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Jenson Button, and the constructor’s championship in 2009, grew out of the ashes of Honda’s F1 entry after Honda had withdrawn from F1 at the end of the 2008 season after only a single Grand Prix win for Button in Hungary 2006.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.

 

[Lewywo4]

Lewis was aware that his and Nico's trajectories made it impossible to complete the pass without contact. At best it would have been car to car but Lewis was mighty close to hitting the armco on the exit of Ste Devote even as he backed off..

Fenderman....Lewis made the right move when he backed off at the start, going into St. Devote. The only thing that he would have been presented with after the crash, whether with the armco barrier or Nico, was a howling and a sreaming from the roof tops that..........you can't win a race in turn 1

The big mistake for Lewis IMO at Monaco, was losing the pole position by only .091s .

 

[Quintessentially]

He was about a wing ahead, but not enough to do anything otherwise it would have been a Turkey 2010

He was indeed and would've been well within his rights to close off Nico who didn't particularly get a great start. There was no doubt Hamilton was playing the team game there rather than trying to avoid a crash. On the SC incident - it has been suggested that Mercedes could've brought both drivers in ( or possibly pitted Nico first) immediately after Massa's crash and I'm not sure why they went round one more lap. They were already in the pit window anyway and the alarm bells should've been ringing right after the crash. Webber had already pitted earlier so Redbull had one less car to worry about although i do think Lewis was always vulnerable to Vettel no matter what they did.

 

[Jos the Boss]

I think we all could see that they should have pitted Lewis or Nico at the same time as Seb

 

[Il_leone]

the moment Webber pitted it should have alerted Mercedes to get their cars in

 

[Hamberg]

I couldn't believe they left them out

 

[Brogan]

An excellent result for Mercedes today, all things considered.

They're still nowhere near the race pace of Red Bull and Ferrari but they at least outperformed Lotus and the rest quite comfortably.

Does that mean they have a solid third position in the pecking order?
Or do we still need to wait until the British GP to see how the tyres hold up?

 

[sushifiesta]

Tyres weren't an issue here so I think we do need to wait before we can conclude anything, at least to see where Lotus fit in. I don't really understand why Alonso was so much quicker than Hamilton in the last stint because up until that point the gap seemed to be pretty constant. Maybe he was just biding his time until Rosberg and Webber were out the way.

 

[KekeTheKing]

Montreal was definitely another Mercedes circuit, not to mention a Hamilton favorite. They may have improved by swapping the tires like RBR (and others), but I doubt they've cured the fundamental issue of overheating. I read they were still running 20 degrees C above other teams.

Silverstone will be the litmus test. The long sweeping corners will surely put the Mercedes to the test, and then we'll know if they've jumped Lotus for sure.

 

[Lewywo4]

What will Mercedes do, if they disagree with the FIA's findings on thursday, especially after Toto Wolff said, " On thursday the judgement comes, we see if we can live with it. "...?

http://en.espnf1.com/f1/motorsport/story/111507.html

 

[KekeTheKing]

I think they can live with the penalty. Sam Bird is the only real "loser" in this situation. Although I wonder if he'll get at least a days running in the Force India. I guess we'll see what that Mercedes partnership is worth.

 

[KekeTheKing]

Great to see Nico say how much he genuinely loves qualifying this car. I'd say Lewis had some fun today too.

 

[MCLS]

They'll certainly win the qualifying championship this season!

 

[Brogan]

So, Mercedes's race pace and tyre wear suddenly seems very good

 

[KekeTheKing]

Good for them!

 

[F1ang-o]

Would there be no indication that LH tyre was going to explode?

 

[Fenderman]

Ross B said there was no warning. With Rosberg a vibration was detected and they pitted him in time.

 

[F1ang-o]

Probably on the alert after what happened to Lewis.....he seems to act as the indicator so often...on the edge...

 

[siffert_fan]

I would say that Rosberg's performance this year is making Schumacher's "comeback" look better than I had believed it to be.

 

[Il_leone]

this is interesting upon Ross mentioning the work done by Bob Bell and the investments going

http://www.planetf1.com/driver/3369/8783190/Merc-shareholders-getting-cold-feet

 

[Josh]

Would there be no indication that LH tyre was going to explode?

Remember, Vettel had cuts on his tyres which RBR only noticed after his first pit stop. I think it was near impossible to detect anything wrong with the tyres today. Still, a lucky but impressive win for Mercedes today.