2024 Mercedes-AMG | Petronas F1 Team

[CHT]

Seems pointless to even talk about the driver battle when the car is so inconsistent, and affected by so many different things.

How come George wasn't able to make any moves in the sprint race? I expected him to at least get close to Hamilton.

What changed on the tyre prep for Hamiltons time in Q2 and Q3? It's wild watching the car look decent to awful within a single lap.

At least Hamilton has an escape route next year, George is stuck in a team that seems clueless on how to fix the car.

Depends if one chose to look at it half full or half empty.

GR has never come across as a championship winning driver to replace LH at Merc. So it's either GR is better than expected or LH is worst.

We will get a better sense when both drivers have new teammate next year provided LH doesn't shock the world again by deciding to retire from F1 before joining Ferrari.

[Hammerfist]

Seems pointless to even talk about the driver battle when the car is so inconsistent, and affected by so many different things.

How come George wasn't able to make any moves in the sprint race? I expected him to at least get close to Hamilton.

What changed on the tyre prep for Hamiltons time in Q2 and Q3? It's wild watching the car look decent to awful within a single lap.

At least Hamilton has an escape route next year, George is stuck in a team that seems clueless on how to fix the car.

George couldnt move up because he was caught in a drs train. Impossibly to break out of those on this track unless you pit.

The way hamiltons car lost all the grip in q3 was very strange but it also happened to others. The track surface is to blame for that but it looked like his tires just overheated. The car was really all over the place in that first q3 run, so much so that his second run on mediums was faster but not fast enough to land a representative time. He might have been able to split the mclarens.

[PlatinumZealot]

Dissaplinting to qualify behind George again but it doesn't really matter does it?

[zeroday]

Dissaplinting to qualify behind George again but it doesn't really matter does it?

When you have a very bad car, one of the worst on the grid that is still completely unpredictable, and your team isn't fighting for any championship points most outings, then no it really doesn't matter. It certainly isn't motivating to the drivers to push, especially for one who has already proven himself for years.

Max would be the same in that tractor. Hence, his lack of interest to join Merc. Bullet dodged.

[organic]

Q2 proves the car can work. Ultimately all about tyres

“It was difficult to land the tyres in the right window,” said the team’s Andrew Shovlin. “We didn’t seem to be the only team struggling with that, but when we got it right we were strong.”

Lewis' Q2 time was 0.1s off the frontrunners and even with worse track conditions was about level with what McLaren could muster in Q3.

Exaggerating the issues is not helping. The car is 4th fastest this weekend (hence the 4th grid lockout). It's a diva but at its worst it's still pretty good.

[214270]

Another angle of sprint crash:


I dunno what to feel about this interview. He’s bang on with regards the positioning 7-8 is around where the car is right now, but he seems optimistic the problem is ‘understood’, that’s where the majority of us have no confidence.

[SKYnRacing24]

Russell is such a Merc PR NPC(Understandable in some ways) Even he's not that deluded with the nonsense he's coming out. They went the other way on fixing the problems and now have gone too far in that direction. Like what exactly ? overall downforce levels? rear limited ? front limited ?. Sounds to me there suspension for this year can't utilise the tyres consistently. They brought forward the Imola setup but imo just can't utilise it with these constant sprint weekends. Imola will be the main focus if they can turn this season around.

[Seanspeed]

Russell is such a Merc PR NPC(Understandable in some ways) Even he's not that deluded with the nonsense he's coming out. They went the other way on fixing the problems and now have gone too far in that direction. Like what exactly ? overall downforce levels? rear limited ? front limited ?. Sounds to me there suspension for this year can't utilise the tyres consistently. They brought forward the Imola setup but imo just can't utilise it with these constant sprint weekends. Imola will be the main focus if they can turn this season around.

Everybody at Merc has been throwing around excuses. Lewis, Toto, Russell.

Also, I dont understand why people are all agreeing the 'driver battle doesn't matter' here simply cuz the car isn't super consistent. Like, that's the norm in F1 when you dont have a top car. You never hear for all these other teams this year or in any other year that the 'driver battle doesn't matter' simply because there's variance in competitiveness. The job of drivers is always to make the most of what they have, and this is typically the defining characteristic that separates the best from the rest.

Lewis simply is not doing very good this year. Might be hard for some to admit, but that's reality. I feel like people just really, really dont want to give Russell any credit, as if Lewis being faster/better is the 'default' and when this isn't actually the case, people just say the driver battle isn't important.

[Vanja #66]

In hindsight, Lewis was clearly downbeat in 22 and a bit more motivated in 23. This season it's even worse for Merc, fighting to be the 4th team with AMR, he simply doesn't care. We could see him find some of his pace in China Sprint when it mattered. Russell, he does not have such a luxury, he's not going anywhere soon and he needs to try and make it work

[venkyhere]

I find nothing wrong with a team struggling to get a regulation formula right. Has happened loads of times before, with various teams. It's nothing abnormal.

