2024 Mercedes-AMG | Petronas F1 Team

[Jdn1327]

If Mercedes are that close to Red Bull then props to the team for an unholy sandbagging operation, I didn't know it was possible to fit that much sand in a car.

I dont see anything special about their long run pace to be honest. They're about 0.7 off the rb when their drivers weren't even pushing and in hotter conditions. Going to be another painful year trying to be best of the rest again.

[erudite450]

Interview with Allison after testing today, seems very happy with the W15 in this interview, he addresses what he thinks the running order will be in the second video(right), saying that he thinks they're tiny bit ahead of ferrari in race pace but a little bit behind in single lap pace and that AM are fourth fastest. which lines up with what motorsport total thinks

I could listen to James Allison all day long. He has such a soothing voice; makes one think it's all going to be fine.

I like the element of no one knowing exactly where to place Mercedes. I hope they surprise us come Friday.

[kenshi_blind]

If Mercedes are that close to Red Bull then props to the team for an unholy sandbagging operation, I didn't know it was possible to fit that much sand in a car.

I dont see anything special about their long run pace to be honest. They're about 0.7 off the rb when their drivers weren't even pushing and in hotter conditions. Going to be another painful year trying to be best of the rest again.

Source ? any data to back that up ? i don't doubt that Redbull is ahead but the " RB drivers weren't even pushing and in hotter conditions" implies that Merc drivers were pushing and in more favorable conditions

[erudite450]

If Mercedes are that close to Red Bull then props to the team for an unholy sandbagging operation, I didn't know it was possible to fit that much sand in a car.

I dont see anything special about their long run pace to be honest. They're about 0.7 off the rb when their drivers weren't even pushing and in hotter conditions. Going to be another painful year trying to be best of the rest again.

Source ? any data to back that up ? i don't doubt that Redbull is ahead but the " RB drivers weren't even pushing and in hotter conditions" implies that Merc drivers were pushing and in more favorable conditions

Some people associate a driver not sawing away at the wheel to mean they're not pushing when it could simply mean that their platform is stable enough that they don't need multiple corrections.

[f1jcw]

Can anyone confirm this is accurate

[r85]

Can anyone confirm this is accurate

Longer 7th and 8th gear= higher top speed. The 8th gear line is shorter, which means either lift and coast or lower engine mode. I'd say it's a mix of both at times. The engine of W15 was repackaged to have a better cooling system and that should allow Mercedes to run the engine harder. Everything points to a higher top speed, which they weren't showing in testing.

[Cs98]

Can anyone confirm this is accurate

Longer 7th and 8th gear= higher top speed. The 8th gear line is shorter, which means either lift and coast or lower engine mode. I'd say it's a mix of both at times. The engine of W15 was repackaged to have a better cooling system and that should allow Mercedes to run the engine harder. Everything points to a higher top speed, which they weren't showing in testing.

Longer 7th and 8th does not necessarily mean greater top speed in race runs. The 8th gear ratio they had may have been good for race runs with top speeds around 300kph, but may have been sub-optimal for times when DRS was open (quali and overtaking). Remember now, they were easily doing 335 kph without DRS in Vegas last year with those old ratios, so Bahrain where you might be doing 300-310 is not where you would see small differences in gear ratios manifest in great top speed change.

As for the cooling, they've had customer teams with conventional cooling solutions who have not had any extra PU performance relative to Merc. So not sure where that rumour stems from.

They ran their PU pretty detuned on day 1 when GR did his race simulation. By day 3 when he was doing shorter stints on the C3 the engine was showing more normal performance, comparable to the modes Ferrari were running.

[HungarianRacer]

Can anyone confirm this is accurate

Longer 7th and 8th gear= higher top speed. The 8th gear line is shorter, which means either lift and coast or lower engine mode. I'd say it's a mix of both at times. The engine of W15 was repackaged to have a better cooling system and that should allow Mercedes to run the engine harder. Everything points to a higher top speed, which they weren't showing in testing.

