The Mercedes GP team officially launched its new MGP W02 chassis in the Valencia pitlane, ahead of the start of the official Formula One testing.
In the team’s first season as the factory Mercedes outfit, following the takeover of Brawn GP, the 2010 season was a disappointment for team boss Ross Brawn, race driver Nico Rosberg and the seven-time world champion Michael Schumacher.
Development work shifted from the W01 following a difficult 2010 campaign and all focus was spent on making the W02 a better car.
Notable features on the new W02 include changes to the airbox and sidepod plus, the higher nose that has been common on 2011 chassis so far.
The Silver Arrows livery has also received slight adjustments for the new season, with a larger amount of green colouring for title sponsor Petronas.
Nico Rosberg and Michael Schumacher will both get a chance to drive the car in the opening testing session at Valencia, with Schumacher keen to discover whether the W02 is better suited to his driving style compared to last year’s car.
Mercedes GP has a new sponsorship deal with Allianz for this season. Autosport.com has the details.
Car insurance firm and long-time Formula 1 sponsor Allianz will become a partner of the Mercedes GP team this year.
In addition to Allianz branding appearing on the Mercedes W02’s HANS systems and seatbelts, the two companies will work together on a global road safety programme.
Team boss Ross Brawn said: “We are delighted to welcome our new partner Allianz to the Mercedes GP Petronas Formula 1 team as we begin our pre-season testing programme.
“Allianz have been involved with Formula 1 for a number of years and have achieved excellent work in raising the profile of road safety through their marketing campaigns. Safety is absolutely fundamental in our sport and with every innovation that improves safety in Formula 1, there is the possibility of increasing road safety for drivers everywhere.”
Mercedes GP boss Ross Brawn is confident his team will enjoy a stronger 2011 season after a difficult campaign last year.
The team took both titles under the Brawn GP name in 2009, but failed to defend its crown last year, as its car did not prove strong enough to fight for races victories.
Mercedes finished a distant fourth in the standings.
Brawn, however, is optimistic the team will be able to make significant progress this year following the launch of the new car on Tuesday.
“It is always a thrill to see a new car ready to take the track for the first time and this year is no exception,” said Brawn. “After our first year as the Mercedes-Benz works team, we are now seeing the benefits of our chassis and engine groups working well together.
“With a good technical structure and a strengthened race engineering organisation, both at the factory and the race track, I am confident that we have done and will continue to do a better job this year in all key areas.
“We want to be setting the standard right from the start but if we are not, we will respond very strongly to get ourselves into the game. Everyone is excitedly waiting to see what the new season will reveal.”
Michael Schumacher is also upbeat ahead of the start of the season, the German confident that he will be able to fight closer to the top following a disappointing 2010.
“I very much look forward to the new season. We have said it several times already but again, we are really to building up something big together. I am very confident that this season we will be standing on the podium much more regularly; ideally in the middle!”
Team-mate Nico Rosberg echoed the seven-time champion’s thoughts, admitting he wants to fight for victories from the start.
“I am very much looking forward to having a much stronger season than last year and as always, our targets are aggressive,” Rosberg said.
“We want to be competing at the front and challenging for race wins. Everyone at our factories in Brackley and Brixworth has worked extremely hard on the new Silver Arrow and we are all looking forward to seeing how it performs.”
Source: Autosport.com
A confident-looking Mercedes GP launched their 2011 car in the Valencia pit lane on Tuesday. After their championship-winning success as Brawn in 2009, the team endured a hit and miss 2010 season and are now targeting a return to their winning ways with the new MGP W02, which will once again be driven by Nico Rosberg and seven-time world champion Michael Schumacher.
Despite their stellar line-up, Mercedes finished fourth in the 2010 standings, with less than half the points’ tally of champions Red Bull. After 12 months of intense design and development work, however, the team are hopeful their new challenger could see them back in front-running form.
“It is always a thrill to see a new car ready to take the track for the first time and this year is no exception,” said team principal Ross Brawn. “After our first year as the Mercedes-Benz works team, we are now seeing the benefits of our chassis group and our engine group working well together.
“With a good technical structure and a strengthened race engineering organisation, both at the factory and the race track, I am confident that we have done and will continue to do a better job this year in all key areas.
“The concept development for the MGP W02 started early and we have set challenging targets for the design, combined with a robust plan to ensure that the pace of development can continue throughout the long 2011 season. We want to be setting the standard right from the start but if we are not, we will respond very strongly to get ourselves into the game. Everyone is excitedly waiting to see what the new season will reveal.”
As well as Pirelli tyres, an adjustable rear wing, KERS and a striking, high-gloss airbrush effect livery, the MGP W02 features a raft of technical innovations and changes. And the aggressive approach taken by Mercedes’ engineers means the new car is almost unrecognisable from its 2010 forerunner.
“The new Silver Arrow for the 2011 season has little in common with its immediate predecessor,” explained Norbert Haug, vice-president of Mercedes-Benz Motorsport. “Our chassis engineers have taken a fairly ruthless approach and were determined to shave off every superfluous gram and millimetre.
