2012 Spanish Grand Prix – Preview

Formula One's European season starts next week with the Spanish Grand Prix taking place at the Circuit de Catalunya in Barcelona. A familiar testing venue, the 4.655 km circuit plays host to Round Five of the 2012 World Championship.

• The race has been won from pole in nine of the last 10 years; the exception was 2011, when Vettel won from P2
• At 730 metres, the run from the start-finish line to the apex of the first corner is the longest of the season
• Spain was one of just two races won on a four-stop strategy last season; the other was the Turkish Grand Prix

Michael Schumacher

“After completing our testing programme in Mugello, we are now heading to the start of the European season in Barcelona next week. The positive thing about the test was that we could really concentrate on the developments we were aiming to work on. This should give us a good basis for further developments, even if maybe not for the next race to come. Barcelona is a track we have driven extensively on, and this is why we know that its characteristics do not exactly play fully into our hands. But then, we will definitely go there and try our best and at the same time keep on working for the things to come.”

Nico Rosberg

“I am really looking forward to next weekend and racing in Europe again. It's quite unique to come to a track where we have done so many laps in winter testing, however the race weekend will be a completely different challenge. The test in Mugello this week was very positive for us, and I believe we will arrive in Barcelona with a much better understanding of the tyres and how we need to set our car up. Despite the familiarity of the track, there will still be a lot of work for us to do, and it should be a good challenge.” 

Ross Brawn, Team Principal

“After a hectic start to the season with four races and the test in Mugello, we are all looking forward to the European season getting underway and the familiarity that brings. The team had a good week in Italy for the test this week where we were able to work both on challenges that affected us during the initial races of the season, and evaluate a number of new developments planned for the forthcoming races. Spain plays host to the first European race, and although the Circuit de Catalunya is a very familiar venue for the team and our drivers, the weekend will bring its own challenges. I feel confident that we are continuing to make progress, and we will of course be working hard to continue that trend.”

Norbert Haug, Vice-President, Mercedes-Benz Motorsport

“The first four races of the 2012 season have offered great, thrilling sport for all fans of Formula One. Eight drivers from six teams on the podium in four races - one more driver than in the entire 2011 season - and four winners from four races for the first time in nearly 30 years; you couldn't ask for more in terms of on-track excitement and unpredictability. No team has yet produced winning form at more than one event and achieving this consistency will be key. Our MERCEDES AMG PETRONAS team has registered a positive trend: after two difficult races at the start of the season, we were competitive and won in China then, in Bahrain, we were the third-fastest team on race day. We have been hard at work since then to further improve the competitiveness, consistency and reliability of our car. The Circuit de Catalunya will present a very different challenge next weekend to the ones in the first four races with track temperatures likely to be very different and with new developments on the cars. We will approach the race weekend in a focused manner in order to maximise our team performance with both drivers.”

Nico Rosberg rides home to a commanding win at the UBS Chinese GP

Nico Rosberg took a commanding victory at an action packed Chinese Grand Prix in Shanghai yesterday. Starting from pole position, he took the chequered flag with a comfortable 20 second margin over his closest rival, achieving his first win in Formula One.

Nico ran a two-stop option/prime/prime strategy to win by 20.626 seconds over Jenson Button´s McLaren-Mercedes. Teammate Michael was forced to retire on lap 13 after his right front wheel was not properly attached at his first pit stop. This was Nico´s 111th Formula One start, and comes 111 years after Mercedes´ first win at the 1901 Nice Speed Weeks.

What makes this particular win special is that it’s the first win for a works Silver Arrow since the 1955 Italian Grand Prix, on 11 September in Monza - 25,671 days ago! The victory is the tenth in Formula One for a works Silver Arrow, and brings the total number of Mercedes-Benz F1 victories to 90. Mercedes-Benz powered cars filled the podium for the second time in three years at the Chinese Grand Prix.

Nico Rosberg

“This is a very special moment for me. The whole weekend went perfectly. My first pole position, now my first win in Formula One - it really is fantastic. But it´s not only this; it´s the first win for the new Silver Arrow and for this great team. That is really special for me. Thanks to everybody in the team, here in China and in our factories in Brackley and Brixworth. It makes me very proud that we have improved the car so quickly. I will never forget this race, and the last 20 laps felt as long as if I was racing in the Le Mans 24 Hours! But then crossing the line was so intense. We will enjoy this success, but our feet are still on the ground. We are still not where we want to be, we are still working hard to understand the car and the tyres in all conditions, and we will keep pushing to improve our race pace even further. We will see how that works out in Bahrain.”