Longer 7th and 8th does not necessarily mean greater top speed in race runs. The 8th gear ratio they had may have been good for race runs with top speeds around 300kph, but may have been sub-optimal for times when DRS was open (quali and overtaking). Remember now, they were easily doing 335 kph without DRS in Vegas last year with those old ratios, so Bahrain where you might be doing 300-310 is not where you would see small differences in gear ratios manifest in great top speed change.

As for the cooling, they've had customer teams with conventional cooling solutions who have not had any extra PU performance relative to Merc. So not sure where that rumour stems from.

They ran their PU pretty detuned on day 1 when GR did his race simulation. By day 3 when he was doing shorter stints on the C3 the engine was showing more normal performance, comparable to the modes Ferrari were running.
https://i.imgur.com/xsq66pA.png

That rumour comes from AMuS if I recall correctly, an unnamed Mercedes engineer told them they have "reliability modifications" that'll allow them to run their PUs harder, they claim.

Last year in the cold nights of of Vegas they had the fastest car on the straights (not quiet the highest top speed, but still fastest overall), whereas normally they would lose ground on the Ferraris and Red Bulls on flatout stretches of road with similar kinds of rear wings (which they had on the car), which lends some credibility to the rumour. Don't forget that customer teams don't necessarily have the means or expertise to fine-tune and experiment with their PUs to the same extent as the manufacturer.

[Matt2725]

Yeah, it was said the packaging of the car was still compromised due to the zero pod design. The new side pods were hollow, and the internals were still the same.

Saw a similar or the same quote from Mercedes that a repackaging of the cooling arrangement would allow them to run the PU harder.

[mkay]

Longer 7th and 8th gear= higher top speed. The 8th gear line is shorter, which means either lift and coast or lower engine mode. I'd say it's a mix of both at times. The engine of W15 was repackaged to have a better cooling system and that should allow Mercedes to run the engine harder. Everything points to a higher top speed, which they weren't showing in testing.

Longer 7th and 8th does not necessarily mean greater top speed in race runs. The 8th gear ratio they had may have been good for race runs with top speeds around 300kph, but may have been sub-optimal for times when DRS was open (quali and overtaking). Remember now, they were easily doing 335 kph without DRS in Vegas last year with those old ratios, so Bahrain where you might be doing 300-310 is not where you would see small differences in gear ratios manifest in great top speed change.

As for the cooling, they've had customer teams with conventional cooling solutions who have not had any extra PU performance relative to Merc. So not sure where that rumour stems from.

They ran their PU pretty detuned on day 1 when GR did his race simulation. By day 3 when he was doing shorter stints on the C3 the engine was showing more normal performance, comparable to the modes Ferrari were running.
https://i.imgur.com/xsq66pA.png

That rumour comes from AMuS if I recall correctly, an unnamed Mercedes engineer told them they have "reliability modifications" that'll allow them to run their PUs harder, they claim.

Last year in the cold nights of of Vegas they had the fastest car on the straights (not quiet the highest top speed, but still fastest overall), whereas normally they would lose ground on the Ferraris and Red Bulls on flatout stretches of road with similar kinds of rear wings (which they had on the car), which lends some credibility to the rumour. Don't forget that customer teams don't necessarily have the means or expertise to fine-tune and experiment with their PUs to the same extent as the manufacturer.

Merc was running one of the shallowest rear wing AoA at tracks like Vegas and Spa, which is why they were very competitive one the straights (particularly without DRS), but slower in the corners.

[HungarianRacer]

Longer 7th and 8th does not necessarily mean greater top speed in race runs. The 8th gear ratio they had may have been good for race runs with top speeds around 300kph, but may have been sub-optimal for times when DRS was open (quali and overtaking). Remember now, they were easily doing 335 kph without DRS in Vegas last year with those old ratios, so Bahrain where you might be doing 300-310 is not where you would see small differences in gear ratios manifest in great top speed change.

