Category: Mercedes-Benz

Categories
Ferrari Formula 1 Mercedes-Benz Red Bull Racing

Sebastian Vettel wins 2013 Canadian GP

2013 Canadian Grand Prix

The Sebastian Vettel–Red Bull dominance of recent years was captured perfectly at the 2013 Canadian Grand Prix, as the three-time world champion converted his 39th career pole position into his 29th career victory.

Vettel wasn’t troubled during the 70 lap race and the 14.4 second margin back to Fernando Alonso (Ferrari) in second place flatters the rest of the field. Lewis Hamilton (Mercedes) rounded out the top three.

Mark Webber (Red Bull) flirted with the podium positions for much of the race, despite minor front wing damage suffered on lap 37 in a collision with Giedo van der Garde (Caterham). Webber was not pleased with van der Garde’s actions either, slamming the 28-year-old as a “a pay driver with no mirrors”.

“I got a sensational start, but I didn’t have too many places to go,” said Webber.”We lost some time with Nico in the first stint, and the car was getting hot behind him in the slip stream. Once I got in free air, the car was handling much better. Then we had the incident with Giedo van der Garde which caused some front wing damage and made it more difficult; the whole top section of the wing was gone on the left hand side, so it didn’t help from then on. I don’t know what he was doing.

“There were some positives from today, but it would have been nicer to have finished a bit further up the road.”

Nico Rosberg (Mercedes) finished fifth, ahead of Jean-Eric Vergne (Toro Rosso) who finished a career-best sixth.

Daniel Ricciardo was well behind his Toro Rosso teammate and could only manage P15. “I got a really good start, making up two positions off the line,” said Ricciardo afterwards. “I felt we could have a good race, but after just four laps, the car was oversteering like crazy and I couldn’t manage the tyres anymore. As the race went on, we tried to improve the car balance and maybe we improved it a bit, but our pace was really slow.

“We didn’t change so much on the car since Friday, so why we were so slow is a mystery to me at the moment.”

Both McLaren drivers finished outside of the points in P11 and P12, ending McLaren’s 64-race run of at least one car scoring championship points.

In awful post-race news it emerged that a marshal was killed in a terrible accident with a crane removing Esteban Gutierrez’s Sauber. The marshal slipped while out of sight of the crane driver and was run over. He was rushed to hospital and passed away last night. Our thoughts are with his family and colleagues.

[Pic: Red Bull/Getty Images]

Continue reading “Sebastian Vettel wins 2013 Canadian GP”
Categories
Formula 1 Mercedes-Benz Red Bull Racing

2013 Canadian GP: Qualifying report

2013 Canadian Grand Prix

Rain and a red flag couldn’t stop Sebastian Vettel from claiming his 39th career pole position overnight. The Red Bull driver set the fastest time (1:25.425) at the Canadian Grand Prix and will start ahead of Lewis Hamilton (Mercedes, 1:25.512).

Next is a surprise result for Valtteri Bottas (Williams, 1:25.512), who will start from P3, easily the best qualifying position in his short F1 career. Nico Rosberg (Mercedes, 1:25.512) may have started the last three grands prix from pole, but the best the Monaco Grand Prix winner could manage was fourth.

Mark Webber (Red Bull, 1:25.512) will line up on the third row of the grid in P5, with Fernando Alonso (Ferrari, 1:25.512) alongside from P6.

Jean-Eric Vergne (Toro Rosso, 1:27.946) outqualified his teammate Daniel Ricciardo (1:27.946) and it’s the first time this year both made it into Q3. Vergne will start from P7 and Ricciardo qualified tenth but will start from P11 (see below).

Felipe Massa again found trouble in qualifying, following up his crash at Monaco with another barrier-finding moment here in Canada. That brought out a red flag in Q2 with just under two minutes left to run. When the track re-opened all the remaining cars lined up in pit lane to chase entry into Q3.

Several drivers were side-by-side in pit lane, leaving some drivers outside the designated fast lane, which is not strictly allowed. However, only Kimi Raikkonen (Lotus) and Daniel Ricciardo were penalised. Both were given two-spot penalties and will now start from P10 and P11 respectively. In a quirk of process both drivers only move back one grid place, as explained by the FIA.