“What emerged from this process is a compact and exquisitely shaped vehicle that introduces a host of sophisticated solutions and truly reflects the enormous dedication of its constructors. We have given it a brand new coat of paint, and we aim to see a smile on the faces of our hard-working drivers and team members that is as bright as our new silver livery.”
Of the team’s two drivers, it was Schumacher who struggled the most with their 2010 car, scoring just 72 of the team’s 214 points. The German, however, is optimistic about his targets for the season ahead.
“Finally the waiting is over and things get started,” he said. “Even if I have been involved and updated all winter on the developments, and even if I know the improvements are significant, it is still different to see the new car literally for the first time in front of you.
“You automatically build up this nice pre-start tension. I very much look forward to the new season. We have said it several times already but again, we are really to building up something big together. I am very confident that this season we will be standing on the podium much more regularly; ideally in the middle!”
Although his team mate Rosberg did manage to clinch three podiums during the course of 2010, the younger German wants much more from his second season with Mercedes.
“I am very much looking forward to having a much stronger season than last year and as always, our targets are aggressive,” he said. “We want to be competing at the front and challenging for race wins. Everyone at our factories in Brackley and Brixworth has worked extremely hard on the new Silver Arrow and we are all looking forward to seeing how it performs.”
The MGP W02 makes its on-track debut at the Spanish circuit on Tuesday, with both Rosberg and Schumacher expected to get a turn at the wheel.
Source: Formula1.com
Mercedes GP is planning to hire a reserve driver for the 2011 season, but has denied having approached Nico Hulkenberg for the role.
The team has been left without a reserve since Nick Heidfeld joined Pirelli – and then Sauber – during the 2010 season.
Mercedes motorsport boss Norbert Haug believes there is value in having a test driver, despite the lack of testing allowed.
“You can do a lot of simulator and a lot of work in the simulator,” said Haug during the launch of the new Mercedes at Valencia.
“You can probably do a shakedown or whatever, but really testing on the circuit is absolutely limited to the minimum as you all know but you have to have – a better expression is a reserve driver.
“So should you be in a position to score good points when one of your drivers is not capable of driving the car, you should have somebody who can jump into the car and do a decent job.
“We are working on it and I think we will have a reserve driver.”
Haug denied, however, speculation that the team has been in talks with Force India reserve Hulkenberg.
“We are in contact and have ideas for a third driver but currently there is no contact to Nico Hulkenberg in that respect. But I am sure that he improved last year, and if you win GP2 and if you put a car on pole you have the right ingredients but we are not negotiating with him.
“He is contracted to Force India to my knowledge. He is a guy who did a good job who was improving last year but we have no contacts these days.”
Source: Autosport.com
After a disappointing 2010 campaign Michael Schumacher is determined to do a better job with Mercedes GP this season. Autosport.com has the details.
Michael Schumacher is being tipped to deliver a much better season for Mercedes GP in 2011 – following the difficulties he faced during his Formula 1 comeback campaign last year.
That is the view of Mercedes-Benz motorsport boss Norbert Haug, who believes that improvements to the team’s car, plus progress from Schumacher himself, will ensure positive progress during the year ahead.
“He will have a better year when our car is competitive and I think we have every reason to believe that we have a car that will be a good step forward compared to last year,” said Haug after his team unveiled its new W02 at Valencia on Tuesday.
“We have every reason to believe that we have a car that will be a good step forward compared to last year. The guys have worked very hard and did an exceptional job.”
Haug reckons, however, that the only way Mercedes GP and Schumacher will be able to manage expectations surrounding the team will be to deliver hard results on track.
“I think you cannot manage the expectation,” he said. “The only way to manage it is to get the results.
“If you look at last year’s 19 races and, if you look at various practice sessions, qualifying and the race, all in all there were 95 opportunities, practice 1, practice 2, practice 3, qualifying and race speed. If you calculate, it was something like Nico – he was probably 60 times quicker and Michael was around 30 times quicker.
“But, of course, the results count at the end. And it is fair to say that Michael needed to adapt again.
“It was a different F1 than he was used to before, with different tyres, but there were improvements and I think there were some highlights. In Barcelona [for example], it was the fifth race and he was ahead of the reigning champion [Jenson] Button, and that is not bad for a start.
“Of course, all in all, things did not fit together in the right way. But managing expectation is only possible with delivering results. You cannot continue to explain and explain. We don’t want to use excuses, but the results are what counts.”
Haug also praised the form of Schumacher’s team-mate Nico Rosberg, who he reckoned proved throughout 2010 – and will show again this year – that he is one of the best F1 drivers.
“We do not know how good Nico is at the end of the day, until we supply a winning car to our drivers.
“But Nico really extracted what was extractable from our car in most of the occasions. You cannot do that at each and every race, but I think he did an excellent job. He looks to be one of the best drivers around these days.”