2022 Mercedes-AMG | Petronas F1 Team

[InsaneX_Badger]

Shame that Merc has a bit of a drag issue, otherwise I would be quite excited going into Brazil, but now I just want to set the weekend settings to one shot quali and 5 lap race distance as if I want to play a bit after work

[AR3-GP]

Russell said after the race that he felt Merc had the faster car this weekend.

[AR3-GP]

I sort of understand Merc insisting to Hamilton that they had the right strategy. What was the alternative? Admit to screwing up and getting your driver down and losing hope in the middle of the race?

[chrisc90]

I sort of understand Merc insisting to Hamilton that they had the right strategy. What was the alternative? Admit to screwing up and getting your driver down and losing hope in the middle of the race?

Agree, That radio call from Bono to Lewis was a bit of a moment. (where he said he was matching Max in front on the medium).

I think we do tend to hear that off Mercedes, they are afraid to tell their drivers that the pitwall got it wrong. Today they got it very wrong. Had they gone long and onto the softs, it probably would have had RB worried and forced a extra stop. But from the post race interviews.....it seemed the Medium - soft was never even on the radar for Mercedes.

[mendis]

James is outdated and so is Toto. They need some fresh thinking to drive racing operations. I have no Idea what value Toto adds by traveling to each race that costs the team so much on expenses side for a person of his rank. Remember, they are down 3 million dollars compared to Red Bull due to car damages.

They have the drivers part right, but strategy team was always a problem with way too many misses to count than a few forgettable hits. Great cars and great drives from Lewis in the past rectified their strategy mistakes, but with a team and car like Red Bull, they are thoroughly exposed since last year.

[PlatinumZealot]

I'm not sure Toto knows the meaning of "aggressive". Surely that would have been a long stint on either C3 or C4.

Russell was quite smart today on the radio, but Merc nerfed his strategy call for some reason. If Ricciardo's race was anything to go buy, Russell was on the money strat wise.

The data showed a drop off on the mediums was why they were scared of being aggressive. I don't think they would have gotten anything better. Even against Perez.

[PlatinumZealot]

Russell said after the race that he felt Merc had the faster car this weekend.

Yeah and it finished 15 seconds behind and possibly 30 seconds if Max was pushing.

[mendis]

I'm not sure Toto knows the meaning of "aggressive". Surely that would have been a long stint on either C3 or C4.

Russell was quite smart today on the radio, but Merc nerfed his strategy call for some reason. If Ricciardo's race was anything to go buy, Russell was on the money strat wise.

The data showed a drop off on the mediums was why they were scared of being aggressive. I don't think they would have gotten anything better. Even against Perez.

Not sure what data you are talking about. Here is George's first stint. He could have gone another 10 laps on the basis of that stint data. Nobody was really experiencing tyre deg across the field.

Code: Select all

 1:23.760
 1:23.656
 1:23.549
 1:23.266
 1:23.549
 1:23.220
 1:23.481
 1:23.654
 1:23.487
 1:23.327
 1:23.420
 1:23.273
 1:23.413
 1:23.239
 1:23.155
 1:23.465
 1:23.316
 1:23.457
 1:23.645
 1:23.415
 1:23.769
 1:23.602
 1:23.460
 1:23.499
 1:23.227
 1:23.233
 1:23.052
 1:22.934
 NaT
 1:23.056
 1:23.275
 1:23.269

[proteus]

I'm not sure Toto knows the meaning of "aggressive". Surely that would have been a long stint on either C3 or C4.

Russell was quite smart today on the radio, but Merc nerfed his strategy call for some reason. If Ricciardo's race was anything to go buy, Russell was on the money strat wise.

The data showed a drop off on the mediums was why they were scared of being aggressive. I don't think they would have gotten anything better. Even against Perez.

Not sure what data you are talking about. Here is George's first stint. He could have gone another 10 laps on the basis of that stint data. Nobody was really experiencing tyre deg across the field.

Code: Select all

 1:23.760
 1:23.656
 1:23.549
 1:23.266
 1:23.549
 1:23.220
 1:23.481
 1:23.654
 1:23.487
 1:23.327
 1:23.420
 1:23.273
 1:23.413
 1:23.239
 1:23.155
 1:23.465
 1:23.316
 1:23.457
 1:23.645
 1:23.415
 1:23.769
 1:23.602
 1:23.460
 1:23.499
 1:23.227
 1:23.233
 1:23.052
 1:22.934
 NaT
 1:23.056
 1:23.275
 1:23.269

They threw a chance away, hopefully they will learn a lesson for the next time. They had nothing to lose really, Ferrari was miles behind. They made bigger risks sending George with dry tyres on a wet track at one of the previous races, than yesterday.

The dropoff they feared so much, never came. Atleast not so dramatically.

[chrisc90]

I'm not sure Toto knows the meaning of "aggressive". Surely that would have been a long stint on either C3 or C4.

Russell was quite smart today on the radio, but Merc nerfed his strategy call for some reason. If Ricciardo's race was anything to go buy, Russell was on the money strat wise.

The data showed a drop off on the mediums was why they were scared of being aggressive. I don't think they would have gotten anything better. Even against Perez.

A drop off on the mediums? Where?

[basti313]

James is outdated and so is Toto. They need some fresh thinking to drive racing operations.