Continue reading “2013 Canadian GP: Qualifying report”
Categories
Green Machines Mercedes-Benz

Mercedes-Benz sets new electric record at the Ring

Mercedes-Benz SLS AMG Electric Drive

Mercedes has knocked off Audi at the Nürburgring once again. First, Mercedes took Audi’s crown at the Nürburgring 24 hour race, now the three-pointed star has set a new lap record for an electric-powered production vehicle around the Nordschleife.

At the wheel of an SLS AMG Electric Drive Markus Hofbauer lapped the 20.832km north loop in 7 minutes 56.234 seconds. That’s comfortably quicker than the previous mark of 8 minutes 9 seconds held by the Audi R8 e-tron.

There’s no video of the lap at this stage, but Ola Källenius, Chairman of Mercedes-AMG, isn’t missing his chance to brag about the achievement.

“Mercedes-AMG impressively shows the potential of the SLS AMG Coupé Electric Drive with this new record on the Nürburgring Nordschleife. Mercedes-AMG is the first vehicle manufacturer to have circled the Nordschleife in under eight minutes with an electrically-powered series production vehicle. This record run is further proof for our constant innovative vigour,” Källenius proclaimed.

This record is the perfect way to kick off the sales launch of the electric SLS AMG, which boasts key figures of 751hp (552kW)/1000Nm. Power comes from four motors, one placed at each wheel. Weighing 45kg each the motors can be controlled individually by the AMG Torque Dynamics system. The 100km/h sprint can be done in only 3.9 seconds and Mercedes claims a range of 250km if you behave.

While Mercedes can lay claim to producing the fastest electric-powered production vehicle around the Green Hell, they’re still some way off the outright electric record, which is currently held by the Toyota TMG EV P002 (7 minutes 22.329 seconds).

Continue reading “Mercedes-Benz sets new electric record at the Ring”
Categories
Formula 1 Mercedes-Benz

Mercedes ordered to face FIA International Tribunal

2013 Chinese Grand Prix

The FIA has handed down its findings over the Pirelli tyre test controversy and Mercedes continues to find itself in hot water. They’ve been ordered to face the FIA International Tribunal because their test undertaken with Pirelli “may constitute a breach of the applicable FIA rules”.

Ferarri, who was also asked to explain its own secret test with Pirelli, has been cleared of any wrongdoing on account of using a 2011-spec car.

You can read the full statement from the FIA after the break.

The International Tribunal consists of a 12-person panel which, according to official statutes, “operates totally independently from the other bodies of the FIA and the members of the FIA.”

In regards to the penalties the International Tribunal can impose, Autosport has an article on the matter which reads in part:

The IT’s punishments are limited to fines, bans or the alternative sanctions laid out in the International Sporting Code (ISC).

The ISC says available sanctions are listed in the order of severity: reprimand, fines, obligation to accomplish some work of public interest, time penalty, exclusion, suspension or disqualification.

Continue reading “Mercedes ordered to face FIA International Tribunal”
Categories
Formula 1 Mercedes-Benz

More info on the Pirelli-Mercedes tyre test

2013 Spanish Grand Prix

Adam Cooper has garnered more information on the Pirelli-Mercedes “secret” tyre test. We suggest you take a read. Here’s a snippet to start with:

“Some people have described the test as secret,” said Hembery on Friday. “Well, I don’t think we would have won any James Bond prizes, because we booked the circuit in our name, two days after an F1 race.”
…
So why the excessive security measures? Why stop members of the public from observing from outside the venue, never mind wandering around the spectator areas, enjoying the chance to see the car that was on pole a few days before?

[Source: Adam Cooper F1 | Pic: Mercedes AMG]

Categories
Ferrari Formula 1 Mercedes-Benz

FIA asks both Mercedes and Ferrari to please explain

FIA

Overnight the FIA issued the following statement in regards to the secret Formula 1 Pirelli tyre tests:

The FIA has asked Team Mercedes AMG Petronas F1 and Scuderia Ferrari Team which have taken part in tyre tests in the 2013 season to reply to a disciplinary inquiry in pursuance of the FIA Judicial and Disciplinary Rules.

This follows the Stewards’ Report from the Monaco Grand Prix and represents supplementary information required by the FIA in the light of the replies received from Pirelli, who were asked for clarifications on Tuesday May 28th.

Mercedes we all knew about, they have allegedly used a 2013-spec car in their test with Pirelli and, in theory, that’s a clear cut breach of the sporting regulations.

Ferrari, however, will be very surprised, we suspect, to be asked to explain their participation with Pirelli. It’s been reported they used a 2011-spec car provided by their Corse Clienti program, which is independent from the F1 team.

