2023 Mercedes-AMG | Petronas F1 Team

[ringo]

The car is a clear 4th best in suzuka behind ferrari, mclaren, redbull. It may fight with the upgraded alpha tauri and the alpine.

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The car is a clear 4th best in suzuka behind ferrari, mclaren, redbull. It may fight with the upgraded alpha tauri and the alpine.

In quali yes I think in race trim the car will be fine though. Usually is good in race pace at tracks like this - they look after front tyres well

[j_ste]

The car is a clear 4th best in suzuka behind ferrari, mclaren, redbull. It may fight with the upgraded alpha tauri and the alpine.

Q3 isnt a certainty, thats for sure. The Red Bull JR team looks really good here

Edit...damn, best lap he's done all weekend.

Onwards to Q3.

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AT look like they have the same pace as Merc over 1 lap so far in quali.

[randolf]

AT look like they have the same pace as Merc over 1 lap so far in quali.

Is this because of TD? Mercedes seems to have gone backwards.

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AT look like they have the same pace as Merc over 1 lap so far in quali.

Is this because of TD? Mercedes seems to have gone backwards.

Could be. Probably most of the car's deficit this weekend was not to do with any sort of TD effect even if there.

For: in the paddock some, including Toto, said it would be more obvious at a track like this with a focus on aerodynamics and many different types of corner. The team seem to be struggling with getting a good, consistent balance which is something that was speculated would be the problem if TD018 hits

Against: The car has often been a diva and Suzuka is a testing circuit for cars that have weaknesses, especially one that does not give confidence to the drivers. It's one data point that we can see, let's not make any conclusions off this

Also they qualified on the 4th row with the 4th fastest car, so the drivers did well. Hamilton 3 tenths ahead of Russell

[Hammerfist]

Again, this car sucks without high downforce package. Just look at all the races they run without it. It’s been their worst. I expect them to be more competitive in Brazil and Mexico. The rest of the tracks they’re probably going to be clear fourth. Mclaren has made another step. If they can show great race pace tomorrow they’ve clearly moved ahead for good. Ditto for Ferrari.

[mkay]

After Hamilton having a stinker in Singapore, it's Russell's turn now.

That said, the car looks terrible. Slow in a straight line (10kph slower than RB), but also pretty weak in high speed corners. What's all that drag for, then?

[Spoutnik]

It's incredible how much both drivers are losing in S1 (+0.600) at least... But, still, they are also losing quite a lot in S3 as well due to poor top speed (~+0.200).
It will be difficult tomorrow to finish ahead of the Ferrari & McLaren

This team needs to wake up really

[Hammerfist]

Hamilton said the car felt good so he was surprised that he is more than 1 sec down. Also pointed out that it’s alarming that they are still one sec down at this point of the season.
They just don’t generate enough load without heavy wings. Is a new floor coming for cota?

[CHT]

Hamilton said the car felt good so he was surprised that he is more than 1 sec down. Also pointed out that it’s alarming that they are still one sec down at this point of the season.
They just don’t generate enough load without heavy wings. Is a new floor coming for cota?

I think they are not much closer to the front than they were at the start of the season. Between them, AM has dropped off while Ferrari has caught up to join McLaren.

[DGP123]

Hamilton 3 tenths ahead of Russell

all week you get the Hamilton is crap on a Saturday, and he goes and easily beats Russell in Q2 & Q3. Unfortunately for Merc, there’s nothing remotely special about George

As for tomorrow, a top 5 finish would be a miracle.

[Tvetovnato]

I guess Hamilton means that it feels good considering how inherently bad the car really is. Always seems very tentative in S1, just waiting for a snap to happen. Massive understeer into the hairpin as well, like trying to turn a boat around. Tomorrow they might snatch a place from a Ferrari due to better deg likely, but that’s about it.

[Spoutnik]

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https://twitter.com/fiagirly/status/170 ... mESrA&s=19

Here is the full interview non-geoblocked. He says some really interesting things in this interview IMO. Recommend listening