Norbert Haug believes Mercedes’ development was not good enough in 2012 – Formula 1 news
Mercedes motorsport president, Norbert Haug has said that their development in the 2012 Formula 1 season was not good enough because of which they could not attain competitive results.
The Silver Arrows had a reliable pre-season testing programme this year as they efficiently made the necessary development in their car as compared to the preceding one in which they struggled a lot.
Moreover, their driver, Nico Rosberg claimed his maiden victory in the Chinese Grand Prix after securing his first ever pole position and stood amongst one of the most consistent point scorers during the opening few races.
On the other hand, his teammate, Michael Schumacher also performed convincingly well as compared to the last two seasons. Additionally, the seven-time world champion managed to secure third podium finish in the European GP after setting off from 12th
grid slot.
However, both the German drivers faced immense mechanical and tyre management issues due to which they failed to score good points for their team in most of the races.
Haug has said that they worked really hard during this year’s winter testing in order to develop a competent car and were feeling quite confident during the start.
Conversely, they couldn’t make the essential advancement in their car during the season and their update package didn’t provide the expected result.
“I think the team showed last year that over the winter we built quite a good car, but definitely since the middle of the season in the development race we have not been good enough and, in hindsight, we should have started much earlier with Coanda exhaust
because it gives you a benefit if you can manage it properly,” Haug said.
“Maybe in our case we also suffered a little bit from rear tyre stuff, with them being too hot and probably not having enough downforce. Then in addition the Coanda has probably just accelerated these problems,” he added.
Nonetheless, he said that they are trying their best to come up stronger in the next season and are aiming to attain better results with their next year’s driver line-up which includes, Rosberg and Lewis Hamilton.
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