Nico Rosberg’s first run in the Mercedes W02 today was cut short by a hydraulic failure which stopped him from being able to change gear.
That meant he was only able to drive nine laps in the new car this morning before handing over to team mate Michael Schumacher.
Afterwards he talked to reporters about the car, starting with his first impressions of using the adjustable rear wing:
I tried the moveable rear wing. That takes some getting used to because you push the button and the thing goes down on the back so you feel a little bit that the car gets lighter and then you release the button again before the braking and you think “Geez, what if this thing hasn’t gone back to its old position?” – [because] then you’re off in a big way.
It’s not too different to the KERS, but still the rear wing moves and you don’t really know how quick does it get back into its normal working area once you release the button again.
With the KERS we could release very late when we were braking, and that was a kind of natural way of doing it, quite late. And now you don’t really know. [Do it] too late and it’s not going to be properly attached.
Nico Rosberg
However Rosberg supports the introduction of the controversial wings, saying they’ll make overtaking easier:
I think the idea behind it is good, it definitely should make overtaking easier.
And in the end, nobody is going to ask why is overtaking easier. If the racing is more exciting and spectacular then that’s it, full stop, F1 has become more exciting.
So the idea is very good, but yes it’s not zero concern. For sure you still need to think about it a little bit, if it really is the right thing to do. There is a lot of things going on now with the rear, with KERS and this and that.
Nico Rosberg
Rosberg also said his first impression of driving the W02 was positive:
It was good, the positive thing was I just felt at home straight away, I felt comfortable.
The initial impression is difficult to compare – I just did one test with the new Pirelli tyres back in November so it’s a bit difficult, different track, things like that.
But the general impression was that it felt very good.
Nico Rosberg
2011 F1 testing
Image © Mercedes
Andy92 (@andy92)
1st February 2011, 15:55
I can imagine it being a little scary for the drivers the first couple of times they go into a corner just having released the MRW button!
BasCB (@bascb)
1st February 2011, 16:40
Must take quite a bit of getting used to. A scary feeling at first, certainly.
Fixy (@)
1st February 2011, 15:58
Overtaking shouldn’t be easy. It should happen often, but not be easy.
Phil
1st February 2011, 18:02
Quite right, Fixy.
Plus, how will it be easier if they all can do it? As soon as you see the guy behind you, you can deploy it yourself and speed up.
Adrian J (@adrian-j)
1st February 2011, 18:25
No you can’t, that’s the thing. The defending guy won’t be able to use his rear wong…
…unless he happens to also be within 1 second of the car in front at the appropriate point…
Adrian J (@adrian-j)
1st February 2011, 18:26
…erm that should be “wing” not “wong”…I don’t even want to know about any rear wongs!!
luigismen (@luigismen)
1st February 2011, 22:07
lol! good for you that you clarified that
SeattleChris (@seattlechris)
2nd February 2011, 6:53
Eh, maybe you do! Its a Freudian slip; meaning you had ‘wongs’ on your mind mate!
Dazed and Confused
1st February 2011, 15:58
Nico Rosberg clearly has no idea what he is talking about!!
He says
The 2009 Williams wasn’t even equipped with Kers & he says “we could release very late……”
The fact is than he has never ever driven a KERS equipped car & yet has no qualms in dismissing the ART. What a shame!
Dazed and Confused
1st February 2011, 15:59
* ARW
Grace (@grace)
1st February 2011, 16:03
Williams had developed a flywheel version of KERS. It was never raced, only tested. So I am very sure Nico knows what he is talking about.
BasCB (@bascb)
1st February 2011, 16:39
as Grace writes, they did use it in testing. And probably had hundreds of hours of experiencing it in the simulator as well.
Adrian J (@adrian-j)
1st February 2011, 18:26
I wondered whether he actually meant F-Duct…but then that gets into whether Mercedes had a driver operated F-Duct or not last year…
Grace (@grace)
1st February 2011, 16:02
Williams developed a flywheel version of KERS. It was never raced, only tested. So I am very sure Nico knows what he is talking about.
1978_Racer
1st February 2011, 16:05
so far i still dislike the idea as it seems far too much of a gimmick, especially the whole ‘only car behind can use it when within 1 second on a specific part of track when the fia activate it’.
the thing which concerns me is how it may affect the racing. the thing which i enjoy about this great sport is the racing, i like watching 2 guys battling it out for a position, one guy defending hard as the other is fighting to find a way past.
the worst case scenario from my point of view is that we lose those great battles for postion and reach a point where as soon as one car gets up behind another he’s able to hit a button and easily make the pass on the straght. to me thats not racing, thats artifically ceated gimmickey passing which isnt what i want to watch.
one of the things i disliked with kers back in 2009 was that all kers based passes were on straghts, there was no longer the skill of having to fight your way past another car, you just had to hit a button and get an 80hp boost. raikkonen passing fisichella at spa that year thanks to kers was a dull, boring, unexciting and predictable pass and i fear thats what we will get more often this season.
Damon (@damon)
1st February 2011, 16:27
Agreed.
And I already imagine how ridiculous situations this will result in.
