2022 Mercedes-AMG | Petronas F1 Team

[DGP123]

Handled it fine thanks to all his rivals essentially destroying their race after T2

[Mansell89]

Whilst altitude has helped them reduce the drag deficit, it seems clear that Mercedes are getting a genuine handle on their concept and car.

With the chance to eradicate flaws via next years design, perhaps they can indeed fight Red Bull.

We need it to be closer at the front for sure - today was a very good reward for Merc hard work- congratulations to the team.

[zibby43]

Handled it fine thanks to all his rivals essentially destroying their race after T2

Let’s ignore the safety car restarts then lol.

[zibby43]

Whilst altitude has helped them reduce the drag deficit, it seems clear that Mercedes are getting a genuine handle on their concept and car.

With the chance to eradicate flaws via next years design, perhaps they can indeed fight Red Bull.

We need it to be closer at the front for sure - today was a very good reward for Merc hard work- congratulations to the team.

Indeed. I think the development on the W13 will pay huge dividends on next year’s car.

[Hammerfist]

Fantastic result. Mad congrats to George. Lewis continues to have an unlucky season. But maybe next year, when it will actually matter his luck will turn around. Merc is on the rise. That much is clear. But rbr will return to the front in AD. Its all about next year though.

[AR3-GP]

Two comments about the race

1) I laughed out loud when George got on the radio during the SC no doubt with a **** eating grin to ask the team to encourage Lewis to back off...

2) I'm surprised that Lewis didn't follow his own advice that he delivered to Max Verstappen at the 2018 Brazilian GP. Max had nothing to lose. Lewis was still searching for his first victory of the season. RB was clearly slower. He should have left space, maybe conceded and just done Max over with DRS on the next laps and got back to focusing on George.

[MadMax]

2) I'm surprised that Lewis didn't follow his own advice that he delivered to Max Verstappen at the 2018 Brazilian GP. Max had nothing to lose. Lewis was still searching for his first victory of the season. RB was clearly slower. He should have left space, maybe conceded and just done Max over with DRS on the next laps and got back to focusing on George.

Lewis said last year that he's not playing Max's game any more. If Max wants to try to bully his way through then there will be contact. Max is still driving around Lewis in the same way that he did when Lewis had titles to lose and Max didn't. Lewis even said previous to 2021 that he always gave extra room around Max. However it appears that from now on, Lewis isn't going to jump out of the way anymore so Max needs to figure out a different way to overtake him.

The question is: can Max now adapt?

[AR3-GP]

2) I'm surprised that Lewis didn't follow his own advice that he delivered to Max Verstappen at the 2018 Brazilian GP. Max had nothing to lose. Lewis was still searching for his first victory of the season. RB was clearly slower. He should have left space, maybe conceded and just done Max over with DRS on the next laps and got back to focusing on George.

Lewis said last year that he's not playing Max's game any more. If Max wants to try to bully his way through then there will be contact. Max is still driving around Lewis in the same way that he did when Lewis had titles to lose and Max didn't. Lewis even said previous to 2021 that he always gave extra room around Max. However it appears that from now on, Lewis isn't going to jump out of the way anymore so Max needs to figure out a different way to overtake him.

The question is: can Max now adapt?

Earlier in the season when Max had something to lose and he had to race Lewis, he was extremely cautious. See Austria, USA.

Here, Hamilton was the only one with anything to lose (in the fastest car that weekend with a clear shot to win). You really can't try and argue that it benefitted Hamilton to "stick it to Verstappen" when Verstappen didn't have anything to lose today and was in a slower car that got overtaken yesterday fairly easily by Hamilton.

[MadMax]

2) I'm surprised that Lewis didn't follow his own advice that he delivered to Max Verstappen at the 2018 Brazilian GP. Max had nothing to lose. Lewis was still searching for his first victory of the season. RB was clearly slower. He should have left space, maybe conceded and just done Max over with DRS on the next laps and got back to focusing on George.

