Mercedes AMG F1 W04

[Anon123]

It's clear the new hires have all been tasked with looking at next year. That's why Brawn doesn't have a job anymore, they are coming through to lead the team through 2014 and he's being asked to go back to the factory and work on 2015.

Honda ran a similar strategy before they closed it all down, they had two teams. One team working on the current car, and another working on the next car. They rotated the teams every year. It eventually paid off, the BG01 was the result.

But Brawn is the team principal not the designer, I believe Geoff Willis and Aldo Costa design cars for alternate seasons and Bob Bell's role is to oversee their work. I think Aldo Costa was tasked with designing the W04 (I mentioned the car richard )whilst Willis has been working on the W05. I'd love Brawn to stay but he keeps giving out mixed messages, he's always smiling and praising next year's car but with his comments at Suzuka it makes you doubt whether or not he will stay, he seems smug as if he has something up his sleeve. It will be interesting to see what he decides to do and how it will influence next season.

[SiLo]

It's clear the new hires have all been tasked with looking at next year. That's why Brawn doesn't have a job anymore, they are coming through to lead the team through 2014 and he's being asked to go back to the factory and work on 2015.

Honda ran a similar strategy before they closed it all down, they had two teams. One team working on the current car, and another working on the next car. They rotated the teams every year. It eventually paid off, the BG01 was the result.

But Brawn is the team principal not the designer, I believe Geoff Willis and Aldo Costa design cars for alternate seasons and Bob Bell's role is to oversee their work. I think Aldo Costa was tasked with designing the W04 (I mentioned the car richard )whilst Willis has been working on the W05. I'd love Brawn to stay but he keeps giving out mixed messages, he's always smiling and praising next year's car but with his comments at Suzuka it makes you doubt whether or not he will stay, he seems smug as if he has something up his sleeve. It will be interesting to see what he decides to do and how it will influence next season.

Move back to Ferrari I suspect!

But back to the car, I was really pleased with their performance this year, just a shame about how the tyres changed everything and the rules about moving the tyres from each side of the car. I hope they continue this form into next year!

[Shakeman]

Wolf said that Honda have begun to poach Merc staff so I wonder if that was a reference to Brawn.

[ringo]

Next year's car can suck as easily as mclaren's car this year.
The mercedes was slower than the lotus for the better part of the last half of the season.
I don't think things are looking too rosy for the team next year.

This car had too many weaknesses. Tyre degradation and poor aero efficiency.

I new that the team was trying to win the title. Whoever thought that the team was using this as a rest year is greatly mistaken. F1 doesn't rest. Every team goes in to win.
Brawn knew he had a good car on his hands and was downplaying it. This car and the redbull were the only ones to be on pole this year.
It was a pole maching, but a poor allrounder. Infact the ferrari and the lotus were better race cars. The mercedes was fourth best in the last half of the year. It was down to the quality of the drivers why the car got the results that it did.
Even though the tyres could make a good car seem like a bad one.

[Huntresa]

Next years car will be the first to enjoy the fruits of the new employees and reorganization right ? As in from scratch.

[therealjustin]

Along with full input from Lewis.

[dans79]

Next years car will be the first to enjoy the fruits of the new employees and reorganization right ? As in from scratch.

The W04 enjoyed some of it this year, but not 100%. The pluses going into next year are as follows in my opinion.

• The technical staff should be 100% settled in. Yes, Lowe joined recently but at his level his impact should be more procedural than technical, and not effect the technical development of the car.
• The 60% wind tunnel has been sorted out. I'm sure the initial development of the W04 was slowed some while the tunnel was brought online.
• RBR's edge in the area of blown diffusers has been erased by the rule changes.
• Newey will have to start from scratch, versus just refine/tweak last years car. Personally I don't think Newey is nearly as good at designing a new car as he is at refining an existing one. The rbr3 & 4 where not very good cars.
• Renault has to start from scratch, and they aren't going to get any help from the FIA via "reliability upgrades" if they fall behind.
• The FRIC system seems to have come into it's own, and hopefully is can be improved to provide a more natural feel. If so I think Lewis will benefit.
• The driver line up is unchanged, and hopefully Lewis will have some real influence on the W05
• It looks like Pirelli is going to be super conservative with next years tires.

[Anon123]

Another plus to the list, Red Bull can't package their KERS system beside the gearbox anymore, surely they did that because they thought it was of a benefit to them.

