Mercedes GP

Formula 1 Team reports for the 2010 F1 season includes race previews, reports and reviews

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Post by Ed » Fri May 07, 2010 1:42 pm

2010 CHINESE GRAND PRIX
SHANGHAI
16 APRIL

PRACTICE

Round four of the 2010 Formula One calendar takes place this weekend in China with the first of the practice sessions getting underway today at the Shanghai International Circuit.

The MERCEDES GP PETRONAS pair of Michael Schumacher and Nico Rosberg finished the morning session in second and fourth places having focused on developing the mechanical and aerodynamic set-up of their MGP W01 cars.

The afternoon session saw further work on set-up and a tyre programme with the soft and hard compounds in use at Shanghai this weekend. Nico and Michael again finished the session in second and fourth positions having completed 39 and 42 laps respectively over the course of the day.

Drivers Car No. Chassis No. Free Practice 1 Free Practice 2
Nico Rosberg 4 MGP W01 / 02 17 laps 1:36.748 P2 22 laps 1:35.465 P2
Michael Schumacher 3 MGP W01 / 03 14 laps 1:37.509 P4 28 laps 1:35.602 P4

Weather Cool and dry
Temperatures Air: 13-17°C Track: 21-29°C

NICO ROSBERG
"We made good progress on the set-up over the course of the day and tried some new directions which all seemed to work ok. I did lose a little bit of balance with too much oversteer at the end of the afternoon so we need to look into the reasons for that. The long runs were pretty good on my side and with the work that Michael completed, we should be in a good position on our tyre evaluations. The pattern looks pretty similar to Malaysia in terms of our pace compared to other teams but we'll have to wait and see how it works out tomorrow."

MICHAEL SCHUMACHER
"Today's practice sessions went better than I had expected. The handling was pretty much ok and it seems that we have made a small step forward. We brought some improvements here including the new rear wing which have helped. So I am quite confident for the rest of the weekend even if the overall ranking will not change much from the first three races. I was a bit unlucky this morning as I had a puncture on my rear left prime tyre so we had to use one from the afternoon's allocation. That meant I only had three new tyres in the second session but it worked out fine in the end."

ROSS BRAWN
"Generally a positive day and initial evaluations are that we have made some progress with the car. As we know the two tyres well now, we focused more on the mechanical and aerodynamic set-up of the car today. We are not quite there with the balance over the entire lap but Nico and Michael achieved some respectable lap times. We are improving step-by-step but there is a long way to go and we won't be happy until we can consistently compete with the cars ahead."

NORBERT HAUG
"A very busy day today with a lot of learning for us. Our lap times in race trim did not look too bad in my view and both Nico and Michael have been reasonably quicker with lesser fuel. Having said that, I am not expecting that a lot has changed in terms of performance amongst the teams since the Malaysian Grand Prix a fortnight ago. We still have some fine tuning to do in tomorrow's third practice session and I hope we can make a further step forward from today."

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Post by Ed » Fri May 07, 2010 1:43 pm

2010 CHINESE GRAND PRIX
SHANGHAI
17 APRIL

QUALIFYING

Nico Rosberg will start from the second row of the grid for the Chinese Grand Prix after achieving fourth place in qualifying today at the Shanghai International Circuit. Team-mate Michael Schumacher starts from ninth position.

Nico and Michael progressed easily through Q1 in second and ninth positions respectively after completing two runs each on the prime tyre. Nico needed just one run on the options in Q2 to secure second place with Michael completing two runs, also on options, to go through in tenth position.

A competitive final qualifying session saw Nico complete a further two runs on the softer compound with his quickest lap achieving a strong fourth position, just 0.010s away from Alonso in third place. Michael struggled more with the balance of his car throughout the hour and qualified in ninth position.

Drivers Car No. Chassis No. Free Practice Qualifying 1 Qualifying 2 Qualifying 3
Nico Rosberg 4 MGP W01 / 02 P6 P2 1:35.952 P2 1:35.134 P4 1:34.923
Michael Schumacher 3 MGP W01 / 03 P7 P9 1:36.484 P10 1:35.715 P9 1:35.646

Weather Cool and sunny
Temperatures Air: 20°C Track: 24-31°C

NICO ROSBERG
"Fourth place is quite a nice surprise and I'm very pleased that we seem to have made a step forward this weekend. We really got the most out of the car in qualifying and I've worked well with my engineer Jock and the team to improve the car and get the set-up right this weekend. We didn't think we would be this far up the grid today as we were struggling in practice this morning compared to the McLarens but to be level with the quickest Ferrari and a bit closer to the Red Bulls is very satisfying. It's a good step for us and we're well placed to have a good race tomorrow."

