Mercedes AMG F1 Team 2012

[wunderkind]

The only things Schumacher will experience the rest of 2012 is more technical failures as he has expereicned the lion share of since his comeback. Ross didn;'t bring him back to win for Mercedes, but rather to be the genuinea pig driver that they can try differe things with the get esxperienced and well constructed technical feedback.
When Merc is done with him they will dump him like a used rag. There will be no thank you here's a race winning car. The second they have a car that can challenge they will put a younger driver in.
Much is made of Ross friendship with Schumacher. There is in fact no friendship. Schumacher and Todt were good friends. Schumacher and Byrne have a great friendship. Brawn is just the guy who knows who the best people are for a specific job and when he's done with them they are thrown away. He won;t bat an eyelid when it comes time to throw Schumacher away...

Bad luck? I don't believe in bad luck. GAry Player was once asked why he was blessed with such good luck and he responded by saying that he did'nt believe in luck but he did find that the more he practised the luckier he got..."
For the amount of work Schumacher puts in you would expect better luck. Instead he gets the reverse and that can only be because his bad luck is engineered.

This was race 4. His gearbox was only on race 3 and it didn't go very far in China did it...

Its at least a race and a half newer than the units in rival cars. So why change it here?
With only 1 DRs zone overtaking was always going to be tougher than the last Bahrain GP.

The problems Schumacher experiences with his car are problems that could have been identified at the factory. Defective gearbox parts coming off a CNC machine, through QC half way around the world are only discover to be defective on lap 11 in Australia????
Please.
The fact that he looks unhappy, the fact that every thing that can go wrong is going wrong with his car tells me he knows he's being shafted (excuse the pun) but his loyalty is getting in the way of making a good decision. Quit Mercedes, find a better team or retire for good. Mercedes Are absolutely crap. One lucky win?

Fire Brawn and get a proper manager in there, or quit F1

Maybe McLaren should fire the guy that built hamilton's gearbox in China...............shxt happens. It happens to the best teams and Mercedes is no different.

As for Schumacher's DRS, I have a possible explanation. Schumacher has had trouble getting the best out of the DRS and he and his engineers have been tinkering with the system a lot over the free practice sessions. They might have compromised the system or damaged the system unwittingly in the process.

Ross Brawn has a good friendship and an excellent working relationship with Schumacher. I just can't see Brawn favoring Rosberg over Schumacher. Like David Coulthard once said, the new generation of drivers are just better.

[Maelstrom]

Since everybody is posting conspiracy theories let me present mine.

Beginning of the season Bernie calls a meeting.

Bernie: Last year was boring. Vettel winning all races and geting all poles and showing those ridiculous fingers. One more year like that and F1 will lose all viewership. So here's what I propose...

Team Principal's all lean in as Bernie unveils master plan.

Bernie: So Ferrari is going to have a crap car this year to start out...

Stefano: Whaaat?

Bernie: Hush... It's all according to plan. The first race will be won by McLaren. Second by Ferrari.

Stefano: But you just said we're gonna have a crap car.

Bernie: Right.. we'll try the rain seeding technology and have a lottery result. We'll also have Ferrari be in the points all races so they don't fall too behind but it seems like they have no chance of victory. Have Alonso get the points and Massa to throw races. He's used to that. Third race will be Mercedes. By the way you guys come up with some tyre problems.. narrow window or something..

Brawn: We have had tyre issues for two years.. can't we get something new?

Bernie: No! Now for the fourth race Red Bull can win. This will leave the championship unpredictable and the bookies will be ready to shoot their grandmothers in frustration. After that we'll have winter testing and Ferrari can suddenly come up with a great car and start winning races...

Team Principals all roll their eyes.

Disclaimer: This was not meant seriously. It was just a parody. No F1 head honchos were harmed during this...only made fun of.

[Raptor22]

I doubt the younger generation is better. The cars are more technical and getting the best out of them requires the best engineers and mechanics and those clearly do not sit on Schumacher's side of the Mercedes garage.

Mercedes are attempting to humiliate Schumacher. His engineers call over the radio suggesting where he should be faster and Schumachers utter silence was a pretty clear message that Schumacher was not at all enchanted by the dialogue.