[Trocola]

[*] Newey will have to start from scratch, versus just refine/tweak last years car. Personally I don't think Newey is nearly as good at designing a new car as he is at refining an existing one. The rbr3 & 4 where not very good cars.

Sorry for the Off Topic, but the RB5 was a completely new car and nearly won the 2009 championship

The V8 Renault built in 2006 was also a great engine and they won the WDC that year. Renault did not use the "reability" trick to improve their engine as Mercedes and Ferrari did. Once they did that, they have won 8 championships (4 wdc and 4 wcc)

[Shakeman]

It was a pole maching, but a poor allrounder. Infact the ferrari and the lotus were better race cars. The mercedes was fourth best in the last half of the year. It was down to the quality of the drivers why the car got the results that it did.
Even though the tyres could make a good car seem like a bad one.

I seem to remember Merc doing a none too shabby job at Silverstone in the race until tyre shredding ruined Lewis' race. I think Merc had got on top of the tyres after their "secret" test and would've been much closer challengers to RB for the remainder of the season. The tyres change hurt everyone except RB who just went massively forward from that point. The RB performance advantage was further widened by the focus on 2014.

Vettel has said several times over the radio "remember these times" maybe not expecting next year to be anything like as dominant. I'd worry too if my team had failed to get a reliable KERS in the car as it is a massive part of next year's formula. KERS failures won't be an inconvenience but a DNF.

I can't think Pirelli will turn up with shredding tyres next year and will be conservative as others have stated which means game on for Merc.

[Coefficient]

[*] Newey will have to start from scratch, versus just refine/tweak last years car. Personally I don't think Newey is nearly as good at designing a new car as he is at refining an existing one. The rbr3 & 4 where not very good cars.

Sorry for the Off Topic, but the RB5 was a completely new car and nearly won the 2009 championship

The V8 Renault built in 2006 was also a great engine and they won the WDC that year. Renault did not use the "reability" trick to improve their engine as Mercedes and Ferrari did. Once they did that, they have won 8 championships (4 wdc and 4 wcc)

On the face of it the comment ab out Newey not designing a good "new" car from the off has some merit. However, when you dig deeper and realise he's deliberatly designed a car that would start off basic but offers enormous scope for development you start to see the method in his madness.

[dans79]

The V8 Renault built in 2006 was also a great engine and they won the WDC that year. Renault did not use the "reability" trick to improve their engine as Mercedes and Ferrari did. Once they did that, they have won 8 championships (4 wdc and 4 wcc)

personally, I think it had a lot more to do with the Mass Damper, than it did the Renault engine. Renault had 7 wins before France, and only one after.

On the face of it the comment ab out Newey not designing a good "new" car from the off has some merit. However, when you dig deeper and realise he's deliberatly designed a car that would start off basic but offers enormous scope for development you start to see the method in his madness.

True, but he has also designed himself in to a corner as well. Take a look at the MP4-18, or the MP4-19, both bad cars.

basically I see Newey's mo as follows. He will sacrifice just about anything in his pursuit of aerodynamic efficiency, and aero derived grip. If you look at his design history, he has designed a lot of cars that have had reliability problems. I think alot of them came from his super tight packing. He also doesn't seem to care much about mechanical grip, and that's going to be really important next year. it's also an area I think The W04 was significantly better than the RBR9.

[dren]

It was a pole maching, but a poor allrounder. Infact the ferrari and the lotus were better race cars. The mercedes was fourth best in the last half of the year. It was down to the quality of the drivers why the car got the results that it did.
Even though the tyres could make a good car seem like a bad one.

I wouldn't go that far. When Merc figured out the tires, they were in contention. Then when the tires changed, Lotus came back into the picture and RBR ran off in the distance. Ferrari was the 4th best race car. Between the Lotus and the Merc, it was tire and track dependant.

Packaging will be key next year. Mercedes greatly improved in this area. RBR is already good. I don't see much of a mix-up.

[aral]

He also doesn't seem to care much about mechanical grip, and that's going to be really important next year.

That's funny! mechanical grip coming out of corners was actually the RBs strong point.

[theformula]

He also doesn't seem to care much about mechanical grip, and that's going to be really important next year.

That's funny! mechanical grip coming out of corners was actually the RBs strong point.

No, they were strong coming out of the corners due to their exhaust layout producing more downforce than any other car, thereby increasing traction. Their mechanical grip was actually nothing to shout about, and the mercs were probably better in this area, BUT they had the best aero package out there which more than compensated for their lack of mechanical grip...