MICHAEL SCHUMACHER
"I am obviously disappointed about my qualifying. It didn't really come together today. In certain areas I was just not quick enough and at some corner exits, I struggled a bit with rear end grip. I haven't really found the balance of the car all weekend. It will be tough to be too optimistic for tomorrow from my grid position but then I had some good starts lately and there is always room for lots of things to happen in Formula One races. We can still achieve some good points and I am definitely going to go for it."

ROSS BRAWN
"Well done to Nico and the team for an excellent performance in qualifying today. Fourth position is certainly ahead of where we expected to be this weekend and Nico drove very well in all three qualifying sessions to put himself in contention for a strong race tomorrow. Michael has not achieved such a good balance on the car this weekend and had a less satisfying day. However he will give it everything in the race tomorrow and should have the opportunity to show the progress made since the start of the season."

NORBERT HAUG
"A great job from Nico and the team on a very demanding track. Nico's lap puts him in fourth place and less than one and a half tenths from the front row and closer to the pole time than in the previous races. Hopefully we can repeat a similar performance tomorrow. We were the third fastest team today, ten thousandths of a second down to the second fastest, so a good job from everybody. Michael was not so happy with his car but he is in a good position to score the points tomorrow that he could not achieve in the last two races through no fault of his own. There seems to be a chance of rain during the race so it will be interesting to see how it develops."

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Post by Ed » Fri May 07, 2010 1:44 pm

2010 CHINESE GRAND PRIX
SHANGHAI
18 APRIL

RACE

An exciting Chinese Grand Prix at the Shanghai International Circuit today saw Nico Rosberg drive an excellent race in the challenging and constantly changing weather conditions to achieve third place and his second consecutive podium finish.

Intermittent showers throughout the race put the emphasis on making the right strategic calls as Nico stayed on slick tyres for the first phase, leading the race from lap 3 for 16 laps, before switching to intermediates as the conditions steadily worsened.

Michael Schumacher had an eventful race, coming into the pits a total of four times on his way to a tenth placed finish for the final points scoring position, as he managed his worn intermediate tyres.

After four races as the Formula One calendar returns to Europe, MERCEDES GP PETRONAS are in fourth place in the Constructors' Championship with Nico in second position in the Drivers' Championship.

Drivers Car No. Chassis No. Race Result / Fastest Lap
Nico Rosberg 4 MGP W01 / 02 P2 1:43.245
Michael Schumacher 3 MGP W01 / 03 P10 1:44.298

Weather Intermittent showers
Temperatures Air: 18-21°C Track: 16-22°C

NICO ROSBERG
"It's fantastic to be on the podium for the second race in succession. It was an eventful race and we made very good choices which put us in contention for the result today. Following advice from Jock and the team, I decided to stay out on slicks and give it a go when the first showers hit. I was out there just thinking please stop raining! But it was the right call and it was a nice feeling to be leading the race for a while. When it started raining again, I suffered quite badly from tyre degradation on the intermediates and Jenson was able to get past. We didn't seem to quite have the pace on inters but third place is great and we've made a step in the right direction this weekend. There's more to come from the team so it's really good to be heading into the European season with some strong results and second place in the Drivers' Championship."

MICHAEL SCHUMACHER
"Today was one of those races that you do not want to remember, just like the whole weekend really. It was not good for me and not good from me. You have to take it as another experience and accept it even if it is frustrating that I was not able to get my tyres together better. My strategy in that respect was not very impressive as in the last 10 laps my tyres were just gone and seemed to be more slicks than intermediates. I was one of those drivers who had gone onto the last set quite early and we should have done that differently and positioned the tyres better. In general I had some good and tight fights which was fun but with my last stop being probably too early, in the end I just couldn't do anything and my fights were quite hopeless then. Congratulations to Nico who made it to the podium and at least one of us scored good points. I am looking forward to going home now but let's see if we manage to!"

ROSS BRAWN
"We had a very good race with Nico today. He drove extremely well in difficult conditions and the team did everything right on the tyre stops, making good strategic decisions. We lost some of our advantage with the safety car which was a shame but overall an excellent day and a great drive from Nico. With Michael, we clearly had a more difficult time but at least we got a point out of it. We have some issues that we need to understand as the deterioration of his tyres and therefore his pace is a problem that we need to resolve before the next race. We haven't quite got the car at the moment but when we do, we know that we can get the job done."

