[ 2020 ] AMG Mercedes F1 Team - Mercedes

[El Scorchio]

That was the point I was making

Exactly. There’s a maturity and intellect there. Exactly what Merc are looking for. Plenty of other drivers would have shat on the team today. Russell was the model of professionalism. That’s what is going to get him the drive.

He’s a lot more mature and professional than other far more experienced drivers on the grid.

If you’re British, then life after Hamilton is looking very bright.

Plus, Daimler are less concerned now that they have to pull out the special checkbook for drivers like Leclerc or Verstappen. Again, their own juniors will step up.

100%. They’ve probably struck gold with Russell. He looks like the real deal.

[BrunoH]

just goes to show that they do not need hamilton to win, that car is just next level! the car and the staff on that side of the garage! for me just shows that these 6 championships could have been won by anyone who sits in that car.

[ALO_Power]

Russel was amazing today. In a car that he didn't know and had to learn everything in 2 days (systems, procedures, DAS, the car characteristics/potential itself) and without even fitting comfortably in it, he just hit the nail in the head. Great start, great race pace, great tire management, great overtakes. We were noticing his potential even in Williams all of those races but now he just proved himself clearly. Amazing talent. A future champion for sure.

[ispano6]

Russell's skills and techniques probably have improved having to drive that dog of a Williams. Bottas showed he's not a top driver at all and really bottle-necked the entire field which ultimately compromised a lot of drivers at the start. He's lucky to be driving the top car but today was easily beatable by Verstappen but did shield Russell from him. But man, such a meltdown at Mercedes.

[Phil]

I'd hold off on writing off Bottas. He clearly was driving under a lot of pressure (pressure he himself put himself under), he was very messy and I wouldn't exactly call it a good display today - despite all that, I'd say both drivers were nigh on equal during the race on pace. That's actually a compliment to Russel - he drove very very good, much better than I anticipated based on the long run sims in FP2. I however wouldn't draw conclusions based on this track - it wasn't a very technical track, not many corners and the main competition was out. If Russel gets another go in Abu Dhabi, it's going to be a lot more telling how good he is.

I was actually more shocked to see Mercedes make such a huge mistake in the pits, in a race where they had zero competition. That was shocking.

[ENGINE TUNER]

Bottas had a decent start, but the car bogged down in the 2nd phase of the start, almost like he missed a shift, the clutch slipped , or he was late upshifting.

Bottas shadowed RUS for the entire first stint, staying within 3s of RUS which is something he usually can't do to HAM, but HAM usually does to him. Everything after that was down to Mercs poor pit stop strategy and execution which has cost them a good deal more races than reliability has since 2014. Yes, RUS may have not have been pushing to his max in the first stint, but he didn't gap BOT and BOT stayed close in the dirty air.

I hate when safety cars decide races rather than pure merit.

[214270]

despite all that, I'd say both drivers were nigh on equal during the race on pace. That's actually a compliment to Russel - he drove very very good, much better than I anticipated based on the long run sims in FP2.

BOT reduced the gap during the 2nd stint from about 8.5s to about 4ish. RUS may have almost won the race but I think he has some homework to do on the low-grip tyre. If it had remained a one-stop it would’ve been quite close at the end. Incidentally, I believe that might’ve been the general story during his practice runs, a bit down on BOT by something like 4tenths a lap?

[AnthonyG]

despite all that, I'd say both drivers were nigh on equal during the race on pace. That's actually a compliment to Russel - he drove very very good, much better than I anticipated based on the long run sims in FP2.

BOT reduced the gap during the 2nd stint from about 8.5s to about 4ish. RUS may have almost won the race but I think he has some homework to do on the low-grip tyre. If it had remained a one-stop it would’ve been quite close at the end. Incidentally, I believe that might’ve been the general story during his practice runs, a bit down on BOT by something like 4tenths a lap?

Tyre management in a car you don't know is not easy. It's the area where we know for sure Bottas had an advantage.

[e30ernest]

despite all that, I'd say both drivers were nigh on equal during the race on pace. That's actually a compliment to Russel - he drove very very good, much better than I anticipated based on the long run sims in FP2.