As for the cooling, they've had customer teams with conventional cooling solutions who have not had any extra PU performance relative to Merc. So not sure where that rumour stems from.

They ran their PU pretty detuned on day 1 when GR did his race simulation. By day 3 when he was doing shorter stints on the C3 the engine was showing more normal performance, comparable to the modes Ferrari were running.
https://i.imgur.com/xsq66pA.png

That rumour comes from AMuS if I recall correctly, an unnamed Mercedes engineer told them they have "reliability modifications" that'll allow them to run their PUs harder, they claim.

Last year in the cold nights of of Vegas they had the fastest car on the straights (not quiet the highest top speed, but still fastest overall), whereas normally they would lose ground on the Ferraris and Red Bulls on flatout stretches of road with similar kinds of rear wings (which they had on the car), which lends some credibility to the rumour. Don't forget that customer teams don't necessarily have the means or expertise to fine-tune and experiment with their PUs to the same extent as the manufacturer.

Merc was running one of the shallowest rear wing AoA at tracks like Vegas and Spa, which is why they were very competitive one the straights (particularly without DRS), but slower in the corners.

Doesn't look like it from eyeball-measurements (it being next to that fat Red Bull wing makes it look slimmer, must be noted that the Bulls ended up using a much slimmer wing on Saturday and Sunday, see Race Highlights on Youtube)...:



And like I said before, they didn't even have the highest top speed (which you'd expect from significantly lower drag), and normally, at other venues they would've been trounced on the straights even with remotely similar rear wings...

[Hammerfist]

Longer 7th and 8th does not necessarily mean greater top speed in race runs. The 8th gear ratio they had may have been good for race runs with top speeds around 300kph, but may have been sub-optimal for times when DRS was open (quali and overtaking). Remember now, they were easily doing 335 kph without DRS in Vegas last year with those old ratios, so Bahrain where you might be doing 300-310 is not where you would see small differences in gear ratios manifest in great top speed change.

As for the cooling, they've had customer teams with conventional cooling solutions who have not had any extra PU performance relative to Merc. So not sure where that rumour stems from.

They ran their PU pretty detuned on day 1 when GR did his race simulation. By day 3 when he was doing shorter stints on the C3 the engine was showing more normal performance, comparable to the modes Ferrari were running.
https://i.imgur.com/xsq66pA.png

That rumour comes from AMuS if I recall correctly, an unnamed Mercedes engineer told them they have "reliability modifications" that'll allow them to run their PUs harder, they claim.

Last year in the cold nights of of Vegas they had the fastest car on the straights (not quiet the highest top speed, but still fastest overall), whereas normally they would lose ground on the Ferraris and Red Bulls on flatout stretches of road with similar kinds of rear wings (which they had on the car), which lends some credibility to the rumour. Don't forget that customer teams don't necessarily have the means or expertise to fine-tune and experiment with their PUs to the same extent as the manufacturer.

Merc was running one of the shallowest rear wing AoA at tracks like Vegas and Spa, which is why they were very competitive one the straights (particularly without DRS), but slower in the corners.

You must not have watched the Vegas weekend. Their straight line speed in Vegas was so unexpected and it was debunked that indeed the cooler temperatures allowed them to run the pu harder. It was also said back then that the next car will improve their cooling and allow them to run the pu harder, closer to the level they did in Vegas. The one thing we can rely on in 24’ is a faster Merc car down the straights. It will be very disappointing if they’re still among the slowest in that area.

[CHT]

Not sure when this was taken. I don't reckon this can possibly happen now.

https://www.facebook.com/share/r/9bbZH2 ... tid=oFDknk

[organic]

Not sure when this was taken. I don't reckon this can possibly happen now.

https://www.facebook.com/share/r/9bbZH2 ... tid=oFDknk

It was taken on day 1 of testing this year. Lewis always does it. He takes photos as a reference for when he's talking to engineers

[f1jcw]

I'm sure they could have paid to put him in Williams for a year or so, or has Andrea's ego already so big that that wouldn't be good enough?