2022 Mercedes-AMG | Petronas F1 Team

[Mchamilton]

Does anyone have a picture with Hamilton floor damage during colision with Verstappen. He stated that after the incident the rear behaved differently.

Hamilton: "All I thought in that moment I’d have to retire, because I felt something. The rear wasn’t feeling the same after that and for me it was like, I’m going to lose the team a one-two. That’s all I could think of. Driving over the grass and back onto the track, all I could think of was: ‘How can I get back to giving the team that incredible result?’ For me, it’s not how you fall but how you get back up."

I'm not sure...
https://cdn-1.motorsport.com/images/mgl ... -2n-1.webp
https://pbs.twimg.com/media/FhelHCiUcAA ... ame=medium

It was front wing to front tyre, then obviously lewis turns away, very little if any contact on the floor edge

[Stu]

Nothing wrong with that floor.

There has been a suggestion that the damage was actually to the front wheel aero-cover which would have affected air going to the floor to some degree. And of course going over the grass risks damage to the underfloor strakes if the ground is uneven enough. Doesn't take much damage to affect the airflow after all.

The mandatory wheel cover got smashed, the aero from that would have been rectified at the first pit-stop. Considering what the cover is intended to achieve; I bet it made the car a bit ‘twitchy’ due to the side-to-side imbalance.

[MadMax]

Nothing wrong with that floor.

There has been a suggestion that the damage was actually to the front wheel aero-cover which would have affected air going to the floor to some degree. And of course going over the grass risks damage to the underfloor strakes if the ground is uneven enough. Doesn't take much damage to affect the airflow after all.

If Lewis had damage, then George was quite slow....

Lewis went for the lower downforce set up in the first place. Any loss of downforce would hamper him further in S2. He was quicker than George in S1 and S3 and slower in S2 - as could be seen by the yo-yo gaps between them after the second restart where George pulled away in S2 every lap and Lewis came back in S3 and S1. Did Lewis have damage? Only the team know.

[MadMax]

Nothing wrong with that floor.

There has been a suggestion that the damage was actually to the front wheel aero-cover which would have affected air going to the floor to some degree. And of course going over the grass risks damage to the underfloor strakes if the ground is uneven enough. Doesn't take much damage to affect the airflow after all.

The mandatory wheel cover got smashed, the aero from that would have been rectified at the first pit-stop. Considering what the cover is intended to achieve; I bet it made the car a bit ‘twitchy’ due to the side-to-side imbalance.

That makes sense.

[harty71]

There has been a suggestion that the damage was actually to the front wheel aero-cover which would have affected air going to the floor to some degree. And of course going over the grass risks damage to the underfloor strakes if the ground is uneven enough. Doesn't take much damage to affect the airflow after all.

If Lewis had damage, then George was quite slow....

Lewis went for the lower downforce set up in the first place. Any loss of downforce would hamper him further in S2. He was quicker than George in S1 and S3 and slower in S2 - as could be seen by the yo-yo gaps between them after the second restart where George pulled away in S2 every lap and Lewis came back in S3 and S1. Did Lewis have damage? Only the team know.

I'm sure it would have been mentioned if he did so, it's been the same all weekend though, Russell had a couple of tenths over Hamilton in the middle sector and thus a faster overall lap time.

[MadMax]

If Lewis had damage, then George was quite slow....

Lewis went for the lower downforce set up in the first place. Any loss of downforce would hamper him further in S2. He was quicker than George in S1 and S3 and slower in S2 - as could be seen by the yo-yo gaps between them after the second restart where George pulled away in S2 every lap and Lewis came back in S3 and S1. Did Lewis have damage? Only the team know.

I'm sure it would have been mentioned if he did so, it's been the same all weekend though, Russell had a couple of tenths over Hamilton in the middle sector and thus a faster overall lap time.

I'd guess that the damage was only the wheel cover (which he would have felt) and that was changed at the first tyre change, as Stu said earlier. Russell was running higher downforce and so was quicker in the twisty section where downforce is required. Hamilton was quicker in the first and last sectors which are mostly straights. All as one would expect with different downforce and hence drag.

[chrisc90]

The extra downforce through the twisties probably put enough of a gap between them to avoid Hamilton getting a good tow along the start/finish.

[AR3-GP]

The extra downforce through the twisties probably put enough of a gap between them to avoid Hamilton getting a good tow along the start/finish.

What I'm most impressed about is George not making a mistake there, irrespective of Hamilton possibly carrying damage. Even with damage, Hamilton was fast enough to keep the pressure up and it would only take 1 mistake or misjudgment for Hamilton to get DRS. Remember when Sainz threw it off the road in Silverstone? We were seeing live gaps of 1.009 and George just didn't give Hamilton anything to work with. All Hamilton needed was one misjudgment on the brakes from George in 20 laps. It never came. You can't teach that.

[chrisc90]

The extra downforce through the twisties probably put enough of a gap between them to avoid Hamilton getting a good tow along the start/finish.