What I am unable to stand, is the 'extended coverage' accorded to Mercedes team. Why ? Why is Mercedes getting more air-time and more media-time than teams like VCARB or ALPINE or SAUBER etc ? Mercedes as a team is consistently 'midfielder' in 2024, for sure.

Whether it's the bias towards 'british racers' , 'brackley our backyard' or 'hamilton worship' by the predominantly British media or whether it's the 'knives out' glee from Mercedes haters, there is just too much talk. Too much. A team is struggling. Leave them alone. Maybe this team will be a permanent midfielder for the next 10 yrs, maybe they will be back to being the top dog in 2026. Who knows. But please, please, reduce this hyper-importance accorded to the struggles of one team. Many others are struggling as well.

[proteus]

In hindsight, Lewis was clearly downbeat in 22 and a bit more motivated in 23. This season it's even worse for Merc, fighting to be the 4th team with AMR, he simply doesn't care. We could see him find some of his pace in China Sprint when it mattered. Russell, he does not have such a luxury, he's not going anywhere soon and he needs to try and make it work

Well the contract was signed and money he receives is also real. If the cash is the same as he has signed for, then he is obligated to drive properly and give his best on track, no matter what kind of car he has, unless he has a clause in the contract that allows him to not try hard if the car is subpar.

As far as we were told, engineers listened to his input this year and the car is not really any better.

The funniest of all is how he managed to surprise Toto, completely in a "pants down" kind of way. And no amount of sugar coating from Toto cant undo the shock surprise/backstab he got while on vacation. Toto really aged 20 years in these past 3 seasons, with majority of years gained from the start of this one.

[DGP123]

I find nothing wrong with a team struggling to get a regulation formula right. Has happened loads of times before, with various teams. It's nothing abnormal.

What I am unable to stand, is the 'extended coverage' accorded to Mercedes team. Why ? Why is Mercedes getting more air-time and more media-time than teams like VCARB or ALPINE or SAUBER etc ? Mercedes as a team is consistently 'midfielder' in 2024, for sure.

Whether it's the bias towards 'british racers' , 'brackley our backyard' or 'hamilton worship' by the predominantly British media or whether it's the 'knives out' glee from Mercedes haters, there is just too much talk. Too much.

You’ve pretty much answered your own question. Mercedes, are like Manchester United, post-Fergie. They have a massive following, and thanks to Hamilton, and the British press, which monopolises F1 media, they will always draw the biggest interest, and clicks.

Be interesting to see how that changes, post Hamilton. I imagine quite a bit.

[Seanspeed]

I find nothing wrong with a team struggling to get a regulation formula right. Has happened loads of times before, with various teams. It's nothing abnormal.

What I am unable to stand, is the 'extended coverage' accorded to Mercedes team. Why ? Why is Mercedes getting more air-time and more media-time than teams like VCARB or ALPINE or SAUBER etc ? Mercedes as a team is consistently 'midfielder' in 2024, for sure.

Whether it's the bias towards 'british racers' , 'brackley our backyard' or 'hamilton worship' by the predominantly British media or whether it's the 'knives out' glee from Mercedes haters, there is just too much talk. Too much. A team is struggling. Leave them alone. Maybe this team will be a permanent midfielder for the next 10 yrs, maybe they will be back to being the top dog in 2026. Who knows. But please, please, reduce this hyper-importance accorded to the struggles of one team. Many others are struggling as well.

Mercedes and Lewis spent most of 2014 through 2020 dominating the sport. They were still a top dog in 2021 as well, even without the WDC. That was a very long period and still in very recent memory. Combined with the always-biased British media, of course there's gonna be decent coverage of them. And I think some of it is fair as well, as they are still ultimately primed to be one of the better teams in the sport for the foreseeable future, being a massively successful, large factory team who builds great engines. Certainly even by this year's standards alone, Mercedes are more competitive overall than Sauber, Alpine and Toro Rosso. They aren't doing great by their typical standards, but they're certainly more in the 'runner up' pack than the midfield overall.

[Hoffman900]

Professional racing is a show business to sell products for sponsors.

All media companies keep track of impressions, views, etc and they know they get more of that by showing certain cars / teams / drivers.

[Vanja #66]

Well the contract was signed and money he receives is also real. If the cash is the same as he has signed for, then he is obligated to drive properly and give his best on track, no matter what kind of car he has, unless he has a clause in the contract that allows him to not try hard if the car is subpar.

As far as we were told, engineers listened to his input this year and the car is not really any better.

The funniest of all is how he managed to surprise Toto, completely in a "pants down" kind of way. And no amount of sugar coating from Toto cant undo the shock surprise/backstab he got while on vacation. Toto really aged 20 years in these past 3 seasons, with majority of years gained from the start of this one.

I am talking more of his psychological state. It's a tough moment, but he doesn't seem downbeat. He's taking things casually, it is what it is and he's doing what he can. Can he push a tiny bit more? Maybe. Can it make any difference? 99% no. Like I said, when it did make a difference in China Sprint he did his best and got a deserved podium.