Mercedes GP MGP W01

[marcush.]

The tyres are the same for all, so I agree with markush. There is a weight distribution problem on the car and Nico deals with it much better. There may be an issue with Schumacher's chassis as well. We will have to wait and see. If the chassis is sound and Schumacher continues the way he drives now Merc will probably swap Nick into that car later in the season. They would still be able to use Schumacher as a reserve driver and consultant.

You are entertaining the thoughts of him backing down?
Remember how Barichello came back strong after Brawn sorted out the braking issues. I think Micheal's problem is the lack of traction control, though he may not want to admit it. But looking on how the car exits the turns after an over take, his seems to be the only one coming out a little to slowly.
He says the car is the exact same setup as Nico's so i suspect it's just a matter of being fitter for all the race laps and also getting used to the lack of traction control. His whole driving style will be affected becuase of this.
Heidfeld should come in ofcourse to maximise points, but the media will kill Shumi for backing out halfway.
I hope the W01 updates maybe suit him much better so he has a similarly strong race like in Bahrain.

I don't know what the problem is. We will have to wait and see if there is a fault with the chassis. I was speculating a bit on the up coming situation in summer. If Brawn abandons the W01 in favor of the W02 development and Schumacher still struggles with the car they would be mad not to try Nick Heidfeld. It would depend of Heidfeld's performance then. If Nick is faster Merc would have no choice but switch him into the car for the rest of the season. It would be a very awkward situation indeed, but they have Nick there for a reason.

For a starter a friday session for Nick could clarify the situation pretty much.Nick is surely not rusted ,far from it .

[WhiteBlue]

You are entertaining the thoughts of him backing down?
Remember how Barichello came back strong after Brawn sorted out the braking issues. I think Micheal's problem is the lack of traction control, though he may not want to admit it. But looking on how the car exits the turns after an over take, his seems to be the only one coming out a little to slowly.
He says the car is the exact same setup as Nico's so i suspect it's just a matter of being fitter for all the race laps and also getting used to the lack of traction control. His whole driving style will be affected becuase of this.
Heidfeld should come in ofcourse to maximise points, but the media will kill Shumi for backing out halfway.
I hope the W01 updates maybe suit him much better so he has a similarly strong race like in Bahrain.

I don't know what the problem is. We will have to wait and see if there is a fault with the chassis. I was speculating a bit on the up coming situation in summer. If Brawn abandons the W01 in favor of the W02 development and Schumacher still struggles with the car they would be mad not to try Nick Heidfeld. It would depend of Heidfeld's performance then. If Nick is faster Merc would have no choice but switch him into the car for the rest of the season. It would be a very awkward situation indeed, but they have Nick there for a reason.

For a starter a friday session for Nick could clarify the situation pretty much.Nick is surely not rusted ,far from it .

Indeed. And I am curious how long they will take to try him.

[JohnsonsEvilTwin]

You dont have to be a genius to see that Schumachers car was horrendous out of the slower corners all weekend.
It appeared to not want to turn. Now the man in the street may have a go at Schumacher, but if you saw what I did in Shanghai I actually feel sorry for the guy!

Turn 6 and Turn 14 showed exactly what schumacher was going through, understeer into a corner then masses of oversteer out of it. He could not get the nose into the corner and after he couldnt get on the gas!

Setup is a problem for Schuey, and Mercedes will rectify this for Barcelona with their update. Just beyond me how people are so fickle as to write schumacher off without actually knowing what is going on within the team.

Barcelona is where Schumis season starts.......

[toshinden]

we have crazy thought about schumi's result for the post 4 races in our forum at home. with the limitation of testing periods, what if that merc are using 4 races in the begining to test what they have with schumi as their test driver. so sacrificing the early stages to maximize their car and catch up with the remaining races. too crazy isn't it

[Poleman]

You dont have to be a genius to see that Schumachers car was horrendous out of the slower corners all weekend.
It appeared to not want to turn. Now the man in the street may have a go at Schumacher, but if you saw what I did in Shanghai I actually feel sorry for the guy!

Turn 6 and Turn 14 showed exactly what schumacher was going through, understeer into a corner then masses of oversteer out of it. He could not get the nose into the corner and after he couldnt get on the gas!

Setup is a problem for Schuey, and Mercedes will rectify this for Barcelona with their update. Just beyond me how people are so fickle as to write schumacher off without actually knowing what is going on within the team.

Barcelona is where Schumis season starts.......

