2026 Mercedes-AMG Petronas F1 Team

[AR3-GP]

Not sure if they are getting any boost from it though, Russell's lift-off (not shown above) looked more like just an "acknowledgement" of the quality of his lap, let's just say... And one would think there'd be enough opportunity in the bus stop to harvest enough energy for the run to the line even if one arrives there with a completely flat battery (thus cancelling out the intended benefit of this "trick"), right?

For a qualifying lap, the team knows they can use 7MJ (recovery) + 4MJ (full battery at start of lap). In the ideal case, you use the full amount of 11MJ ( 7+4) and save some of it for after the bus stop to the finish line. You want to deploy at 350kW all the way across the finish line and hit a total 11MJ of deployment right at the finish line. However without any clever reading of the rules, you must actually ramp down at 50kW/s to 0 before the finish line if you intend to cross the finish line at precisely 11MJ of total deployment.

With what Mercedes does, they can pull at 350kW for longer between the exit of bus stop and the finish line and it's the fastest way to use the energy. The other teams will use that energy in a less efficient way earlier in the lap since they are following the ramp down rule without any clever thinking.

The benefit is there, it's just the complicated rules make it hard to see the laptime that is being won until they cross the line. That's why someone can set pole with yellow S1 and S2.

[HungarianRacer]

Not sure if they are getting any boost from it though, Russell's lift-off (not shown above) looked more like just an "acknowledgement" of the quality of his lap, let's just say... And one would think there'd be enough opportunity in the bus stop to harvest enough energy for the run to the line even if one arrives there with a completely flat battery (thus cancelling out the intended benefit of this "trick"), right?

For a qualifying lap, the team knows they can use 7MJ (recovery) + 4MJ (full battery at start of lap). In the ideal case, you use the full amount of 11MJ ( 7+4) and save some of it for after the bus stop to the finish line. You want to deploy at 350kW all the way across the finish line and hit a total 11MJ of deployment right at the finish line. However without any clever reading of the rules, you must actually ramp down at 50kW/s to 0 before the finish line if you intend to cross the finish line at precisely 11MJ of total deployment.

With what Mercedes does, they can pull at 350kW for longer between the exit of bus stop and the finish line and it's the fastest way to use the energy. The other teams will use that energy in a less efficient way earlier in the lap since they are following the ramp down rule without any clever thinking.

The benefit is there, it's just the complicated rules make it hard to see the laptime that is being won until they cross the line. That's why someone can set pole with yellow S1 and S2.

Right, I had a few things mixed up in my head, disregard the part in the parentheses... My point is that - as it is clearly shown in the telemetry comparison - they are not gaining any extra acceleration from it, yet...

[AR3-GP]

Right, I had a few things mixed up in my head, disregard the part in the parentheses... My point is that - as it is clearly shown in the telemetry comparison - they are not gaining any extra acceleration from it, yet...

Okay I see. I think the laps that you selected are not lift off laps (in Antonelli's case it's not, Russell's case is something else, not a push lap I guess). In the lift off lap, the speed drops before the finish line. Here is Antonelli's lap 4 from FP2. This is more in line with how it looked at Silverstone. Merc's still sandbagging anyway, so just wait for qualifying.

[Lasssept]

[SB15]

What a middle sector, this kid is unreal! But I'm already mentally prepared for heartbreak tomorrow

[Lasssept]

[AR3-GP]

Brutal.

[Sergej]

yeah but they must capitalize tomorrow, they've already lost a ton of points especially on tracks where they shouldn't have, rivals are getting close in next months.

[AR3-GP]

yeah but they must capitalize tomorrow, they've already lost a ton of points especially on tracks where they shouldn't have, rivals are getting close in next months.

Merc is still on 1st update package. They have no rivals except free air.

