Ross Brawn is confident for 2010
Ross Brawn is convinced that his team will not just be a fleeting success for one year. The Brawn GP director expressed his optimism about the progress already made on the 2010 car. After having already achieved the remarkable feat of winning both world titles when this winter the team’s future was more than uncertain, […]
Ross Brawn is convinced that his team will not just be a fleeting success for one year. The Brawn GP director expressed his optimism about the progress already made on the 2010 car.
After having already achieved the remarkable feat of winning both world titles when this winter the team’s future was more than uncertain, Ross Brawn believes the team has every reason to make further progress in certain areas for next season. The regulations being relatively static, and this time, the team will not have to adapt the Mercedes-Benz engine urgently.
«Well, we have a very good engine. That’s important », said Brawn, when asked what factors he considers important for the team to remain competitive next year. «I think next year’s regulations are actually an extension of this year. We will no longer have refueling and different tires, but the regulations are not radically different. »
I saw the new car, saw the progress we have made, particularly in aerodynamic performance. So I think we will be competitive, but no one can know exactly where we will stand.
«We are making good progress with next year’s single-seater. The engine is installed correctly from the start of the design, which is a big step forward. So, I am calm and confident that next year we can be competitive. No one knows if we will be able to win races or not. But I think we will be quite competitive.»
Ross Brawn believes that the way Brawn GP started the 2009 season so strongly and the way Red Bull finished strongly can be explained by the approach these teams demonstrated. The narrow rear of the Red Bull and its rear suspension setup were not optimized to accommodate the double diffuser early in the season, but once this was achieved, the Red Bull became the car to beat. Meanwhile, Brawn struggled to find compromises to accommodate the power of the Mercedes-Benz engine.
“I think it was a season of two halves,” explained Ross Brawn. “I believe our car was the strongest in the first half of the season, and theirs was the fastest during the second half. I think some decisions they made in terms of car setup and configuration have given them an advantage now, but were probably difficult to manage in the first part of the year. I believe some of the compromises we had to make to adapt the engine, which weren’t apparent in the first half, are now starting to disadvantage us.”
The car is too heavy, the center of gravity is too high, and there are things that are not good about the car but will be fixed for next year. You cannot put an engine in a car in six weeks when it normally takes six months, without making compromises.
