Ross Brawn says Mercedes still struggling for MGP-W02 pace – Formula 1 news
Formula 1 team Mercedes GP principal Ross Brawn has admitted that his team drivers are still struggling for MGP-W02 car pace with the start of the new season fast approaching.
However, Brawn said he is confident regarding his team’s performance over the winter tests.
As the upgrade package has been introduced for the 2011 season, the team put good scores on the race timesheet during the testing. As a result, Mercedes GP expected more improvements in the performance of their new car in the upcoming season.
Brawn stated, “We're about a second off where we want to be, which is at the front, so we've got to find a second in the upgrade which we think we can do.”
Brawn further added nothing can be predicted about the 2011 season because nobody knows what the other teams will do during their races. However, he said Mercedes GP have set out a plan about the 2011 Formula 1 season.
The team was disappointed regarding its 2010 performance, when both the drivers Michael Schumacher and Nico Rosberg failed to win the season.
The seven-time world champion Schumacher tried his best to do well after coming out of a three-year retirement. However, due to some mechanical issues in the 2010 Mercedes car, he could not put up an impressive show.
In the pre-season official Formula 1 tests, Schumacher worked hard as well as quickly learnt the new setups of new Mercedes car along Rosberg. Also, they were testing the four compounds of Pirelli and set the best pace of their MGP-W02 car.
Schumacher admitted ahead of the several issues in its 2011 car that it would be ‘difficult’ for Mercedes GP to win the race at the Australian Grand Prix.
Recently, Brawn sold his remaining shares in the team to parent company Mercedes and said, “It's often these periods when you get most motivation - when you've been there, you don't want to let it go, that's what drives you the hardest, when you've got challenges
to face, we're all intensely competitive and we get more motivated when we're not achieving what we want to achieve.”
On the other hand, according to rumours, it is being speculated that Mercedes 2011 upgrade package, featuring a new exhaust design, had failed the Federation Internationale de l'Automobile (FIA) crash tests.
The team has put all of its trust in Schumacher and Rosberg for the 2011 season. Brawn is also looking forward to a successful 2011 season that is expected to begin on March 27 in Melbourne. Let’s see how Mercedes fare throughout the campaign.
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