F1 2013 Testing: Week 1 Jerez

Its not just about who's fastest this year for Hamilton, its a long term thing. He lost his allies at McLaren and it was no longer his team. At Mercedes he has the chance to build a team around him in the way Schumacher did at Ferrari, Alonso did at Renault and has done again at Ferrari, and Vettel at Red Bull. If he can do that and they deliver him a race winning car he will be unstoppable. Its something he would never be able to achieve at McLaren with Witmarsh at the helm and Button alongside him.

Saying his move was stupid based just on relative pace to McLaren this year is somewhat missing the point.

If he isn't WDC again within 3 years then he will need to rethink, but I think he needs that 3 years. So does he, as he's in a 3 year deal. 1 hour and 11 laps into 2013 is a bit early to call it though, dontcha think :)
 
Jono8 said:
The speed must be in that Mercedes somewhere. Rosberg was dominant in China and they were quite handy in Monaco as well (Rosberg finished second, Schumi pole (time wise anyway))
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you could say the same thing about many other midfield teams last season though so I wouldn't read into a couple of one offs.
the ingredients have been there for the last 2 seasons but the magic never happened and i'm far from convinced mercedes have turned a corner.

the very first merc season was probably the one where they were closest to the top teams in relative performance terms

hamilton joined them though so they are getting loads of british hype and high expectations wether they can live upto this only time will tell
 
arknor said:
you could say the same thing about many other midfield teams last season though so I wouldn't read into a couple of one offs.
the ingredients have been there for the last 2 seasons but the magic never happened and i'm far from convinced mercedes have turned a corner.

the very first merc season was probably the one where they were closest to the top teams in relative performance terms

hamilton joined them though so they are getting loads of british hype and high expectations wether they can live upto this only time will tell
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The double DRS was being full flexed and utilised in China last year wasn't it?
 
I don't think anyone, including Hamilton, has high expectation of Mercedes this year.

It will be interesting to hear his thoughts on the car tomorrow, as he has zero experience of previous Mercs to compare it against.
 
I think we can all guess his thoughts will be all nice and lovely no matter what.

Then again it is Lewis so maybe he might tweet his own feelings rather than what he is told to say :D
 
The double DRS was being full flexed and utilised in China last year wasn't it?
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it did nothing in the races unless they were over taking another car in a DRS zone and if you didn't notice they stopped using the DDRS entirely
 
This is a genuine question - but surely people were saying at the end of 2009 that Lewis should have won at least one more championship in the next three years?

Of course in one sense 2013 is a right off anyway, its the final year of the engine regs moving to a team that was essentially mid-grid for most of the previous 2 - 3 seasons. Its all about getting into the right place for 2014 in a factory team and fair play to him for that.

Its also the case that imo a factory team hasnt won the championship for a good number of years - none of the last 4 World Champs have won in a factory backed car (admittedly its debatable with McLaren's strong links with Merc back in 08, and even Renault/Infiniti with RBR currently), but a factory backed seat isnt the be-all and end all it once was, will this change hugely because of the new engines? It could do without doubt, but its not definite by any means.

(after all look how Brawn managed to win the title with effectively a last minute change to Merc that didnt even fit correctly - admittedly with a big help from the DD, but even after most cars had a DD teh Brawn was a good car with no cash to develop it further)
 
Hamilton should have won more Championships than he has. Maybe thats part of the reason he decided to leave McLaren. Sometimes you need a change to give you a new lease of life, spur you on a bit, give you that focus back.
 
Good first day of testing. Nothing can really be gained from assessing today though.

I'm interested in the Sauber design, purely because they've broken the mould and gone with narrower sidepods. Does this mean they're sacrificing cooling in return for greater straight line and other aero performance? At least it is something a little different to look at - maybe they've half a nod to 2014 and the lower cooling requirements.

I'm toying with the idea of popping over to Barcelona in a fortnight for a couple of days of testing. Is it still about 10 Euro to get in?
 
The_Abyss said:
I'm interested in the Sauber design, purely because they've broken the mould and gone with narrower sidepods. Does this mean they're sacrificing cooling in return for greater straight line and other aero performance? At least it is something a little different to look at - maybe they've half a nod to 2014 and the lower cooling requirements.
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Force India have very small side pod intakes as well - http://cdn.f1zone.net/news/wp-content/gallery/force-india-vjm06-launch/force-india-vjm06-02.jpg which was surprising as that engine is well known for being hotter than the Renault or Ferrari units.
 
The_Abyss said:
Does this mean they're sacrificing cooling in return for greater straight line and other aero performance?
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That seems to be the thinking coming from those reporting at the track. Theres some other cooling ducts channelling air to the rear, fuelling suggestions that some of the 'stuff' that used to sit in the side pods has been moved to allow them to be reduced in size.
 
I've actually gone back and looked at the launch pics of the cars, as I'd completely missed how small those Sauber side pods are! The gap between the upright turning vain and the side pod is huge! While on all other cars they are almost in line.
 
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