A Schumacher podium or victory is somehow a boosSchumacher reliving the glory days. Its plain to see that Mercedes are not interested in that. He has been used and is aboutto be discarded like the oily rag they use to clean up his gearbox.
They will make it look like it was his decision (just like Ferrari did). You see a 7 time world champion, 91 GP winner and the most pol sitter in the history of the sport needs to be fired in a way that makes it look like it was his idea

[Raptor22]

Since everybody is posting conspiracy theories let me present mine.

Beginning of the season Bernie calls a meeting.

Bernie: Last year was boring. Vettel winning all races and geting all poles and showing those ridiculous fingers. One more year like that and F1 will lose all viewership. So here's what I propose...

Team Principal's all lean in as Bernie unveils master plan.

Bernie: So Ferrari is going to have a crap car this year to start out...

Stefano: Whaaat?

Bernie: Hush... It's all according to plan. The first race will be won by McLaren. Second by Ferrari.

Stefano: But you just said we're gonna have a crap car.

Bernie: Right.. we'll try the rain seeding technology and have a lottery result. We'll also have Ferrari be in the points all races so they don't fall too behind but it seems like they have no chance of victory. Have Alonso get the points and Massa to throw races. He's used to that. Third race will be Mercedes. By the way you guys come up with some tyre problems.. narrow window or something..

Brawn: We have had tyre issues for two years.. can't we get something new?

Bernie: No! Now for the fourth race Red Bull can win. This will leave the championship unpredictable and the bookies will be ready to shoot their grandmothers in frustration. After that we'll have winter testing and Ferrari can suddenly come up with a great car and start winning races...

Team Principals all roll their eyes.

Disclaimer: This was not meant seriously. It was just a parody. No F1 head honchos were harmed during this...only made fun of.

You don't know how close to reality you are. Maybe not the blatant race fixing but there is always an outcome in mind with the powers that be.

Hence Mr Senna was a real thorn in their side

[MSC07-JCGX]

i don't think there is hope not anyways but qualifying drs broke fair do's he went out, race had a 5 place grid drop due to gearbox which put's him in 22nd but finished 10th which isn't bad considering where he was but stratergy wise merc got it wrong. i see the point in starting on options but it was the same as rosbergs? if there close to each other then yes but he's was all way down in 22nd!

just poor from merc and this year the tyres are taking over with a narrow window of performance and a bit more deg than other teams. with the bad luck michael has had but he'll turn it around

[wunderkind]

I doubt the younger generation is better. The cars are more technical and getting the best out of them requires the best engineers and mechanics and those clearly do not sit on Schumacher's side of the Mercedes garage.

Mercedes are attempting to humiliate Schumacher. His engineers call over the radio suggesting where he should be faster and Schumachers utter silence was a pretty clear message that Schumacher was not at all enchanted by the dialogue.

A Schumacher podium or victory is somehow a boosSchumacher reliving the glory days. Its plain to see that Mercedes are not interested in that. He has been used and is aboutto be discarded like the oily rag they use to clean up his gearbox.
They will make it look like it was his decision (just like Ferrari did). You see a 7 time world champion, 91 GP winner and the most pol sitter in the history of the sport needs to be fired in a way that makes it look like it was his idea

The new generation of drivers are much better at adapting to the new tyres. Maybe they are not burdened by experience gained from the tyres of yesteryears.

I don't think Schumacher's engineers were trying to humiliate him. It was just that he needed to drive faster.

JET is right that the commercial value of Schumacher winning in a Mercedes is greater than that of Rosberg winning, for now.

[Raptor22]

I think todays cars are just so technically focussed that everything has to be 100% correct for a decent performance.
Its the engineers that make the difference. Schumachers engineer has not place to tell him which corner to take a different line because he's not driving the car and doesn;t have a hope in hell of ever driving one in anger.

Schumacher has driven through more rule changes than any other F1 driver on the grid. I think he can cope with a Pirelli tyre. The engineers have to adapt the car to the requirements of the driver and it evident that his engineers don't have much of clue how to get the car into a tyre operating window that suits him or else we'd be seeing the type of performance we're accustomed to.
The fact that the team is better able to delvier a reliable car and one thats usuits Rosberg's style is evident of what they what and what they don't want.

Schumachers as served his purpose. he brought focus on the team because sponsors and investors all clamoured to get on board when it became known he was signing up. His name hleped their budget problem. It also helped ease the decision makers on the board.

More value in Schumacher winning to Mercedes than Rosberg??!!
If that were true then they'd have given Schumacher a car suited to him and Rosberg would have to do the adapting, Instead its the other way around. The fact that Schumacher keesp his head up speaks volume of his character.

