In 11 days of pre-season testing, Mercedes GP's W02 has proven to be one of the most inconsistent 2011 challengers.The car has shown signs of pace with Nico Rosberg setting the second fastest time at the recent Barcelona test while Auto Moto und Sport claims Merc GP had the "number one top speed" at the Spanish track.
The drivers, though, have struggled to put in consistent lap times, prompting rivals to suggest that Mercedes GP are lagging behind the likes of Red Bull, Ferrari and McLaren.
"It's a fair statement," was Brawn's response when asked by his team's official website whether he is worried that they are behind their rivals.
"We are well aware of the pace of our current car, the distance to the current frontrunners and the reasons for this, which include the compromises brought about by our cooling issues.
"Our intention was always to launch the car in a fairly basic specification to allow more time to focus on the upgrade package. This inevitably means that we look further off the pace than people might expect.
"Knowing all of the facts, I am comfortable with our current position and the developments that we have to come."
Brawn added that the solution the team came up with to the cooling problem had a negative impact on their current car's pace. However, he fully expects the situation to be resolved when they introduce their updated package.
"The biggest challenge for us so far has been a cooling problem.
"The short-term modifications that we made to the launch-specification car cost a reasonable amount of performance.
"The solution has been incorporated into the bodywork design for our upgrade package and will recover that performance before the first race."
As for the W02's reliability, which has caused a few frustrating moments for Brawn and his drivers, he said: "You naturally expect to experience faults with a new car and fortunately we've had relatively few of a 'car-stopping' nature so the impact on our programme has not been significant.
"Our mileage has been good, we've covered 4,300kms over the three tests to date and, of course, the more mileage you can achieve, the more opportunities there are to identify any issues and resolve them before the season gets underway."
Source: Planet-F1
