Mercedes AMG Petronas F1 Team 2014

[Pierce89]

4. I think Rosberg has opened a can of worms, that would have better left untouched. This "saga" will only strengthen Lewis, sportsmen always thrive under pressure or controversy.

I have to agree, Leiws has been through this before, and EQUALED the reigning two time world champion.

Fixed it for you. For correctness sake.

[WaikeCU]

One aspect I find very interesting. Am I right if I say that all parts bar settings, the steeringwheel and the driver seat, are identical on both Mercedes cars? Because if I could recall in the past when Hamilton was still at Mclaren, both Hamilton and Button had different brake parts on their cars. Hamilton tends to brake very late into corners, whereas Button isn't. Therefor Hamilton was using Carbon Industries brake discs, whereas Button had Brembo ones. I still remember they moved back and forth on using Carbon Industries and Hitco ones. I think nowadays they are using Akebono ones, since they have strengthen their partnership with Mclaren and also because Akebono tailor makes them for the drivers at Mclaren.

http://www.formula1.com/news/technical/ ... 2/884.html

That's why I question if both W05's are identical. If so, do the current brakes match Rosberg or Hamilton better? Seemingly Hamilton overcooked them at Montreal, but the type of close racing I saw last weekends reminded me kinda of Bahrain. There Rosberg didn't have any brake issues while chasing down Hamilton, maybe because he's less hard on his brakes or maybe because the nightrace meant that temperatures weren't as high as they raced during daytime?

[turbof1]

There COULD be differences - I believe during the 2009 season at one point both Button and Barrichello had different brakes. So there's a possibility, but it does not mean there is. There's no real indicator for that.

I don't think Lewis overcooked his brakes. These things work within a certain range of temperature.

-Driving behind a different car lap after lap will pull the temperature up, but not out of its range.
-Running on a circuit known to be heavy on the brakes will pull the temperature up, but again not out of its range.
-Loosing the mgu-k will pull the temperature up, perhaps even heavily, but still within managable parameters.

What was Lewis undoing was the combination of all 3. Rosberg had only 2 of the 3 issues to deal with. This is lewis pushing his material to the breaking point just as much as he pushed his engine during the formation lap in Australia. It's just bad luck; Rosberg had more mechanical issues last year, and nobody is saying he caused it.

The only time this year that Hamilton put his car risk by pushing too much was in Barcelona, when he ignored the team directive to not use a certain PU setting, which Rosberg also did in Bahrain. In other words, it's up to the team to tell how far a driver can go. A driver will push to the limit, but within the window drawn by the team.

[Phil]

I don't think Lewis overcooked his brakes. These things work within a certain range of temperature.

I wonder if the added fact that Lewis was stationary just moments before during the pits that exaggerated the problem. He came into the pits with probably already hot brakes, then remained stationary (no air flow), came out ahead of Nico and pretty much at the hairpin where he braked significantly, lost braking power (went straight / overshot the corner slightly), Nico repassed, then on the straight Lewis gets along side but again, practically no braking power which caused him to miss the chicane completely. At that point, the brakes were smoking...

No doubt, the problem would have came regardless. I'm just wondering if the failure occured right after the pitstop because of it.

[WaikeCU]

I don't think Lewis overcooked his brakes. These things work within a certain range of temperature.

I wonder if the added fact that Lewis was stationary just moments before during the pits that exaggerated the problem. He came into the pits with probably already hot brakes, then remained stationary (no air flow), came out ahead of Nico and pretty much at the hairpin where he braked significantly, lost braking power (went straight / overshot the corner slightly), Nico repassed, then on the straight Lewis gets along side but again, practically no braking power which caused him to miss the chicane completely. At that point, the brakes were smoking...

No doubt, the problem would have came regardless. I'm just wondering if the failure occured right after the pitstop because of it.

We do sometimes see white fuming smoke coming out of the ducts while being stationary on the grid or in the pits with sometimes even a small flame, but we also see lots of times that when the wheel comes off during the pitstop, a cloud of dark brake dust emerging. White smokes equals high temperature and dark cloud dust equal to brake pads being at the end of their lives? I think that white puff of smoke when he braked before the final chicane was just the brakes giving away, an implosion.

[smlbstcbr]

Just read that Mercedes cannot guarantee the cars won't behave the way the did in Montreal again. Though, they said that IF they cannot discover what really happened and that the close racing or heat wasn't the problem.

Which, carefully analysed, it's like saying "it may or may not, we don't know. And we don't know because it never happened before."

[langwadt]

I don't think Lewis overcooked his brakes. These things work within a certain range of temperature.

I wonder if the added fact that Lewis was stationary just moments before during the pits that exaggerated the problem. He came into the pits with probably already hot brakes, then remained stationary (no air flow), came out ahead of Nico and pretty much at the hairpin where he braked significantly, lost braking power (went straight / overshot the corner slightly), Nico repassed, then on the straight Lewis gets along side but again, practically no braking power which caused him to miss the chicane completely. At that point, the brakes were smoking...

No doubt, the problem would have came regardless. I'm just wondering if the failure occured right after the pitstop because of it.

afaiu Merc themselves have said that the hard braking at the end of the straight just before entering the pits was
what cooked the brakes

[Cam]

[aral]

Hamilton locking both rears...signs of more ERS problems???

Or brain fade?

[AnthonyG]

I'm surprised people even doubt that spin wasn't a driver error.

[beelsebob]

I'm surprised people even doubt that spin wasn't a driver error.

I think it's because it was rather unusual. Locking the rear axle under braking is not a common occurrence. Normally you would expect a front to lock because all of the weight is being transferred forwards by the deceleration. At most you might expect the inside (unloaded) rear to lock.

More so, you'd expect that the driver would quickly pump the brakes and to see them unlock and lock a few times.

Locking instantly, and not unlocking is very unusual. I can't remember the last time I saw that happen without it being a brake failure.

[AnthonyG]

That's actually my point.
Didn't notice it could be interpreted the other wat round.

[sAx]

Hamilton locking both rears...signs of more ERS problems???

Or brain fade?

You could be right if your suggesting that he moved the brake balance from a nominal 40:60 to lets say 0:100! Is that what you mean?

[Juzh]

I'm surprised people even doubt that spin wasn't a driver error.

I think it's because it was rather unusual. Locking the rear axle under braking is not a common occurrence. Normally you would expect a front to lock because all of the weight is being transferred forwards by the deceleration. At most you might expect the inside (unloaded) rear to lock.

More so, you'd expect that the driver would quickly pump the brakes and to see them unlock and lock a few times.

Locking instantly, and not unlocking is very unusual. I can't remember the last time I saw that happen without it being a brake failure.

¸
It was on downshift, and that happens on occasion. Imo the only logical explanation is he downshifted too aggressively and hit rev-limiter which instantly locked rear tires.

[beelsebob]

It was on downshift, and that happens on occasion. Imo the only logical explanation is he downshifted too aggressively and hit rev-limiter which instantly locked rear tires.

It wasn't on downshift, no, it was on the initial application of the brakes.