I do not know why they are so unable to change the approach. It was clear that not splitting the strategy is simply wrong, that was clear to everyone why saw the tire allocation before the start. Even in years of dominance it would have been difficult to win a race by starting on the harder compounds from P2 and P3.
In the end it was just luck how the first corners unfolded with Russel holding up Perez It was even possible that Perez jumps also Hamilton on the Softs.

They have the drivers part right, but strategy team was always a problem with way too many misses to count than a few forgettable hits. Great cars and great drives from Lewis in the past rectified their strategy mistakes, but with a team and car like Red Bull, they are thoroughly exposed since last year.

Drivers bottled both their Q3 attempts. So this was a team afford to not win this race.

They threw a chance away, hopefully they will learn a lesson for the next time. They had nothing to lose really, Ferrari was miles behind. They made bigger risks sending George with dry tyres on a wet track at one of the previous races, than yesterday.

The dropoff they feared so much, never came. Atleast not so dramatically.

No. We saw exactly the reason and the same error for this on the Dutch GP...they followed again a predefined plan, drop of the tires at lap x...just like they followed the track position on the Durch GP. There was again plenty of data that the idea of the drop of the tires was simply wrong. Still unable to adjust.
Additionally they were anxious to split the strategy. There was certainly a lot of noise after the Durch GP about this inside...but without driving only against each other they are losing with this approach.

[SparkyAMG]

I feel like every year we've raced at Mexico anyone who has gambled on the hardest compound has regretted it, so when Mercs started on the mediums I assumed they'd be going for a mega first stint to offset RB, especially with Max lasting as long as he did on the softs with a full tank.

They could have also benefited in the event of a safety car, so throwing away the advantages that the medium gave them by pitting early for hards seemed entirely illogical.

I don't think they'd have beaten Max anyway but they might have been on his tail at the end and Russel could have been on the podium too.

[Spoutnik]

I feel like every year we've raced at Mexico anyone who has gambled on the hardest compound has regretted it, so when Mercs started on the mediums I assumed they'd be going for a mega first stint to offset RB, especially with Max lasting as long as he did on the softs with a full tank.

They could have also benefited in the event of a safety car, so throwing away the advantages that the medium gave them by pitting early for hards seemed entirely illogical.

I don't think they'd have beaten Max anyway but they might have been on his tail at the end and Russel could have been on the podium too.

IIRC Lewis won in 2019, doing a one stopper, finishing the race on Hards. Both Ferrari and RB doing 2 stoppers, but the delta wasn't enough.

I agree with the user saying Merc were always a bit erratic on strategy and Lewis saved them many times. In fact, few moments of brillance hide that (Spain 2021, Hungary 2019, Mexico 2019, Spain 2017...) for the commentators.

Nevertheless, yersteday I don't think Merc could have created the delta to overtake Max with fresher tyre. It would have been like Leclerc at Monza : 0.5 sec a lap and then the soft would've dropped off. You just have to look at the average lap times of Max on the medium...

[InsaneX_Badger]

I feel like every year we've raced at Mexico anyone who has gambled on the hardest compound has regretted it, so when Mercs started on the mediums I assumed they'd be going for a mega first stint to offset RB, especially with Max lasting as long as he did on the softs with a full tank.

They could have also benefited in the event of a safety car, so throwing away the advantages that the medium gave them by pitting early for hards seemed entirely illogical.

I don't think they'd have beaten Max anyway but they might have been on his tail at the end and Russel could have been on the podium too.

IIRC Lewis won in 2019, doing a one stopper, finishing the race on Hards. Both Ferrari and RB doing 2 stoppers, but the delta wasn't enough.

I agree with the user saying Merc were always a bit erratic on strategy and Lewis saved them many times. In fact, few moments of brillance hide that (Spain 2021, Hungary 2019, Mexico 2019, Spain 2017...) for the commentators.

Nevertheless, yersteday I don't think Merc could have created the delta to overtake Max with fresher tyre. It would have been like Leclerc at Monza : 0.5 sec a lap and then the soft would've dropped off. You just have to look at the average lap times of Max on the medium...

Max's stint might have to be taken with a pinch of salt however as he was cruising for most of it

[Spoutnik]

I feel like every year we've raced at Mexico anyone who has gambled on the hardest compound has regretted it, so when Mercs started on the mediums I assumed they'd be going for a mega first stint to offset RB, especially with Max lasting as long as he did on the softs with a full tank.

They could have also benefited in the event of a safety car, so throwing away the advantages that the medium gave them by pitting early for hards seemed entirely illogical.

I don't think they'd have beaten Max anyway but they might have been on his tail at the end and Russel could have been on the podium too.

IIRC Lewis won in 2019, doing a one stopper, finishing the race on Hards. Both Ferrari and RB doing 2 stoppers, but the delta wasn't enough.

I agree with the user saying Merc were always a bit erratic on strategy and Lewis saved them many times. In fact, few moments of brillance hide that (Spain 2021, Hungary 2019, Mexico 2019, Spain 2017...) for the commentators.

Nevertheless, yersteday I don't think Merc could have created the delta to overtake Max with fresher tyre. It would have been like Leclerc at Monza : 0.5 sec a lap and then the soft would've dropped off. You just have to look at the average lap times of Max on the medium...

Max's stint might have to be taken with a pinch of salt however as he was cruising for most of it

Yes, if he had to push because Lewis put the soft his average lap time might have been below 1.22
Someone posted his stint but the picture makes it better I find :