Thats not quite a valid comment.You have to look at the performances of both drivers...Somethings wrong with Michael no doubt...Lets say he had a bad car...Who's fault is it?The team?I cant accept that and the reason is called Nico Rosberg.Same team same car...Don't tell me that Schumacher cannot get a perfect setup and Rosberg can,thats impossible.

[JohnsonEvilTwin]

Poleman its common knowledge that Roberg enjoys understeer and Schumacher enjoys oversteer(both within reason, Im talking chassis characteristics)

Now everyone and their dog KNOWS what they SHOULD do to get the correct balance, which is what Schumacher and Mercedes have tried to do to get it more to his liking.
However this does not affect Rosberg who can hone the setup far more accurately as w01 chassis has characterisitcs he revels in.

Schumacher has to start one step behind due to the nature of the Chassis. care to disagree if you will but turn 6 and 14 at Shanghai go some way to proving what im tying to say....SCHUMACHER STRUGGLES WITH UNDERSTEER!

[Poleman]

Fair enough...Different opinions make healthy converstations.I accept the car is not at Shcumacher preferences,but i dont see how a 7 times WDC and one hell of expierienced driver cannot cope with the situation and adopt his driving style at least to match his teammate levels,not talking about winning races...Anyways thats all from me.

[ggajic]

I don`t buy this. If problem is oversteer vs. understeer, that would give Rosberg some advantage - but not that big advantage. In term of performance - Button also prefers understeer compared to Hamilton who prefers oversteer, but if lap times are compared difference is not that huge. So, something must have been wrong with car #3.

[marcush.]

I don`t buy this. If problem is oversteer vs. understeer, that would give Rosberg some advantage - but not that big advantage. In term of performance - Button also prefers understeer compared to Hamilton who prefers oversteer, but if lap times are compared difference is not that huge. So, something must have been wrong with car #3.

well .if the car does not give you what you need theres not much you can do but change your style ..and lose the magic .
to my understanding MS is depending heavily on a planted front wich enables him to
trailbrake and even balance the car out applying throttle under braking .
but if there is no grip in the front available. all this finesse and balancing will just slow you down due to excessive sliding and of course it will ruin the tyres..

mind you MS was not special at all in touringcars..(no front end grip) and he was not Uber in groupC Sportscars compared to Frentzen ..where front end grip was also a bit weak (in those days the raised nose concept had not yet found its way into sportscars so understeer was the name of the game)...

[Aryoh]

Fair enough...Different opinions make healthy converstations.I accept the car is not at Shcumacher preferences,but i dont see how a 7 times WDC and one hell of expierienced driver cannot cope with the situation and adopt his driving style at least to match his teammate levels,not talking about winning races...Anyways thats all from me.

I think that nobody could remember Fisichella last year when he switch to Ferrari, with Force India he was at the top but with Ferrari it look like he dont know how to drive, and he did not leave F1 for 3 year. Give Michael more time, Rosberg have too much luck.

[marcush.]

and fisico met up with his old pal racengineer at ferrari..so he had to expect a smooth transition to Ferrari..but Ms is lifting expectation sky high.
For a rooky Ms is doing quite well..

[Poleman]

Fisico with Force India at the top?Barely midfield...One or two good performances was thats all...That team transfer was a joke...As for Rosberg being lucky,how come?Considering this Kubica is lucky,Petrov is lucky,Sutil is lucky...etc [-X .If thats the case based on luck,I bet MS ran out of luck he had all his racing years then...

[Pandamasque]

Please stick to W01. The C291 has its won thread here.

[mx_tifoso]

Wow you guys can tramline like no others.

Stick to the Mercedes W01.

[marcush.]

With the statement of Ross Brawn that michael is loosing out massively vs Nic in the
technical easy parts of the track this sheds even more doubt on what is going on with this car.

first of all ,what would you call technically easy ,low speed low downforce perhaps?
may it be that Schumacher needs to run the car a lot stiffer at the rear than Rosberg to get rid of the corner entry push and doing this he looses traction on the exit ,which was hurting him more in china?

what definitively can be said is: F1 is to a large degree voodoo and not applied science.
If things go right everyone praises the advantages of simulation ,CFD and engineering expertise but as soon as things go wrong all the gurus are at a loss to explain what happened.I´d say this is only because the theories do not represent the whole reality but only a a certain viewangle of what is really representing the whole story -and this is not particularly well understood.

I see assumptions and questionmarks everywhere but no real logic in all those explanations.