mep wrote:[...]
Seriously a F1 car is a actually a quite simple machine and there is no reason why a high reliability is not possible to achieve with these days regulations.
Therein lies the crux of the majority of this thread, especially for those who somehow think Mercedes' lack of success is a conspiracy.
I think Schumacher's success with Ferrari has tricked a whole lot of fans into thinking that F1 is easy and that Schumacher is God's gift to grand prix racing. Neither of those could be much further from the truth.
It took the combined talents of Schumacher, Todt, Brawn, Byrne and a whole host of supporting characters
five years to turn around Ferrari, a team/company with a significantly richer heritage in Formula 1 than both Mercedes and its F1 team's various permutations. And during that time they had free reign to test as much as they pleased wherever they pleased; they operated under a formula with far fewer restrictions; and they had a tire company whose sole purpose was to supply Ferrari-specific rubber. That's not to mention the fact that Schumacher was much younger, and he was paired with a teammate who was
always expected to lay down for "the greater good."
Not one of those things is true now. Moreover, F1 is more competitive than it's ever been; the difference between marvelous success and agonizing failure has never been so narrow. It's so tight that teams are even working like mad to pick up tenths during
pit stops. All the low-hanging fruit has been picked or banned, so teams really have to reach to find something that will bring them a competitive edge. That's precisely why Mercedes introduced the Daffy Duct, an innovation of questionable benefit. It's because something is better than nothing.
I understand the frustration over silly mistakes and curious blunders. McLaren fans do, too. Their team plays Pit Stop Roulette every race. Ferrari fans can certainly relate. The Prancing Horse historically has two modes of operation: perfection and laughable, with very little in between. Stupid things happen in F1; they always have, and they always will.
All of this is to say, please stop with the paranoid delusions that Mercedes is deliberately hampering Schumacher for nefarious reasons. That's the sort of sentiment one would expect to hear being bandied about amongst a throng of social outcasts wearing aluminum foil helmets to keep aliens from stealing their thoughts while huddled around a fire in the wilderness to escape "the government."
(Really.)