2018 Mercedes AMG Petronas Formula One Team

[Manoah2u]

Team: Mercedes AMG Petronas Formula One Team
Base: Brackley, Northamptonshire, United Kingdom
Team principal(s): Toto Wolff (Head of Motorsport), Niki Lauda (Non-Executive Chairman), Andy Cowell (MD, Powertrains),
Technical director: James Allison
Website: http://www.mercedesamgf1.com

Race drivers:

44 Lewis Hamilton
77 Valtteri Bottas

Test drivers : George Russell

Chassis: F1 W09 Hybrid
Engine: Mercedes V6 Turbo
2017 position: 1st (668 pts)



This thread is to discuss the 2018 Mercedes AMG Petronas F1 TEAM

[Sierra117]

Dat last GIF such a beauty.

[dren]

Given how Mercedes finished out the season, I'm expecting them to be stronger next year at the start relative to Ferrari than they were this year. Red Bull should have a better start, too.

[NathanOlder]

Yes i agree. I genuinely believe Ferrari will fall back a little next season

[digitalrurouni]

Dat last GIF such a beauty.

Now imagine that for 2018 with more bloated cars and Halo on top ugh

[Sierra117]

Dat last GIF such a beauty.

Now imagine that for 2018 with more bloated cars and Halo on top ugh

I've been trying to come up with less offending designs for driver head protection but so far no luck ☹ .

I wonder if it's possible to make it out of some crazy transparent composite that's strong yet you can barely see it lol.

[digitalrurouni]

Dat last GIF such a beauty.

Now imagine that for 2018 with more bloated cars and Halo on top ugh

I've been trying to come up with less offending designs for driver head protection but so far no luck ☹ .

I wonder if it's possible to make it out of some crazy transparent composite that's strong yet you can barely see it lol.

Fighter jet canopies are the ONLY thing in my mind that will make the car look good. And throw in a HUD for the drivers too

[Restomaniac]

Now imagine that for 2018 with more bloated cars and Halo on top ugh

I've been trying to come up with less offending designs for driver head protection but so far no luck ☹ .

I wonder if it's possible to make it out of some crazy transparent composite that's strong yet you can barely see it lol.

Fighter jet canopies are the ONLY thing in my mind that will make the car look good. And throw in a HUD for the drivers too

With stinger missiles for pesky back makers too.

[Sierra117]

I've been trying to come up with less offending designs for driver head protection but so far no luck ☹ .

I wonder if it's possible to make it out of some crazy transparent composite that's strong yet you can barely see it lol.

Fighter jet canopies are the ONLY thing in my mind that will make the car look good. And throw in a HUD for the drivers too

With stinger missiles for pesky back makers too.

Torpedoes for Kvyat

Ok back to topic before the banhammer descends . When do we usually hear from the teams regarding some solid next year development?

[Webber2011]

Fighter jet canopies are the ONLY thing in my mind that will make the car look good. And throw in a HUD for the drivers too

With stinger missiles for pesky back makers too.

Torpedoes for Kvyat

Ok back to topic before the banhammer descends . When do we usually hear from the teams regarding some solid next year development?

Not until they hit the track in testing usually.
Even the cars we see at pre test launches are normally bland mock ups that don't represent what they're truly up to.

[PlatinumZealot]

Ross Brawn tips the "steam roller" to continue in 2018. I could live with another boring year of dominance I guess.

[dren]

For some reason, I don't mind seeing Mercedes win. I wasn't a fan of Vettel and Red Bull and I didn't care for Ferrari and Schumacher at all.

I still think we'll see multiple drivers win races next year. I'd love to see Kimi get another one. He should have had 2 this year.

[GPR-A duplicate2]

Some interesting insights into what challenges the designers faced for W08, the diva.

Autosport Premium:
Link -> Why Mercedes was so confused by its diva

Mercedes chief designer talks about having designed a 90% car for 2017 and not a 100% car. He further elaborates, the car wasn't 100% optimized on all grounds and they had let a lot of space on the car to handle unknown challenges of new regulations. They also had a late change on the PU side, which they could accommodate on W08 as that philosophy helped. Had that happened on W07, they had to completely tear down the design to accommodate it.

They built a lot of adjustment into the car, the capability to react to things that they would see. He says, unfortunately most of the things they had to adapt to, they hadn't seen coming.

Now that they understand the challenges of new regulations and the problem areas of the W08, he says, they can be aggressive with next year's car.

[etusch]

Yes i agree. I genuinely believe Ferrari will fall back a little next season

I believe mercedes has an advantage because of 3 pu rule but I think they will not have much more performance advantage over ferrari like last season. Until reliability play it's role

[f1316]

Yes i agree. I genuinely believe Ferrari will fall back a little next season

I believe mercedes has an advantage because of 3 pu rule but I think they will not have much more performance advantage over ferrari like last season. Until reliability play it's role

Other than that it was Ferrari who vetoed reverting to 4 PUs - specifically because they’d invested so much in being successful under the 3 PU rule and didn’t want to see that wasted.

Still, pleased if expectation around Ferrari is low as they seem to perform better when this is the case.