2024 Mercedes-AMG | Petronas F1 Team

[TeamKoolGreen]

^ They are just patiently waiting for something to go wrong on Russells end. And for them it erases anything Russell has accomplished. Just like all of 2022 + the race win was easily forgotten.

[Il Leone]

6 races in a row that Russell has out qualified him.

Hamilton isn't getting any younger and Russell is elite. Shouldn't surprise anyone

GR properly binned it Singapore last year as the pressure cranked up, still a lot to learn to make elite grade I feel.

The pressure is always on.

Russell was always an elite prospect. Just as Hamilton was. And Leclerc was. And Piastri was. And Hamiltom made the exact same kinds of mistakes like Singapore 2023 too.

He made a big mistake the year before at the very same circuit. Russell has now ironed out the mistakes and is now the lead driver, 2023 may have been the best thing that happened to him.

[venkyhere]

From racingnews365 :

"It is underwhelming because we were within a tenth [of the pace] in FP3," Wolff told Sky Sports F1.

"The conditions were a little bit different, but there is no excuse, we have a car that is difficult, and you can be narrowly in or out of the window.

"As much as I am annoyed myself at saying this for a long time, we will just continue working on it and trying to get better.

"It is not because a lack of trying that we are where we are, but it is not good enough.

"It is the whole interaction of aerodynamics, mechanics and the tyres. It is not a single topic [that is wrong], but we've just got to keep our heads down and push through this.

"It is an illusion to [get] closer to Red Bull in the short-term, but I still have to believe that there is more in this car - and you see the performance in FP3, that is not a bad car.

"But it is tricky to be out of the performance window, so we're just going to continue to work on it."

In a short span of a month, the "we have corrected our mistakes, the car matches simulations, W15 is going to fight for podiums" belief has simmered down to hope "I still have to believe that there is more in this car".
I think the team is on the verge of an implosion. I hope it doesn't happen.

[PlatinumZealot]

The team is basically back where it was in 2010 and 2011 when it had a shoe string budget and bare-bones staffing. Fith fastest. Right back to square one!!

The are no longer a top team. Sorry Toto.

[Il Leone]

The team is basically back where it was in 2010 and 2011 when it had a shoe string budget and bare-bones staffing. Fith fastest. Right back to square one!!

The are no longer a top team. Sorry Toto.

It happens, that's the nature of F1. Past success does not guarantee future success.

[GrizzleBoy]

I said before the season started that the team are going to do themselves in keeping secrets so that Ham has nothing to share with their championship rivals and I'm pretty sure these performances from Lewis are indicative of just that.

Lewis didn't forget how to finish five places ahead of Russel in the WDC standings over the course of a couple of months.

There is no way he has the same access to the workings of the car as he did when he had long term contracts with the team.

Also, all the weirdness of Lewis not having the team show up at his podiums last year and at one point only having the Ferrari engineers congratulate him at one race makes much more sense in context of revelations about his team move.

Lewis is in outsider mode imo.

[Il Leone]

I said before the season started that the team are going to do themselves in keeping secrets so that Ham has nothing to share with their championship rivals and I'm pretty sure these performances from Lewis are indicative of just that.

Lewis didn't forget how to finish five places ahead of Russel in the WDC standings over the course of a couple of months.

There is no way he has the same access to the workings of the car as he did when he had long term contracts with the team.

Also, all the weirdness of Lewis not having the team show up at his podiums last year and at one point only having the Ferrari engineers congratulate him at one race makes much more sense in context of revelations about his team move.

Lewis is in outsider mode imo.

He sure forgot in 2022 though, conveniently that doesn't count right?

2023 was Russell's 2011 for Hamilton, take away the mistakes and you'll find Russell was faster over one lap and not that far off in race pace. 2024 is natural progression, the qualifying gap is now widening and the race pace is virtually identical.

Let's stop with baseless conspiracy theories hey.

[GrizzleBoy]

I said before the season started that the team are going to do themselves in keeping secrets so that Ham has nothing to share with their championship rivals and I'm pretty sure these performances from Lewis are indicative of just that.

Lewis didn't forget how to finish five places ahead of Russel in the WDC standings over the course of a couple of months.

