Ross Confident About The Pace of MGP W02 Despite Performance Issues

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Mercedes GP boss Ross Brawn is confident that the team has resloved its cooling issues and will be rival for the first race in Melbourne, Australia.

The team has problem with overheating since it unveiled its new MGP W02 chassis. The cooling issues have limited the car's performance, according to Brawn.


"The short-term modifications that we made to the launch-specification car cost a reasonable amount of performance," said Brawn. "We are well aware of the pace of our current car, the distance to the current front-runners and the reasons for this, which include the compromises brought about by our cooling issues."

The team has followed its plan to use a basic car through testing and add a performance upgrade before the first race.

"This inevitably means that we look further off the pace than people might expect," Brawn said. "Knowing all of the facts, I am comfortable with our current position and the developments that we have to come."

But the Mercedes team was able to post the second-fastest time in its last test session with its launch-specification car at the Circuit de Catalunya in Barcelona this past weekend. Nico Rosberg set a lap of 1 minute, 23.168 seconds.

"It was a good week, and we used the opportunity to complete fundamental setup work, develop our understanding of how to maximize the tires over a single lap, and to improve our long-run performance," said Brawn. "We successfully completed two race simulations with Michael [Schumacher] and Nico at the first attempt, with the car finishing in good condition and without issues."

The team also was testing front-wing variations in Barcelona. The MGP W02 debuted with a front wing based on the 2010 Mercedes chassis. But the wing used in Barcelona was closer to the final 2011 design that will be used in Melbourne, according to Brawn.

Mercedes GP will return to the Circuit de Catalunya March 9-12, in place of the final test scheduled to be held in Bahrain. But both the Bahrain test session and the Grand Prix have been postponed by Bahrain's Crown Prince, HRH Prince Salman bin Hamad Al-Khalifa, because of the country's current political climate.

"The decision to postpone the Bahrain Grand Prix was certainly the correct one. Bahrain has its own priorities at this time, and it is right that the Bahraini people are able to work together to resolve the situation, away from the spotlight that the first race of the new Formula One season would inevitably bring," he said.

But the additional time before the Australian Grand Prix, March 25-27, will not have a real impact on the development of the MGP W02, according to Brawn.

"The additional two weeks will, of course, provide a good opportunity to regroup and allow all of the teams to have more preparation time before we arrive in Melbourne for the first race," he said. "The car specification for Melbourne will remain the same as we had planned."