BROOMM – Das Autoblog

Eine Frage müsste zur Zeit alle deutschen Formel 1 Fans bewegen: Wie geht es weiter mit der “deutschen Nationalmannschaft” (die Mercedes Silberpfeile mit Michael Schumacher, Nico Rosberg und Nick Heidfeld)?

Die ersten zwei Rennen zeigten vor allem ein harmonisches und motiviertes Team, das sich allerdings eher im Mittelfeld positioniert hatte – und das ist sicher nicht der Ort, wo die Silberpfeile hingehören oder hinwollen.

Auf der anderen Seite konnte niemand erwarten, dass dieses neue Team sofort allen um die Ohren fährt – etwas wie der unglaubliche Erfolg von Brawn GP im Vorjahr ist halt nicht so wirklich planbar. Auf ein kleines Wunder (vielleicht aufgrund einer kreativen Konstuktion von Ross Brawn oder wegen einer fahrerischen Glanzleistung von Michael Schumacher?) hatten dennoch sicher viele gehofft – mich eingeschlossen

Ich habe mir gerade auf der Website des Mercedes GP Petronas Formel 1 Teams mal die Einschätzung des Teams nach den ersten 2 Auftakttrainings angesehen. Und das ganze soll wie gewohnt unverfälscht wiedergegeben werden, daher im Originalton:

The MERCEDES GP PETRONAS pairing of Nico Rosberg and Michael Schumacher ran consistently in the top six throughout the day, ending the morning session in second and fourth places respectively, and the afternoon session with Nico again in second place and Michael in fifth position.

The focus for the team’s running today was to evaluate the Bridgestone Potenza tyre compounds available for Sunday’s race, the soft option tyre and the hard prime tyre, alongside setting up the MGP W01 cars for the specific demands of the fast and challenging Sepang circuit.

NICO ROSBERG

Our programme went according to plan today and we made progress over the two practice sessions. The tyre work which we completed was particularly useful so we have a lot to go through this evening to see if we can continue to improve the car prior to qualifying. It’s always tough here in Malaysia with the heat and humidity but Sepang is one of my favourite circuits to drive.

MICHAEL SCHUMACHER

I am quite happy overall with our work today and the practice sessions went very much as we expected. We did have a an issue with the brakes this morning so I did not start running right away but once we were out on track, I felt we had good pace. However we have to be realistic about our performance here and we might still be lacking a little compared to the front runners. The good thing is that you can play with the lines a bit to find time as the track here is quite wide. But in the end, as usual, we will have to wait and see how qualifying and the weather evolve.

ROSS BRAWN

It has been a busy Friday for the team here in Malaysia for the start of our first ‘home’ race. The two dry sessions have enabled us to complete the majority of the planned programme for Nico and Michael, although the track conditions did change this afternoon following the rain shower. The priority today was to evaluate the prime and option tyres. Whilst all of the teams were running different tyre programmes, which makes it difficult to predict our relative pace, we are reasonably satisfied with what we achieved and are looking forward to the challenge of the weekend.

NORBERT HAUG

This is going to be a very challenging race with extreme stress on the drivers, cars and tyres, and particularly all of the team members who have to work in real sauna conditions. The heat and humidity is almost guaranteed and rises in the afternoon. It’s difficult to estimate where we are today but generally we are not where we need to be just yet.

Quelle: http://www.mercedes-gp.com/

Ich freue mich auf Sonntag

So langsam ist die Vorfreude wohl auf dem Höhepunkt angekommen: Bald geht die neue Saison mit einem gewissen Herrn Michael Schumacher aus Kerpen wieder los..

Morgen und übermorgen schlägt die Stunde der Wahrheit: Wie konkurrenzfähig ist das Petronas Mercedes Team (Ex-Brawn-GP)? Wie schnell kann Michael an frühere Leistungen anknüpfen? Wenn man damals mitverfolgt hat, wie schnell Schumacher auf dem Motorrad wirklich flott wurde, ist wohl ein sehr wettbewerbsfähiger Rekordweltmeister zu erwarten. Immerhin ist Formel 1 nicht sein Hobby, sondern die Stätte jahrelangen Wirkens

Hier mal einige Fahrer- und Teamchefzitate von Formula1.com:

Mercedes GP
Nico Rosberg, P1 – 1: 57.199, 8th; P2 – 1:55.409, 1st

We improved the car over the course of the day but it didn’t feel great initially with the new track, lower downforce and the conditions were very sandy this morning. So we had a few balance issues to work on but it came together very well this afternoon. There are areas where we can still improve but we have a good comparison with the tyre compounds and on the long runs. Overall we learnt a great deal today so it’s a positive start to the weekend.