There is no way he has the same access to the workings of the car as he did when he had long term contracts with the team.

Also, all the weirdness of Lewis not having the team show up at his podiums last year and at one point only having the Ferrari engineers congratulate him at one race makes much more sense in context of revelations about his team move.

Lewis is in outsider mode imo.

He sure forgot in 2022 though, conveniently that doesn't count right?

2023 was Russell's 2011 for Hamilton, take away the mistakes and you'll find Russell was faster over one lap and not that far off in race pace. 2024 is natural progression, the qualifying gap is now widening and the race pace is virtually identical.

Let's stop with baseless conspiracy theories hey.

Did he?

It turned out he was doing experiments for the team in races, and as soon as the team announced he would no longer he be doing them, his performances levelled out and he finished stronger than George despite the points deficit, which carried on into 2023.

The team not showing for podiums isn't a conspiracy. It happened.

Lewis only being congratulated by Ferrari mechanics in one race wasn't a conspiracy. It happened.

Lewis doing experiments isn't a conspiracy, it happened.

And you can believe all you want that Mercedes have Lewis in all the technical meetings filling a notebook with W15 technical working secrets that he can bring to Maranello, but I don't personally believe that.

[Il Leone]

I said before the season started that the team are going to do themselves in keeping secrets so that Ham has nothing to share with their championship rivals and I'm pretty sure these performances from Lewis are indicative of just that.

Lewis didn't forget how to finish five places ahead of Russel in the WDC standings over the course of a couple of months.

There is no way he has the same access to the workings of the car as he did when he had long term contracts with the team.

Also, all the weirdness of Lewis not having the team show up at his podiums last year and at one point only having the Ferrari engineers congratulate him at one race makes much more sense in context of revelations about his team move.

Lewis is in outsider mode imo.

He sure forgot in 2022 though, conveniently that doesn't count right?

2023 was Russell's 2011 for Hamilton, take away the mistakes and you'll find Russell was faster over one lap and not that far off in race pace. 2024 is natural progression, the qualifying gap is now widening and the race pace is virtually identical.

Let's stop with baseless conspiracy theories hey.

Did he?

It turned out he was doing experiments for the team in races, and as soon as the team announced he would no longer he be doing them, his performances levelled out and he finished stronger than George despite the points deficit, which carried on into 2023.

The team not showing for podiums isn't a conspiracy. It happened.

Lewis only being congratulated by Ferrari mechanics in one race wasn't a conspiracy. It happened.

Lewis doing experiments isn't a conspiracy, it happened.

And you can believe all you want that Mercedes have Lewis in all the technical meetings filling a notebook with W15 technical working secrets that he can bring to Maranello, but I don't personally believe that.

Oh dear god not again, Hamilton must be a lab scientist he's done that many experiments according to his fans.

The experiment myth was busted by both Russell & Shovlin in 2022, George beat him fair & square.

The facts are both drivers were trying things in 2022, Hamilton had to try more extreme setups out of necessity because Russell had a better handle on the car and was outperforming him, this is natural in F1 and nothing unique to Hamilton or Mercedes.

[Venturiation]

Good for hamilton to leave this sinking ship

[JordanMugen]

Lewis didn't forget how to finish five places ahead of Russel in the WDC standings over the course of a couple of months.

He sure forgot in 2022 though, conveniently that doesn't count right?

Precisely, both Hamilton and Russell are excellent drivers -- the driver who finishes ahead in the WDC tends to be based on luck. Drivers are not an issue for the Mercedes GP team.

[RonMexico]

The team is basically back where it was in 2010 and 2011 when it had a shoe string budget and bare-bones staffing. Fith fastest. Right back to square one!!

The are no longer a top team. Sorry Toto.

They made the most of an advantage that was baked in for three seasons and rode the wave until many of the real decision makers had moved on. Wolff is still the most formidable politician in the paddock but Mercedes are only average on the engineering side now, especially considering their advantage on infrastructure and status as a works team.

Where do they go from here? A lot of hope was placed in the Allison basket but it hasn't produced fruit yet.

[Hammerfist]

He sure forgot in 2022 though, conveniently that doesn't count right?

