Lewis Hamilton is already getting acquanited with new employers Mercedes, having visited the team's factory to meet engineers and complete mileage on its simulator.Hamilton's switch from McLaren will be officially marked on January 1, when his Mercedes contract begins. However, according to The Sun, outgoing Mercedes Motorsport Director Norbert Haug said: "Lewis has already been in the factory to see the team and fulfil some duties after we found an agreement about that with McLaren."
So January 1st marks the start of a new era for Mercedes Gp and without doubt Mercedes now have a driver line up fit for any team. Lewis Hamilton has already visisted HQ before his start date and i am sure has already told the engineers where he wants his ipod charger to plug in.
Love or Hate Lewis he is fast and lives in the fastlane, a proper racing driver.
When Lewis Hamilton burst onto the Formula 1 scene in 2007, taking on and often beating the reigning world champion Fernando Alonso in equal cars, in Italy they gave him the nickname 'Il Phenomeno' - the Phenomenon.
As a description of his naked talent, that remains as accurate as ever. But an altogether more complex picture of this fascinating, thrillingly brilliant racing driver has emerged since. In terms of raw ability, He can do with a racing car things of which most can only dream. As his ex team-mate at McLaren Jenson Button once said "Lewis is one of the fastest drivers ever to race in F1."
Coupled with that breathtaking pace is an ability to overtake that is just as dazzling.
This was on display from the very start of his F1 career, when he passed Alonso around the outside of the first corner in Australia in 2007 and proceeded to lead the Spaniard for much of the grand prix, before being passed during a pit-stop period.
In Hamiltons debut season he finished on the podium for his first nine races, winning two of them, and led the championship for much of the season.
In doing so, Alonso was destabilised to the point that his relationship with McLaren completely broke down - and the pressure created by two such talents in one team almost brought the team to its knees. The intensity of the battle led also to the world title slipping through Hamilton's fingers - and with it the chance to win the championship in his rookie year, a record that would have been hard to beat.
Mercedes have pulled off a masterstroke with Lewis and have a driver line up to really get excited about.
first of all: happy newyear to you all. Let's hope Lewis will give merc something to cheer about. I hope that we can get at least one pole and one victory this year.
some info you may or may not have read already:
the google translation is a bit rough at times, so here in bullet points what the article says
- at the end of the season (2012) they (MGP) were ~1.5-2 sec behind RBR, but they expect RBR to find another 1 sec for 2013,
therefore their goal was/is to find at least 3 sec from W03 to W04.
If their windtunnel and simulation is correct, they have found half of this time already.
- the mechanical side of the car, is almost finished, and Costa seems confident, that he has a handle on it. They will have
a new very small/compact gearbox, which has been run on the dyno, and so far seems to be o.k.
All the FIA crash tests have been past with the new chassis.
- the rear suspension will have a the option to change the kinematics (camber, toe, camber gain, caster etc.) quickly, to
account for the new unknown tyres. The new suspension is/was tested in the lab (on test rigs in the factory)
and functions as anticipated. (as with all these things, performance while running on the track will be the time of truth)
- aerodynamics, is the area where most of the time has to come from, and they expect two development steps over
Christmas - New Year. Coanda is the way to go, and they say, that by now, they understand why the Coanda did not
work as intendet on the W03. Due to the sidepod shape, they lost most of the exhaust energy after it as left the
channels, and the exhaust flow went all over the place, heating up the rear tyres.
The main area of development will be sidepod shape and the connection to and the shape of the floor. the aim is to
guide the exhaust flow directly to the edge of the floor without it losing it's energy and direction.
- they will look at the RBR solutions, especially the "channels" which they believe were sucking most of the air coming
around the sidepods to the center/middle of the car, and stop it from interfering with the exhaust flow.
- M.S. basicly said, that in the first 2 years, they did not had the manpower & engineering resources to fight at two fronts
at the same time. So whenever there was a problem to be solved, it was "all hands on deck", and the development
work was stopped until the problem was solved, then the engineers could go back and work on developments.
But he says, that he does not understand, why this was still the case in 2012, as by now, they had the manpower and
structures in place, but maybe there are still some cogs missing in the total process.
