donskar wrote:
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My one cent worth: n_smikle notwithstanding, I don't think Brawn has gone from the golden throne of F1 to the porcelain throne virtually overnight. Barring a head injury that has been kept secret, he is at least quite competent at what he does -- far too good to let this happen on his watch. I'm guessing that M-B is pulling the strings and he is just along for the ride (and the money). I expect that M-B will NOT improve significantly (win a race) this year, and that Brawn and possibly Schu will move on to their well-deserved retirement.
As suggested upstreams Don, this is my fear as well. I know it's 20 years ago, but the sportscar which the Daimler engineers designed for Sauber at the time shows that there is an attitude of "they must all be idiots" there. The radically short wheelbase is a sign typical for such an attitude, like "hey, why didn't anyone think of this before, saves weight?".
One reason might be that such a short wheelbase gives poor traction and eats the rear tyres like nothing else, something the "weltmeister" engineers within Daimler didn't know as they never designed an F1 car before?