2021 AMG Mercedes F1 Team

[jumpingfish]

If Hamilton loses the championship with less than 18 points, it will be because of his own mistake in Baku.

or because verstappen punted him out and parked his car on top of him.
yes, you can counter that with the silverstone contact but you can go on and on and on.

the biggest question was : why did the FIA force a red flag restart @ baku instead of finishing behind the safety car or just ending the race alltogether instead of going for a sprint-like destruction derby time attack 1-lap frenzy?

on top of that there was SPA: a race where big points (even though they were half) were given without an actual race.
we could have seen Verstappen go off, we could have seen Hamilton go off, we could have seen atleast a fight and a real race - had it been atleast raced early instead of waiting for the monsoon's to flow and prevent a race - which was the right thing to do btw. the points allowance was not the right thing to do to be fair.

That's why I say nothing about Silverstone/Monza. Only Baku where Lewis should just start and take 18points. Also I don't say 25, no need to overtake Perez. And that story about red flag start, SC, finish etc.. Even Mazepin finished higher than 7-time world champion. Maybe he cracked under pressure like Vettel in Germany 2018, who knows..

In Spa everyone was in the same situation, probably Mercedes thought there will be no rain on Sunday that's why Williams with Russel was ahead of them in Q3 and got more points. Yeah, points in that "race" was a totally joke. But imagine if Ver got full 25 instead of 12.5 when Mercs screwed up with their weather forecast.

[Hammerfist]

But all is not lost. There is a massive pace advantage in the redbull since austria.
The driver is able to drive comfortably at 85%. It will be tough to beat him as usual.
But he has never been in this position before and stuff can happen. Hamilton can still win this if Max is pressured enough.
He also needs to be error free. He has been since his last major error.
19 points can be overcome with 3 wins or a redbull DNF.
Hamilton's engine is weaker than Bottas so Bottas can continue to qualify higher.
Mercedes need to turn down bottas engine because he is more trouble when he is ahead than when he starts behind the top drivers.
His use is so limited they might as well put hulkenberg in the car.

Yeah I agree with all of that especially with giving bottas more power has not really worked except for turkey.

[Hammerfist]

AS I said in Race thread, now it is up to Hamilton to up his game and get Pole on every race and drove away to claim 8th WDC. don't dependent team mate... If you want a win you have to put effort not others.

They won’t be on pole in Brazil. It’s a known redbull stronghold. They need to steal a race from redbull. Besides Bahrain they have not done that this season.

[Sieper]

But then again Bottas start taking out both RBRs in Hungary happened and the Bottas Russell collision in Imola happened too so due to Bottas Hamilton got some “bonus” points that normally wouldn’t have come his way too.

Didn't Hamilton basically lose the race in Hungary because of Bottas though? i.e. because it triggered the red flag restart when only Hamilton started on the grid and then had to pit and came out last...

Not really, in a way yes. Without the red flag it would have not happened that is true. But he had every opportunity to drive into the pits, just like everyone else did. I agree it was a tough call to make (for the team) but the race was his to win and with Verstappen out of the way it was the second major opportunity (after Baku) that was not capitalized upon. Bottas helped massively with his shunt there, the opportunity was just missed by making the wrong call.

[Just_a_fan]

But then again Bottas start taking out both RBRs in Hungary happened and the Bottas Russell collision in Imola happened too so due to Bottas Hamilton got some “bonus” points that normally wouldn’t have come his way too.

Didn't Hamilton basically lose the race in Hungary because of Bottas though? i.e. because it triggered the red flag restart when only Hamilton started on the grid and then had to pit and came out last...

Not really, in a way yes. Without the red flag it would have not happened that is true. But he had every opportunity to drive into the pits, just like everyone else did. I agree it was a tough call to make (for the team) but the race was his to win and with Verstappen out of the way it was the second major opportunity (after Baku) that was not capitalized upon. Bottas helped massively with his shunt there, the opportunity was just missed by making the wrong call.

If they'd pitted and everyone else stayed out, he'd have been in the same place - at the back. Basically it was a coin toss - they'd call it right 50% of the time. The rest of the time, they'd have "made the wrong call". But that would have been the same for any driver and team in that situation.

[Sieper]

Didn't Hamilton basically lose the race in Hungary because of Bottas though? i.e. because it triggered the red flag restart when only Hamilton started on the grid and then had to pit and came out last...

