Niki Lauda says Mercedes AMG Petronas will challenge for victories in 2012 – Formula 1 news
Three-times Formula 1 champion, Niki Lauda has expressed that Mercedes will challenge for victories in the forthcoming season starting at Albert Parking in Melbourne, Australia on March 18, 2012.
Lauda said that he had a feeling that McLaren and Red Bull were almost in a same position but Mercedes had made quite significant improvements in the performance of the car while attempting to choose an altered means.
“My feeling is that McLaren and Red Bull are almost equal,” Lauda told Austrian ORF television’s Sport am Sonntag programme. “The big positive surprise is Mercedes. They have chosen a different way.”
While referring to the different design of the Mercedes car, Lauda said that the car had relatively small nose which made its look different than others.
“The nose is relatively small, making the car look quite different to the others, because they have the (front wing innovation) F-duct (dubbed the W-duct by some),” said Lauda.
Furthermore, Lauda said that the new Mercedes car design seemed most innovative to him.
“For me, it’s the most innovative car, and it also looks to me as through the (F-duct) mechanism works very well,” added Lauda.
The contenders and the analysts of F1 have now started to give order to the teams after the end of the pre-season testing for the forthcoming season.
Lauda stated that the upcoming season would be very important for Michael Schumacher who had made his comeback to F1 couple of years ago. However, he said that it would not be easy for the German driver who is growing older.
Moreover, the Austrian said that Ferrari seemed struggling with the new car during the pre-season tests and he thought that the Italian team could be two or three tenths behind the major rivals.
Furthermore, Pat Fry, the technical director of Ferrari expressed his disappointment about the team which according to him were not in a position for podium fight in the first few races. However, Fernando Alonso had broken the imposed silence and said that
they would improve before the season-opener at Melbourne while giving an encouraging feel to the team.
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