2024 Mercedes-AMG | Petronas F1 Team

[AR3-GP]

You can’t pass in Singa ... That’s a poor example IMO

Both drivers passed Leclerc in the final stint.

Only because of a tyre delta, hardly counts

That's the point. Russell had a tire delta in the final stint and crashed out instead.

[AR3-GP]

You can’t pass in Singa & they weren’t in the running for pole. That’s a poor example IMO

They were absolutely in the running for pole. Russell was half a tenth behind.

No, I’d still discount it because Rb had a mare that wkend.

RB having a mare is irrelevant because you can only beat the ones in front of you and Mercedes didn't do that in Singapore despite having the car and multiple chances with qualifying and race strategy to do so. Russell missed pole by a hare, had a chance to win, but crashed out. Hamilton qualified 4 tenths behind Russell which tanked his own Sunday.

It is parody to suggest Mercedes drivers didn't blow all their chances to win in Singapore last year. I will make no further comment.

[ringo]

How can one let down a car, in wet race with safety cars, with random outcomes?
At no time in the Canadian Grand Prix was Russel going to win. Even without the safety cars, and without his mistake.
Mclaren and Redbull had better pace on a drying track and a dry track. That was obvious. Don't be fooled by tyre deltas.

[organic]

One off topic question, who has best and most powerful engine now, Mercedes, Ferrari or Honda?

In cold conditions Merc seems to be best. But they seem to suffer more than honda and Ferrari in the heat.

[AMG.Tzan]

I don’t know why people want to suddenly hype Mercedes up!

Yeah they were quite fast this weekend but guess what else happened! Pretty low temperatures! Exactly the same happened in China and Hamilton ended up 2nd in the Sprint…

As much as I want to believe their pace is genuine, I think temperatures played quite a big role in moving them forward and the rest backwards…

Plus don’t forget that at the end with dry tires Verstapen was untouchable and the McLarens difficult to pass even with new tires on!

[chrisc90]

P3 and quali was dry though and Merc showed good pace. Of course we dont know engine modes in FP. Evolving temps/conditions in quali..

They did well tbh, be nice to see another team join the bunch at the top.

[Luscion]

I don’t know why people want to suddenly hype Mercedes up!

Yeah they were quite fast this weekend but guess what else happened! Pretty low temperatures! Exactly the same happened in China and Hamilton ended up 2nd in the Sprint…

As much as I want to believe their pace is genuine, I think temperatures played quite a big role in moving them forward and the rest backwards…

Plus don’t forget that at the end with dry tires Verstapen was untouchable and the McLarens difficult to pass even with new tires on!

Even Mclaren and their team boss thinks Merc are in the mix now

I was already saying on Thursday to some of your colleagues that I think Mercedes is part of the fastest teams. Some of the lap times they did in the Monaco, some of the lap times they did in the previous events, they were at that stage of the weekend for us, out of range.

Talking about Lewis' FP3 time

We could not do that lap time at that time of the weekend, not even with low fuel and engine up. Clearly they had potential, and I think they're starting to learn how to use it.”

We'll see in two weeks, Merc has also always been good in Barcelona in the new regs and they arguably have a better car now than the previous two

[Formula 1 fan]

One off topic question, who has best and most powerful engine now, Mercedes, Ferrari or Honda?

In cold conditions Merc seems to be best. But they seem to suffer more than honda and Ferrari in the heat.

Okay, thank you for explanation.

[ringo]

Nithing has changed with their behavior. Good in practice, falls back in qualy, good when its cold and slows when the temperature rises.
It was just shifted higher up the grid.
I Would say McLaren and Redbull are still the strongest. Max's pace in the dry and Lando's and Piastris when it was drying was very strong. When Lando stayed out on the inters before pitting also. Very strong pace.
Lewis and Russel were fighting but they were really special in the race.
Russel at the first stint was at arms reach to Max and could not really break away. He did well to delay the inevitable.
Thereafter the other stints didnt really threaten Lando or Max. So I would say the car improved but will still have to fight for podiums under normal circumstances.
Lewis may have done better in terms of race pace if he was on the front row compared to Russel. So maybe the car was better than Russel showed.
It's a big improvement though. It's not painful to watch it turn in the corners now.

[Cs98]

Nithing has changed with their behavior. Good in practice, falls back in qualy, good when its cold and slows when the temperature rises.
It was just shifted higher up the grid.
I Would say McLaren and Redbull are still the strongest. Max's pace in the dry and Lando's and Piastris when it was drying was very strong. When Lando stayed out on the inters before pitting also. Very strong pace.
Lewis and Russel were fighting but they were really special in the race.
Russel at the first stint was at arms reach to Max and could not really break away. He did well to delay the inevitable.
Thereafter the other stints didnt really threaten Lando or Max. So I would say the car improved but will still have to fight for podiums under normal circumstances.
Lewis may have done better in terms of race pace if he was on the front row compared to Russel. So maybe the car was better than Russel showed.
It's a big improvement though. It's not painful to watch it turn in the corners now.

That's called becoming more competitive. They've brought upgrades, they're figuring stuff out.

Merc's pace in the dry was as good as any, certainly the best of any in quali. In the race they just didn't have the track position to utilize it fully.

[r85]

I don’t know why people want to suddenly hype Mercedes up!

Yeah they were quite fast this weekend but guess what else happened! Pretty low temperatures! Exactly the same happened in China and Hamilton ended up 2nd in the Sprint…

As much as I want to believe their pace is genuine, I think temperatures played quite a big role in moving them forward and the rest backwards…

Plus don’t forget that at the end with dry tires Verstapen was untouchable and the McLarens difficult to pass even with new tires on!

Hamilton benefitted from Norris going off in turn 1 and Alonso holding Max up for a few laps thanks to his straight line speed. Checo and Charles were nearly 1s quicker at the end of the sprint.

I won't deny low temperatures possibly playing into their hand, but the pace relative to Lando and Max is genuine. That being said, it wouldn't surprise me if they're 4th quickest again in Spain, but a close 4th rather than a distant 4th.

[ringo]

Toto is saying the team discovered something and better understands the flow structures.
I wonder if someone new came to the team to revea this or if they got new tools or a consultant.
It's interesting they magically became enlightened.
It's good nonetheless.

Toto:

Sometimes when you bring a highly-visible part like a bodywork or front wing, this is pretty much the talk of what has changed the performance,” he said.

“But the truth is we have, over the last three races, brought so many new parts, visible and invisible for the eye, that have contributed milliseconds to more performance.

“I think this is where those marginal gains then have that positive effect. That was just a huge effort of the factory, so I think the wheel has started to get some real motion on it.”

[Luscion]

[Cs98]

Allison completely demolishing all the strategy nonsense.

[Matt2725]

P3 and quali was dry though and Merc showed good pace. Of course we dont know engine modes in FP. Evolving temps/conditions in quali..

They did well tbh, be nice to see another team join the bunch at the top.

According to the online stats accounts. They determined Merc weren't running higher engine modes in FP as they've done previously.

Guess we'll really see over the next few races.