FORUMula1.com - F1 Forum

[sagi58]

Chris Lines wrote:">Mercedes conducts review after mistakes in Malaysia

It's rare to see a Formula One podium these days without a Mercedes driver standing on top, and it's even rarer to have the team conducting arguments in public over the strategic errors which led to the defeat by Ferrari.

The team was chiefly undone on Sunday by the Malaysian heat which degraded its tyres more quickly than those on the Ferrari cars. However, it was also left to rue two bad decisions: pitting behind the safety car while Sebastian Vettel stayed out, and having only hard tyres available for Lewis Hamilton in the final stint of the race instead of the quicker medium-compound rubber.

Team principal Toto Wolff was contrite after the race, describing the Grand Prix as "the wakeup call that we needed."

"It is going to make us work harder and concentrate even more," Wolff said.

"It's easy to be clever after the race, looking at things we could have done better and there are certainly plenty of points that could have been optimised. But we take these decisions together as a team and this is the moment to stay calm, do our analysis and learn what we can improve for next time. It was a complicated race for the team to read -- and for the drivers, too."

It was not too complicated for Hamilton, who was clear in his mind that he needed the medium-compound tyre for the closing laps. Soon after being fitted with another set of the hard tyres, he radioed back: "This is the wrong tyre, man."

He was told in reply that the only set of medium tyres left were from Friday's practice, which the team had unwisely and unnecessarily used.

After further confusing Hamilton by mistakenly playing him some team radio communication mulling over another stop, the last straw came when he was being advised of the strategy for catching the Ferrari ahead.

"Man! Don't talk to me during corners! I nearly went off," Hamilton immediately shouted back.

While the inquest will continue into why the team pitted behind the safety car, the verdict was already in: racing director Paddy Lowe said the decision was wrong.

"With hindsight, the advantage this gave to Ferrari on their two-stop strategy, and the time we lost in traffic in the first laps after the safety car, left us with a gap to Sebastian that proved too much of a challenge for us to recover," Lowe said.

[myownalias]

It's crazy that Mercedes feel the need for an inquest; they made mistakes, despite their record in the past 13 months, they are human, and humans make mistakes. They know where they went wrong, they simply need to learn from their mistakes and move on, I kinda feel like it has been blown out of proportion, they still finished 2/3 after-all.

[sagi58]

Nate Saunders wrote:">Toto Wolff does not expect Nico Rosberg and Lewis Hamilton repercussions in Bahrain

Mercedes boss Toto Wolff does not expect to see any lingering ill feeling between Nico Rosberg and Lewis Hamilton carry over into this weekend's Bahrain Grand Prix.

Rosberg was aggrieved during and after the race in China last week as he felt his second position had been made harder than it needed to be due to the speed team-mate Lewis Hamilton had been driving during the middle stint, which backed him into Ferrari's Sebastian Vettel. An "intense" debrief followed where Wolff, who refused to blame Hamilton, made it clear team orders could be implemented later in the year if Mercedes feels race victories are coming under threat.

However in the team's preview of the weekend, Wolff said Rosberg's frustrations were completely natural and insisted Mercedes' approach to letting its two drivers race will continue in Sakhir, the scene of their memorable battle for victory in 2014.

"We saw tensions between Nico and Lewis in the race and we tackled them directly on Sunday night to stop anything carrying over to this weekend," Wolff said. "When you have intense competition, it's normal that it causes emotions to run high - and that's not something we want to change. But both drivers are now very focused on delivering maximum performance in Bahrain and our package should cope well with the demands of the circuit. We maintain our philosophy of letting the drivers race - but they both know that the number one priority for the team is to win for Mercedes-Benz."

Wolff was delighted at how Mercedes responded to Sebastian Vettel's victory in Malaysia with a one-two in Shanghai.

"After the wake-up call in Malaysia, it was satisfying to see how the team pulled together for the race in China. We did our homework, made improvements and scored a strong one-two finish. But China also confirmed that Ferrari will be a threat in all conditions this year, not just when it's very hot, and that we will have new challenges to face as a team, with another competitor who is much closer to our level of performance."

