Ross Brawn believes expecting wins is too optimistic for 2012 season – Formula 1 news
Ross Brawn says that to consider Mercedes F1 to come up with victories in the upcoming season is being “too optimistic.”
He admitted that the team has had a much stronger pre-season than the team had last year and believes the team has taken a step forward but maintains that winning races is not quite on the cards yet to be realistic.
“I think that is a bit too optimistic,” Brawn said about winning races. “I believe we have moved quite a long way in 12 months and we are much stronger team than we were 12 months ago. I wasn't comfortable at all with where we were 12 months ago.”
“We hadn't achieved the things we wanted to achieve over the winter, we had a car that had some problems and we are in a much better position this year,” he said.
A fortnight ago, Helmut Marko suggested that the Mercedes are “very shrewd” and to discount them would be a folly. Niki Lauda also said that Mercedes look very strong for the upcoming season.
Mercedes have had a good pre-season where the car performed by showing good pace and reliability. Michael Schumacher and Nico Rosberg both looked at ease with the new car.
Red Bull technical director Adrian Newey suggested that Mercedes might be hiding some innovation and pace which they will reveal in during the season. He said that he knows Ross Brawn well and understands that he is clever.
Many former drivers have also suggested that Mercedes look very good and may as well be surprising everyone with wins in the season.
Mercedes motorsport boss Norbert Haug also suggested that the team’s chances of winning races are low and mentioned Ferrari as their main rivals for a better position in the constructors’ championship. He also said that Ferrari are not struggling as much
as it seems and will be putting up a fight for sure.
He also added that there are at least six good cars on the grid for this season and it will be difficult to tackle them.
Red Bull, McLaren are clear favourites along with Lotus and Ferrari and Mercedes, for the top five spots but it will interesting to see how the season pans out.
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