What I'm most impressed about is George not making a mistake there, irrespective of Hamilton possibly carrying damage. Even with damage, Hamilton was fast enough to keep the pressure up and it would only take 1 mistake or misjudgment for Hamilton to get DRS. Remember when Sainz threw it off the road in Silverstone? We were seeing live gaps of 1.009 and George just didn't give Hamilton anything to work with. All Hamilton needed was one misjudgment on the brakes from George in 20 laps. It never came.

Agreed, George drove a faultless race. Would have been interesting too what would have happened if the Ferrari and RB were in the mix too.

[Big Tea]

The extra downforce through the twisties probably put enough of a gap between them to avoid Hamilton getting a good tow along the start/finish.

What I'm most impressed about is George not making a mistake there, irrespective of Hamilton possibly carrying damage. Even with damage, Hamilton was fast enough to keep the pressure up and it would only take 1 mistake or misjudgment for Hamilton to get DRS. Remember when Sainz threw it off the road in Silverstone? We were seeing live gaps of 1.009 and George just didn't give Hamilton anything to work with. All Hamilton needed was one misjudgment on the brakes from George in 20 laps. It never came.

Agreed, George drove a faultless race. Would have been interesting too what would have happened if the Ferrari and RB were in the mix too.

After having a nice change with RBR being in a class of one, I am hoping Merc and Ferrari are up there next year.
It needs competition even if only in the same team

[harty71]

The extra downforce through the twisties probably put enough of a gap between them to avoid Hamilton getting a good tow along the start/finish.

What I'm most impressed about is George not making a mistake there, irrespective of Hamilton possibly carrying damage. Even with damage, Hamilton was fast enough to keep the pressure up and it would only take 1 mistake or misjudgment for Hamilton to get DRS. Remember when Sainz threw it off the road in Silverstone? We were seeing live gaps of 1.009 and George just didn't give Hamilton anything to work with. All Hamilton needed was one misjudgment on the brakes from George in 20 laps. It never came. You can't teach that.

And all it needed was for Hamilton to be faster and he wasn't. I mean I would have put money on Hamilton passing Bottas in the same situation, he hasn't got the speed on Russell to do it though.

Russell is head & shoulders better than Bottas, he will only get better, I can't see Hamilton ever beating him over the course of next season.

[AR3-GP]

The extra downforce through the twisties probably put enough of a gap between them to avoid Hamilton getting a good tow along the start/finish.

What I'm most impressed about is George not making a mistake there, irrespective of Hamilton possibly carrying damage. Even with damage, Hamilton was fast enough to keep the pressure up and it would only take 1 mistake or misjudgment for Hamilton to get DRS. Remember when Sainz threw it off the road in Silverstone? We were seeing live gaps of 1.009 and George just didn't give Hamilton anything to work with. All Hamilton needed was one misjudgment on the brakes from George in 20 laps. It never came. You can't teach that.

And all it needed was for Hamilton to be faster and he wasn't. I mean I would have put money on Hamilton passing Bottas in the same situation, he hasn't got the speed on Russell to do it though.

Russell is head & shoulders better than Bottas, he will only get better, I can't see Hamilton ever beating him over the course of next season.

Absolutely, Bottas would have made an error. Remember Nurburging '20? France '21. Miami '22. Bottas just chucks in the error every time he's under pressure.

Obviously George has some work to do because there's been a couple absolutely calamitous GPs from him, before Brazil...but it's interesting to watch him develop. I still give the edge to Hamilton for the time being, but considering that I was almost certain Hamilton was going to pass him after the safety car, he defied my expectation.

[harty71]

What I'm most impressed about is George not making a mistake there, irrespective of Hamilton possibly carrying damage. Even with damage, Hamilton was fast enough to keep the pressure up and it would only take 1 mistake or misjudgment for Hamilton to get DRS. Remember when Sainz threw it off the road in Silverstone? We were seeing live gaps of 1.009 and George just didn't give Hamilton anything to work with. All Hamilton needed was one misjudgment on the brakes from George in 20 laps. It never came. You can't teach that.

And all it needed was for Hamilton to be faster and he wasn't. I mean I would have put money on Hamilton passing Bottas in the same situation, he hasn't got the speed on Russell to do it though.

Russell is head & shoulders better than Bottas, he will only get better, I can't see Hamilton ever beating him over the course of next season.

Absolutely, Bottas would have made an error. Remember Nurburging '20? France '21. Miami '22. Bottas just chucks in the error every time he's under pressure.

True plus he doesn't have the consistent race pace that Russell has, so much for him being Mr Saturday, that's just a myth, he's just as capable on a Sunday as he's shown throughout the season.

He's already superior to Hamilton in race generalship/strategy, a proper world champion in the making given a competitive car.

[chrisc90]

Personally I think its the first bit of pace/racecraft that russell has displayed all season. Id be interested to know where else he has earned his Mr Sunday title this season. Hes only had a small handful of podiums and they were all because a car infront of him retired.

[AR3-GP]

After what happened in Bahrain '20, it would have looked so dodgy if the water leak led to a retirement