Mercedes AMG Petronas F1 Team 2013

[Cocles]

Interview with Hamilton:

http://www.formula1.com/news/interviews ... 14473.html

[Vasconia]

I'm expecting both Mercs to finish atleast in the top 6 or 7. They are good enough for that.

If not, its time to worry a little bit...

I expect to see them 5-6 or perhaps a little bit better if someone fails. But in this race Lotus, Ferrari and RB are clearly superiror. For me its more important to check that they tyre degradation is not too high.

[prince]

I'm expecting both Mercs to finish atleast in the top 6 or 7. They are good enough for that.

If not, its time to worry a little bit...

I expect to see them 5-6 or perhaps a little bit better if someone fails. But in this race Lotus, Ferrari and RB are clearly superiror. For me its more important to check that they tyre degradation is not too high.

Looking at how things are panning out, first four spots would go to Alonso, Vettel, Kimi and Hamilton (not the exact order). The scrap for 5,6,7,8 would be between Nico, Webber, Button and Massa.

[Maelstrom]

I'm actually of the mind that Massa will do better here... maybe 4th...

As for Webber, well... if Vettel is in the top three and Webber isn't, then he might as well kiss this season goodbye and embrace the no. 2 role... he needs to up his performance and make up the lead to Vettel. Whether he can do that or not... it's anybody's guess.

[atanatizante]

On other forum someone was saying that he was speaking with an insider of the team and there were some issues last Sunday:
1.They were almost 7 kg of fuel more at the end of the race in order not to repeat their Malaysia fuel shortage.
2.Set-up was much more towards Qualy rather than race, knowing their FP2 race pace and their last year pace with the same temperatures.
3.In the race they missed the operation windows in the second stint with the first prime tyres set and in addition to that the sticking rubber problems enhanced their poor race pace particularly at the last stint.
4.Also they didn`t follow the start of the season trend with a high downforce setup and they gambled with one which was more towards a low downforce and that was the reason they had the best top speeds. This affected their race pace (most of all in the second sector of the circuit) hence the tyre degradation was greater due to high speed turns in this sector.

Someone else said that :
a)There were visible setup difference between Raikk and Hamilton, which could be easily spotted 15 min. before the race start at the pit box line stop, when Raikk and Hamy were queuing. He said that Lotus had more front toe-in …
b)Bob Bell was the one who brought the FRIC system from Renault/Lotus back in 2011. Although the Lotus system is very similar their main advantage is that they are at least 2 years in advance and the results are obvious with the best tyre management on the field.

Another thing is that in FP1 Rosberg`s engine sound very strange.
Could they be playing with the engine mapping bearing in mind that later in the season they must use one of the first 4 race mappings?

[Paul]

Last I heard maps from previous season had to be used.

[Sebp]

I watched the race on Swiss TV today and the commentator Mr. Stäubli (or whatever he's called) mentioned something interesting. He said there was a rumour going around the paddock that Niki Lauda and Toto Wolff want Ross Brawn out of the team and replace him with Paddy Lowe when he joins later this year. I couldn't find any article online that speaks of this matter. Has any of you heard of this aswell? It strikes me as being quite odd to want Brawn out at all considering his history of success.

[SilverArrow10]

I watched the race on Swiss TV today and the commentator Mr. Stäubli (or whatever he's called) mentioned something interesting. He said there was a rumour going around the paddock that Niki Lauda and Toto Wolff want Ross Brawn out of the team and replace him with Paddy Lowe when he joins later this year. I couldn't find any article online that speaks of this matter. Has any of you heard of this aswell? It strikes me as being quite odd to want Brawn out at all considering his history of success.

That story's been floating around since before testing, there's been loads of articles on it. Yes it is odd and even Hamilton this week said they shouldn't get rid of Brawn.

[Vasconia]

And tyre degradation again...

[Phil]

This might sound a bit simple - but I wonder where Rosberg would have finished if he had driven Lewis's race. I.e. no battling, preserving tyres, maximizing his strategy. Would that have been a podium? If I am not mistaken - Lewis was finished around 10 seconds behind DiResta, so Rosberg starting on pole, 9 places ahead (11 if you account for Lewis's bad start), I wonder where he would have finished.

Doesn't bode well for racing if basically what you're doing is driving a time-attack race, driving to delta to preserve tyres, but I do wonder... what would have been in possible. Or if Lewis was to start on his 4th place and driven the same way. He wouldn't have won the race I'm sure, but I would say a very good podium for sure... Anyone?


PS: I'll copy this post to the race thread as well. I think it's relevant in both team strategic and in regards to the race and definately an interesting question.