Not really, in a way yes. Without the red flag it would have not happened that is true. But he had every opportunity to drive into the pits, just like everyone else did. I agree it was a tough call to make (for the team) but the race was his to win and with Verstappen out of the way it was the second major opportunity (after Baku) that was not capitalized upon. Bottas helped massively with his shunt there, the opportunity was just missed by making the wrong call.

If they'd pitted and everyone else stayed out, he'd have been in the same place - at the back. Basically it was a coin toss - they'd call it right 50% of the time. The rest of the time, they'd have "made the wrong call". But that would have been the same for any driver and team in that situation.

I fully agree, it was a tough call to make, that is why I also said that. I don't think the others would have stayed out though. But that is all from a comfortable couch and after the fact, the strategy team will surely have been sweating on what to do.

[dans79]

I fully agree, it was a tough call to make, that is why I also said that. I don't think the others would have stayed out though. But that is all from a comfortable couch and after the fact, the strategy team will surely have been sweating on what to do.

They didn't have a strategy problem, they has a positional problem. Because of their pit location if anyone followed them in, Merc was going to have to wait for them to pass before they can exit the pit box.

Honestly if I was a top team I would want to be as close to pit exit as possible for numerous reasons.

[Sieper]

Yes, no teams jumping I between your cars when you go out in qualy seems one of them. Main problem is having to give way to cars already in the lane.

[dans79]

Yes, no teams jumping I between your cars when you go out in qualy seems one of them. Main problem is having to give way to cars already in the lane.

The big one for me is that's being close to pit entry means thats other teams can react to you during qualifying. They can hinder you by coming out in front of you, or they can benefit by coming out behind you and getting a tow.

[Sieper]

Your teams garage position is a free choice for last years winner? Or is it mandated by the WCC order of the previous year and there is no choice at all?

[dans79]

Your teams garage position is a free choice for last years winner? Or is it mandated by the WCC order of the previous year and there is no choice at all?

I think teams get to pick every weekend based on last years constructors rankings.

A lot of people claim being first is better because you don't have to worry about driving around another teams box.


However I think being at the far end is better.

• you can react to what the other teams are doing in qualifying
• at some tracks your drivers don't have to worry about the limiter
• the drivers can call for a pit real late and the team will have plenty of time to respond.
• The team can wait to the last second to tell the driver to pit, thus not giving other teams time to respond and pit in front.

[Sieper]

Your teams garage position is a free choice for last years winner? Or is it mandated by the WCC order of the previous year and there is no choice at all?

I think teams get to pick every weekend based on last years constructors rankings.

A lot of people claim being first is better because you don't have to worry about driving around another teams box.


However I think being at the far end is better.

• you can react to what the other teams are doing in qualifying
• at some tracks your drivers don't have to worry about the limiter
• the drivers can call for a pit real late and the team will have plenty of time to respond.
• The team can wait to the last second to tell the driver to pit, thus not giving other teams time to respond and pit in front.

Good points, we are a bit off topic now, but I agree with all of them. You might even drive out into traffic in the fast lane and just sit next to them and weave directly behind them upon exit. If done carefully enough I think it won’t be an unsafe release.

[AeroDynamic]

Not sure why we are bringing up Hungary in terms of the win. The team and Hamilton did nothing wrong. There was nothing “right” to do in that situation because it could’ve gone bad with either decision. The fact is, it ended good; he secured P2 and the title rival managed 9th. Winning races is important, but if you have to choose between having a few more points, to making much more ground on your rival in pts, then the latter is better. I can’t remember how many pts it was, but it had to have been about 15 pts. Thats the equivalent of beating your rival to a one two finish twice. It’s better if your rival loses a lot more points from a weekend than it is for you to have the full 25.

Assuming Lewis finishes 2nd this year, Baku will be a cruel memory. It was his mistake but a lot of people seem to enjoy tainting it as some sort of lack of performance or a way to judge a good performance. It was a chance accident, and shouldn’t be frowned upon in the same category of misjudging a move, breaking point, track limit, etc. The latter is about driving skills. Unintentionally activating something on your car when you had no intention of trying to activate any input whatsoever, is a unfortunate mistake, and something that can happen by chance just like Verstappen tyre blowing up.

I don’t know why fighting for first was brought up, that had nothing to do with it. It was a restart; what are you supposed to do, intentionally react slow and accept second? He had a better start than Perez, it was avoiding contact with Perez who was swerving toward him that cost him, not fighting too hard for p1.

[WaikeCU]

ah the "What if" game. It's the time of the season I guess.

imo, Spa should have never been awarded any points. That was a farce to even call the race has occured...

[Morteza]