Video: Laurence Edmondson (ESPN Deputy Editor) interview

[sagi58]

I understand that Woolf doesn't expect any problems; but, I just watched the post-race press conference.
Honestly, I think there is definitely a possibility that issues will arise, as the season progresses.

Don't get me wrong, I agree that Hamilton does not owe Rosberg anything and that he was controlling
his own race and not his teammate's. Obviously, Rosberg does not agree. You can feel the tension
between the two Mercedes drivers. Vettel looks like he's waiting for a bomb to go off!!

[youtube]/iIr_lW579gc[/youtube]

What 's strange is that it seems that Hamilton wasn't pushing the car to its limits, as he did in Australia.
Is that because he was worried about his tires? There didn't seem to be any mention of that, during the
race nor has there been anything written about that possibility.

So... is Rosberg justified in having this suspicions? What will happen at Mercedes IF (and, that's a BIG IF)
Vettel makes life difficult for Hamilton, this season? How does Mercedes go to Rosberg and expect him to
be a team player, when Hamilton's comments clearly showed that he isn't where Rosberg is concerned?

[sagi58]

Laurence Edmondson wrote:">Mercedes explains brake-by-wire failures on both cars

Set-up changes to the cars of Lewis Hamilton and Nico Rosberg aimed at making the Mercedes competitive against Ferrari contributed to the brake problems both cars faced at the end of Sunday's Bahrain Grand Prix.

Rosberg lost second place to Kimi Raikkonen at the start of the penultimate lap after his brake-by-wire failed on the entrance to Turn 1. Rosberg outbraked himself and lost the position, putting an end to the chances of Mercedes taking a one-two.

"We saw it in Nico's system all race from lap one but it finally went wrong on the third last lap, so that's why he went long because the brake-by-wire system converted from active to passive where it's no longer a powered system," Mercedes technical boss Paddy Lowe explained. "Which is fine, you still have brakes, but it takes a bit of getting used to."

Hamilton's issue came under braking for turn one on the final lap and Lowe confirmed it too was a brake-by-wire failure, although not as detrimental to his race.

"I think my brakes just got a bit warm when I was behind a few backmarkers", Hamilton said. When you're behind them there's no cool air coming into the brakes, so they got a bit warm. But it wasn't really a problem."

Mercedes boss Toto Wolff explained that set-up changes were made between Friday and Saturday after long runs in practice showed that Ferrari had an advantage on the tyres. The changes then put extra strain on the brakes resulting in the failures.

"It is set-up issues and we knew the changes we made on the car were compromising a little bit the brake temperatures. We knew what we were doing. But then it was a hard race with lots of overtaking, especially in Nico's side, and then both cars struggled to make it through the backmarkers at the end of the race. The minute you follow another car or a couple of cars, the airstream collapses and this is why it made the brakes go.

"It is never one single solution, so you try to tackle the problem that we had on the Friday and the Saturday afternoon with a couple of adjustments. One of them was linked to the capability of brake wear, so in hindsight and knowing that this caused a problem and nearly cost us the race and P2 we will probably look at things again and do things differently in the future."

Wolff admitted the Hamilton issue surprised the team as they were focused on Rosberg.

"The interesting thing is that we were discussing the car overall and the issues we had and monitoring Raikkonen catching up, so on Nico's car the brake failure didn't come as a surprise as we saw the higher temperatures. On Lewis's car it was a bit more of a surprise and must have been linked to the fact that he gave it a gentle push seeing Kimi come and making his way through backmarker traffic.

"Lewis's came after the heavy braking on the long straight into the last lap. So he had the full last lap without any brake-by-wire."

[sagi58]

I like Lauda's style!! He doesn't pull his punches!!

Lawrence Barretto wrote:">F1: Hamilton and Rosberg right to be selfish, says Niki Lauda

Mercedes non-­executive chairman Niki Lauda says Lewis Hamilton and Nico Rosberg are right to take a selfish approach to racing against each other in Formula 1.

There was tension in the Chinese Grand Prix post-­race press conference when Hamilton said he was focused on his own race and unconcerned about his team-­mate's.

That led Rosberg to accuse Hamilton of deliberately trying to back him up into Sebastian Vettel's Ferrari.