[ringo]

I don't think the results would have been different. Lewis probably came to some kind of realization in that race, plus the handicap he was suffering after p3 disappeared. So we have to assume that Hamilton was performing at a his proper level when the glitch cleared up. We can't assume both cars were being driven in the same way.

[mclaren_mircea]

What do you think? Will Mercedes quit F1 in the next years if they don't win the championship? Or they will stay for the long given the investment they made in the last months? What do you think?

[Cocles]

What do you think? Will Mercedes quit F1 in the next years if they don't win the championship? Or they will stay for the long given the investment they made in the last months? What do you think?

They'll likely stick around at this point based on what Toto Wolff has said and done. Stuttgard expects at least 4th in the constructors championship for 2013. I especially found it interesting/cool/encouraging that Toto is based out of Brackley as opposed to his predecessor who worked out of Stuttgard. I like that the Vice President of Mercedes Motorsport is also CEO of the F1 team and a 30% shareholder.

[stefan_]

MERCEDES AMG PETRONAS LINKS UP WITH TATA COMMUNICATIONS

MERCEDES AMG PETRONAS is pleased to confirm a new partnership with Tata Communications which will see the delivery of world-class trackside connectivity for the team at all Formula One® race locations using the Tata Communications global network. With the new partnership, Tata Communications becomes the ‘Official Managed Connectivity Supplier’ to the team.

Tata Communications, a leading global provider of ‘a new world of communications’, will work closely with MERCEDES AMG PETRONAS to deliver high-speed, high quality and secure trackside connectivity, enabling the team to transfer vital real-time data from the Silver Arrow cars at any Grand Prix location to its headquarters in the UK, three times faster than at present. The improved trackside connectivity will enable the team to react more quickly to developments at the track and help to increase car performance.

Part of the worldwide Tata group, Tata Communications owns and maintains a complete ring of cables around the world including the world’s first wholly-owned subsea fibre ring to circle the globe.

The Tata Communications global network comprises over 500,000 km of subsea cable and over 200,000 km of terrestrial network fibre, allowing a data transfer capacity of one terabit per second, high bandwidth availability and seamless scalability. In February 2012, Tata Communications announced a multi-year technology service and marketing agreement with Formula One Management to deliver world-class connectivity to all Formula One® race locations over its world-first wholly-owned subsea fibre ring. It also provides global hosting and content delivery services to the official Formula One® website Formula1.com

Ross Brawn, Team Principal at MERCEDES AMG PETRONAS commented: “We are delighted to have agreed our new team partnership with Tata Communications. Formula One® relies on data and the ability to transfer our data from the track back to our factories in Brackley and Brixworth quickly and securely. The Tata Communications global network will play a key role in the team’s performance and our ability to react over the race weekends.

That we will now be able to achieve our data transfer requirements three times faster is fantastic. Having Tata Communications on-site at the race track to work with the team will be a big asset in our demanding and fast-paced environment, and we look forward to developing a close working relationship with them as we strive to achieve our ambitions in Formula One®.”

Mehul Kapadia, Managing Director, F1 Business, Tata Communications said: “The modification and improvement of car set-up and handling is a constant during the race season, and being able to share richer data and to report issues back from trackside to the factory in real-time provides a competitive edge in car performance, both in speed and also in handling and stability.

Providing three times faster connectivity for MERCEDES AMG PETRONAS via Tata Communications’ global network means that the team has access to secure and agile trackside connectivity regardless of race location – it showcases our expertise and speed to lead when it comes to global connectivity, and reinforces our ongoing commitment to technology innovation within Formula One®.”

About Tata Communications
Tata Communications Limited along with its subsidiaries (Tata Communications) is a leading global provider of a new world of communications. With a leadership position in emerging markets, Tata Communications leverages its advanced solutions capabilities and domain expertise across its global and pan-India network to deliver managed solutions to multi-national enterprises, service providers and Indian consumers.

The Tata Communications global network includes one of the most advanced and largest submarine cable networks and a Tier-1 IP network with connectivity to more than 200 countries and territories across 400 PoPs, as well as nearly 1 million square feet of data centre and collocation space worldwide.

Tata Communications’ depth and breadth of reach in emerging markets includes leadership in Indian enterprise data services, leadership in global international voice, and strategic investments in South Africa (Neotel), Sri Lanka (Tata Communications Lanka Limited) and Nepal (United Telecom Limited). Tata Communications Limited is listed on the Bombay Stock Exchange and the National Stock Exchange of India and its ADRs are listed on the New York Stock Exchange (NYSE: TCL).

[gray41]

I guess we'll see TATA appear somewhere on the car?