Mercedes target “trouble-free” Belgian GP

2014 Belgian Grand Prix

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Mercedes aim to halt their recent run of problems in this weekend’s Belgian Grand Prix.

Despite having a significant performance advantage over their rivals, technical problems have dogged Lewis Hamilton and Nico Rosberg in recent races.

Hamilton was hit by a turbo fire in Hungary and a brake failure in Germany during the first qualifying sessions, costing him dearly on the grid. In Britain Nico Rosberg was forced to retire with a gearbox problem while leading.

“Our priority as a team is to re-establish a trouble-free weekend,” said executive director for technical Paddy Lowe, “which is something we unfortunately haven’t seen for a few races.”

“If we can get the set-up right and manage the weather conditions correctly, we can be optimistic of a good result,” he added. “Having said that, we are under no illusions that a number of other cars will also come to the fore here.”

Mercedes motorsport head Toto Wolff believes it is essential for the team to avoid further problems with the W05 to protect their position in the championship.

“Looking ahead to Spa, and also reflecting on our recent performances, it is clear that reliability must be a key focus for the team if we are to maintain the hard-earned advantage established in the opening stages of the year.” he said.

“We approach the remaining eight races with the firm target of making this next phase of the season even better than what we have achieved so far.

“Although the team has done a fantastic job, we are fully aware that this championship is far from decided – as demonstrated clearly in Hungary by the performance of some of our competitors. As always, we are taking nothing for granted.”

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Keith Collantine
Lifelong motor sport fan Keith set up RaceFans in 2005 - when it was originally called F1 Fanatic. Having previously worked as a motoring...

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26 comments on “Mercedes target “trouble-free” Belgian GP”

  1. They must be the only team then?

    First four slots for Spa and Monza are for the Mercedes boys and Williams cars followed by the Red Bulls and Alonso somewhere in between them. Just a guess. Force Indias rounding out top ten with Kimi somewhere close.

    1. What about McLaren?

      1. Or Force India.

        1. Thats what the original post says, the top 10 being Mercedes, Williams, Red Bull, Ferrari and FI. I just expect at least one McLaren in the top 10.

    2. Spa weather can make things unpredictable.

  2. Given how few powertrain units each driver is allocated for the whole season, it will be very tough to have a ‘trouble-free weekend’ every weekend really. I seriously do fear that this championship will be decided by reliability, which is a massive shame.

    1. Like it wasn’t almost every year in the 70’s and 80’s. Even in 2005, Kimi probably would have won if his Mclaren could drive 10 meters without breaking down.

      1. @zjakobs
        Just because it’s happened before doesn’t make it preferable.

  3. Fingers crossed Lewis will be able to register a qualifying time for the first time in seven weeks…

  4. “Manage the weather conditions correctly”?! Good luck with that. At Spa, the weather manages you.
    Just get two cars ready that don’t break down.

  5. Well, they only have 44 laps to complete in this race, here’s hoping…

    But before that, let’s actually pray Lewis can get out of Q1 and provide Nico with some sort of fight for pole position? Please.

    1. Well, they only have 44 laps to complete in this race, here’s hoping…

      Which still add up to 305 km, unfortunately. ;)

      1. UNFORTUNATELY ????? shame on you.

  6. Hopefully they have finally sorted out the reliability with Lewis’s car. Nico has had it easy, only 1 retirement and I hope that this is the last time that Lewis will be playing catch-up, as he has for most of the season.

    1. @ultimateuzair How about people stop crying about how much luck Rosberg has had? He has had the better luck of the two but not by a mile. Both have a retirement; Australia for Hamilton and England for Rosberg. Canada they both had bad luck and one managed it better than the other.

      All the unreliability Hamilton has had in Q is annoying, yes. But it’s not like he missed a huge amount of points by it. There is absolutly no way you could say Hamilton would’ve ran away with the German grand prix. He still finished ahead in Hungary due to the SC whilst Rosberg lost a almost certain victory there…

      Just take it as it comes and accept that reliability is a part of the game. At the moment it’s not that influantial as many Hamilton fans proclaim…

      1. Oh and Austria, he was 4th or 5th by lap 2. It’s not like he never had a chance to overtake Rosberg. If he was that decisively faster he would’ve…

      2. He still finished ahead in Hungary due to the SC

        He was able to make up a lot of lost ground as a result, but he finished ahead because he was better than Rosberg.

  7. If you really think about it no one has beat Mercedes on merit (yet) this season.

    Australia: Hamilton engine problems when on pole position
    Canada: Both Mercedes lost MGU-K power when running 1-2
    Silverstone: Rosberg retires from gearbox problems from the lead
    Germany: Hamilton has a brake failure in qualifying
    Hungary: Engine failure for Hamilton in qualifying. Rosberg leads by 10.52 seconds after 8 laps before the SC screws him over.

    On raw pace they should have finished 1-2 every race so far. Merc’s unreliability, as well as some driving mistakes is the main reason to why they don’t have 473 points in the WCC right now IMO.

    1. Well I have to disagree to an extent, in Hungary the safety car made Ricciardo luck to the front, but Alonso lost out just as much as Rosberg, yet he managed to get past and stay ahead of both Mercedes’s, so I’d say Alonso beat Rosberg on merit definately. Of course, had the safety car not come out then Rosberg would’ve pulled away in front I suppose and probably would’ve won as well.

      1. Rosberg had brake problems during the restart, causing him to lose two positions.

      2. @oel-f1

        in Hungary the safety car made Ricciardo luck to the front, but Alonso lost out just as much as Rosberg, yet he managed to get past and stay ahead of both Mercedes’s, so I’d say Alonso beat Rosberg on merit definately.

        I nearly forgot about that.

        Hungary was just Alonso being Alonso. I think that in a “normal” race without the SC dilemma, Rosberg would have cake-walked it.

        On raw pace the WO5 has consistently been the fastest car every weekend so far. When was the last time we saw that? 1992? Even in 2002 and 2004, there were occasional weekends where Ferrari got beat on speed by others.

    2. It was more Rosberg being Rosberg. He messed up his overtake on Magnussen when his brakes were still cold and then Alonso and Vergne slipped past.

  8. Somehow I hope none of this trouble-free stuff happens, and rain pours down all weekend at SPA. Rather than just Williams and Mercedes racing eachother, Id like to see an more even playing field which the rain may provide. I do hope we get some good Lewis vs Nico fight, and also Vettel vs Alonso vs Ricciardo, which never get’s old really.

  9. It’s currently cold as an october day here in Belgium, with rain about every 4 hours. One of the worst august month in years. I would usually be depressed about that, but not this year. This year, I’m going to Spa, fully equipped to attend to a rain-soaked grand prix. Let’s hope our wonderful circuit will produce a thrilling weekend!

    1. Haha, even England isn’t that bad!

    2. I was in Belgium last summer for the race (Brussels/Liege/Spa). Brussels was pretty bad and Spa was glorious on race day despite late showers in Q1.

      I’m looking forward for a rain hit race with changeable conditions like we had in Hungary.

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