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16th
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Mercedes team principal Ross Brawn has conceded reliability is still a concern for the team.
Whilst the team has shown good pace with Lewis Hamilton taking back-to-back third places with the #10 Mercedes in Malaysia and China, the sister car of Nico Rosberg has endured a tough start to the season. The German has retired from two of the three opening races, with an electrical failure in Australia and hydraulic issues and a broken rear-anti roll bar affecting the car on Friday and Sunday in China, with the latter forcing Rosberg out of the race.
Speaking ahead of this weekend's Bahrain Grand Prix, Brawn conceded that the team - whilst continuing to find performance to put Mercedes on absolute front running pace - must work on reliability if it is to make a championship challenge this season.
“We have two main areas to focus on; we must improve the reliability and we have to lift our performance to find that extra couple of tenths to our fastest competitors. And of course, that's a moving target to make the challenge even tougher.
Brawn also said that a two-car finish in Bahrain is the team's target, given the car's encouraging performance in the opening races, despite the reliability problems.
“A strong two car finish will be our target this weekend, and we want to see both Nico and Lewis in a position to score not only points but podiums regularly.”
We've had a taste of success already this season and the slight feeling of disappointment with third place in China is our motivation.”
Mercedes also suffered severe reliability issues on Michael Schumacher's car in 2012, with the seven-time world champion retiring from seven races due to mechanical issues.
Whilst the team has shown good pace with Lewis Hamilton taking back-to-back third places with the #10 Mercedes in Malaysia and China, the sister car of Nico Rosberg has endured a tough start to the season. The German has retired from two of the three opening races, with an electrical failure in Australia and hydraulic issues and a broken rear-anti roll bar affecting the car on Friday and Sunday in China, with the latter forcing Rosberg out of the race.
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| Nico Rosberg, Mercedes W04. (Photo: WRi2) |
Speaking ahead of this weekend's Bahrain Grand Prix, Brawn conceded that the team - whilst continuing to find performance to put Mercedes on absolute front running pace - must work on reliability if it is to make a championship challenge this season.
“We have two main areas to focus on; we must improve the reliability and we have to lift our performance to find that extra couple of tenths to our fastest competitors. And of course, that's a moving target to make the challenge even tougher.
Brawn also said that a two-car finish in Bahrain is the team's target, given the car's encouraging performance in the opening races, despite the reliability problems.
“A strong two car finish will be our target this weekend, and we want to see both Nico and Lewis in a position to score not only points but podiums regularly.”
We've had a taste of success already this season and the slight feeling of disappointment with third place in China is our motivation.”
Mercedes also suffered severe reliability issues on Michael Schumacher's car in 2012, with the seven-time world champion retiring from seven races due to mechanical issues.