Recuerdo las 24 Horas de Le Mans de 1991. Por aquel entonces, y con solo veintiún años, Michael Schumacher formaba parte del Mercedes Junior Team. En su primer relevo, el joven piloto alemán comenzó a rodar seis segundos más rápido que el veterano Jochen Mass, al volante del segundo prototipo del equipo Sauber Mercedes. Sus responsables, alarmados, intentaron explicarle que la carrera duraba 24 Horas, y que ese ritmo no se podía mantener. Schumacher respondió que ni siquiera estaba tirando fuerte, y que podía seguir rodando así durante 24 semanas.
¡Que tiempos aquellos! Siempre pensé que lo que bien empieza, bien acaba, y no creo que esta vaya a ser la excepción. Yo pienso, que a partir de el GP de Hungria, habra un antes y un despues en este equipo, y de esta "tocada de fondo" emergerá algo positivo.
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ALANUSTienen una pinta de matarse a curraaaaar....
jajaja! Menuda pandilla. Tengo el software de reconocimiento facial trabajando a tope
, cuando los tenga identificados, empezaré a mandarles bolsas de mierda por correo, jajaja!
UNA ENTREVISTA A ROSS BRAWN (¡para flipar!)
Ross Brawn says Mercedes have already identified different directions they will look to take in the development of their 2012 car, the Briton admitting they are ?six months out of phase? compared to the top three squads this year.
The Brackley-based squad had hoped to be challenging for podiums on a more consistent basis this season but at the mid-point of the campaign have yet to finish higher than fourth and look set to have to settle for fourth place at best in the constructors? championship again.
Brawn concedes the squad probably didn?t initially give enough focus to the in-vogue advanced exhaust technologies being implemented by rivals elsewhere and it was something they had already commited to changing for next season.
?There are some things we?d do differently,? he said during a briefing with journalists on Thursday when asked if in hindsight he would make changes to the current W02.
?The exhaust-blown diffuser, or the technologies around the exhaust, we possibly didn?t get onto early enough in terms of implications it has for the car layout. There were certain things we did to optimise the car without those technologies which perhaps we wouldn?t have done with those technologies.
?You?re balancing aerodynamics against weight distribution with centre of gravity and all those sorts of things, so we have moved in a different direction for next year.?
The Briton also suggested the W03 would feature a longer wheelbase as the team has experienced difficulties with the current car to find a set-up that works as well on light fuel in qualifying and full tanks in the race.
?Probably yes,? he said when asked if the wheelbase would be lengthened on next year?s car.
?One of the main things [problems] is obviously when it?s full of fuel because the fuel tank?s shorter then it?s higher, so that doesn?t help. We?re finding that we?re having to balance between what we choose for qualifying and what we choose for the race, we?re having to find more of a compromise between the two.
?Obviously what you ideally want is a set-up that works in qualifying and you can just take straight into the race because these days there are very few changes you can make. But we don?t seem to have hit that sweet spot in terms of the position of the fuel when the car?s full [of fuel] and the height of the fuel when the car?s full.?
Brawn says the team?s own data analysis work shows they are making up ground on Red Bull, McLaren and Ferrari with the current W02, although not at the kind of rate they would ideally like.
?Obviously we?re still trying very hard [to catch the top three]. Interestingly, we do analyses after each race and generally we are clawing it [the gap] back slowly,? he said.
?Obviously not as quickly as we?d like because I think there?s pretty intense competition at the front, they?re working ferociously to improve their situation, and we?re also working to catch up.
?But in terms of what we call normalised lap time when we take account of tyres, fuel, all sorts of things, we have reduced the gap ? but not enough yet.?
He conceded that they were a number of months behind in the development game, but said they were continuing to work hard to further reduce the gap this season.
?We?re about six months out of phase,? Brawn admitted.
?If we had about six months? worth of performance developments on the car now then we?d be looking a lot better. So really that?s what we?re trying to do.
El enlace a esta entrevista es
Ross Brawn--------------------------------------------------
El domingo pasado, al acabar la carrera, en la RTL Lauda comenta cuando una camara se acerca al W02 de Rosberg y enfoca la parte trasera, concretamente la zona de escapes y difusor, que el aspecto de este es espantoso, lleno de toscos retales mas propios del trabajo de un amante del bricolaje la madrugada del sabado despues de una buena juerga, y luego enfoca el McLaren y se limita a decir "...ufff, las comparaciones apestan"
Para echarse a llorar. Yo espero que a Belgica no lleven esa chatarra, por lo menos que lo pongan un poco mas fino, que da pena que un HRT tenga mejores acabados.