Norbert Haug believes Mercedes GP has the pace to perform with consistency: Formula One News
Mercedes boss, Norbert Haug has claimed that his team can repeat the performance shown at the Chinese Grand Prix on a regular basis in the 2011 Formula 1 season.
Mercedes managed to score 14 points in the third race of the season, which was the best result for the team until now. Both drivers, Nico Rosberg and Michael Schumacher, ended the race in fifth and eighth position respectively.
Commenting on the upcoming races, Haug stated, “I honestly cannot promise you that we will do the same thing in Turkey – but the most important thing is to find the key to unlock the speed. The speed is there. The performance in China was genuine.”
He further added, “I would have been happier if China would have been the first race, obviously. But we now have a better understanding of the car. Ross sat together with the guys and the engineers, and we changed the approach to the weekend.”
Haug admitted that his team had a technical issue with the car’s rear wing, which was sorted out before race day in China. However, he was confident that Mercedes will sort out all the issues ahead of the Turkish Grand Prix, which kicks off on May 8, and
get all systems working for the entire race weekend.
Schumacher failed to qualify for Q3 after his rear wing stopped working during the qualifiers in China. This problem wasn’t new for the veteran driver, as his progress halted in the Malaysian GP due to the same issue. His teammate had a similar problem at
Sepang, but it didn’t trouble him in China.
Mercedes will bring some major upgrades for the next race, including a revised rear wing. The team will hope to get the maximum out of their car in the upcoming races and possibly fight for podiums.
Prior to the start of the 2011 season, Mercedes looked quite strong with their speed and reliability. The team kept its upgrades as a secret until the final pre-season test at Barcelona. Once the car was fully updated, it performed better than McLaren and
Ferrari.
It seemed as if the German giants would go for the title this year, but things changed dramatically, once the season officially began. No points were scored by either of the Mercedes drivers in the inaugural race of the season at Melbourne. Things didn’t
get better for the team in Malaysia as well, as only two points were scored in the race.
Coming to China, teams had no chance of developing their cars and the Petronas-sponsored team predicted another bad race in the ongoing season. However, some last minute set-up changes gave a boost to the car and the team finally headed towards the right
direction.
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