Mercedes not writing off 2012 season

Mercedes insists there is no reason to believe its season is now a write-off – despite its recent struggles in Formula 1.

Having come into the year as a potential frontrunner, and having helped Nico Rosberg dominate the Chinese Grand Prix, there was a stage of the season where the team even appeared to be championship dark horses.

But since the Monaco GP Mercedes has fallen away from its rivals – and has scored less than half the points than teams like Ferrari, Red Bull Racing and Lotus.

Last weekend’s Hungarian GP marked a new low in the campaign, with neither of its drivers making it through to Q3 and it coming away from the race with just a single point – its worst result since Malaysia.

Despite its form having dropped away, team principal Ross Brawn says the team understands what is happening – and thinks that the characteristics of recent tracks explain why his squad has struggled.

Speaking about what has happened to the team’s form since the Monaco Grand Prix, Brawn said: “I think in Montreal we made a bit of a hash of qualifying, but we were pretty good in the race.

“For Hungary, someone asked me why we were not competitive there but competitive at Monaco, but I think they are different circuits. If you look at the long corners you have at the Hungaroring, they are not the same as Monaco in any shape or form.

“Our car suits some tracks and, what we have to do is produce a car that is competitive on all circuits. That is our priority. There is a massive amount of work going on to improve the situation.”

Brawn thinks the key to Mercedes making the step forward it needs is to produce a car that is quick at all types of circuit.

“Occasionally one team will dominate and be competitive at all tracks, and we have been fortunate to be there, but more often than not there are ups and downs, and particularly up and downs on how well you use the tyres at different tracks.

“That is something we are addressing to have a more broad range of usage on the car. Maybe in Hungary the consistent balance on the long corners was not good, so we need to look at it and find some solutions.”

Source: http://www.iracing.com/inracingnews/formula-one-news/f1-formula-one-news/mercedes-not-writing-off-2012-season

Maurício Gugelmin Dan Gurney Hubert Hahne Mike Hailwood Mika Häkkinen