Mercedes “moderately optimistic” of victory chances

2013 Monaco Grand Prix

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Mercedes team principal Ross Brawn is hopeful they will finally score their first win of the year in Sunday’s race.

The team has started the last three races in a row from pole position but hasn’t won any of them.

“We have a pretty poor record in converting pole positions to race wins this year,” Brawn admitted, “so it’d be nice to achieve it here.”

Poor tyre degradation in the race has been the major weakness of the W04. Brawn said: “We’ve done some things with the car that I think are going to help tomorrow.”

“The long run looked pretty respectable we did on Thursday. So I hope that translates, I hope the track hasn’t moved away too much. And moderately optimistic for Sunday.”

Nico Rosberg, who is on pole position for the third race in a row, was cautious about his chances of winning: “In Barcelona we were struggling a lot in the race,” he said. “I was 70 seconds behind by the end of the race, from the race winner.”

“We’re improving, it’s difficult to understand the tyres and get the most out of it, we’re improving step by step but there’s still a lot of question marks remaining. And so here I’m sure we’ve made a step forward but it’s still going to be difficult for us tomorrow, definitely. It’s our weakness but we’ll make the best of it and who knows, you can always have a few surprises.”

2013 Monaco Grand Prix

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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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23 comments on “Mercedes “moderately optimistic” of victory chances”

  1. With their grid position and the low-deg nature of Monaco, I really hope it happens. Always nice to see another driver and/or team on the top step.

  2. Would love to see them fail again, specially at a track like this. Imagine the situation !

    Sorry Merc :P

    1. OmarR-Pepper (@)
      25th May 2013, 16:14

      Brawn fired, Lowe stepping in

      1. @omarr-pepper MOAR TECHNICAL DIRECTORS !

    2. Shreyas Mohanty (@)
      25th May 2013, 19:30

      that would be ultra-hilarious, not to mention ridiculou!

  3. Well, with Alonso back in 6th and Webber in 4th, I think it’s down to Vettel to confirm or deny that thought… I expect Hamilton to get overshot at some point by Vettel and a charging Alonso but Rosberg could very well have this one on the tray, if he keeps his position past the tunnel.

    1. David not Coulthard (@)
      25th May 2013, 17:03

      While webber will start 4th, 4th is actually on the same row as Vettel (though it’s probably dirtier and all that).

    1. “Mercedes team principal Ross Brawn is hopeful they will finally score their first win of the year in today’s race”

      1. Also:

        The team has started the last three races in a row from pole position but hasn’t won any of them.

        It’s been four races in a row, as Keith stated in the qualifying report.

  4. All aboard!!!!!!!!!!!!!! The MERC express…. destination MONACO….
    That´s what we´re in for tomorrow! XD

      1. Shreyas Mohanty (@)
        25th May 2013, 19:35

        true story,mate.

  5. Its made to be seriously good tomorrow. There is just so many fine points to it. Will the Mercs be able to keep control of the race? Will they be a team to win the race? Webber starting alongside Vettel the run to St. Devote should be good with all 4 cars. Chuck in the fact that they are harder on their tyres than Alonso and Kimi it will be fascinating. I dont think a 1 stop is doable for Merc and RBR, Lotus and Ferrari could try. A winner? Vettel

    1. Shreyas Mohanty (@)
      25th May 2013, 19:55

      Either that or we see the Mercedes Express mentioned by @karter22 above.

  6. Rosberg left the clean side of the track to block Lewis on the dirty side in Spain.

    Hope he doesn’t repeat that tomorrow, they are teammates afterall.

  7. Best thing @MercedesAMGF1 can do let one of the driver fly away while other hold the rest of the field behind him. Whichever Mercedes gets ahead of the other in turn 1 is the NUMBER 1 for the race, let that car FLY while the other car control & create a traffic behind it. To win tomorrow Mercedes have to apply this or I can see Alonso, Raikkonen & Vettel on the podium.

    1. @wasif1 All that will be nullified if Vettel upholds the ‘odd is better than even’ thumb rule at Monaco tomorrow.

    2. I don’t agree with this rabbit strategy. It does you no good to run 10 laps, and then fall right back into the slower teammate, and then on top of that be shuffled into the midfield when you pit early behind a bunch of slow cars on worn tires. It will be disasterous. both cars have to run in a very disciplined style to avoid the traction events but still not get passed after the longer straights. The second car is going to have to peel off immediately to mark the most dangerous undercut and slow him down so the other car and continue to creep around.

      Also people were joking about Massa but he is a real threat. He can start on SS, pit on lap 1, and then cruise around behind the back markers until the first stops, go very long on that first stint, and at worse he will be at the back of the lead group as they go into their second stops. If there is an SC, he may be right at the front. His mission will be greatly aided of course by the M-Bahn at the front.

  8. I heard tomorrow’s race will start under a Mercedes Safety car driven by Trulli.

  9. Shreyas Mohanty (@)
    25th May 2013, 19:44

    Jokes aside, I think tomorrow’s race is going to be rated 10/10 by all F1F members. It will be interesting to see what new tyre strategies teams come up with, though I hate tires playing such a big role. Safety car is inevitable, so let’s see what pit options are used then. Will love too see Alonso on the podium tomorrow, yhough I hate the very likely possibility of Vettel winning. I hope Vettel crashes tomorrow! :p

    1. Shreyas Mohanty (@)
      25th May 2013, 19:59

      *to
      *though

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