But the fact is xpensive is right. Merce are crap, they will always be crap and Brawn is not half the engineer of manager he is regarded as being. He's just an opportunist with an eye for talent and has been lucky in bringing that talent to the place at the right time.

Merc may struggle in Spain although the long straight and point and squirt nature of the track should suit them. Its a heavy circuit on tyres though so I expect the Merc's to struggle with tyre life and once again Schumachers car to develop a mysterious fault that will cost him time again.

This time it was DRS failure (yet no one was seen working on the car during Q1).
SO if the wing had failed why could they not fix it in time and why did Schumacher only get out of the car AFTER kovalainen set his time. Simple, there was nothing wrong with the car and they simply did not send him out again, evidenced by the frustrated slamming down of his gloves after he exited the cockpit.

If Schumacher wins a race this year, you will see a less than enthusiastic response from Brawn, Haug and the team in general.
When a team loses interest in a driver that drivers always experiences a growing number of problems starting with simple mistakes from mechanics to eventually, less updates on that drivers car to an increase in the lack of reliability.

[WhiteBlue]

The only things Schumacher will experience the rest of 2012 is more technical failures as he has expereicned the lion share of since his comeback. ......
Fire Brawn and get a proper manager in there, or quit F1

I want some of the stuff you have been smoking....

[Raptor22]

What's Brawn produced over the last three years?

[snoop1050]

What's Brawn produced over the last three years?

a fat bank balance.
i think schumachers just about had enough of mercedes incompetence , he needs to stop beeing the nice guy and hugging the mechanics when they ruin his race and tell it like it is.

soon its going to be like last year where schumacher always gets the crap stratergy and rosberg gets the good one because merc want to hedge their bets.

they need to stop splitting statergies and setups and let their drives race.

for the last 2 years its felt like mercedes do there hardest to make sure nico and michael arent anywhere near each other in the races and nothing seems to have changed.

[Raptor22]

yip, a fat bank balance at the expense of his "friend".
Schumacher is only Brawn's friend because of what Schumacher has done for Brawn's reputation. Since he Joined Honda in 2007 he has produced a one hit wonder in the BGP009. The rest have been crap.

I'll bet in Spain, Schumacher will out qualify Rosberg but he will suffer an engine failure this time. That will be his 0.
Then in Monaco Schumacher won't be able to get the set up right or his car will have handling problems while Nico's car will be perfect.
In Canada it will be another DRS problem and in the race Schumacher will experience tyre problems again while Nico's car will be perfect once again.
Then we get back to Europe (Valencia) and the circuit will "suit" Rosberg better (read they will provide Rosberg with a more suitable engine map while Schumacher gets the detuned map)
and so on and so on and so on...

anyone ever noticed that when Schumachers car has a problem the mechanics never make eye contact with the driver. Brawn doesn't flinch and the mechanics all look like its payday?

[Fizz.Schumi]

Michael in his BBC interview definitely looked more serious today than he has since he returned. He clearly is not satisfied nor enjoying the high deg of the pirelli tires. TBH I have to agree with him - from the outside it does look like close racing and is highly entertaining, But when you think about it .. races this season are more about drivers taking care of there tires better than their competitors (hence why everyone seems to close in chains of 7-8 )instead of full on aggressive flat out pushing to overtake them (2011 was a similar to this also but not to this extent that we are seeing now). This must even more annoying for michael because he has always been aggressive on tires (with the amount of sharp corrections he does into a corner as well as the oversteer nature of his driving)

Good seeing Michael angry and annoyed though .. It usually motivates him to do a lot better .. Hopefully new exhausts for the european stint of the championship as well as a wider operating window hopefully

But i really do think pirelli need to look at these tires again because Schumi isn't the only one complaining ..

[Dragonfly]

Carwise they are exactly where they were in Aus. Just lucked in China.

[Dragonfly]

Wasn't it better to start from the pitlane with updated setup and eventually different gear ratios?
Why start from P22 with heavy fuel on options?

[sjns]

Because they finished 5th? They now definately have the pace over Ferrari, and they did beat Mclaren. Other tracks favour other cars. We will see that a lot I think in this season.

The car is still as good as it was 7 days ago. Just other cars where better this time. No need fo exaggeration. Would be the same as in saying Rebull will now easily win the champonship...W03 is good stuff. No doubt.