Mercedes AMG have today completed their shakedown of the W03, the team's new 2012 car. After the team decided to run at last week's Jerez test with the older car, Mercedes will present its new car to the public next Tuesday at the start of testing at Barcelona.
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Peetbeat wrote:i have a question, ...why Mercedes drive today at Silverstone?? I thought that they may only test at Jerez and Barcelona. confused =(
Teams are allowed to drive the new cars for 50KM outside of the normal testing days - these are known as shakedown tests. Basically it's just to test that everything works ok - you can turn on the engine, the steering wheel turns the wheels; the engine connects to the rear wheels, etc.
Peetbeat wrote:i have a question, ...why Mercedes drive today at Silverstone?? I thought that they may only test at Jerez and Barcelona. confused =(
Every team has days alloted for PR & Filming & such stuff.
Ferrari would have driven in Maranello had it not for the snow. Force India had a go too. Its just that Mercedes having so much publicity,it is very hard to keep anything secret.
With RBR who knows maybe they had a shakedown before the tests as well.
If you freeze frame at various positions and screenshot and zoom in it looks like an extra channel through the sidepods with two exits on the back (on the nearside)?
i know it is at high speed, but look at the front wing end plates (at the bottom)
it does not seem to be the "paralle to the road" conventional way to go.
it seems to have an "up sloap" so to speak.
I dont think its a case of the team and sponsors etc wanting Michael, it is more a case of does Michael want to carry on personally? He is in the game to win races and titles, can he do that at Mercedes? Yes. Can he do it in the next couple of years? That depends. If Mercedes do produce the car we all want to see, will Rosberg be the one who is the main candidate for the title? All valid questions but for me we will not know the answer until it happens.
Schumacher thrives off the competition, the challenge, the drive to succeed. He has had this feeling of "truly competing" in only a handful of races due to the failings of his car, yet in each he has shown his true quality (Hamilton in Italy, Alonso in China, and Webber in Canada spring to mind).
He has reignited his driving abilitiy after a slow start as his progress shows but that key ingredient, that competitive edge, will only be unlocked if Mercedes can provide him with a car able to compete. I really hope he does decide to carry on. Without him, F1 is simply not the same. The progress of the W03 (or the lack of) will decide Michael's future either way so lets hope this car is a potential championship challenger.