[venkyhere]

I know I will get flak for this in this thread, but here goes :

Kimi is driving at an unreal level, but that Spa pole lap didn't just come from 'driving at the limit'. Because closer and closer the tyres are to the theoretical limit, the micro-slippage & hysterisis/rolling resistance losses in the tyres increases, and wastes energy. In the previous hybrid era, this 'extra energy' came from the ICE working harder, but it's not possible in this formula where the battery undergoes charge-discharge cycles with far higher frequency & with far higher 'rate of power sapping from ICE' - which happens to be the fundamental principle governing this 2026 regulation.

Always, always, when it comes to Q3, Mercedes turn on some secret 'party' mode and most probably have a way of hiding the numbers from FIA. I am basing this hunch not on just one driver, both Mercedes drivers. They tend to make a 'step-jump' in Q3. By a margin that can't be attributed to 'exploring the limits more' that other drivers do when they go from Q2 to Q3. This has happened on all 10 tracks this season. I am ALMOST CONVINCED this is the case.

[AR3-GP]

I know I will get flak for this in this thread, but here goes :

Kimi is driving at an unreal level, but that Spa pole lap didn't just come from 'driving at the limit'. Because closer and closer the tyres are to the theoretical limit, the micro-slippage & hysterisis/rolling resistance losses in the tyres increases, and wastes energy. In the previous hybrid era, this 'extra energy' came from the ICE working harder, but it's not possible in this formula where the battery undergoes charge-discharge cycles with far higher frequency & with far higher 'rate of power sapping from ICE' - which happens to be the fundamental principle governing this 2026 regulation.

Always, always, when it comes to Q3, Mercedes turn on some secret 'party' mode and most probably have a way of hiding the numbers from FIA. I am basing this hunch not on just one driver, both Mercedes drivers. They tend to make a 'step-jump' in Q3. By a margin that can't be attributed to 'exploring the limits more' that other drivers do when they go from Q2 to Q3. This has happened on all 10 tracks this season. I am ALMOST CONVINCED this is the case.

There's no trick. It's that they are often carrying extra fuel in case they need to do a 2nd lap in Q1 or Q2. They can afford it. That's why we saw Mercedes behind VCARB in Q1. In Q3 they only fuel for 1 lap.

[Sergej]

yeah but they must capitalize tomorrow, they've already lost a ton of points especially on tracks where they shouldn't have, rivals are getting close in next months.

Merc is still on 1st update package. They have no rivals except free air.

true but they seem to be a bit late in development race (which is understandable considering how they started the season), next week they should bring their second package but just a race after Ferrari will bring their third one.

[SB15]

yeah but they must capitalize tomorrow, they've already lost a ton of points especially on tracks where they shouldn't have, rivals are getting close in next months.

Merc is still on 1st update package. They have no rivals except free air.

true but they seem to be a bit late in development race (which is understandable considering how they started the season), next week they should bring their second package but just a race after Ferrari will bring their third one.

That W17 has massive potential for development. Mercedes upgrades were mainly the floor and front wing!

[Sergej]

Merc is still on 1st update package. They have no rivals except free air.

true but they seem to be a bit late in development race (which is understandable considering how they started the season), next week they should bring their second package but just a race after Ferrari will bring their third one.

That W17 has massive potential for development. Mercedes upgrades were mainly the floor and front wing!

I hope for you and for Kimi (for whom I root as italian ). Consider that Ferrari will make a big leap with their ADUO 2 PU.

[venkyhere]

What a middle sector, this kid is unreal! But I'm already mentally prepared for heartbreak tomorrow

That middle sector 'matching the RB22 of Verstappen' was actually due to 'less recharging need' than the Redbull. If you analyze the corners in S2, the RB22 carried more speed (except 12 and 14 where the two drivers were taking different lines - opposite priorities for entry/exit) whilst the W17 was 'gaining' on the straight-ish bits between the actual corners. The RB22 is configured with more DF and more drag than the W17 for Spa 2026. So it doesn't matter where Antonelli or Russel are after T1, they will 'breeze past' Verstappen even before reaching T5.
Nevertheless, Kimi is already driving like a world-champion-elect. And there won't be any 'heartbreak', they must have sorted reliability by now.