 2nd being lower in the table than HAM 1DNF 4 wins, if it's all about engine residual life

[turbof1]

The engine used in malaysia was brand new. Though a 3.5-4% with one race weekend is too much. The engine has to do 5 races.

[astracrazy]

I don't remember seeing Lewis so happy and buzzing

Getting this win (along with everything else he got this weekend. pole, fastest lap, being told he broke this record and that) i'm kinda expecting him to take off now. Step into that next gear which i don't think Rosberg can match. He looks like his confidence is sky high, 2008 level. And the sort of driver he is he needs that and with the strong belief he can win this wdc I don't expect this will be the last race we see Hamilton so dominant

[xpensive]

The engine used in malaysia was brand new. Though a 3.5-4% with one race weekend is too much. The engine has to do 5 races.

If the 1.11 kWh battery only loses 4% capacity from 200 charges/discharges with 160 kW, I would be mighty impressed.

[Helios]

@ astracrazy

Let's hope Nicole won't ruin his form and focus. Hate that chick.