Mercedes to use special package for Monza

SPA, BELGIUM – SEPTEMBER 02: Sebastian Vettel of Germany and Red Bull Racing (L) and Michael Schumacher of Germany and Mercedes GP battle side by side during the Belgian Grand Prix at the Circuit of Spa Francorchamps on September 2, 2012 in Spa Francorchamps, Belgium. (Photo by Vladimir Rys/Getty Images)

The Italian Grand Prix is next on the F1 calendar and to suit the high speed nature of the track, Mercedes is going to bring a very different low-downforce package, which aims to boost top speed.

Most of the teams will be bringing Monza specific packages as the Monza circuit is quite different compared to other Formula 1 circuits. Also, most of the drivers will be using new engines as for most of the lap, the drivers are on full throttle.

Here is what Ross Brawn had to say about the special Monza package:

“Monza will be low down-force of course so there’s a low-drag package for Monza that we will be racing. We have got a pretty strong push over the next few races. I don’t want to go into detail but I think you will see some changes in the car over the next few races,” said Brawn

Since, Michael Schumacher‘s podium in Valencia, Mercedes have been inconsistent with their performance and in the last three races they have scored only 14 points. The problem has been even worse for Nico Rosberg as he has been out-qualified and outraced by Schumacher three times in the last four races.

Speaking about Why Mercedes seem to be struggling here is what Ross Brawn had to say:

“I’m not aware of any significant deficiencies of the car,” he said. “This year’s car was a good step forward in many areas and we were able to demonstrate that at the beginning of the year. I think we’ve struggled a little bit to follow the needs of these tyres and some of the changes we have had to make to improve the durability in races has not necessarily helped our qualifying performance.

“Earlier in the year we had strong qualifying performances and in some of the races we struggled, perhaps in the second half of the year we’ve done the opposite and we’ve moved a little bit too much in one direction. But I think there are a lot of non-linear effects with these tyres and if you get a little bit more down-force you actually gain more than you would expect because you actually put the tyres into the right working range and region,” said Brawn

As described by Ross Brawn, Mercedes has huge range of updates for the Singapore grad prix which aims to solve the problem of the car under-steering, which the MGP-W03 has been suffering.

“We suffer from mid-corner under-steer and we can’t dial out that under-steer because we then have [corner] entrance and exit issues. But it’s almost a classic racing car problem because when you reach the limit of the car it behaves in a certain way. The range of balance in the car is probably too great at the moment and that could be improved by the aerodynamic or mechanical side and we are working on both aspects to improve the car,” said Brawn