Formula One: Mercedes to Focus Attention Towards 2011 Car
With twelve of the races already over, Mercedes GP is clear about its fate for the rest of the season. The team has decided to focus all attention towards the next season’s car, while halting the work on their current car.
As per their recent press conference, they proclaimed that they have mutually decided to switch all their focus towards the 2011 model of the Mercedes car, instead of bringing a lot more changes in the current car.
The season had not been a good one for the team. The team kept hoping that they might be able to see their stars shine bright on the track at one of the races however, they only witnessed disappointments one after the other all through the year. With only seven races left, the team had only been able to bag one hundred and thirty two points; being left far behind the forerunners of the race, standing one place ahead of Renault.
After reviewing the entire season and looking ahead for the traces of success that they could expect, the team had decided to only introduce one more upgrade package this season. Instead of bringing a lot of changes to the current car they want to focus on next year's car, for which the team is to hold a board meeting right after the summer break.
Following the Hungarian Grand Prix, the Mercedes GP team boss Ross Brawn talked to the media regarding the plans and strategies for the rest of the season as well as for the next one. He said that, "I think there is one more step we want to do before the end of the year to take full advantage of the low exhaust position, which is something we will target for Singapore."
Further explaining his decision he added, "that was coming through already but clearly after the break our priority will be the new car."
Brawn elaborated his statement saying that the team was very hopeful as the season began. After collaborating with one of the biggest stars of racing history, Michael Schumacher, automatically raised the expectations of the team as well as the fans. However, the year had been a big disappointment for everybody. He further elaborated that the team was no more willing to put in time and resources for this month as the season had already slipped from their hands. No matter how well they are able to do for the rest of the season they would not bring the title home. Brawn added further, “there was no point flogging a dead horse”.
He admitted the fact that the car the team had this season is not exactly at par with the rest, therefore it was hard for the team drivers to beat other competitors such as Red Bull and Ferrari. Another explanation he had for the bad season was that, "there were another set of regulations this year with no refuelling, and one or two other things."
The team currently stands at fourth place in the Constructors’ Standings whereas its drivers, Michael Schumacher and Nico Rosberg stand at seventh and ninth places with having ninety four and thirty eight points under their belts, respectively. Looking at the current position the team boss announced, "we didn't perhaps hit the sweet spot with the current car, so I don't think we will throw much more resource at it.”
However, the team says that they are hopeful for the upcoming season and also have some great plans for it. He further stated that the current year had been a great learning experience for the entire crew.
Ross Brawn concluded saying, "We understand what we need to do next year and that is where we are putting our major efforts.’’
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