Using a two-year-old car has been understood by the teams to be acceptable. Although, the regulations define acceptable cars as being “substantially different” from the 2013 specifications. It would seem then that the concern for Ferrari will be: is the 2011 F150 Italia different enough from the 2013 F138?

Lawyers at 10 paces everyone!

Categories
Formula 1 Mercedes-Benz

Williams F1 switching to Mercedes power in 2014

Mercedes V6 F1 engine

The Williams F1 Team has announced today that their “long-term” deal with Renault will not extend into 2014. Instead they have signed a new “long-term” deal with Mercedes-Benz.

“I’m delighted to announce our new association with Mercedes-Benz for the 2014 Formula One season and beyond,” Team Principal Sir Frank Williams said. “Mercedes-Benz has been one of the sport’s most successful engine suppliers and we believe that they will have an extremely competitive engine package.

“I would also like to take this opportunity to thank Renault for their continued hard work since we renewed our engine partnership at the beginning of the 2012 season. We have enjoyed a strong relationship that has resulted in much success over the years, including powering us to winning ways once again last year at the Spanish Grand Prix.”

Looks like we won’t see the rebirth of the Renault Clio Williams after all. And Williams-Renaults racing McLaren-Hondas would have rekindled fond memories for those of us over 35 too. Life marches on.

Indeed the new engines, which we must call power units, on account of their greater reliance on Energy Recovery Systems, will take Formula 1 in a new direction next year. It will be fascinating to see how they sound, how they perform and how reliable they are.

Continue reading “Williams F1 switching to Mercedes power in 2014”
Categories
Formula 1 Mercedes-Benz

VIDEO: Michael’s worm’s eye view of the Nordschleife

Michael Schumacher drives Mercedes F1 W02 around the Nurburgring

When we saw how Mercedes-Benz squandered the opportunity of running an F1 car around the Nordschleife we were pretty unhappy. Michael Schumacher barely got out of first gear it seemed.

In this new video, showing Michael’s lap from a worm’s eye view, we can tell that, at times, he did give the Mercedes F1 W02 a bit of a squirt now and then. But he also spent too much time dawdling along. Oh well.

Continue reading “VIDEO: Michael’s worm’s eye view of the Nordschleife”
Categories
Caterham F1 in pictures Ferrari Lotus McLaren Mercedes-Benz Red Bull Racing Toro Rosso

2013 Monaco Grand Prix in pictures

2013 Monaco Grand Prix

As you can see Nico Rosberg was pretty happy to have won the 2013 Monaco Grand Prix. And who can blame him. It’s one thing to win the race for yourself, but to do so 30 years after your old man achieved the same thing is very special. Well done him and well done Keke.

The existence of the Monaco Grand Prix really is an anachronism in the 21st century, but we hope it never goes. Watching the cars fly through turns 13 and 14 is perhaps the best example of the directness of F1 cars we see all year. And the dramatic elevation changes on such a short track, although flattened out on TV screens, also makes for one of the most spectacular circuits all year.

In our latest F1 in pictures gallery we have exactly 100 images from the glitz and glamour enjoyed by all in Monte Carlo.

Continue reading “2013 Monaco Grand Prix in pictures”
Categories
Formula 1 Mercedes-Benz

Mercedes tyre protest referred to FIA

2013 Monaco Grand Prix

Nico Rosberg’s victory at the Monaco Grand Prix could be in doubt after stewards referred the protest about their secret test with Pirelli to the FIA.

The FIA has subsequently released a statement and we think it will make for concerning reading in the Mercedes AMG garage.

“At the beginning of May, the FIA was asked by Pirelli if it was possible for it to carry out some tyre development testing with a team, using a current car,” the FIA statement begins. “Within the contract Pirelli has with the FIA as single supplier, there is provision for them to carry out up to 1000km of testing with any team—provided every team is offered the opportunity to do so.”

Trouble is the FIA says they haven’t had any correspondence to suggest anyone other than Mercedes was invited to the test by Pirelli. Furthermore they suggest they would be within their rights to escalate the matter to the International Tribunal.

“The Tribunal may decide to inflict penalties that would supercede any penalty the stewards of the meeting may have issued. Such procedure would be followed in pursuance of the FIA Judicial and Disciplinary Rules,” the FIA said.

