Mercedes GP MGP W01

[JohnsonsEvilTwin]

I want to see what setup Vettel has before saying anything on who is 1second quicker.
I feel it is closer than that, But Mercedes have gone for optimum race strategy and Red Bull(particularly Vettel) went for pole.
My feelings, but we shall see.

[marcush.]

I want to see what setup Vettel has before saying anything on who is 1second quicker.
I feel it is closer than that, But Mercedes have gone for optimum race strategy and Red Bull(particularly Vettel) went for pole.
My feelings, but we shall see.

rosberg stated in german TV that a simple slide with the softs was enough to ruin the entire lap as the tyres got so hot from that that ,it seemed to be impossible to get back to normal running temps so if you once had it overdone you kept sliding all the way to the end of the lap...I ´d say only Vettel ,Massa and Alonso did not have this problem?

[ringo]

wing flaps also seem to be cable operated, the motors may be mounted in the nose.



Or could it just be a linkage for support?

not its the front adjuster. The stepper motor is mounted in the main wing element. They only use one and connect the wing elements with bell cranks and rods inside the wing.

some are dead sure the steppers are mounted in the wing end plates but that may be for very few of the cars.
Most are mounting the mechanism in the main wing.


Seems Michael is still not happy with his car. Too much understeer.Its wrecking his rhythm and timing.
Rosberg very happy with his car. Loves the understeer.

I think Michael is going to have a bit of a miserable weekend with the car. The team have still not fixed the understeer for this GP, hence the long face.

They have some new mechanical bits coming for Australia which should help Schumey get to grips (pardon the pun) with the Merc more.
Have not seen him this unhappy since 2005.

thanks for the info, Sector 2 could be where the understeer is hurting MS the most. i think Rosberg will continue this trend on the tighter tracks with a lot of fast direction changes. MS may do much better in australia., after he sharpens up his attack mode reflexes.

[JohnsonsEvilTwin]

Sector 2 is probably the longest sector in F1.
Nico Rosberg actually went quicker than Vettel in the first sector. ALL the time is being lost in sector 2 due to what we now know as Red Bulls superior downforce.

It cannot be anything else, the Mercedes engine is better than the Renault unit. The speed traps suggest everything is pretty much equal(Mclaren apart) and the Red Bull doesnt have any extramechanical grip from what I can tell. I could be wrong.

What it does do is change direction brilliantly, and appears to very stable through the medium and high speed corners.
Ferrari appear the same from onboard footage the only other team near the Bull.

If its easy on tyres then it could be a borefest. Im still hoping Nico can hold some honor and bag a podium for Mercedes

[nacho]

If you look at the speed traps, Mercedes is the slowest of Mercedes powered cars. W01 seems to have a lot more drag than FI and McLaren.

[zgred]

[segedunum]

If its easy on tyres then it could be a borefest. Im still hoping Nico can hold some honor and bag a podium for Mercedes

It could be, and I've not wanted to contemplate an anti-climax after the build-up we've been given. The Red Bull is very quick though, and they have been seriously sandbagging through testing. It is apparently a bit hard on its tyres though, but then everyone is having exactly the same problem at Bahrain - McLaren more than others. Red Bull also still have some reliability issues I don't believe can have gone away.

I still believe Mercedes are quicker than McLaren suprisingly, certainly on today's evidence, so I hope Nico can get amongst the the Ferraris and Red Bulls. He's done a good job of keeping his head down has Nico. It's a good start.

[Afterburner]

One thing mercedes can explore tomorrow is reliability, redbull has some similarity to 2005 fast and fragile Mclaren.

[ringo]

They are quicker in sector 2 by far. The car apparently has good down force. The wing angle change may have did the trick too. Anyhow they are not as weak as people think.

I wont say they are clearly quicker than Mclaren as yet, though they have a slight edge at the moment. Mclaren may be making mistakes setup wise, since it's very strong in the 2 shorter sectors, but nothing special in the part they are known to be good at.

It's funny how the W01 has balance issues and does so well in the twisty parts. Maybe it's balance and dynamics are good at low fuel.

[JohnsonsEvilTwin]

Ringo

The RedBull was quickest in sector 2 by a country mile.
It has the downforce. Not Mercedes

1 of 2 teams will win this years. Red Bull or Ferrari, take your pick.
Personally I agree with segedunum, Red Bull have 2 problems to overcome.
1 tyre degredation
2 reliability

Ferrari can sit tight and watch as the tyre performance drops off on the Red Bull and then they can make their move. Or they can Just wait until the thing pops a driveshaft.......
Nico in race trim will give Ferrari somthing to think about. Hamiltons tyres will be shot by lap 5 mark my words.

Also very interesting to see Mclaren and Renault diffusers have been ruled illegal for "the rest of the season". Apparently several other teams are also due to be told this. Who is it? Someone pleasze say Red Bull AND Ferrari!

[BreezyRacer]

Ringo

The RedBull was quickest in sector 2 by a country mile.
It has the downforce. Not Mercedes

1 of 2 teams will win this years. Red Bull or Ferrari, take your pick.
Personally I agree with segedunum, Red Bull have 2 problems to overcome.
1 tyre degredation
2 reliability

Ferrari can sit tight and watch as the tyre performance drops off on the Red Bull and then they can make their move. Or they can Just wait until the thing pops a driveshaft.......
Nico in race trim will give Ferrari somthing to think about. Hamiltons tyres will be shot by lap 5 mark my words.

Also very interesting to see Mclaren and Renault diffusers have been ruled illegal for "the rest of the season". Apparently several other teams are also due to be told this. Who is it? Someone pleasze say Red Bull AND Ferrari!

Where did you hear about this diffuser thing? And BTW, I think it's a bit too early to predetermine the whole season, or for that matter, even tomorrow's race outcome. I will be interested to see how Sutil fares with starting on hard tires. That Force India chassis has some pretty good speed to it and with a counter strategy he could move up, maybe to a podium finish.

I imagine most teams will opt for 3 stops since most are starting out on softs. Sutil can probably do two stops.

[ringo]

Ringo

The RedBull was quickest in sector 2 by a country mile.
It has the downforce. Not Mercedes

Yeah i was just comparing the Merc and Mac. RBR is in a different class now.

[djones]

Well it seemed about 1 second per lap off the pace.

Pretty much a joke really. Maybe they should give up and start working on the 2011 car as this is over for them already.

[ringo]

Funny how the quali pace looked equal to the Mclaren, so did the early part of the race.
The car is better than i expected at this stage in development. A rusty shumacher holding off Button and Rosberg holding off Lewis for a while says something about the car even though it's slightly slower.

[myurr]

Hamiltons tyres will be shot by lap 5 mark my words.

Okay, your words are marked. Care to revise them?