Current Mercedes

Mercedes GP

FIA Entry: Mercedes GP Petronas F1 Team
Car 7: Michael Schumacher
Car 8: Nico Rosberg
Engine: Mercedes V8
Team Principal: Ross Brawn
Technical Director: Bob Bell
Race Engineer Car 7: Mark Slade
Race Engineer Car 8: Tony Ross

Stats as of end 2010

First Entered 2010
Races Entered 19
Race Wins 0
Pole Positions 0
Fastest Laps 0
Driver World Championships 0
Constructor World Championships 0

Team History

The Mercedes team history splits into two parts. In 1954 the famous pre-war Silver Arrows entered the F1 world championship and recorded a 1-2 at their first race. Fangio went on to win the drivers championship that year and again in 1955. Mercedes withdrew at the end of the 1955 season after the accident which killed 80 spectators at Le Mans which involved one of their cars.

The current team entered F1 in 2010 after Mercedes bought Brawn Grand Prix. Brawn Grand Prix, winners of the Drivers Championship, with Jenson Button, and the constructor’s championship in 2009, grew out of the ashes of Honda’s F1 entry after Honda had withdrawn from F1 at the end of the 2008 season after only a single Grand Prix win for Button in Hungary 2006.

Prior to the Honda takeover in 2006 the team had raced under the name of British America racing which had acquired the assets and race entry of the Tyrrell F1 team in 1999. BAR competed in 118 races without a single victory. The high points for the team were 2 pole positions (both for Button – San Marino 2004 and Canada 2005) and 2nd in the constructors championship in 2004.

Tyrrell were amongst the most successful private F1 teams taking part in 463 Grands Prix, scoring 33 victories and 3 Drivers Championships, all with Jackie Stewart.

2010

Having replaced Button and Barrichello with Nico Rosberg and 7 times WDC Michael Schumacher many expected great things of the new Mercedes team in 2010 but they had an indifferent season.

Rosberg managed 3 podiums for the team but Schumacher, coming back from retirement, struggled with the new cars, tyres and limited testing under the revised regulations. The team finished 4th in the Constructors Championship.

2011

For 2011 Mercedes retain the same driver line up and are hoping for better things from their MGP W02 chassis.

 

[RasputinLives]

I'm a little concerned about Merc.

Niki Lauda took over at Jaguar when they were spending big cash and Ford were supplying engines to a lot of teams. He rung in the changes, It all went wrong and out of the sport went Ford engines and all never to return.

I'm hoping history doesn't repeat itself and Merc do truely turn into the team they are suppose to be. It better be quick though the board won't want their brand name smirched with 5th or 6th best team for much longer.

 

[Il_leone]

so far with the exception of Ferrari and Renault every manufacturer who has run an F1 team have failed after serious investment...when will they all learn... don;t treat F1 like a corporate division and leave the decisions to guys who know motor racing

Not some old fart in a suit sitting in the boardroom

 

[Il_leone]

I should say 24 hours and the floodgates of rumours seems to be opening at Mercedes

Wolff - it seems like Mercedes board want to put their faith in someone they trust and know from his DTM teams ala Peter Sauber
with Sauber Mercedes

Hamilton - joined on the basis he was going to work with Brawn. What must he be wondering about all the management shuffle

Brawn - I get the impression Mercedes never truly trusted him to run the team without interference to succeed

Fry - really wonder what value does he add to the team about from being a good corporate spokesperson

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Lowe - if this true he's been promised team principal job then it might help Hamilton settle in but he's been basically been offered this position ahead of the following cooks who are still on Mercedes books

Bob Bell - Technical Director
Geoff Willis - Technology Director
Aldo Costa - Engineering director

that is still a lot of engineers in the team which is adding to the confusion


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If Lowe does leave MClaren I suspect Sam Michael / Jonathan Neale or Tim Goss will get the technical director job
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I will point out Rome was not built overnight to Mercedes

 

[Greenlantern101]

Really good article from Ted Kravitz on the sky website. Well worth a read.
http://www1.skysports.com/formula-1...ed-Kravitz-on-Mercedes-management-restructure

 

[Chad Stewarthill]

I know all the sound arguments about too much disruption and uncertainty being a bad thing at such a crucial time just before the season, but it didn't seem to harm Brawn in 2009, when the team didn't even know if they had a future almost until the season began.

I am glad that Fry seems to be on the way out though; it seemed to me at the time of the Honda/Brawn transfer that he was a bit of a weasel who was almost the biggest obstacle to the deal happening (and has done very little of merit since, no doubt receiving a tidy sum each month for all his efforts).