Lewis said last year that he's not playing Max's game any more. If Max wants to try to bully his way through then there will be contact. Max is still driving around Lewis in the same way that he did when Lewis had titles to lose and Max didn't. Lewis even said previous to 2021 that he always gave extra room around Max. However it appears that from now on, Lewis isn't going to jump out of the way anymore so Max needs to figure out a different way to overtake him.

The question is: can Max now adapt?

Earlier in the season when Max had something to lose and he had to race Lewis, he was extremely cautious. See Austria, USA.

Here, Hamilton was the only one with anything to lose (in the fastest car that weekend with a clear shot to win). You really can't try and argue that it benefitted Hamilton to "stick it to Verstappen" when Verstappen didn't have anything to lose today and was in a slower car that got overtaken yesterday fairly easily by Hamilton.

I don't think Lewis was "sticking it to Max". He was taking his racing line having defended the move in T1. Max messed up.

[AR3-GP]

Lewis said last year that he's not playing Max's game any more. If Max wants to try to bully his way through then there will be contact. Max is still driving around Lewis in the same way that he did when Lewis had titles to lose and Max didn't. Lewis even said previous to 2021 that he always gave extra room around Max. However it appears that from now on, Lewis isn't going to jump out of the way anymore so Max needs to figure out a different way to overtake him.

The question is: can Max now adapt?

Earlier in the season when Max had something to lose and he had to race Lewis, he was extremely cautious. See Austria, USA.

Here, Hamilton was the only one with anything to lose (in the fastest car that weekend with a clear shot to win). You really can't try and argue that it benefitted Hamilton to "stick it to Verstappen" when Verstappen didn't have anything to lose today and was in a slower car that got overtaken yesterday fairly easily by Hamilton.

I don't think Lewis was "sticking it to Max". He was taking his racing line having defended the move in T1. Max messed up.

In your view, did Lewis see Max or not? Why didn't he do his usual risk assessment of who had more to lose? You're correct about one thing though as you said in the previous post. Lewis decided mentally that he's had enough, but seems he misjudged who had more to lose there. Lewis would easily have gotten back past Max within 2-3 laps if he had simply conceded. Max was never beating a Mercedes over 71 laps.

[MadMax]

Earlier in the season when Max had something to lose and he had to race Lewis, he was extremely cautious. See Austria, USA.

Here, Hamilton was the only one with anything to lose (in the fastest car that weekend with a clear shot to win). You really can't try and argue that it benefitted Hamilton to "stick it to Verstappen" when Verstappen didn't have anything to lose today and was in a slower car that got overtaken yesterday fairly easily by Hamilton.

I don't think Lewis was "sticking it to Max". He was taking his racing line having defended the move in T1. Max messed up.

In your view, did Lewis see Max or not? Why didn't he do his usual risk assessment of who had more to lose?

I think Lewis probably believed he'd done enough.

Max admitted knowing that there wouldn't be any room and still deciding to drive in to the closing gap.

You can try to blame Lewis anyway you like, but Max admitted to doing it deliberately. Nothing you can do if another driver is determined to hit you.

[101FlyingDutchman]

2) I'm surprised that Lewis didn't follow his own advice that he delivered to Max Verstappen at the 2018 Brazilian GP. Max had nothing to lose. Lewis was still searching for his first victory of the season. RB was clearly slower. He should have left space, maybe conceded and just done Max over with DRS on the next laps and got back to focusing on George.

Lewis said last year that he's not playing Max's game any more. If Max wants to try to bully his way through then there will be contact. Max is still driving around Lewis in the same way that he did when Lewis had titles to lose and Max didn't. Lewis even said previous to 2021 that he always gave extra room around Max. However it appears that from now on, Lewis isn't going to jump out of the way anymore so Max needs to figure out a different way to overtake him.

The question is: can Max now adapt?

Earlier in the season when Max had something to lose and he had to race Lewis, he was extremely cautious. See Austria, USA.

