2024 Mercedes-AMG | Petronas F1 Team

[Luscion]

The final result does not reflect the real gap between them. Lewis on fresh rubber couldn’t beat Russells used tire run. That is slow.

Yea George was on to get top 3 before he lost the car, just goes to show how much confidence in the car matters in Jeddah, Lewis doesn't trust the rear end of his, on top of both of them still bouncing some of the turns

[CHT]

Did anyone really think Mercedes was going to be fighting with Red Bull for a title this year? It isn't a total disaster. The car is something to build on. Russell qualified P3 last week.

Red Bull went through this after 2013.

Yep agree. I think far more important to Merc this year especially early on is understanding the concept validating what they see in the sims and CFD etc translates into the car on track.

It’s something they struggled with the last 2 years.

So having the two in line i think is far more important than early results.

In a less generous take it's crazy that in the 3rd year they still haven't figured out what ride height they can run.
They still setup the car so low that it hits the ground violently when lateral energy gets mixed with downforce.

Yr 1 and 2 Mike Elliot
Yr 3 and 4? James Allison

[j_ste]

The final result does not reflect the real gap between them. Lewis on fresh rubber couldn’t beat Russells used tire run. That is slow.

Yea George was on to get top 3 before he lost the car, just goes to show how much confidence in the car matters in Jeddah, Lewis doesn't trust the rear end of his, on top of both of them still bouncing some of the turns

Im not even sure that George trusts it more. I just think if Lewis were 26, he would be more aggressive with it too.

But Lewis of today. Thats just not what he is going to do. So he will naturally be slower but it gets exaggerated when that comes with the car issues.
In the races, its less of an issue.

[mendis]

The final result does not reflect the real gap between them. Lewis on fresh rubber couldn’t beat Russells used tire run. That is slow.

Yea George was on to get top 3 before he lost the car, just goes to show how much confidence in the car matters in Jeddah, Lewis doesn't trust the rear end of his, on top of both of them still bouncing some of the turns

Im not even sure that George trusts it more. I just think if Lewis were 26, he would be more aggressive with it too.

But Lewis of today. Thats just not what he is going to do. So he will naturally be slower but it gets exaggerated when that comes with the car issues.
In the races, its less of an issue.

+1. With the risk of a SC, the strategy team needs to be on their toe to get a podium or near podium positions from here.

[mkay]

The final result does not reflect the real gap between them. Lewis on fresh rubber couldn’t beat Russells used tire run. That is slow.

Yea George was on to get top 3 before he lost the car, just goes to show how much confidence in the car matters in Jeddah, Lewis doesn't trust the rear end of his, on top of both of them still bouncing some of the turns

No he wasn't. He was only 2 tenths up on his PB until the moment he lost the car (the delta is probably overstated as he probably was carrying too much speed when he went off). Assuming he wouldn't have gained much in the other sectors as they are more or less straights, he would have probably slotted in P5 at best, behind ALO.

It's a moot point, though, as the car clearly didn't allow him or Lewis to push hard in Sector 1.

[j_ste]

Well, we await the excuse of the week from the boss

[Luscion]

Well, we await the excuse of the week from the boss

They've already said what the issue is well before the race, not enough downforce in the high speed corners and bouncing, Norris was dusting Lewis in 4 turns, putting lewis from around 0.4 secs to over 1sec every time

[Hammerfist]

Seeing that Mclaren get away from Lewis in sector 1 lap after lap is very similar to what happened at silverstone last year. So poor in the high speed and the car has basically the same dna as the w14. Very disappointing.

[CaribouBread]

At least no overheating issues or the like this race. The pace was expected.

[214270]

Well, we await the excuse of the week from the boss

They've already said what the issue is well before the race, not enough downforce in the high speed corners and bouncing, Norris was dusting Lewis in 4 turns, putting lewis from around 0.4 secs to over 1sec every time

I might have it wrong but it appeared a lot of that had to do with where they were discharging? I didn’t see much simultaneous harvesting when behind, so it seemed they had quite different strategies using their battery.

Either way, i quite enjoyed that race. Dire for Merc, but I enjoyed HAM putting in a shift.

[PlatinumZealot]

Same thing last year. Old man Lewis simply cannot manage the harsh ride. He will suffer even worse at Baku.

For now I'm still not putting it past the team to have him struggle a bit. A few washers here and there in the rear suspension and a crank two clicks too far is enough to "show him he's washed up"

[Luscion]

Same thing last year. Old man Lewis simply cannot manage the harsh ride. He will suffer even worse at Baku.

For now I'm still not putting it past the team to have him struggle a bit. A few washers here and there in the rear suspension and a crank two clicks too far is enough to "show him he's washed up"

It feels like every year Lewis has a couple bad races people say this, and this race he wasnt even bad, just got shafted by Merc's strategy not double stacking. He scored the majority of Merc's points last year by quite some margin, their only pole and the most podiums. He did great defending from Piastri for 25 laps iirc

[erudite450]

Well, we await the excuse of the week from the boss

They've already said what the issue is well before the race, not enough downforce in the high speed corners and bouncing, Norris was dusting Lewis in 4 turns, putting lewis from around 0.4 secs to over 1sec every time

I might have it wrong but it appeared a lot of that had to do with where they were discharging? I didn’t see much simultaneous harvesting when behind, so it seemed they had quite different strategies using their battery.

Either way, i quite enjoyed that race. Dire for Merc, but I enjoyed HAM putting in a shift.

I'd be surprised if the McLaren was deploying in the high speed corners in sector one. Either way to be losing 7+ tenths in a few corners is not excusable.

[zibby43]

Team looks solidly like 4th, maybe occasionally even 5th fastest. Need to burn it down and start again.

[erudite450]

Same thing last year. Old man Lewis simply cannot manage the harsh ride. He will suffer even worse at Baku.

For now I'm still not putting it past the team to have him struggle a bit. A few washers here and there in the rear suspension and a crank two clicks too far is enough to "show him he's washed up"

It feels like every year Lewis has a couple bad races people say this, and this race he wasnt even bad, just got shafted by Merc's strategy not double stacking. He scored the majority of Merc's points last year by quite some margin, their only pole and the most podiums. He did great defending from Piastri for 25 laps iirc

PZ was being sarcastic