2021 AMG Mercedes F1 Team

[El Scorchio]

How you think George will get on versus Lewis? Think he will do ok. Unlikely to have the consistent strong Race pace Lewis has. Interesting battle to watch

It's an interesting question. We also don't know how he's been setting up the Williams. Results would suggest purely for qualifying and a sacrifice of race pace? He looked fairly at home in that race in the Mercedes. He's a great talent and I guess we'll start to see his ultimate potential pretty quickly. The acid test is whether he can compete on Saturday AND Sunday with Hamilton. Bottas had Saturday nailed down quite well on the whole but clearly couldn't hang on the sunday.

[cooken]

Sorry so they can be used for 2022?
I am confused why would you not use them for this years car, if you had some agreement to use them for next years?

They don’t need any tokens. They are free to change whatever they want.

I think he meant why wouldn't they have used them for 2021. The exact details are unclear, but it is almost guaranteed to be for budget cap reasons. There is a rumour they intended to spend the token on a new nose, but it wasn't passing the crash test. If true then it makes sense that they would abandon that effort rather than continuing to pour money into it, preferring to divert resources elsewhere.

[pb6797]

Sorry so they can be used for 2022?

You don't need any tokens for 2022.

I am confused why would you not use them for this years car, if you had some agreement to use them for next years?
If they used them maybe they would been more ahead, in the first 8 races they was struggling.

You are now only allowed to spend a limited amount of money per year in total. So anything spent on the 2021 car was money not spent on the 2022 car. If they had such a limited R&D budget for 2021 that they couldn't make a big enough change to use a token, then it would explain them seemingly giving up the option to make changes.

It will be really interesting to see the 2022 cars and who has made the right call. Teams like Haas (and perhaps to a lesser extent Alfa and Alpine) have potentially gambled everything on "doing a Brawn" with the new regulations.

[LM10]

Sorry so they can be used for 2022?
I am confused why would you not use them for this years car, if you had some agreement to use them for next years?

They don’t need any tokens. They are free to change whatever they want.

I think he meant why wouldn't they have used them for 2021. The exact details are unclear, but it is almost guaranteed to be for budget cap reasons. There is a rumour they intended to spend the token on a new nose, but it wasn't passing the crash test. If true then it makes sense that they would abandon that effort rather than continuing to pour money into it, preferring to divert resources elsewhere.

As far as I know the budget cap came into play with the start of 2021 season, not before. So building 2021 car was not part of it yet, only in-season development.

[mstar]

How you think George will get on versus Lewis? Think he will do ok. Unlikely to have the consistent strong Race pace Lewis has. Interesting battle to watch

It's an interesting question. We also don't know how he's been setting up the Williams. Results would suggest purely for qualifying and a sacrifice of race pace? He looked fairly at home in that race in the Mercedes. He's a great talent and I guess we'll start to see his ultimate potential pretty quickly. The acid test is whether he can compete on Saturday AND Sunday with Hamilton. Bottas had Saturday nailed down quite well on the whole but clearly couldn't hang on the sunday.

Max, Norris and sainz all say Russell is the real deal and think Lewis will have his hands full -more than bottas.
So maybe it be more like Nico and Lewis kind of pace and racing. Nico was solid in qualy and race, just didn't have that extra magic when it mattered.

[El Scorchio]

How you think George will get on versus Lewis? Think he will do ok. Unlikely to have the consistent strong Race pace Lewis has. Interesting battle to watch

It's an interesting question. We also don't know how he's been setting up the Williams. Results would suggest purely for qualifying and a sacrifice of race pace? He looked fairly at home in that race in the Mercedes. He's a great talent and I guess we'll start to see his ultimate potential pretty quickly. The acid test is whether he can compete on Saturday AND Sunday with Hamilton. Bottas had Saturday nailed down quite well on the whole but clearly couldn't hang on the sunday.

Max, Norris and sainz all say Russell is the real deal and think Lewis will have his hands full -more than bottas.
So maybe it be more like Nico and Lewis kind of pace and racing. Nico was solid in qualy and race, just didn't have that extra magic when it mattered.

I really think he may surprise a few people. We shall see!

[Marty_Y]

https://chng.it/qMBmZqsksC

Sign this petition please

[Jambier]

How you think George will get on versus Lewis? Think he will do ok. Unlikely to have the consistent strong Race pace Lewis has. Interesting battle to watch

One million dollar question

2022 is the year of danger for Hamilton.
He is not sure at all that the Mercedes will be a dominating car again, and he will have a young wolf along him.

So first he need to avoid Vettel 2014 situation and then let’s see.

Russel is supposed to be the future of Mercedes

[dans79]

https://chng.it/qMBmZqsksC

Sign this petition please

Done!

[mstar]

How you think George will get on versus Lewis? Think he will do ok. Unlikely to have the consistent strong Race pace Lewis has. Interesting battle to watch

One million dollar question

2022 is the year of danger for Hamilton.
He is not sure at all that the Mercedes will be a dominating car again, and he will have a young wolf along him.

So first he need to avoid Vettel 2014 situation and then let’s see.

Russel is supposed to be the future of Mercedes

I agree. Its a danger year for lewis. It all comes down to how naturally quick Russell is.

[Jambier]

I am really excited for 2022!

- huge changes of car
- maybe of driver rankings with different cars
- of teams ranking
- ham vs rus
- ham to get back title

I want to see new cars and first race as soon as possible

[Gillian]

How you think George will get on versus Lewis? Think he will do ok. Unlikely to have the consistent strong Race pace Lewis has. Interesting battle to watch

One million dollar question

2022 is the year of danger for Hamilton.
He is not sure at all that the Mercedes will be a dominating car again, and he will have a young wolf along him.

So first he need to avoid Vettel 2014 situation and then let’s see.

Russel is supposed to be the future of Mercedes

Difference being Vettel has a rather limited window of performance, where Hamilton has shown he is very adaptable. I think Vettel never really got to his old performance level driving the hybrids. Some Vettel qualifying laps pre 2014 still give me goosebump, but not so much after that.

I just can't see this happening with Hamilton. Hamilton has an occasional off day, but he has never underperformed an entire season... not in his F1 career and not in the junior series. He has also shown this year he can cope better with the pressure than 10 years ago. And if he maybe has lost some raw speed (I don't even think so), he more than makes up for it in consistency.

[Jambier]

Of course Hamilton is much better than Vettel!

But also older and maybe not as willing than before, let’s see

[f1jcw]

I found Bottas really disappointing this year, they get paid millions and seemed to be just dialling it in. putting De Vries in for the last races would have been better.

[ringo]

Wow Lewis won't even take part in the post season test with the 18 inch tires!

Who's still convinced he won't walk?

He wont leave. He will think about the team first.
I think he will change mentally. Maybe speak less to the press and become more like Kimi.
Just do the races and go home.
Lewis gladly does not have any issue with Max. I think he knows he has max beat fair and square when it comes to racing and can whoop him as needed. So he is not worried about losing to any driver as he was not beaten to a championship in 2021.

But the FIA looming overhead to prevent him from breaking his own 7 title record. I wont even say Shumacher as he surpassed shumacher already. But 8 symbolizes undisputedly he is is the GOAT. And there could be some racial undertones to Hamilton being the face of F1 for decades if the sport is the grow globally in new markets like the US.

I think toto and mercedes need lewis to stay. They should put their energy into making their 2022 car the best. And give Lewis clear #1 status. Taking that 8th crown in boring and dominant fashion in protest of the fia is what they should focus on.
As disgusting as the corruption is, leaving is what the FIA wants him to do. He should stay another 5 years.