Michael Schumacher

“First of all, congratulations to the whole team, to Mercedes-Benz and of course to Nico who achieved a perfect victory from start to finish. He did a great job today and yesterday, and I am happy for him. As for my race, my right front tyre got loose following my first pit stop. As I did not want to cause any bigger damage to the car, I stopped on the grass. I felt there was something wrong immediately and especially in turn three, when I put pressure on the right side of the car. Up until then I had a controlled race I´d say, keeping the others behind me and the tyres together. Of course, this was an unfortunate ending to what could have been a nice race, and I feel sorry for the guys, who always work so hard and give their best. But we all know that´s part of the game.”

Ross Brawn

“This is a truly special and historic day. I am so delighted for Nico, he has deserved to take his first victory several times, and has now done so by driving a perfectly judged race from pole position. I am excited to see how he develops now he has that win under his belt. Commiserations to Michael, who was driving a controlled race in second position, but was forced to retire after his pit stop. However, he is the first man to say that we win and lose as a team, and his performances this year prove that he is equally capable of climbing to the top step of the podium. 

Heartfelt congratulations to all our team here at the track, in Brackley and in Brixworth; they have put tremendous effort into this project, and we are now starting to see the rewards for their dedication and expertise. Finally, I must thank all our colleagues at Mercedes-Benz in Stuttgart and around the world - their support has been unstinting, and we are proud to deliver the first victory for a works Silver Arrow car in 57 years. I was just one year old when Juan Manuel Fangio won in Monza in 1955 - but this victory is something I will remember, and savour, for a very long time indeed!”

Norbert Haug

“What a sensational victory from Nico and our team! It was unbelievable how Nico drove and controlled the race from lap one to 56. A big thank you to everybody in Brackley, Brixworth, Stuttgart, Fellbach, Untertürkheim and Möhringen for all their relentless work and their belief in our capabilities and that we can make it. Nico´s performance was superb today, the team executed a great two-stop strategy, and Nico and his car managed the tyres very well. It was a shame for Michael, who dropped out after his first pit stop because of a problem with the right front wheel; he missed out on a possible very good podium result. It was particularly sweet to see Jenson and Lewis on the podium - Mercedes Power to the power of three!”

Mercedes Track Day Contest!

Fans all over the world love two things about Formula 1 – the speed of the sport and the superb racing cars! Mercedes-Benz is offering you a unique opportunity to experience the thrill & fascination of the Formula 1 Race Track.

On 27th March 2012 the Sahara Force India Mercedes drivers Paul Di Resta and Nico Hulkenberg, will be visiting India to drive one lucky fan around the Buddh International Circuit in a C63 AMG.

To participate in the contest, all you’ve got to do is:

• Tweet your wildest Mercedes-Benz F1 fascinating moment using the hashtag #Fascination and mention @mercedesbenzind along with your tweets.

• For Example your Tweet: My moment of #fascination is when i hear the sound of the roaring Mercedes-Benz engines @mercedesbenzind

Contest Starts 23rd March Friday – 12.00 P.M and ends on 25th March Sunday – 06.00 P.M

One Lucky Participant will grab the amazing opportunity to be driven around the Buddh International Circuit by Sahara Force India Mercedes drivers.

Terms & Conditions - This contest is only open to resident citizens of India 18 years & above in age. The winner will be chosen at the sole discretion of Mercedes-Benz India and will be final and binding.

Barcelona Test, Day Four

Nico Rosberg concluded this week’s test at the Circuit de Catalunya in Barcelona for the MERCEDES AMG PETRONAS team today.

• Nico began the day with in and out laps for pit stop practice over a total of 17 laps
• Milder temperatures allowed his race simulation to begin at 10:48, although this was interrupted halfway through by a red flag
• The race simulation was conducted using hard compound Pirelli tyres; the team primarily ran soft tyres during the afternoon
• Work this afternoon focused on set-up comparisons over runs of around 10 timed laps

Nico completed 139 laps in the F1 W03 today, equivalent to 647 km. By way of comparison, this approached Nico’s total of 161 laps over the entire Spanish Grand Prix weekend in 2011. The F1 W03 has now covered 2420 km in winter testing, over five official test days and two 100 km filming days. This equates to a daily average of 444 km during the test days, with Michael and Nico running for over 100 laps on Thursday and Friday respectively.

