Ross Brawn says Mercedes working on 2012 car but also developing the 2011 one – Formula 1 news
Mercedes’ team principal Ross Brawn has admitted that his team is working on its 2012 Formula 1 car but are not giving up hope on the 2011 season either.
Brawn added that although the performance of the team in the opening seven races of the season has given no real hope to the team to keep working on the 2011 car but still Mercedes are not giving hope and are still targeting a third place finish in the current
season.
Seven races are down in the 2011 season and Mercedes find themselves behind the Renault team. Brawn stated that it will be disappointing to finish beyond fourth- Mercedes’ 2010 position.
Brawn stated, “We were fourth last year in the constructors’ championship so anything better than fourth is an improvement. Staying fourth would be a disappointment - and less than fourth very disappointing - so we intend not to let that happen.”
He further added that Red Bull are way faster than Mercedes and the Silver Arrow cars are not intended to win the championship this year.
Brawn further commented that Ferrari will be their target as they are almost 50 points ahead and 12 races are still to be contested in the season.
Talking about Mercedes’ performance in the 2011 season so far, Brawn stated that the last two races were an opportunity thrown away by his team which was disappointing.
Brawn stated, “We had quite some optimism in Monaco and qualifying wasn’t bad. It is still not where we want to be but I think in Montreal we got the most out of the car - and we had some exciting times with Michael (Schumacher)!”
Brawn also added that Mercedes are not giving up on the 2011 car although the team has started working on its 2012 car and will do its best to develop it further.
The first two free practice sessions of the Valencia weekend will be contested on Friday, June 24, 2011.
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