Lauda says he has no problem with the way Hamilton chose to drive to secure victory.

"Sure, he [Hamilton] will drive selfish," said Lauda. "These guys...I call them egocentric bar stewards, let's say.

"And this is the only way to win a championship. It's the oldest thing."
Lewis Hamilton, Mercedes, Chinese GP 2015, Shanghai
Mercedes boss Toto Wolff said on Sunday night that tensions between the pair have now cooled but while Lauda agrees things will ease, he admits there may be more upsets in the future.

"Nico does the same to Lewis and Lewis the same to Nico if the s*** hits the fan," he said.

"I fully agree, this is the way it is. Therefore we race.

"There is no friendship out there. When you race you have to fight, that's it.

"When you are upset, you make statements, but in the end they will all cool down, go to Bahrain and start all over again -­ the same fight."

[sagi58]

Woolf knows how to play the political game; but, who wouldn't want to be in Mercedes' shoes?

 wrote:">Lewis Hamilton urges Mercedes not to provide Red Bull engines

Double Formula One world champion Lewis Hamilton has warned his employers Mercedes that it would be a mistake to supply rivals Red Bull with engines if that team's partnership with Renault comes to an end.

The possibility has been mooted should Renault withdraw from the sport or acquire Lotus as their favoured works team.

The French manufacturer is currently assessing its options, with a decision expected soon...

...Mercedes motorsport head Toto Wolff was more pragmatic.

"From a team perspective you have to have a no-prisoners approach and look in an opportunistic approach," said the Austrian. "But it's also a matter of what we can do to make F1 function."...

[overboost]

So even Mercedes is citing the exorbitant V6 hybrid engine costs to explain their losses! These engines are killing F1!

Mercedes F1 have posted a loss of £76.9million for the 2014 financial year, despite winning both the Drivers' and the Constructors' Championships.

The Brackley-based team reported a substantial increase in revenue, but an even greater rise in cost means that the team walks away with significant losses, although they are "within the pre-defined parameters set by the shareholders."

Mercedes' revenue, which primarily comes from sponsorship and prize money, increased from £125.2m in 2013 to £146.9m in 2014, while their operating costs rose from £190.7m to £240.2m, a figure put down to the high costs of the hybrid V6 rule changes.

http://planetf1.com/news/merc-lose-mill ... e-triumph/

[sagi58]

It must be Ferrari's fault... no?

[darwin dali]

Toto Wolff's bitches:

ESPNF1:
[...]Mercedes boss Wolff has no problem with Hamilton questioning the team's strategy during the heat of a grand prix.

"The driver in the car being emotional is understandable," Wolff said. "We hired guard dogs and we don't want to have any puppies - and we want them to be guard dogs. Sometimes it is a bit more intense but it is okay."[...]

[sagi58]

Toto Wolff's bitches...

Beautiful set up, eh?

[darwin dali]

ESPNF1:

Toto Wolff says Mercedes will be forced to consider whether Lewis Hamilton and Nico Rosberg is the "best set-up" for the team going forward if tensions between the pair continue.

Mercedes enjoyed a record-breaking season, with 16 wins and 18 pole positions, but Wolff believes the fraught relationship between Hamilton and Rosberg has become the team's "biggest weakness". Over the course of the final two months of the season, anger from Rosberg about his team-mate's aggressive driving was followed by public frustration from Hamilton about the team's inflexibility over race strategy.

Wolff says constantly having to appease one driver after a race is not something he wants to still be doing next year.

"We struggle sometimes in winning races on Sunday and having always one [driver] upset," Wolff told Motorsport.com. "And this spills over into the team. It is something that needs to stop.

"I think it is important to have talented and fast drivers in the car. But we want to work with nice guys."

In the closing stages of the Abu Dhabi Grand Prix, there appeared to be disagreements over the radio between Hamilton and the pit wall, with race engineer Peter Bonnington telling the world champion "that's an order" in relation to a change in engine modes late in the grand prix. Mercedes has always let Hamilton and Rosberg race one another but Wolff admits a change of thinking might be required if things do not change next year.

