WorldMags.net
Mercedes
Hamilton is a strong
favourite for title #3
“The key question is whether Mercedes
has made enough progress to maintain
the level of 2014 advantage”
Mercedes F1 W06
NICO ROSBERG
M
52 AUTOSPORT.COM MARCH 5 2015
6
Age:
29
Starts:
166
First GP:
Bahrain 2006
Wins:
8
Poles:
15
Fastest laps:
9
2014 position:
2nd
LEWIS HAMILTON
44
Age:
30
Starts:
148
First GP:
Australia 2007
Wins:
33
Poles:
38
Fastest laps:
20
2014 position:
1st
Last year, Rosberg always seemed
to be having to try much harder than
Hamilton to extract the speed from
the car. That style worked well on
Saturdays, but in the races it often
meant he was unable to match
Hamilton over a race stint. A very
good driver, but he'll have to take
it to another level to beat Lewis.
Hamilton is very fast and not just
over a single lap. In the final quarter
of the season, th ere were times when
Rosberg had no idea how to beat him
on Sundays even with the advantage
of pole position. As has always been
the case, the most likely person to
beat Lewis is Lewis. If he’s there
mentally, he'll be very strong again.
Merc could leave the
field behind again
ETHERINGTON/LAT
ercedes did most things right last
year and, judging by the smooth
running it has enjoyed during
testing, there are no obvious
problems with the 2015 car that
could prevent it from winning
another constructors’ world
championship. The key question
is whether it has made enough progress to
maintain the level of its 2014 advantage.
There are some changes to the regulations that
could cause some problems, such as the new
nose rules that have an impact on the downforce
levels, but these are relatively small. So a lot will
depend on whether the teams in the pack behind
have been able to make a bigger step.
The team certainly seems very happy with
progress. Everyone kept talking about the focus
on reliability early on, and that seems strong, but
you always want to see a performance gain from
the new car. But however big or small the gap is,
it does seem that the Mercedes will be the car
to beat when we get to Australia.
The team itself seems pretty stable. After the
work done by Ross Brawn to build up Mercedes
from 2010-13, Paddy Lowe and Toto Wolff have
been able to keep the team working well both
technically and operationally. There were a few
weaknesses last year with reliability, which three
times allowed Red Bull to win races it shouldn't
have been fast enough to, so that could be a
problem if things are closer at the front.
It’s difficult to look beyond Mercedes. It has
been able to improve what was the best engine
and the development rate of the car late last
year was also surprisingly strong, so if all that
continues, it’ll be another good year for Germany.
DUNBAR/LAT
SEASON
52
PREVIEW
Starts: 96
First GP: Bahrain 2010
Wins: 20
Poles: 27
Fastest laps: 16
2014 championship position: 1st
XPB IMAGES
G A RY A N D E R S O N ' S
TEAM BY TEAM
WorldMags.net
Lowe (l) and Wolff
are operational aces