2023 was Russell's 2011 for Hamilton, take away the mistakes and you'll find Russell was faster over one lap and not that far off in race pace. 2024 is natural progression, the qualifying gap is now widening and the race pace is virtually identical.

Let's stop with baseless conspiracy theories hey.

Did he?

It turned out he was doing experiments for the team in races, and as soon as the team announced he would no longer he be doing them, his performances levelled out and he finished stronger than George despite the points deficit, which carried on into 2023.

The team not showing for podiums isn't a conspiracy. It happened.

Lewis only being congratulated by Ferrari mechanics in one race wasn't a conspiracy. It happened.

Lewis doing experiments isn't a conspiracy, it happened.

And you can believe all you want that Mercedes have Lewis in all the technical meetings filling a notebook with W15 technical working secrets that he can bring to Maranello, but I don't personally believe that.

Oh dear god not again, Hamilton must be a lab scientist he's done that many experiments according to his fans.

The experiment myth was busted by both Russell & Shovlin in 2022, George beat him fair & square.

The facts are both drivers were trying things in 2022, Hamilton had to try more extreme setups out of necessity because Russell had a better handle on the car and was outperforming him, this is natural in F1 and nothing unique to Hamilton or Mercedes.

Hamilton didn’t get outperformed in 22. He outqualified russell and was faster in the races. Russell benefited from multiple safety cars situations to finish in front when he was going to finish behind. Hamilton was outscored that season but he was the better driver overall and he proved it in 23. This season it looks like Russell is outperforming him so far but Lewis always starts out slowly. Like I said before let’s see what it looks like after a few races. But grizzleboy made a great point about ham not getting full support from the team because he is departing to Ferrari. That was always going to be the case.

[Il Leone]

Did he?

It turned out he was doing experiments for the team in races, and as soon as the team announced he would no longer he be doing them, his performances levelled out and he finished stronger than George despite the points deficit, which carried on into 2023.

The team not showing for podiums isn't a conspiracy. It happened.

Lewis only being congratulated by Ferrari mechanics in one race wasn't a conspiracy. It happened.

Lewis doing experiments isn't a conspiracy, it happened.

And you can believe all you want that Mercedes have Lewis in all the technical meetings filling a notebook with W15 technical working secrets that he can bring to Maranello, but I don't personally believe that.

Oh dear god not again, Hamilton must be a lab scientist he's done that many experiments according to his fans.

The experiment myth was busted by both Russell & Shovlin in 2022, George beat him fair & square.

The facts are both drivers were trying things in 2022, Hamilton had to try more extreme setups out of necessity because Russell had a better handle on the car and was outperforming him, this is natural in F1 and nothing unique to Hamilton or Mercedes.

Hamilton didn’t get outperformed in 22. He outqualified russell and was faster in the races. Russell benefited from multiple safety cars situations to finish in front when he was going to finish behind. Hamilton was outscored that season but he was the better driver overall and he proved it in 23. This season it looks like Russell is outperforming him so far but Lewis always starts out slowly. Like I said before let’s see what it looks like after a few races. But grizzleboy made a great point about ham not getting full support from the team because he is departing to Ferrari. That was always going to be the case.

Yes he did, Russell had more highs and less extreme lows, he was more consistent over the course of the season.

No, he didn't make a great point, you think Hamilton is the only driver in history to leave a team? If we want to go down that line then McLaren clearly favoured Hamilton in 2007 so his victory over Alonso doesn't count.

[Hammerfist]

The team is basically back where it was in 2010 and 2011 when it had a shoe string budget and bare-bones staffing. Fith fastest. Right back to square one!!

The are no longer a top team. Sorry Toto.

They made the most of an advantage that was baked in for three seasons and rode the wave until many of the real decision makers had moved on. Wolff is still the most formidable politician in the paddock but Mercedes are only average on the engineering side now, especially considering their advantage on infrastructure and status as a works team.

Where do they go from here? A lot of hope was placed in the Allison basket but it hasn't produced fruit yet.

What kills me is that this car is supposed to be a brand new concept but it has almost the same underlying flaws as the zero pod concept. It’s like a joke. They should have kept the zero pod and continue to build on it. Copying never really works in f1. This is just another example.