"We took the decision of having two evenly matched drivers in order to make the team progress faster and better. It was a very conscious decision three years ago. Going forward, we will consider if it is the best set-up for the team. Personality and character within the team is a crucial ingredient for the team success.

"If we feel that it is not aligned with the general consensus, spirit and philosophy within the team, we might consider that when we take a decision, in terms of the driver line-up going forward."

Earlier in the year, Hamilton said Mercedes was going to special lengths to keep Rosberg happy after he suffered a run of reliability issues and lost the title with a mistake in Austin. Wolff suggests lots has happened this year away from the public eye and thinks tension between Hamilton and Rosberg has spilled over to affect relationships either man has with some members of the team.

"There is lots going on behind closed doors. I feel that the team is stronger than ever. We are having huge unity within the team, but the difficult relationship of the drivers is one of our weaknesses. And that is not good.

"If I were to analyse what are the biggest strengths and the biggest weakness of the team, I would say the biggest strength is the quality and the characters of the personalities within the team. The biggest weakness is the dynamic of the relationship between the drivers -- and sometimes between the drivers and the team."

Earlier this year Hamilton signed a new deal to keep him at Mercedes until 2018. Last July Mercedes gave Rosberg a "multi-year" contract extension which is believed to run until the end of 2016.


Are we going to see some action on the driver market over the winter?

[sagi58]

I guess Wolff realizes it's not all fun and games if, as the guy in charge,
you don't take the reins, from the word "go"!!

[sagi58]

It would seem that Hamilton does not agree with Wolff's take on the dynamics between his drivers:

Nate Saunders wrote:">Lewis Hamilton: Nico Rosberg relationship 'isn't causing any problems'

Lewis Hamilton insists his relationship with Nico Rosberg "isn't really causing any problems" at Mercedes following Toto Wolff's threat of a driver line-up change in future.

Hamilton and Mercedes completed back-to-back title triumphs this season but it was a campaign overshadowed at the end by barbed comments between the world champion and Rosberg. This week Mercedes boss Wolff said the team would have to consider replacing either driver in if the pair's poor relationship, which he called Mercedes' "biggest weakness", continued into next season.

Wolff went on to say about the in-house rivalry: "And this spills over into the team. It is something that needs to stop."

However, Hamilton thinks the negative side of his relationship with Rosberg has been blown out of proportion since the start of 2014.

"It is kind of crazy and they shouldn't really call us team-mates as such," Hamilton told BBC Radio Five Live. "The problem is there are two championships, [while] in football there is one championship. For us there is the constructors' championship and that is what they hire us and pay us to do, but individually we want to win the championship. So it is difficult.

"But this side [team-mate tension] is always blown out of proportion. We have had 16 one-two's, so our relationship isn't really causing any problems. It is not like he has been distracted and not finished high up or vice versa, so I think ultimately it is easy for people to take things for granted. We have both done a great job.

"We have not caused any problems, and the energy within the team is as high as it is ever going to be. And that is because we do what we do, and how we do it. We are never going to be best friends but somehow we make it work. There are tension moments...but that is the same in any kind of sport I imagine."

However, Hamilton used the same interview to have a dig at his team-mate, who he has previously claimed Mercedes has been "extra warm" to in order to placate his frustrations at finishing second in the championship for the second year in a row.

"You've seen he complains about a lot of things. But you kind of let it go over your head because that's just the way he is. It's kind of the different background we come from, I guess."

[sagi58]

Nate Saunders wrote:">Lewis Hamilton: Nico Rosberg relationship 'isn't causing any problems'

...Hamilton used the same interview to have a dig at his team-mate, who he has previously claimed Mercedes has been "extra warm" to in order to placate his frustrations at finishing second in the championship for the second year in a row.

"You've seen he complains about a lot of things. But you kind of let it go over your head because that's just the way he is. It's kind of the different background we come from, I guess."

If I'm Rosberg, I'm not going to appreciate the constant barbs about my lot in life.
Especially not coming from Hamilton who had a lot of support from McLaren at a very young age.
In fact, I would imagine that Rosberg may have had to work just as hard as Hamilton, if not harder,
to prove he deserved to walk in his father's footsteps in F1!!