Brawn reveals: Merc W02 is running hot

Mercedes GP team boss Ross Brawn has revealed that a "cooling problem" has hampered his team's progress in pre-season testing

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

Brawn denies 2011 machine will be tailored for Schumacher

Ross Brawn has denied reports that Mercedes will tailor its 2011 car around the driving style of Michael Schumacher.

Schumacher has endured a torrid time on his return to Formula One, the seven time world champion regularly being outqualified and outraced by young team-mate Nico Rosberg.

"We are not building a car around Michael; we just want to develop a good car," Brawn is quoted by the SID news agency. "There is no special characteristic."

Many have put the reason for his performances down to the fact that this year's machine was designed essentially for Jenson Button's preference for understeer, with Schumacher preferring a pointier front end. But Schumacher has denied this is the case.

"I cannot remember a car that was designed to a specific style of driving," said Schumacher. "The only thing is a continuous development with the drivers, which can go in certain directions. But first of all it's about making the car as fast and as efficient as possible."

Brawn also suggested that the competitiveness of next year's car will have a lot to do with "how good the Pirelli tyre is".

Schumacher's spokeswoman Sabine Kehm also hit back at suggestions made on the BBC by Eddie Jordan that he thought the German may retire at the end of the season.

"Michael has no plans to quit at the end of the year," said Kehm. "When he entered into the whole comeback scenario, he was fully informed about the situation with the car. That's why he chose it to be a three year contract -- you cannot expect to come back and win straight away in that situation.

"Obviously he would have wished that the developments to the car improved its performance more than they did. But it is a three year project to build a winning team and he is in the middle of the process."

Source: ESPNF1

Schu staying put as Mercedes looks towards 2011

Michael Schumacher looks set to stay at Mercedes in 2011.

The famous German, who initially retired in 2006, is believed to have signed a three-year contract prior to returning to formula one this season.

But after a difficult re-acclimatisation, it had been widely speculated that the 41-year-old might prefer to step back out of the race cockpit at the end of 2010.

Boss Ross Brawn said in Turkey that he hopes both Schumacher and Nico Rosberg stay at the team in 2011.

Schumacher's younger brother Ralf also thinks the seven time world champion is staying put.

"I think he's pretty happy with what he's doing and, as far as I know, it's a three-year plan, so I'm sure we'll see him around for a while," he told 422race.com.

And Schumacher himself is quoted as saying on Thursday: "For me this is not a one-year project."

That commitment might lead to Mercedes eventually calling off development of the silver MGP-01 in order to concentrate early on its 2011 successor.

"By mid-season, we must look to put the F-duct in and catch up to the top," Brawn added. "If it is worthwhile to keep attacking then we will do it, if not we will concentrate everything on 2011."
The Briton told Italy's Autosprint magazine that he still thinks the pacesetting Red Bull cars are still within reach.

"Some aspects of their car is different from all the others," he explained. "Other teams will introduce these elements in the next races.

"I know that everyone is looking with great interest at their exhaust system," said Brawn.

Source: F1 Complete

Rosberg apologises to Schu after block

Michael Schumacher accepted an apology from his Mercedes teammate Nico Rosberg in the hours after qualifying at Monaco.

After the seven time world champion told reporters he had been blocked in Q3 by the younger German, Rosberg later said: "I apologised because I realised that it wasn't ideal."

The Brackley based team also took a portion of the blame, admitting that the radio and GPS systems have not been working well in the Principality.

Boss Ross Brawn conceded that Schumacher, who has been outqualified by Rosberg at every grand prix venue this year except Barcelona a week ago, was initially "annoyed" about the incident.

"But when I explained to him what happened he was ok, just frustrated," said the Briton.

And he said it was a mistake to have the two W01 cars circulating nose-to-tail, following a problem getting "Nico's car out of the garage".

"We cocked up," admitted Brawn.

Source: F1 Complete

Brawn: Rosberg will soon win in F1

Mercedes GP team principal Ross Brawn says he feels it won't be long before Nico Rosberg is able to take to the top of the F1 podium.

Rosberg has secured top three finishes so far this season to sit second in the championship standings after four races, ten points behind defending champion Jenson Button ahead of next weekends Spanish Grand Prix in Barcelona.

That race will see Mercedes introduce a series of improvements to the W01 and while he admitted that he was disappointed that Rosberg hadn't been able to win in China, Brawn said that he felt the German would soon be on top of the podium.

"We've not had a fantastic start but we are still in there because no-one else is really dominating either," told Reuters. "There is still plenty of opportunity.

"I was frustrated at the in China because Nico could have won that race. He made one mistake in very difficult circumstances.

"He's very close to winning a race, just needs things to fall into place...but that will come.”

Source: Crash

Button left team to prove critics wrong - Brawn

Jenson Button left F1's Brackley based team to prove to his critics that he is a worthy world champion, according to Ross Brawn.

When Button, 30, announced as the new champion that he was leaving Brawn to seek a new challenge in 2010 alongside Lewis Hamilton at McLaren, that explanation was not universally believed.

At the time the Briton apparently made his decision, Nico Rosberg was already under contract for 2010 and rumours were building that Michael Schumacher was set to launch a full return to Formula One to drive Mercedes' new works car.

Paddock rumours are still rife that Button's "new challenge" reason was a cover-story for Brawn effectively ousting the new reigning world champion.

But Brawn said on Monday: "I was disappointed Jenson left.

"He felt people were of the opinion he only won the world championship because he had the best car. So he left us to show them he could do it again elsewhere," he told The Sun.

"He also wanted to prove himself at McLaren against the guy who is probably the fastest and most naturally talented in motor racing -- Lewis Hamilton," continued Brawn.

"He's set himself a massive challenge and he is doing very well so far."

Brawn insists that the split did not affect his off-track friendship with Button, who is currently leading the world championship after winning two of the opening four races.

"We are still friends. We were on the same flight back from Malaysia and we had a good chat.

"Jenson was a fabulous member of our team last year but now he is the history and we have to beat him," added Brawn.

Source: Motorsport

[Video]: Schumacher talks about wanting the title in 2010

Source: F1 Videos