- In any case, everyone seems to be well aware by now, that the time for excuses is over, they need to be able to fight
for race wins on merit/pace on a regular basis. Nothing else will be acceptable (at least for the Daimler board).
+
This article says the AMGW04 will have a pull-rod front suspension like Ferrari's:
[www.omnicorse.it]
Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 2013:01:01:14:08:08 by De_JOKKE.
Agreed, good input and thanks for sharing it. Welcome to Mercedes GP and we hope you opt to post here regularly.
We are excited for the up-coming season and the arrival of Lewis Hamilton.
These little race cars are very complex machines. If they make a wrong turn it seems it can be months correcting the error, not to mention the man hours and cost-factors.
I like seeing the Silver Arrows in the limelight but things project as being a bit confused at the moment. At this stage of development stability seems it should be the priority being exercised.
I don't know what factor in the mix has roiled the waters, but it has to be found out and settled quickly.
What do the rest of you feel ? Too many chefs in the kitchen ?
The inability to blend executive personalities ? I'd hate to see a power struggle starting at this critical stage of the season. Ideas ?
sessions
Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 2013:01:25:00:35:31 by sessions.
Let's wait and see, it might be an overkill of technical staff but in recent years, it looks like merc can use it. But we still have to see the fruit of the old (before the newcomers)technical team (bell, costa, willis) & the changements they have made (windtunnel etc).
So time will tell. If it turns out they still haven't got it, then the newcomers will come in handy. But their influence won't be noticed until later this year or even next year. IF Lowe should join merc, he can't work for 6 months (workban by mclaren), so it all takes time.
Brawn seems positive about Costa's child (new car) so let's wait and see. One thing is a certainty in these times of blurriness: Lewis will wrinch every performance out of that car. I'm especially looking forward to the opening races (lots of unexpecting things happen then) and monaco (lewis circuit and schum drove to pole there last year).
"Leave it to Lewis Hamilton to ruin Red Bull's day" - Martin Brundle
In memoriam: Sessions
Edited 2 time(s). Last edit at 2013:01:25:00:54:32 by De_JOKKE.
Hamilton, meanwhile, is at the start of a three-year deal with Mercedes which he is already considering extending.
"I like longevity and I like loyalty," he declared at a press briefing in London.
"Loyalty is so important. I love the team where I am and I've already thought to myself that I would hope they would want to keep me for longer. That's how happy I am with the team."
Now that's fast, only 4 races done and thinking about extending. He must be over the moon there.
Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 2013:05:07:11:31:12 by De_JOKKE.
Despite starting the season well, the communication is starting to show some cracks:
9 Peter Bonnington Lewis Hamilton Hamilton is told he’ll be pitting a lap early.
Target minus one so you can push, push.
9 Lewis Hamilton Peter Bonnington You’re confusing the hell out of me, man.
27 Lewis Hamilton Peter Bonnington Am I under threat from people behind?
27 Peter Bonnington Lewis Hamilton Nico the car behind, 7.5 seconds.
27 Lewis Hamilton Peter Bonnington That’s not what I asked. I asked am I under threat? Is he catching me?
29 Lewis Hamilton Peter Bonnington Meanwhile Hamilton, who was supposed to come in on that lap, was held up by his team mate and had to pit a lap later. Message censored by FOM.
When are you going to call me in, man? These tyres are *******.
29 Peter Bonnington Lewis Hamilton Copy that Lewis. We need to service Nico this lap, you’re next lap.
"Leave it to Lewis Hamilton to ruin Red Bull's day" - Martin Brundle
They were struggling with laps. And calculated one decision of 2 bads. 1) too early pit stop = 1 extra stop 2) To stay on track to lose 10 sec. But gain on one less stop.
They opted the nr. 2 option.
Nico had been good on tires and was going for podium. Hammi had lost the good option already due to these stupid 2012 spec Pirellis + Korea right front tire eating track.
These were the options for Hammi... he was out of the game anyways. Due to severe tire wear issues which had led to these bad options he had.
Nicos FW fell off. They had only one option for him. To take him in. Ofcourse.
---------------------------------------
But i fully understand the frustration. It was sick to go backwards again due to these f Pirellis
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