This forum contains threads to discuss teams themselves. Anything not technical about the cars, including restructuring, performances etc belongs here.
Mercedes need a new Aero team and need to speak with some boat guys. What they have is similar to when boats are porpoising Ie. they have their center of pressure or in their case negative center of pressure collapsing and shifting rapidly back and forth as it re establishes its self and collapses. Ok Aero is not boating but neither is trying to fly a car up side down 20mm from the tarmac. Water is 800 x denser than air so the problem is magnified and easier to study but with such a narrow window for it to be correct for aero, optimization is crucial. They would do well to study some Savitsky and adapt it.
The aero team is great! They are not the issue. The problem is they only need ONE!! Person who properly understands these ground effects. The engineers are smart once they get the secret to unlock it they will have a decent chassis again.
150 million is such a ridiculous number, but I guess desperate times breed desperate measures. If they think Max is the golden ticket the team needs to get back to the top then it could make sense. But that number is so far beyond anything we've ever heard I struggle to believe it.
It's exactly the move a TP who lacks in-depth understanding on what is needed for long-term success in F1, like Toto, would make
He's trying to copy what Vasseur and Elkann did with Ferrari and Hamilton and make it more outrageous on paper, but Elkann first changed the TP before letting the "new guy" rebuild the team
Not saying $150 million a year isn't an absurd amount of money, BUT:
The value of getting Verstappen is *not only* him driving for you, it's also him *not driving for Red Bull*!
Verstappen is not only the best driver, meaning you boost your chances of winning, but without him, Red Bull's chances of winning are significantly reduced. In other words, getting Verstappen from Red Bull immediately and significantly increases your chances to win (this is true for all teams, not just Mercedes, btw.)
Given that the top teams used to spend like 400-500 million pre cost cap, spending that much on Verstappen is the easiest way of significantly increasing your chances to win while staying under the cost cap. It's an absurd amount of money, but that doesn't mean it's not smart or economically sound.
Not saying $150 million a year isn't an absurd amount of money, BUT:
The value of getting Verstappen is *not only* him driving for you, it's also him *not driving for Red Bull*!
Verstappen is not only the best driver, meaning you boost your chances of winning, but without him, Red Bull's chances of winning are significantly reduced. In other words, getting Verstappen from Red Bull immediately and significantly increases your chances to win (this is true for all teams, not just Mercedes, btw.)
Given that the top teams used to spend like 400-500 million pre cost cap, spending that much on Verstappen is the easiest way of significantly increasing your chances to win while staying under the cost cap. It's an absurd amount of money, but that doesn't mean it's not smart or economically sound.
Someone has bought into the "driver outperforms his car" idea.
No point paying $100m for a driver if the car is not good enough. The Red Bull is half a second or more quicker than the rest - that's simple physics. No driver can go faster than the car is able to go, doesn't matter who it is. All the best drivers do is get closer to the car's pace and they do it consistently.
Max in the Merc isn't winning titles.
If you are more fortunate than others, build a larger table not a taller fence.
