2022 Mercedes-AMG | Petronas F1 Team

[mendis]

Leclerc started managing his tyres and was lifting too after 7 laps. At that point, it was Max who was faster but he was stuck behind Leclerc and started killing his tyres. If Mercedes has to look at it honestly, then there is full one second per lap gap to Ferrari and Red Bull. If they really want to be in contention, that's the gap to close. Targeting anything less is always going to self deceiving. Problem is, while Mercedes is making progress rapidly, the others are also managing to move forward at a similar rate.

Why are we making excuses for the front guys because Mercedes could keep up?
There are flaws everywhere in that argument.

First, has Leclerc not managed his tyres he'd have dropped off a cliff. That's F1, every driver needs to do this throughout the race as this is the quickest way to finish the race. This isn't specific to Leclerc.

Second, Verstappen had a choice too. He could follow closely for a couple of laps and if there was a risk to his tyres falling off he should've backed off. That he didn't and had to pit earlier embodies that.

Third, RB's vaunted straightline speed could not get passed Hamilton with Perez.

The W13 is lacking outright pace but comes alive in the race for the very simple reason that a GP is more than outright speed. That's one element. But what if the Mercedes ethos keeps the tyres alive for longer?
It's worth learning more about as if the car gets quicker Mercedes will be able to race harder for longer, even if their outright pace is 0.2/3 less than the cars ahead of them.

https://www.motorsport.com/f1/news/merc ... /10343224/

Mercedes believes it still needs to find a "lot of laptime" before it can realistically think about challenging Red Bull and Ferrari for Formula 1 wins.

But although Hamilton came home just 10 seconds adrift of the winning Red Bull after the 53-lap race, Mercedes said it remained realistic about just how big the deficit was to the front.

With Verstappen having been managing his tyres and not under much pressure from behind, Mercedes thinks that France did not offer a proper picture of how far off it is.

Asked by Motorsport.com if he felt the reality remained that Mercedes was around 0.4-0.5 seconds behind the top squads, team principal Toto Wolff said: "I think he [Hamilton] was able to stabilise the gap at five or six seconds in the first stint, but you need to be honest and say when they were racing each other in the second stint, probably Max was just keeping it on the track.

[Quantum]

Leclerc started managing his tyres and was lifting too after 7 laps. At that point, it was Max who was faster but he was stuck behind Leclerc and started killing his tyres. If Mercedes has to look at it honestly, then there is full one second per lap gap to Ferrari and Red Bull. If they really want to be in contention, that's the gap to close. Targeting anything less is always going to self deceiving. Problem is, while Mercedes is making progress rapidly, the others are also managing to move forward at a similar rate.

Why are we making excuses for the front guys because Mercedes could keep up?
There are flaws everywhere in that argument.

First, has Leclerc not managed his tyres he'd have dropped off a cliff. That's F1, every driver needs to do this throughout the race as this is the quickest way to finish the race. This isn't specific to Leclerc.

Second, Verstappen had a choice too. He could follow closely for a couple of laps and if there was a risk to his tyres falling off he should've backed off. That he didn't and had to pit earlier embodies that.

Third, RB's vaunted straightline speed could not get passed Hamilton with Perez.

The W13 is lacking outright pace but comes alive in the race for the very simple reason that a GP is more than outright speed. That's one element. But what if the Mercedes ethos keeps the tyres alive for longer?
It's worth learning more about as if the car gets quicker Mercedes will be able to race harder for longer, even if their outright pace is 0.2/3 less than the cars ahead of them.

https://www.motorsport.com/f1/news/merc ... /10343224/

Mercedes believes it still needs to find a "lot of laptime" before it can realistically think about challenging Red Bull and Ferrari for Formula 1 wins.

But although Hamilton came home just 10 seconds adrift of the winning Red Bull after the 53-lap race, Mercedes said it remained realistic about just how big the deficit was to the front.

With Verstappen having been managing his tyres and not under much pressure from behind, Mercedes thinks that France did not offer a proper picture of how far off it is.

Asked by Motorsport.com if he felt the reality remained that Mercedes was around 0.4-0.5 seconds behind the top squads, team principal Toto Wolff said: "I think he [Hamilton] was able to stabilise the gap at five or six seconds in the first stint, but you need to be honest and say when they were racing each other in the second stint, probably Max was just keeping it on the track.

A 1.32 lap (1.38 racing lap) over 5.82km vs the previous race at Austria which was a 4.32km track with 1.08 lap (1.11 race). France is a 26% longer track. In Quali Mercedes were 28% behind.
Russell was 0.630 behind in Austria.
Hamilton was 0.890 behind in France.

In race trim Mercedes were 0.431 off RB, and 0.510 off Ferrari in France.
In Austria though Mercedes averaged 1m10.5 to Red Bulls 1m9.5 or just under a second a lap difference.
Minus pitstops and safety cars etc.

So on a shorter track like Austria, the difference in the race was far larger, albeit the one lap quali pace was slightly larger in France.
Data can be found here.
https://www.fia.com/events/fia-formula- ... nformation

[Hammerfist]

The Hungary track is made for this car. Medium speed downforce and its smpoth now.

So far they have not been good in the slow corners. Turn 1, turn 2 and the last corner are going to be problematic i feel. I think theyll be most competitive in s2. But they wont be fastest there, might be able to split the redbulls in quali. Ferrari should dominate this race.

[PlatinumZealot]

The Hungary track is made for this car. Medium speed downforce and its smpoth now.

So far they have not been good in the slow corners. Turn 1, turn 2 and the last corner are going to be problematic i feel. I think theyll be most competitive in s2. But they wont be fastest there, might be able to split the redbulls in quali. Ferrari should dominate this race.

That's a couple corners but Hungary is not a slow corner track really. Just watch last years pole lap and see what I mean.