“I was supposed to have the rear wing activated, but FIA must’ve had a technical problem and they didn’t have it for the last third of the race, I lost the lead to Alonso and dropped to fifth, because my silly button wasn’t working. I was almost a second a lap faster than Rosberg, but everytime I overtook him, he would just press the button and overtake me back straight away.”
Dazed and Confused
1st February 2011, 17:15
Thank Max for all these ridiculous ideas.
1978_Racer
1st February 2011, 17:18
the adjustable wing had nothing to do with max mosley, it was a proposal put forward by fota last june.
despite the fact most fans and many of the drivers seemed negative on the idea fota pushed it through to the fia anyway who voted in favor of it.
Adrian J (@adrian-j)
1st February 2011, 18:29
I think more people would be behind it if the drivers could use it whenever they wanted (as they could with the F-Duct). I know I wouldn’t have a problem with that.
The part I don’t like is that it can only be used under a certain set of conditions…
SeattleChris (@seattlechris)
2nd February 2011, 7:00
Every year they’ve tried adding something, but in my experience the new rules have rarely made much of a difference in racing. They are just gimmicks that are ill thought out. I agree that the concept of only being able to use them within 1 second of another car is just a wong-headed move. Either allow the change to occur once or twice throughout the lap or not at all.
The biggest problem is what happens if they have an actuator failure on the rear wing and a freaking driver dies because of this truly stupid gimmick? Nothing to 4′ tall little ugly man Ecclestoner that is for sure. Moveable rear wings are just too dangerous for this possibility alone… with a moveable front wing the potential problem had much less of an impact on the car.
Mike
2nd February 2011, 7:01
But will you feel the same when it makes for more exciting racing? Because it most likely will.
1978_Racer
2nd February 2011, 9:45
but it will be artificial.
if we do see more passing generated by the arw it will only be because of 1 car suddenly having a big speed advantage over another because they were able to press a button.
whats the point of getting excited over a potential fight for a position when you know that the car behind has a big speed boost avaliable at the push of a button to pass the car hes following.
i go back to spa 2009. restarts are usually pretty exciting as you never know what could happen. yet the restart at spa 2009 wasn’t that exciting because you knew raikkonen was almost certainly going to pass fisichella on the straght as soon as he pressed the kers button.
everyone knew kimi was going to make the pass as soon as he hit kers and that to me wasnt good racing, it was an artificial gimmickey pass which was neither exciting or intresting to watch.
Kest (@kest)
3rd February 2011, 0:45
I think where F1 went wrong with overtaking is limiting the revs of the engine. A car will get into a tow and hit its rev limit essentially stopping any further progress.
The moveable rear wing essentially moves to alleviate this by reducing the drag of the car, which increases the drag limited top speed of the car, instead of the rev limited top speed of the car.
rossi
3rd February 2011, 14:37
the word “gearbox” springs to mind here ;)
rossi
3rd February 2011, 14:26
give it a chance,1978racer,with regards to your comment-if fisi had kers,would we have had a procession 2 the flag? n yer i wanted fisi win.
the Edge
1st February 2011, 17:16
No mention of Rosberg saying the car was under-stearing again, Schumacher’s not gonna like that
Pedal to the Vettel (@pedal-to-the-vettel)
2nd February 2011, 12:32
Rosberg is known to hate understeer as much as Schumi so they are both in the same pond at this moment, until they adjust a few things on the car.
Invoke
1st February 2011, 17:33
I’m not sure what to think of this comment, from the Sauber video it appears to be an almost instantaneous action. I wonder if the Mercedes implementation has a more gradual transition?
DeadManWoking
1st February 2011, 18:13
The wing drops down very quickly but what they’re worried about is how long it takes for the airflow to re-attach itself to the moved wing and begin providing downforce in the braking zone. See my previous comment here
https://www.racefans.net/2011/01/29/first-look-at-ferraris-adjustable-rear-wing-in-action/comment-page-1/#comment-560645
for a quote from Adam Cooper’s blog.
David A
1st February 2011, 23:42
Well, people dislike it, but I say the less we talk about it, the less bad it will feel. Front wings have been adjustable for 2 years now in order to improve overtaking, but we never talk about how bad they are supposed to be.
Gridlock
2nd February 2011, 1:22
then you release the button again before the braking and you think “Geez, what if this thing hasn’t gone back to its old position?”
This is why I find football boring, and think footballers might be some of the most overpaid people in the world.
wasiF1
2nd February 2011, 8:00
I do agree with you too. I think one reason why they are so overpaid is the fact that attract more people then F1 or any other motorracing does. The drivers & riders are the bravest in the world.
Gridlock
2nd February 2011, 1:23
Also, I think Monaco this year might be slightly intense.
wasiF1 (@wasif1)
2nd February 2011, 2:11
Not a good day for the team & him as they would love to have more track time with Roseberg which wasn’t possible today.But as he said that he feels good with the car so I hope it is better then 2010.
SeattleChris (@seattlechris)
2nd February 2011, 7:04
All in all I just hope that car is competitive with the other 3