Are you sure? I never heard anything that Nico does like oversteering cars. In fact he had an understeering car from his Williams period, especially 2008.

But in 2009, most of cars were tend to oversteer. These characters of cars are determined by then regulations. I remeberd Nico admited he prefers car set-up between neutral to oversteer.

Now on the other hand, BILD talks about a possible step of 1,5(!) sec with the new package.
You see, gossip...

From Bild : "New car in Bahrain: In the desert is a totally new silver arrows are at the start Unlike top teams like McLaren Mercedes is building a completely new aerodynamics. Which will make the car quicker up to 1.5 seconds per lap. Schumi saving up to 20 kilos of fuel-ballast because Mercedes engine."
I don't have problem with this.
From F1technical forum: My man close to MGP told me that there was a crash test done last friday.
It concerned the sidepods so it´s likely we´ll see a bit of a different shape at Manama. There´s also a straight line test on the way for tomorrow before the car goes on the way to Bahrain.
Rumours,rumours. What car they really drive on this tests?

That sounds good to me

Dream on!

Unless they were testing diffrent car just for fun...

kubica fans getting sensitive

I think they will have big upgrades, but I think someone is getting carried away, if they are bringing an entirely new car without any testing they're very brave and confident

Really? Why? And where? Because I don't see it.

It´s really getting crazy now with all those rumours and numbers around the car.
Tbh I believe they found an more or less serious issue with the car (likely a balance/ weight distribution thing) and they´re now trying to get it right as good as possible for Bahrain.
A bit like BMW in 08.

It's pretty chilly here at the moment.. raining too.. Dubai is in floods.

rain race in Bahrain maybe?

This has been the plan since before testing started. Ross Brawn said testing would see their inbetween car, and then the final race package would be at Bahrain. This isn't because the car was fundamentally bad or anything like that, it was the plan from the get-go.

Well if they are coming up with a different DD, then it stands to reason that the car's aerodynamics will be altered as well. They must have been real behind to be doing all these so late or the car they had was not really that good compared to the opposition so Mercedes ordered a new car. If this is the case, a gain of more than 1 sec is feasible.

Wont surprise me one bit.

From experience, how reliable is Bild?

Bit of a risk though going to the first GP with a completely new car thats done no testing.

Take the updated McLaren even after two days testing the say they still have a lot to learn about it.

The new car may or may not work as desired at Bahrain. In either case, they may decide to take the risk and use that GP as a test track. They will also have 2 cars to test with.
Needless to say the other teams would be doing the same too on top of racing for points.

So they designed and built new car in just one month? They develoment rate must be measuerd in light years!

P.S. Sorry if I'm sarcastic, but I really can't see it.

At least everyone has had ample time in the wet this year to practice, with the el nino going on I wonder if we will see more wet races anyway. I love wet races, and so does Vettel, Schumacher, Alesi (but only on slicks), Hamilton, etc. Could be an interesting season if we get a good amount of wet races, teams might gamble with fuel loads even.

Rate can't be measured in light years which is a measure of distance.

You are right, my bad. But I hoe you got my point.

And I hope you also get the point that by saying the Mercedes will be like a new car does NOT mean that literally right from the chassis. It means that the aero package will be substantially updated and hence it will almost be like driving a different car.

It does not mean testing done in February was just for kicks. The new package is an evolution and will be bolted onto the current interim car. Hope you understand what interim means. Its not that you throw away the interim and introduce a brand new car.

Its funny how people choose to take things literally when it suits them and spend enough time to rationally interpret what is said when that suits them.

A new aero package that will give them 1.5 seconds? Lol
Only if the package fitted now is made to be inefficient.
1.5 seconds was the difference between the Brawns and STR in 2009 for gods sake!

Ross Brawn: "We have an update for Bahrain. We decided not to bring it to Barcelona but leave it until the last moment. We've learnt to assess and run pieces without testing them. It's crucial when you have seasons without testing, as you have to bring upgrades to races during the year.

"In Barcelona we had little bits and pieces, but the major upgrade will be introduced in Bahrain."

I am confident this update will propel the team to the front to fight for wins ;)

i hope they surprise everyone !!!

in tests they were sandbagging like Mclaren...

but there are some rumours that (ex Campos-Dallara) Hispania car will be even slightly faster tnan new MGP around 0.2 seconds per lap at Manama

I would be extremely happy with a Mercedes that is fighting for a win !!! But I'm just keeping my hopes in check lest to get disappointed later. As of now, I'm just going to enjoy the return of DA Michael !!!

What did that Bild article mean with this?
"Schumi saving up to 20 kilos of fuel-ballast because Mercedes engine."

Also, when is this straightline test?

maybe he will use Mercedes V6 instead of V8

Bild seems to be Mercedes GP's unofficial news outlet:
http://www.mercedes-gp.com/newsread.asp?mgp=j%BA%A5%99lV%7B

Or maybe he ran with no less than 20kgs of fuel?

Maybe BILD will be new sponsor for the team? There was rumours for new big sponsor. About 20kg. I think they mean,that they have to carry 20kg. less than Ferrari maybe. "This is Mercedes strength" - "Und da ist der Mercedes Spitze. Pro Rennen spart Schumi so bis zu 20 Kilo an Benzin-Ballast". I read from two sources about straight line test, it is for today and even maybe in this moment, because I also read the F1 cars have to be on the plane for Bahrain today also. Test was on some place starting with R. Don't remember the name because was not important for me.

