Mercedes lack competitiveness due to their ineffective development process in 2012 – Formula 1
Mercedes had quite a successful pre-season testing programme this year as they efficiently managed to make the necessary analysis of their car’s design as compared to the regrettable previous one in which they could barely test their components before the
first race.
The Brackley based team had been considered as one of the most competent contenders in this year’s championship fight during the start of the season as they came up with some remarkable results after the three pre-season tests.
Moreover, they faced a lot of criticism over their novel DRS design by many teams which specially include, Red Bull Racing and Lotus.
It will be interesting to mention that the team principal of Lotus, Eric Boullier immensely criticised the DRS layout of the Silver Arrows over its legality and took the issue to FIA. However, it was declared legal in the end.
Contrarily, the team principal of Mercedes, Ross Brawn said that they only received negative remarks about their update because their rivals could not copy it.
It is to be noted that FIA made a lot of changes in this year’s rules and regulations which mainly include the banning of double diffuser exhaust layout, due to which many top teams including Red Bull, Ferrari and McLaren were encountered with some huge
issues in the beginning of the season. Nevertheless, the teams kept on making the essential advancements so as to develop their cars in accordance with the rules and remained quite successful in that.
On the other hand, although the development process of Mercedes was unique and they tried very hard to come up stronger with a competitive car, but unfortunately they failed to get the desired results and their drivers, Michael Schumacher and Nico Rosberg
have struggled with their cars in most of the races until now.
Besides, both the drivers have also faced enormous technical problems and tyre management issues because of which they could not attain good results.
Though, Brawn has expressed his confidence on their double DRS, however he insisted that it hasn’t provided them the expected results and has slowed their development process on other parts of the car.
“One of the conclusions we have reached is that the double DRS was a valid concept, but it slowed us down on other things,” he told Autosprint.
“These days there's plenty of...'cunning' technology, let's call it that, around the front wing. But we had our system and our wings were designed around that concept,” he said.
Additionally, he said that they are not feeling upset over their struggles in the season until now and are positively looking forward to perform well in the coming year. He also said that they are also focussing on developing their next year’s car in order
to secure good results right from the start.
“When it became clear what potential a different philosophy had, perhaps we should have taken a step back. In any case, next year's car won't have the double DRS, because the regulations don't allow it. So, we are evaluating alternative solutions,” he added.
Lastly, it is to be mentioned that the seven-time world champion has decided to take retirement at the conclusion of this season and he will be replaced by Lewis Hamilton of McLaren in the coming year.
It will be exciting to see how Mercedes perform with their 2013 driver line-up.
Disclaimer: The views expressed in this article are solely of the writer’s and do not reflect bettor.com’s official editorial policy.
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