[ringo]

I notice the "Russel is whooping Hamilton" posters have gone silent.
The anyone can win in a fastest car brigage as well. Leclerc is finding it dificult to win in arguably the fastest car in only his first year. Muchless 15 years for lewis.
It really puts things into perspective.

But i think Russel can have an advantage over Lewis at Hungary. Maybe the car is much better to drive now, but he was doing well in the street circuits. It cannot be ignored that Russel is much younger and will take more risks and maybe has more stamina.

[Sidiamal]

I notice the "Russel is whooping Hamilton" posters have gone silent.
The anyone can win in a fastest car brigage as well. Leclerc is finding it dificult to win in arguably the fastest car in only his first year. Muchless 15 years for lewis.
It really puts things into perspective.

But i think Russel can have an advantage over Lewis at Hungary. Maybe the car is much better to drive now, but he was doing well in the street circuits. It cannot be ignored that Russel is much younger and will take more risks and maybe has more stamina.

Russell will have an advantage over Lewis at Lewis' best track? I'm not sure I follow the rationale.

[Spoutnik]

I notice the "Russel is whooping Hamilton" posters have gone silent.
The anyone can win in a fastest car brigage as well. Leclerc is finding it dificult to win in arguably the fastest car in only his first year. Muchless 15 years for lewis.
It really puts things into perspective.

But i think Russel can have an advantage over Lewis at Hungary. Maybe the car is much better to drive now, but he was doing well in the street circuits. It cannot be ignored that Russel is much younger and will take more risks and maybe has more stamina.

Russell will have an advantage over Lewis at Lewis' best track? I'm not sure I follow the rationale.

You are right, there's not way to beat him in an equal car here.
But who knows... Kovalainen beat Hamilton there to took his only win in F1 in 2008

[ringo]

I notice the "Russel is whooping Hamilton" posters have gone silent.
The anyone can win in a fastest car brigage as well. Leclerc is finding it dificult to win in arguably the fastest car in only his first year. Muchless 15 years for lewis.
It really puts things into perspective.

But i think Russel can have an advantage over Lewis at Hungary. Maybe the car is much better to drive now, but he was doing well in the street circuits. It cannot be ignored that Russel is much younger and will take more risks and maybe has more stamina.

Russell will have an advantage over Lewis at Lewis' best track? I'm not sure I follow the rationale.

Russel has been very luck at every race except silverstone. Even in the french grand prix, he got lucky with not being penalized and also the VSC glitch that granted him P3. He is Mr Luck this year, and i feel it will continue at Hungary.
Rain is expected to a SC will come to his aid. And not to say he isnt good, because he is very good. Hamilton has closed down a 38 point deficit to 13? Russel is bound to respond at some point.

[deadhead]

I watched this cool chronogp video someone posted here on the forum and was wondering if someone can explain how Mercedes are able to control this particular vortex/vortices along the edge of the floor, which to my eyes seems essential to sealing it. I am asking because on the f175 the sidepod seems to be acting as a "guide" along the edge, but since the W13 doesn't have such a sidepod there, how are they able to do that? Or perhaps the vortex is fine, but what about that outwash?





From this video:

[Hammerfist]

The Hungary track is made for this car. Medium speed downforce and its smpoth now.

So far they have not been good in the slow corners. Turn 1, turn 2 and the last corner are going to be problematic i feel. I think theyll be most competitive in s2. But they wont be fastest there, might be able to split the redbulls in quali. Ferrari should dominate this race.

That's a couple corners but Hungary is not a slow corner track really. Just watch last years pole lap and see what I mean.

No its not a slow track and s2 is quite fast. I never said it was slow. But you lose more time within the lap in the slow corners and there are i count 4 corners where they will lose out to rb and ferrari.

[PlatinumZealot]

They were strongest in the slow corners at the beginning of the season when they had the high ride height to reduce porpoising. So let's see. It depending on how they play with the ride heights.

[organic]

They were strongest in the slow corners at the beginning of the season when they had the high ride height to reduce porpoising. So let's see. It depending on how they play with the ride heights.

Right and when they run the higher ride heights, the car is massively off the pace in other corner types because the aerodynamic concept doesn't work at the higher ride heights (as they've been saying all along)

They will run very low and consequently stiff as their car has shown it needs, struggle a bit in the slow speed but also be on the frontrunners' pace in the medium speed corners

I think Hungary will be a good track for them but not expecting any miracles

[Sidiamal]

They were strongest in the slow corners at the beginning of the season when they had the high ride height to reduce porpoising. So let's see. It depending on how they play with the ride heights.

That was the start of the season. Shovlin was upfront in Barcelona that the new floor introduced there lost them that advantage.

[PlatinumZealot]

They were strongest in the slow corners at the beginning of the season when they had the high ride height to reduce porpoising. So let's see. It depending on how they play with the ride heights.

That was the start of the season. Shovlin was upfront in Barcelona that the new floor introduced there lost them that advantage.

That is not complete when you take note of the track they ran at when that modifcation to the floor was made, and the change in settings for that track. Barcelona is a track with high speed corners and you can sacrifice speed thru the last chicane for lap time elsewhere if you are talking about race setup. So these little details you gotta fimter out.

I'm not even sticking my neck out to say we will be in strong contention for a win or at least threatining the top two teams (if it's dry).

[AR3-GP]

They were strongest in the slow corners at the beginning of the season when they had the high ride height to reduce porpoising. So let's see. It depending on how they play with the ride heights.

I believe the opposite is the case. When they had the car low, they were strong in the slow corners, and bouncing in the fast one. Mercedes was never fast in slow corners with high ride height. It was only when the car was low and running where the initial concept was intended. The slow corners were not fast enough to trigger the porpoising so they could get the expected performance in the slow speed at low rideheight.