But it's quicker, innit?...

Well there are two possible scenarios..

They wanted to run the new package in testing but ran out of time, or, they didn't want to show the other teams the package to give them time to come up with their own before the first race.

While BILD is a tabloid, their sport section has been quite reliable...i asked all of my German friends to confirm this

That must be it! It's horrible news!

I've been searching for quite some time who might be the new sponsor. It was said to be some big German company who had not been involved in F1 before.
From this list (http://de.wikipedia.org/wiki/Liste_der_gr%C3%B6%C3%9Ften_Unternehmen_in_Deutschland) many have been involved in F1 already in the past: Post, Daimler (of course), Siemens, Bosch, Continental, Infineon, and so on. We can eclude all other car manufacturers. Furthermore there are groups of companies where I don't see any use in sponsoring F1 (all the discounters such as ALDI), where the current financial situation would seem to disallow sponsoring F1 (Lufthansa, all the banks - Hype Real Estate, anybody? - and insurances, Metro, even the Deutsche Bahn has other problems) or where it would be very hard to see any interest in becoming main sponsor in F1 (all the pharmaceutical and chemical groups, there are quite a lot).
Axel Springer, however, is on spot 48 on that list and Bild-Schumi is quite an obvious thing. RTL viewers generally should fall into the category of people who buy BILD.
Unless, of course, the sponser comes from a domain that is closer to F1's tech image, such as telecommunication or something with computers. SAP might work. I cannot really see others, if the 2 criteria (big and not involved in F1 before) are true.

About the 20kgs, let's not forget that McLaren also profits from that engine. And Renault's only advantage last year was its fuel efficiency. So most probably the 20 kg (probably even exaggerated) are to be seen in reference to Ferrari only.

I was being unfairly pedantic. Apologies.

if the Bild story is true, then holy f**k

The whole optimism here is quite in contrast to a Brawn interview yesterday (I do not have the original source): "The car is not consistent. This is a bit frustrating.", "We had to work with 450 instead of 700 people.".

http://www.motorsport-total.com/f1/news/20...r_10030221.html

I was actually surprised that Brawn mentioned consistency as a problem, which was a strength of the Brawn's last year. I hope they do not lack qualy pace and consistency. Fortunately, we will find out soon.

Orignal source: http://www.formula1.com/news/interviews/2010/3/10481.html

My opinion on that: I read somewhere (James Allen?) that the problem of the Mercedes was his weight distribution and that it has too much of front weight bias which is a leftover from last year when you needed that. I think this is less of a problem when the car is on full fuel because the centre of gravity moves backwards as the fuel tank is closer to the rear axle. But the less fuel the car has left the worse that problem becomes.

I am still not clear about which of the attributes are those which are suppose to slow MS down?

1. Motivation? He has it back, says Ross, and the decision to race again is testimony to that.
2. Physical strengh? We are told that he is matching 25 years old.
3. Stamina? Maybe later in the season? I am not sure.
4. Reflexes? The same, no change.
5. Experience. More than sufficient to cope with new technology. I give him two races to find a sweet spot.
6. Mental stability: perfect; he leads balanced life style, secured, no problems (we know about anyway).
7. Peripheral vision? Maybe...?

What did I forget?

interim-car ?

Why Mercedes didn't test a new fw in Barcelona? Their fw is the same Brawn used in the last races of 09.

They tested new version of fw, but there will be newer one, because somebody say they was not happy with changes.

They had tested a slightly new front wing in Barcelona but were not satisfied with the results. Another new will be introduced in Bahrain.

oh a bit too late for the answer.

Mercedes already showed decent pace in Barcelona, with this Bahrain's updates they can surprise a lot of people.

Michael defends the MGP tactic in the AMuS.
He says it was planned like that from the beginning. Of course one could say that it would be better to have everything together by the last test but they would lose 2 weeks of development time with that approach.
The team had to decide if they wanted maximum performance with small risks or a risk free path with some doubts behind the speed.

http://www.auto-motor-und-sport.de/formel-...in-1769051.html

There appears to be a weight distribution issue that affects handling as the fuel load drops. Its not consistent in that respect. But Scarbs did a great article on weight distribution and how it shouldn't be a massive problem to correct.

Scarbs did an article on it and said that the weight distribution could only be off by a few percent which would be easily rectified through ballast. Mercedes will have to figure out though where best to place the ballast over a long stint as the weight distribution changes. But ideally you would want the parts of the car to give a natural weight distribution rather than adding ballast around the rear of the car.

lets face it other than the name mercedes mgp is not of the same order as a ferrari or mac

they simply have neithr the personnel or resources to develop 2 cars simultaneously or develop new parts as quickly as the 2 big teams can muster

this will be an ongoing problem throughout the season as it was sort of evident towards the end that brawn was steadily being caught/surpassed by he others

As I remember second half of the last year for Brawn GP, there was problems for one of the drivers, other was doing well. Imagine Schumi driving for Brawn GP, which race he could become a Champion?