NORBERT HAUG
"A great result for Nico and everybody at MERCEDES GP PETRONAS today. Well done to all of our team members on the second podium in a row with two third places for Nico and our team. Nico is now second in the points standings after four races and certainly one of the most remarkable drivers of this young season. Congratulations to our friends at Vodafone McLaren Mercedes and to Jenson and Lewis for their one-two result. This was the 70th victory for a car with Mercedes power since Melbourne 1997 here in this important Chinese market for Mercedes-Benz. A special thank you from my side and on behalf of our Board to all of the hard-working guys at Mercedes-Benz High Performance Engines in Brixworth and Stuttgart. A great job from you all! It was not a good race weekend for Michael unfortunately. We will investigate what the problems were and I am convinced we will all see much stronger results from him rather sooner than later."

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Post by Ed » Fri May 07, 2010 1:48 pm

2010 SPANISH GRAND PRIX
BARCELONA
7-9 MAY

PREVIEW

With the first four flyaway races completed, the Formula One calendar moves to Europe next weekend for Round Five of the 2010 World Championship. The Spanish Grand Prix takes place at the Circuit de Catalunya, located just outside of Barcelona, on Sunday 9 May.

Mercedes-Benz Stats (including customer teams)

Spain
Total (since 1954)
GP Starts 17 287
Wins 5 (1998/99/2000/05/09) 79
Podiums 14 221
Points Scoring Positions 18 390
GP Points 117 2193
Fastest Laps 3 83
Pole Positions 4 80

Circuit de Catalunya Stats

Circuit Length: 4.655 km
Race Distance: 307.104 km
Number of Laps: 66

Full Throttle: 58% Brake Wear: Low
Tyre Compounds: Soft / Hard Downforce Level: High 8/10
Tyre Usage: Hard Average Speed: 209kph (130mph)


NICO ROSBERG
"It's a very nice feeling to be going into the European season with second place in the Drivers' Championship and with a significant upgrade for our car in Barcelona next weekend. From talking to the guys at the factory, I know that they having been working really hard to get everything ready on time and it will be interesting to see the effect that the new developments have on the car. Barcelona is such a familiar circuit as we have tested there so often over the years that we should be able to spend the practice sessions just focusing on getting the most out of the upgrades. Returning to Europe is when the season feels like it really gets underway and we will be doing our best to continue our good run and podium finishes from the first four races. I'm looking forward to it!"

MICHAEL SCHUMACHER
"The European season is about to kick off and now we will see how our developments look in relation to those of the other teams. Every team will come to Barcelona with a revised car and so of course do we. I see a lot of potential here especially as our team has been reacting very well over the past four races. We have worked on general improvements to the car, as well as specific developments in downforce and efficiency, and I am confident that we have room to make further progress in the future. Our step forward in Barcelona will be bigger than you can make at each race during the flyaways but it would not be realistic to expect us to suddenly be competing right at the front. I am hoping for a better race in Barcelona than I had in China and of course I would not mind having had better results so far. However the good news is that after three years away, I am feeling extremely motivated. So I am clearly ready to take this challenge."

ROSS BRAWN
"The start of the European season is the first opportunity to make significant changes to the car and the Spanish Grand Prix will see the first step in our development programme for the MGP W01. In addition to a major aerodynamic and bodywork package, we have made changes to the wheelbase of the car which will help the overall handling and weight distribution. Michael will use a different chassis for Barcelona as we take the opportunity of having the cars back at the factory after the flyaway races to repair some damage to his original chassis. He will switch to our first chassis which was previously used during the pre-season tests. Everyone at our factories in Brackley and Brixworth has worked extremely hard to ensure that the cars and our new developments are ready for Barcelona following the delayed return from China and we look forward to evaluating the impact on our pace whilst remaining conscious that this is very much a first step in improving our competitiveness."

NORBERT HAUG
"The start of the European season in Barcelona will be a very important race to establish whether the competitive order of the field has changed as every top team will introduce technical upgrades. Our MGP W01 will have the first set of significant changes which will be followed by a defined rhythm of further upgrades, all of which are aimed at getting our car to the very top of the field. After the first four flyaway races in Bahrain, Australia, Malaysia and China, Nico is currently second in the Drivers' World Championship which shows that he and our MERCEDES GP PETRONAS team have done a good job in the first fifth of the season getting the best results from the material available. Michael did not have such a good run, mostly without his fault, in the first four races. I am absolutely convinced that this will change sooner rather than later."

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