Why is Mercedes GP increasing the wheel base on the W01?

Some say to improve weight distribution others say for Schumi.

Ross Brawn: “The problem actually is not the wheelbase per se, The problem was that we got the weight distribution wrong. When we got to start trying these tyres we realised we didn’t have the correct weight distribution. We immediately went to the limit of what we could achieve with the car.

The tyres changed quite a bit; we had the small front, then there was a rear and then the rear changed again. None of us had the opportunity to try these tyres and we didn’t make as good a guess of what we wanted in terms of weight distribution as some of the other teams. We’ve got a modification of the car coming for Barcelona, which puts us into a better range for the weight distribution we can achieve.”

Michael is determined to succeed. He was always his own best and worst critic, He is incredibly dedicated and competitive but also very structured.

He is not the sort of guy who will panic when things aren’t going well. He will analyse what is happening and reflecting on that and, for sure, the race in Shanghai was disappointing.

But we are already getting to understand the reasons for that and are learning lessons from that. We have to make sure that in Barcelona for the next race we get it right and perform better.

His experience is very useful and that was part of the thinking when he joined the team. The biggest challenge is for everyone to treat him normally as he is such an icon.”