2022 Mercedes-AMG | Petronas F1 Team

[Zynerji]

I'm hoping that #GR63 won't try to win this race in T1.

I think the Ferrari boys have waaaay more to lose that George. He will assume the racing line to the point of impact.

[erudite450]

Let's not get carried away.. Congrats to Georges but he's not shown more race pace than Jarno Trulli recently... I don't think he'll be able to keep the two red cars behind, and even Lando. I think Hamilton is the best asset for Merc tomorrow even if it was not a good day for him.

Not sure what you had but I'd like some of it if you think Norris will get anywhere near Russell tomorrow.

[ringo]

I havent been watching the practice long runs, but I think Russel's race pace in the past races was decent.
He doesn't have Hamilton's relentlessness, but he is respectable and I think he defends very well.
But if his setup was truly biased towards a wet race and tomorrow is dry, his goose may be cooked by lap 10.

[Spoutnik]

Let's not get carried away.. Congrats to Georges but he's not shown more race pace than Jarno Trulli recently... I don't think he'll be able to keep the two red cars behind, and even Lando. I think Hamilton is the best asset for Merc tomorrow even if it was not a good day for him.

Not sure what you had but I'd like some of it if you think Norris will get anywhere near Russell tomorrow.

You will see, if Norris get a clean start, he has more race pace.
Last week I said Hamilton will get Perez easily and I was mocked we saw what happened in the race

[Andi76]

That 10% figure was under the old system.
If your floor doesn't work well you will need more wing or you will need to pitch the car forward more.

Anyway. What do you say of the Hungary pole position?

The same that i say about Latifis P1 in Free Practice. I do not not think this qualifying was representing the real pecking order. Mercedes is still far away from Ferrari and Red Bull. But especially that makes it an exceptional performance by Russell and the team.

No they are not. Its obvious they are closing in. No they havent caught yet but the gap is closing. Mainly the straight line speed deficit needs to be addressed then they will be a force everywhere.

Yes they are. You should remember Miami. A lot of people said the same after this race. Under normal circumstances Mercedes is still about 0,7 secs behind the Ferraris. There are many analysis that clearly prove that. All Mercedes gained since the beginning of the season in relation to Ferrari is a little bit more than 1 tenth of a second. F1.tv just yesterday made also did an analysis on that. And they definetely have the most data and experts.

[F1Krof]

I think what happened in the qualy is that first Mercs started to understand the car a bit more, and that the car is responding in setup changes.

Having said that, in FP3 they couldn't generate any tyre heat at all in the wet, so they should have made setup changes to prepare for a wet qualy to switch on the tyres. The gamble paid off even better when there was no rain and with the setup changes they were able to utilize the tyres to the maximum when everyone else couldn't.

If this is true (which will be proven in the race), then I predict that they'll be relatively strong in the opening of the stints, but they will cook their tyres away and slip backwards -> when everyone compromised their qualy setup for more race pace, Mercs seemed to have gambled fully on raw qualy pace.

I hope I'm wrong though.

[atanatizante]

So in the end what was the reason (or should I better say reasons?) behind RUS` pole?

1. Merc set up the car more (if not entirely) towards qualy for the first time this year (at least it`s the first time when they need just 1 lap to warm up up the tyres in qualy, not to mention the moderate track temps), knowing it`s a wet race today hence at least an SC/VSC phase when you need to quickly warm up the tyres?
2. Merc or at least RUS is betting for a wet race in prospect for today?
3. Ferrari were on the back foot with track temps in qualy and not being able to get heat into the tyres?
4. VER`s PU misfortune?

[chrisc90]

So in the end what was the reason (or should I better say reasons?) behind RUS` pole?

1. Merc set up the car more (if not entirely) towards qualy for the first time this year (at least it`s the first time when they need just 1 lap to warm up up the tyres in qualy, not to mention the moderate track temps), knowing it`s a wet race today hence at least an SC/VSC phase when you need to quickly warm up the tyres?
2. Merc or at least RUS is betting for a wet race in prospect for today?
3. Ferrari were on the back foot with track temps in qualy and not being able to get heat into the tyres?
4. VER`s PU misfortune?

I think hes really going to struggle with tyre deg if they have set the car up more towards a wet race or with the aim of warming the tyres up faster.

[214270]

Ferrari may be running detuned like in France, that’s the only reasonable thing to conclude. Maybe a small adv in the top-end, no discernible adv in the twisties. Wet setup theories are nonsense. RUS has a good chance to win if he doesn’t bottle it, overtaking is still v hard here.

[De Jokke]

Good work by Merc this weekend, except for the very costly DRS issue: cost them their only win probably this season.
Toto's face said it all.

[214270]

Another L for the sofa experts and their theories of lower DF/worse tyre wear.

[PlatinumZealot]

We took the maximum! Almost had the win too! So much for sucky side-pods! lol

[chrisc90]

We took the maximum! Almost had the win too! So much for sucky side-pods! lol

Took the best. The win was never really in reach though.

Great drive from the team today.

[Hammerfist]

Another double podium . But no I guess they are not improving. By my estimation we do not have quite enough for Max or Leclerc, but we easily have Checo and Sainz covered almost anywhere with Lewis. Hopefully more solid gains can be made in the second half of the season. I want to see them be the fastest car in the season finale. That's all I can ask for as a fan at the moment. The championships have been long gone. It's now about just closing the gap and set up a good baseline for next year.

[chrisc90]

Another double podium . But no I guess they are not improving. By my estimation we do not have quite enough for Max or Leclerc, but we easily have Checo and Sainz covered almost anywhere with Lewis. Hopefully more solid gains can be made in the second half of the season. I want to see them be the fastest car in the season finale. That's all I can ask for as a fan at the moment. The championships have been long gone. It's now about just closing the gap and set up a good baseline for next year.

Can still aim for 2nd in both titles though. Max and RB have got it in the bag I think. 2nd is still a good spot to aim for.