The next test for MERCEDES AMG PETRONAS will take place at the Circuit de Catalunya from Thursday 1 to Sunday 4 March.

Nico Rosberg

“After our first full test with the F1 W03, I can see that we are making good steps forward. Our test programme went well this week and we have made evident progress each day. In terms of reliability, the car is performing pretty much as we expected which is really important as we can concentrate on improving the performance. Of course it’s difficult at this stage to predict how we will fare in race conditions against our competitors but overall I’m pleased with the start that we have made. I’m looking forward to the final test next week before the season begins, and continuing our learning with our F1 W03.

Ross Brawn

“We have had a very positive first week of running with the F1 W03. After five full test days, we have completed over 2000 km, Nico and Michael have done consistent mileage and reliability has been ok, aside from a couple of problems earlier in the week. Both drivers have already completed full race simulations, and this really is a tribute to all the hard work that was done back at base in Brackley and Brixworth to ensure we hit the ground running this year with the new car - as well as to the efforts of our day and night shifts at the track in Barcelona. This basis means that the drivers and engineers have been able to work well with the car rather than chasing problems, and next week we hope to focus even more on getting performance out of our current package. Overall, we are in a reasonable position, but I don’t for a moment believe we have achieved our objectives yet. It may be something of a winter testing cliché, but there is still an awful lot to be done, and it's far too early to make any kind of judgement about our competitiveness.”

TIMES 

Pos Driver Car Time Laps 1. Kamui Kobayashi Sauber 1:22.312 144
2. Pastor Maldonado Williams 1:22.561 134
3. Paul Di Resta Force India 1:23.119 101
4. Jenson Button McLaren 1:23.200 115
5. Felipe Massa Ferrari 1:23.563 103
6. Mark Webber Red Bull 1:23.774 85
7. Jean-Eric Vergne Toro Rosso 1:23.792 92
8. Nico Rosberg MERCEDES AMG PETRONAS 1:23.843 139 9. Heikki Kovalainen Caterham 1:26.968 70

Barcelona Test, Day Two

Nico Rosberg was at the wheel of the MERCEDES AMG PETRONAS F1 W03 car at the Circuit de Catalunya in Barcelona yesterday.

• A productive morning session allowed the team to make good progress through the planned technical programme
• A transmission oil leak was found early in the afternoon which could not be resolved in time to complete any productive running
• Nico completed 82 laps today, adding a further 382 km to take the F1 W03’s total mileage to 1164 km

Michael will be back in the car today before Nico finishes the test programme on Friday.

Nico Rosberg

“It was good to get into proper testing today. Early in the morning, it was a bit too cold on the track to collect some decent information, however later we were able to get into our planned work. In the afternoon session, unfortunately we had a transmission oil leak which meant that I wasn’t able to complete any further running. That doesn’t affect my positive feelings about our test programme, and things like that can happen in the early stages of running a new car. Now I am looking forward to driving again on Friday.”

TIMES

Pos Driver Car Time Laps
1. Nico Hulkenberg Force India 1:22.608 112
2. Sergio Perez Sauber 1:22.648 85
3. Sebastian Vettel Red Bull 1:22.891 104
4. Fernando Alonso Ferrari 1:23.180 87
5. Daniel Ricciardo Toro Rosso 1:23.639 49
6. Lewis Hamilton McLaren 1:23.806 121
7. Nico Rosberg MERCEDES AMG PETRONAS 1:24.555 82
8. Valtteri Bottas Williams 1:25.738 117
9. Vitaly Petrov Caterham 1:26.605 69
10. Charles Pic Marussia 1:27.343 109

MERCEDES AMG PETRONAS F1 W03 - It's coming!

The 2012 MERCEDES AMG PETRONAS car, the F1 W03, will be publicly unveiled at the Circuit de Catalunya on 21 February 2012.

The team will conduct a photo call with the car, drivers and top management in the pit lane at 08:20 for accredited photographers and rights-holding TV crews.

F1 W03

Media will then have a first opportunity to speak with Ross Brawn and Norbert Haug from 08:50 to 09:00, when the team’s test programme will commence.


During the lunch break, Norbert Haug and Nico Rosberg will be available for group interview sessions
Michael Schumacher will be driving the car throughout the day and will therefore conduct his media interview session at the close of running, followed by Ross Brawn.