In that context, these comments from Ross Brawn, Mercedes AMG Team Princicpal, made before the three-hour stewards hearing was over, probably weren’t the smartest things to say: “Pirelli has been asking teams to help them out for 12 months and people haven’t been supporting them.

“There are lots of communications between Pirelli and teams asking them to do 1000km for them, and we obviously had an issue in Bahrain with Lewis [Hamilton] which we were quite anxious about—and we made the effort to help them. Nobody else seems to have done that.”

Hmm, Ross, that’s probably because nobody else had strung together three pole positions at the time only to suffer poor race results due to tyre degradation issues.

You can read the full FIA statement after the break.

[Source: Formula1.com | Pic: Mercedes AMG]

Continue reading “Mercedes tyre protest referred to FIA”
Categories
Formula 1 Mercedes-Benz Red Bull Racing

2013 Monaco GP: Post-race press conference

2013 Monaco Grand Prix

We’re sure Nico Rosberg is still smiling after his strong win at the Monaco Grand Prix overnight. You can read what he had to say after the race, along with the words from Sebastian Vettel and Mark Webber, in the post-race press conference below.

Actually, Mark’s final comment in regard to the Mercedes secret tyre test controversy is worth reading.

Speaking about his crash with Romain Grosjean, Daniel Ricciardo said: “I could see that Grosjean had got a good run out of the tunnel and that he was close, so I defended my line and the next thing I knew he was over the back of me. I haven’t seen it on a TV yet, but at the moment I believe it was a misjudgement on his part and a costly one that was quite dangerous, even if we are both okay.”

The race stewards said that Romain can have a 10-place grid penalty for the next race. And Grosjean won’t win himself many friends in our neck of the woods by blaming Daniel for underperforming in qualifying and the race.

“Daniel seemed to be really struggling with his rear tyres and they looked to have a lot of graining,” said Grosjean. “I’d been following him for almost all of the 61 laps but I was caught out by him braking early in the middle of the circuit and there was nowhere for me to go.

“It’s a frustrating end to the weekend, but the real damage was done in qualifying when I didn’t get through to Q3. That was Daniel again who I was held up by, but it certainly wasn’t my intention to end my race in the back of his car!”

[Pic: Getty Images/Red Bull]

Continue reading “2013 Monaco GP: Post-race press conference”
Categories
Formula 1 Mercedes-Benz Red Bull Racing

Nico Rosberg wins 2013 Monaco GP

2013 Monaco GP winner Nico Rosberg

Nico Rosberg (Mercedes AMG) has won his second Formula 1 race by taking victory in an incident-packed Monaco Grand Prix. In a nice bit of symmetry it’s 30 years since his father, Keke, won at Monaco, making them the first father-son pairing to win the iconic race.

Rosberg, starting from pole, drove a considered race that included two safety car periods and a temporary red flag. On each of the restarts Nico was able to maintain his lead and restore his gap back to second place.

The minor places were filled by the Red Bull duo of Sebastian Vettel and Mark Webber. Vettel was unable to launch a serious attack on Rosberg and had to content himself with the fastest lap set on lap 77 of 78. Webber, too, had an incident free race, although he did have to defend his position from Lewis Hamilton (Mercedes AMG).

The first safety car period came to be after Felipe Massa put his Ferrari into the wall at Sainte Devote, in a repeat of his free practice 3 crash. It was quite a heavy impact, but he emerged from his car okay before being taken to hospital for checks.

Contact between Max Chilton (Marussia) and Pastor Maldonado (Williams) caused the red flag. Maldonado crashed heavily forcing the air barrier in front of the armco out on to the track and a temporary halt to the race was the only course of action that could be taken.

Daniel Ricciardo’s race was ruined when Romain Grosjean drove his Lotus over the top the Australian’s Toro Rosso on the exit from the tunnel. The subsequent damage forced both cars out of the race and brought out the second safety car period.

Sebastian Vettel extended his lead in the drivers’ championship thanks to poor results from Kimi Raikkonen (Lotus) and Fernando Alonso (Ferrari). Indeed, Alonso was well off his game being picked off by Sergio Perez (McLaren), Adrian Sutil (Force India) and Jenson Button (McLaren).

Having grown up in Monaco as a boy Nico Rosberg was delighted to have won his ‘home’ race. However, for now, the victory will remain under a cloud pending the result of the protest that has been lodged by Red Bull and Ferrari after the secret test Mercedes conducted with Pirelli last week.

Continue reading “Nico Rosberg wins 2013 Monaco GP”