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Jenson Button, and the constructor’s championship in 2009, grew out of the ashes of Honda’s F1 entry after Honda had withdrawn from F1 at the end of the 2008 season after only a single Grand Prix win for Button in Hungary 2006.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.
 
admitting defeat is not a bad thing. because no point in carrying on if you dont believe in it. but im very worried at what is going on at the factory because if this was in june/july, weirdly i would be praising them.

but its Ferrari levels of incompetence to spend all winter designing & testing a certain concept stating you still have faith this zeropod concept. & at race 1 your team principal saying your scrapping it & making a B spec car.
 
The one thing that amazes me about the porpoising effect is that it has been known about for over 40 years:

The Lotus 80:

"However, a serious problem was encountered during testing. Mario Andretti reported that at speed the car behaved very well, but in braking and cornering, where speeds were lower, the car lost downforce alarmingly then regained it unexpectedly. It was discovered the car was generating too much downforce for the driver to cope with. The problem was twofold: firstly, the ground effect's low pressure area under the car was moving around with the car's centre of gravity. The phenomenon was known as porpoising, as the car appeared to be lifting and squatting at different speeds, causing it to lurch violently through corners"
 
They tested a car with "proper" side pods back in 2022, at the first test. Can't they bolt them back on?
you assume that they cant possibly be that bad. that they also haven't got a back up plan also made another car with red bull sidepods, but its interesting that there was alot of talk on social media that James Allison has been brought back. seemingly stems from Italian Motorsport website

-------------------------------------------------------------------------------
cider_and_toast appartantly the story goes that red bull were going down the same road as mercedes. but newey was the only one to be apart of F1 in previous porposing era, so knew the traps & false positives that wind tunnel could give.
 
the more that comes about their winter, the more im surprised they carry on with the concept. it feels like Toto Wolff & Hamilton was against it, James Allison brought back. but something must have convinced them. they cant have been blinded by the CFD & Windtunnel results for a 2nd year


"Last year, there were things I told them. I said the issues that are with the car," said the 38-year-old Briton.

"I've driven so many cars in my life. I know what a car needs. I know what a car doesn't need. I think it's really about accountability."

"It's about owning up and saying, 'Yeah, you know what? We didn't listen to you. It's not where it needs to be and we've got to work'," he said.

"We've got to look into the balance through the corners, look at all the weak points, and just huddle up as a team. That's what we do."

"We're still [multiple] world champions, you know? Just haven't got it right this time. Didn't get it right last year. But that doesn't mean we can't get it right moving forwards."
 
Basicaiiy Hamiton told the engineers what they had got wrong and then the engineers replied that it wasn't as easy as that.
 
i get the feeling it was the otherway around & he needed to be honest with them, because if he had been firmer then maybe they could have been better. you could say that brazilian GP dominance was the worst thing that happened to them. as it meant that they gave aero people the evidence to prove toto wolff wrong & they had development to make this car a winner
 
i get the feeling it was the otherway around & he needed to be honest with them, because if he had been firmer then maybe they could have been better. you could say that brazilian GP dominance was the worst thing that happened to them. as it meant that they gave aero people the evidence to prove toto wolff wrong & they had development to make this car a winner
That is one way of looking at it but who makes the final call ? In the past James Allinson was trusted that he would get it right
 
the rumours were true & i guess no surprise that the guy responsible for 2021 car & putting his neck on the line to stick with this for 2022. has had his job taken by the returning James Allison who was designer during the dominant period 2017 onwards, apparently responsible for 2021 upturn in form & mike elliot has been moved

Speaking about the move, Mercedes team principal Toto Wolff told Motorsport.com: "This was very much driven by Mike Elliott owning the process.

"So, we have reversed the roles. Mike has moved up to CTO, as he has a brilliant switched-on scientific mind. And James Allison has returned to his technical director position, reporting into Mike."


 
That may not be quite true now, McLaren may be the strongest going on recent results
Zilch wins so far but potentially yes.

2 years each is interesting because I think Hamilton will retire after that then 1 seat up for grabs potentially puts Ocon, Piastri ,Norris , Leclerc all available
 
That may not be quite true now, McLaren may be the strongest going on recent results
yeah they will be 1 of the strongest, i dont think anyone can be call strongest as there are many good line ups. but its certainly up there with Norris/Piastri, Sainz/Leclerc

but i was thinking that (red bull excluding) the way the teams have concertinaed the silly season has been non existant because their are so many drivers think that they can have success at there team & that its the best seat they can get, so there no room, whereas in other years. like prior 2021. you wouldve likely had norris wouldve gone to red bull, & dominos would fall, but why take the risk now when Mclaren, Mercedes, Aston Martin, Ferrari have proven they can get podiums & even albon at williams has faith in potential they could join them
 
i hope its not for the reasons i think it is, but the guy that is widely reported to be the person that is responsible for the disastrous zeropod design, that looked so good on CFD & windtunnels. but was a disaster on the track & has wasted effectively 2 years trying to put right & catch up. after toto wolff publicly scrapped the 2023 car after the 1st qualifying of the season

 
Back
Top Bottom