2023 Mercedes-AMG | Petronas F1 Team

[organic]

True 2 races is not long but for Lewis' standards it is a bad run I would say

[Astro85]

Quite a meh race for Mercedes, I have noticed with Hamilton he now seems to have poor pace on the hards without the ability of being the tyre whisperer. His offset didn't really bring him anything, he wasn't exactly lapping fast when the drivers on the mediums came in for their first stops and he didn't put much after them. A solid race from Russell, not much else he could have done.

[Just_a_fan]

That's the joys of a DRS train behind a car with a slower lap time but a higher top speed, especially when starting on a slower tyre than everyone around him. Nothing unexpected there, frankly.

[Astro85]

Interesting. You joined the forum yesterday and have made 6 posts, of which 3 or 4 have been to have a go at Hamilton. Almost feels like someone with an agenda.

As it happens, Lewis made up 2 places and George lost a place. So of the two of them, Lewis maximised his performance more than George did.

I'm sorry, do I need your permission who to speak about? On the other hand George almost had a pit stop on him. Hamilton has been off it this weekend.

Plus, you could say George put the car in a position it didn't belong in qualifying, Perez passing him was inevitable at some point, wether that's on track or in the pits, Russell defended brilliantly to hold him off for so long.

Oh, I see you've added a chunk to your post after posting. That's remarkably similar to another poster on this forum. Amazing how coincidences occur.

You are getting emotional here, I don't know what you're insinuating fella but your way off the mark. I see you are trying to get personal, grow up please.

[Astro85]

The hards didn't pay off, his pace was no stronger than those on the mediums at the end of their stints, hence why once they boxed for hards he didn't stay out much later. He came alive on the mediums but there wasn't much pace difference between George who was on the hards, again, he underperformed this weekend.

[ringo]

Quite a meh race for Mercedes, I have noticed with Hamilton he now seems to have poor pace on the hards without the ability of being the tyre whisperer. His offset didn't really bring him anything, he wasn't exactly lapping fast when the drivers on the mediums came in for their first stops and he didn't put much after them. A solid race from Russell, not much else he could have done.

I hope you are not looking at lap times without context.
Hamilton could not use the hards well because he was in dirty air behind the mclarens.
He came up to the back of them and became stuck basically in a DRS train.
So the offset strategy was damaged by Albon as mentioned earlier.

[Astro85]

Quite a meh race for Mercedes, I have noticed with Hamilton he now seems to have poor pace on the hards without the ability of being the tyre whisperer. His offset didn't really bring him anything, he wasn't exactly lapping fast when the drivers on the mediums came in for their first stops and he didn't put much after them. A solid race from Russell, not much else he could have done.

I hope you are not looking at lap times without context.
Hamilton could not use the hards well because he was in dirty air behind the mclarens.
He came up to the back of them and became stuck basically in a DRS train.
So the offset strategy was damaged by Albon as mentioned earlier.

But, he couldn't really find any pace advantage once they had boxed? Forgive me, today is the first race this season I didn't watch live, I fast forwarded some of the race after I accidentally saw a spoiler.

[ringo]

Quite a meh race for Mercedes, I have noticed with Hamilton he now seems to have poor pace on the hards without the ability of being the tyre whisperer. His offset didn't really bring him anything, he wasn't exactly lapping fast when the drivers on the mediums came in for their first stops and he didn't put much after them. A solid race from Russell, not much else he could have done.

I hope you are not looking at lap times without context.
Hamilton could not use the hards well because he was in dirty air behind the mclarens.
He came up to the back of them and became stuck basically in a DRS train.
So the offset strategy was damaged by Albon as mentioned earlier.

But, he couldn't really find any pace advantage once they had boxed? Forgive me, today is the first race this season I didn't watch live, I fast forwarded some of the race after I accidentally saw a spoiler.

Not not exactly. As one mclaren pitted the other was in front.
When he went onto the soft, he managed the pace to bringing in the tyre gently.
Im not really seeing where the tyres didnt work as intended.
In fact it can be argued hamilton may have had too much pace too early. He was running at the same pace as those on mediums ahead.

[Spoutnik]

Quite a meh race for Mercedes, I have noticed with Hamilton he now seems to have poor pace on the hards without the ability of being the tyre whisperer. His offset didn't really bring him anything, he wasn't exactly lapping fast when the drivers on the mediums came in for their first stops and he didn't put much after them. A solid race from Russell, not much else he could have done.

Interesting. You joined the forum yesterday and have made 6 posts, of which 3 or 4 have been to have a go at Hamilton. Almost feels like someone with an agenda.

As it happens, Lewis made up 2 places and George lost a place. So of the two of them, Lewis maximised his performance more than George did.

I'm sorry, do I need your permission who to speak about? On the other hand George almost had a pit stop on him. Hamilton has been off it this weekend.

Plus, you could say George put the car in a position it didn't belong in qualifying, Perez passing him was inevitable at some point, wether that's on track or in the pits, Russell defended brilliantly to hold him off for so long.

I mean it's 10-5 in head to head in favo of Lewis in race (worth mentioning Austria where George was nowhere but finished ahead thanks to post-race inconsistent penalties).
His qualy was not so good, but these days he focus more on race. It's 10-5 in race and 55 pts gap, even if Russell is ahead in qualy (it's 8-7 in his favour I believe).

But today, Russell could create such a gap because Hamilton spent the entire first stint in a DRS train with Alex "dragster" Albon, with harder tyre and the slowest top speed on the grid.
In the end, 5th and 6th.. I feel if Lewis had a better qualy he could've challenged one of the Ferrari imo (I can't prove it), but I just mean we should not get carried away really.

[AR3-GP]

I mean it's 10-5 in head to head in favo of Lewis in race (worth mentioning Austria where George was nowhere but finished ahead thanks to post-race inconsistent penalties).

On the other hand, Australia.

[ringo]

50 point gap in a car that cant even get on the podium without some mishaps by the front runners is a big gap between teammates.
As for the qualy gap. When lewis stops tweaking, things will lean back in his favour.
He tends to tweak too much and mess up fp2 and fp3 and doesnt get in good enough running for qualy.

[Spoutnik]

I agree with both of your posts

Overall Lewis is just the better racer. Everytime he mess up his qualy he finish just behind George or even ahead (think about Hungary 2022, Jeddah this year, or Baku [when the SC put him out of position early on]).

The real worry for me is that Merc, 2 years later still haven't figured how to have a good top speed...

[Cs98]

The real worry for me is that Merc, 2 years later still haven't figured how to have a good top speed...

What is it with this never-ending narrative. Their top speed is massively improved this year. In fact, during the race George was matching both RB and Ferrari on the straights.

[Spoutnik]

Russell was one of the slowest in qualifying according to the data.
Race is irrelevant as Hamilton was double towed.

I still believe this car is way too draggy/or lacks engine power, probably bit of both.

[basti313]

50 point gap in a car that cant even get on the podium without some mishaps by the front runners is a big gap between teammates.
As for the qualy gap. When lewis stops tweaking, things will lean back in his favour.
He tends to tweak too much and mess up fp2 and fp3 and doesnt get in good enough running for qualy.

??? It has a long history...when it was Rosberg vs. Ham it was completely normal that one of the two messes up Q3 and is 0.3-0.4sec behind the other one. Just look at the old Q times.
Today F1 is so competitive that 0.4s loss in Q2 ends the Q for you...
So I do not see what you mean with tweaking, I would rather say it is the risk he takes for the last lap in the Q sessions.

For the gap: I agree, the gap is huge. We see a particularly bad season by Russel. Similar to the bad half season by Ham last year...so also not something special, this happens for nearly everyone on the grid.