Here, Hamilton was the only one with anything to lose (in the fastest car that weekend with a clear shot to win). You really can't try and argue that it benefitted Hamilton to "stick it to Verstappen" when Verstappen didn't have anything to lose today and was in a slower car that got overtaken yesterday fairly easily by Hamilton.

Yeah I was surprised by it. I mean it’s clear it’s become personal on both sides. Shame really. I felt HAM definitely could have left some more room on the inside, he must have known that potential race finishing contact was imminent but closed into the apex anyway. Now that doesn’t mean he was “at fault”. I think that was predominantly on VER (shades of Silverstone in reverse).

It’s quite clear both could do better around each other otherwise next year May become costly for both of them. Especially if it’s close with the other drivers in the mix too for the WC.

[AR3-GP]

I don't think Lewis was "sticking it to Max". He was taking his racing line having defended the move in T1. Max messed up.

In your view, did Lewis see Max or not? Why didn't he do his usual risk assessment of who had more to lose?

I think Lewis probably believed he'd done enough.

Max admitted knowing that there wouldn't be any room and still deciding to drive in to the closing gap.

You can try to blame Lewis anyway you like, but Max admitted to doing it deliberately. Nothing you can do if another driver is determined to hit you.

I'm not blaming Lewis. I'm simply wondering why he didn't follow the advice that he gave to Max at that very same corner a few years ago. Lewis was in prime position for that elusive 2022 victory and Max was in a slower car with nothing to lose. I reckon if he'd simply left space and conceded (which is his typical risk assessment), that he'd have won today.

[Mchamilton]

In your view, did Lewis see Max or not? Why didn't he do his usual risk assessment of who had more to lose?

I think Lewis probably believed he'd done enough.

Max admitted knowing that there wouldn't be any room and still deciding to drive in to the closing gap.

You can try to blame Lewis anyway you like, but Max admitted to doing it deliberately. Nothing you can do if another driver is determined to hit you.

I'm not blaming Lewis. I'm simply wondering why he didn't follow the advice that he gave to Max at that very same corner a few years ago. Lewis was in prime position for that elusive 2022 victory and Max was in a slower car with nothing to lose. I reckon if he'd simply left space and conceded (which is his typical risk assessment), that he'd have won today.

If Lewis would have given max room, then max wouldn't have given Lewis room on the exit
he would have aimed straight for exit kerb and forced lewis off like he did constantly last year. so Lewis clearly decided to leave it up to max to hit front wing somewhere along his car and see how it turns out.

[AR3-GP]

I think Lewis probably believed he'd done enough.

Max admitted knowing that there wouldn't be any room and still deciding to drive in to the closing gap.

You can try to blame Lewis anyway you like, but Max admitted to doing it deliberately. Nothing you can do if another driver is determined to hit you.

I'm not blaming Lewis. I'm simply wondering why he didn't follow the advice that he gave to Max at that very same corner a few years ago. Lewis was in prime position for that elusive 2022 victory and Max was in a slower car with nothing to lose. I reckon if he'd simply left space and conceded (which is his typical risk assessment), that he'd have won today.

If Lewis would have given max room, then max wouldn't have given Lewis room on the exit
he would have aimed straight for exit kerb and forced lewis off like he did constantly last year. so Lewis clearly decided to leave it up to max to hit front wing somewhere along his car and see how it turns out.

Lewis knowing he had Max covered on pace would simply let Max go, do a switchback, or just wait for the inevitable DRS as the RB was very slow today. Discussing Lewis being run off on the left hander entry is irrelevant because Lewis wouldn't have put himself in that position.

I liken it to pedestrians crossing a sidewalk. You know you'll get to the other side. Do you just jump out into traffic and hope the cars will stop "because it's the law", or do you do the sensible thing which is recognizing you will be able to make it across, and there's no sense jumping out into traffic and getting killed because ultimately no justice will be served and you've lost the opportunity to cross the road which was a formality if you had simply waited.