 

[FB]

Fry was one of the major share holders in Brawn GP and got a sizeable sum from Mercedes when the team was sold so won't be short of a bob or two.

 

[Chad Stewarthill]

I know, that just adds to my annoyance.

 

[Il_leone]

Fry happens to be at the right place at the right time to benefit having been an absolutely useless team principal at Honda

Had Button not suggested Honda board to get BRawn on board..he would have been sacked full stop
and then he became a millionaire on the back of MErcedes buying the team

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Surely Mercedes will have too many cooks if Lowe joins

It appears Wolff is supposedly different and not interfere with BRawn's job

But did not Brawn say that about Willis, Costa and Bell's roles and now there are stories saying no one in the team is making decisions

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[Brogan]

From what I've read this morning, most technical experts have said the new Mercedes isn't all that great and has some big problems with aerodynamics and rear downforce.

Of course we'll have to wait and see how it performs during testing and at the first race, but first impressions aren't great.

I don't see 2013 as being a particularly good year for Mercedes, unless the so-called experts have got it completely wrong.

 

[downforce]

IT doesn't look all that aerodynamic compared to the others. In fact it looks identical to last years.

I expect it will still chew its tyres up in the races, and not have much downforce either.

Really down to the drivers to make the difference for that team.

 

[Greenlantern101]

I don't see how anyone, expert or not can say if a car is fast or slow just by looking at it. Even during testing we won't really know whats what. We will see what we see come Qually in Melbourne. To say a particular team have messed up before the car has even turned a wheel is mental.

 

[Brogan]

I don't see how anyone, expert or not can say if a car is fast or slow just by looking at it.

"The nose has the allowed 'vanity panel' to hide the height difference between nose tip and chassis. If you put little ridges on either side of the nose, that can help prevent air spilling over the side. But the way Mercedes have designed their nose it looks like it will exacerbate that problem, which affects the aerodynamics detrimentally.

"The sidepods have a raised outer edge. It's aimed at getting air to the rear but it creates lift, and then there are turning vanes on top to reduce the lift. So that confuses me a little.

"They are trying to use the exhaust for aerodynamic effect at the back, but there is an awful lot of bodywork back there which will block the airflow and reduce the effectiveness of the 'coke-bottle' shape, which is what gives overall downforce, as opposed to the on-throttle downforce you get from the exhausts.

http://www.bbc.co.uk/sport/0/formula-one/21322248

That's how.

 

[Greenlantern101]

This 'expert' has no knowledge of the car other than looking at it. I'm sure the aerodynamacists at Mercedes would shoot him down in flames.

 

[Brogan]

The same aerodynamicist who created last year's car?

 

[teabagyokel]

There's a reason the BBC got a guy who has designed race-winning F1 cars into that role, and that is because he can have an opinion on the strengths and weaknesses of cars presented to him without having to see the times.

He might be wrong, but its better than speculation from people who don't have any theoretical background, or silence.

 

[Brogan]

The worrying thing is he's not the only person to suggest the Mercedes may not be a fast car.
Craig Scarborough and others have made similar comments.

Still, as I posted above (which seems to have been ignored), "of course we'll have to wait and see how it performs during testing and at the first race, but first impressions aren't great."

 

[The Pits]

There's a reason the BBC got a guy who has designed race-winning F1 cars into that role

He did design a couple of dogs too.

It should be added, that the design process for a car is a very complex process, and there is limited time and resource available to do things, with the Merc, they have had a lot of catch up work to do before anything else too, so it stands to reason that there are going to be things falling between the cracks. It is unlikely that the team are able to test every part in every scenario, individually and collectively, so, it will be a case of prioritising, which leads to a risk that the priorities need to be understood in advance.

I do think that the people analysing the designs are not privvy to the design philosophy and underlying concept, nor do they know the packaging, but, they do understand the impact of certain things better than I would. The team will also most likely be aware, although possibly due to timing and resource have not been able to address these areas yet, or because of packaging, may not be able to.

 

[Bill Boddy]

Mercedes knew by the middle of last season that they weren't going anywhere. If they did not transfer their effort to this year's car it looked very much like they had. They went backwards through the pack on race days even quicker than in the first half of the season.

 

[F1ang-o]

http://en.espnf1.com/mercedes/motorsport/story/99902.html
Ross says " With Lewis & Nico we have what I believe to be the strongest driver line-up in Formula "

Edit http://www1.skysports.com/formula-1/news/12433/8471106/
Nico seems happy too...

 

[racecub]

brawn says there are some innovative things on the car but you need to look a bit deeper to see them. He also says the front wing will be changing over the next week.
http://bit.ly/11Jwb4N