Michael Schumacher, P1 – 1:57.662, 10th; P2 – 1:55.903, 3rd

We worked very well this afternoon after having a few issues with the balance this morning. The car felt much better in the second session although I am still a little rusty on one-lap runs and need to get back into the routine. On the long runs, the car felt good and once you get into the rhythm, it feels very natural. I’m happy with our work today and feeling ready for the weekend.

Ross Brawn, Mercedes GP team principal

After the development and testing work over the winter months, it was good to see the cars in action here in Bahrain today. We worked well to overcome some initial balance concerns which Nico and Michael experienced and achieved some very valuable work this afternoon. I feel we still need to make some progress so we need to wait and see how we will match up to our competitors when qualifying gets underway tomorrow.

Norbert Haug, vice-president, Mercedes-Benz Motorsport

The afternoon session went better than the first one this morning. We ran through our planned programme and the team, Nico and Michael got a good understanding of the two different tyre compounds. It looks like we are heading in the right direction but it is definitely too early to say how everybody will perform in tomorrow’s first qualifying session of the new season and on Sunday during the race. I expect very strong competitors.

McLaren
Lewis Hamilton, P1 – 1:57.163, 6th; P2 – 1:55.854, 2nd

Out on track, it’s been very hot so tyre degradation of both compounds has been pretty high. But I think the degradation is something we can handle; you build it into your driving style and moderate the approach to each lap. Still, it’s difficult to know what laptime to target when you’re on a long run. The less you push at the beginning of a stint, the more there is left to push at the end. But it’s difficult to know exactly, and we’re still trying to understand that. The new section of track seems to be very bumpy and tricky – but everyone’s in the same boat. Equally, our car feels very heavy with a high fuel-load – it doesn’t want to stop under braking – but through the high-speed corners it feels quite well balanced. It’s just getting the car stopped that’s tricky: it doesn’t stop as well as when it’s on low tanks. Overall, today didn’t feel too bad. We still don’t really have a full understanding of where all the teams are because everyone was running different fuel-loads. As a result, the positions on today’s timesheets don’t really reflect overall pace too much yet.

Jenson Button, P1 – 1:57.068, 5th; P2 – 1:56.706s, 4th

Today’s shown us that looking after the rear tyres is very difficult here, especially on the softer compound. So you find yourself driving with a lot of oversteer through most of the stint. The new section of track is very bumpy. Turns Six and Seven are particularly tough because you’re trying to brake as late as you can, and, if you do that, the car hits the ground, you bounce all over the place and it’s very difficult to see where you’re going. So you have to brake earlier, and more gently, so the front doesn’t dip through that part of the corner – and that positions you better for the next turn. We’re still working on our set-up – and that’s not something you can really do in the second session because you’re working on a tyre back-to-back programme and the track’s so busy. We know where the car is now and we know where we want it to be, so there’s work to be done this evening to improve things overnight. I think we did an okay job today. We can be reasonably happy with the performance of the car, although we know there are areas we still need to work on. The basic car is working well, but we’re not quite there with the balance yet.

Red Bull
Sebastian Vettel, P1 – 1:57.943, 13th; P2 – 1:56.459, 5th

So, the first day of the first race. Unfortunately we didn’t get a lot of running today. The track was still green this morning, so everyone was just checking their cars. In the second practice I had to have the brakes changed and Mark couldn’t do the whole session, so it wasn’t ideal. I would have liked more track time, but it’s not Christmas and we’re not given things for free. We have a lot of work to do, but we know where we need to improve, so we will work on that.

Ferrari
Fernando Alonso, P1 -1:56.766, 2nd; P2 – 1:57.140, 9th

A slightly different Friday to usual for me, as it was the first one with my new team. We concentrated mainly on comparing the two types of tyre, so as to be as well prepared as possible for the race on Sunday, trying to get a car that performs consistently over a long run. Obviously, with such high temperatures, tyre degradation was more rapid, especially with the rears. From what we could see, the indications we got from testing have been confirmed, with four teams that you could describe as favourites, although there could yet be a few surprises, Force India for example. The new track is not bad: it is fun, even if there are a few too many bumps which I hadn’t spotted when I inspected it by bicycle.

Quelle (hier sind auch noch diverse weitere Zitate vom Freitags-Test: http://www.formula1.com/news/headlines/2010/3/10510.html