BOT reduced the gap during the 2nd stint from about 8.5s to about 4ish. RUS may have almost won the race but I think he has some homework to do on the low-grip tyre. If it had remained a one-stop it would’ve been quite close at the end. Incidentally, I believe that might’ve been the general story during his practice runs, a bit down on BOT by something like 4tenths a lap?

I thought the gap reduction in the second stint was due to his HPP setting issues? The team were talking him through resetting some things on the wheel (since he didn't know how to fix it).

[godlameroso]

Ok so can we at least agree that Bottas is a good driver, maybe on the level of Massa in his prime, but Russell is up there with Hamilton or Alonso with just a little bit of experience and polish? He had this one in the bag, he wasn't even pushing. IF he gets another chance he'll know, there's no point in putting about, you race to win, you need to build a gap that can cover any eventuality, that's what Hamilton understands, that's why he ALWAYS wins.

You can tell he was just stringing Bottas along, his Q3 lap, his sector 1 was a joke, broke for turn 1 at least 15 meters before Bottas. Sure you can pass that off as Williams muscle memory, then consider his best race lap was in the 55's in a league of his own. Sure you can pass that off as Bottas having the wrong tires, where then, did that gap come from in the first pit stop?

Russell was hiding pace, it's so obvious, he's simply playing the team game, bring it home 1-2. Shame he didn't have Verstappen to play with. It was a terrible race all things considered. LeClerc bowing out early, midfield train. Great win for Perez, I'm really happy for him. For everyone else not in a yellow or pink car just terrible race.

Bottas should get the covid and Hamilton make a miraculous recovery because that's what I want to see, but I suppose no point in rushing the main bout. One season of undercard it is.

[Manoah2u]

just goes to show that they do not need hamilton to win, that car is just next level! the car and the staff on that side of the garage! for me just shows that these 6 championships could have been won by anyone who sits in that car.

No, but it did show just as much that Bottas won't win with that car despite it being the best car.

Russell completely schooled Bottas, i'd imagine Ham vs Rus would be fireworks excitement of racing.

The thing is, Hamilton is superbly strong, but with Max around, it's not an easy 1-2 when Mercedes have Bottas aboard.
Instead, if they'd replace Bottas with Russell, it's definately easy 1-2 for Mercedes and Max gets a denied.

the weakest link obviously is Valterri. What an embarassment, Russell completely murdered him today. Not only did Russell qualify P2 by less than 3 hundreds of a second, in his debut GP with Merc and any 'real' F1 car, and not some 0.5 F1 car or 1.5 F2 car, essentially being like his real F1 race debut. He essentially has been nothing but doing testing for two seasons.

If only Mercedes had NOT called in their drivers in the SC window, then Russell would most definately have WON this GP.

[Manoah2u]

despite all that, I'd say both drivers were nigh on equal during the race on pace. That's actually a compliment to Russel - he drove very very good, much better than I anticipated based on the long run sims in FP2.

BOT reduced the gap during the 2nd stint from about 8.5s to about 4ish. RUS may have almost won the race but I think he has some homework to do on the low-grip tyre. If it had remained a one-stop it would’ve been quite close at the end. Incidentally, I believe that might’ve been the general story during his practice runs, a bit down on BOT by something like 4tenths a lap?

Tyre management in a car you don't know is not easy. It's the area where we know for sure Bottas had an advantage.

Don't forget, Russell's car also had an issue, which bottas did not. 'No power', there was something with the car. Whatever it was, and even if it got 'more or less fixed', it cost precious time, and it means you're essentially driving a car where you can't trust to not let you down.

Both had the issues of some 'track rod' overloads so had to take it a bit more easy at what, turn 7 or 8, and i'm pretty sure that Bottas knowing his car inside and out, despite his clear lack of talent compared to George, does have a vastly greater and valuable amount of experience with the car.

Again, not to forget mentioning that George is driving with a boot size smaller, in a car essentially to small for him, sitting so high that his helmet is even almost or perhaps actually in front of the airbox on top of the car, whilst Bottas is as comfortable as he has been always.

George essentially doesn't have a fair chance compared to Bottas, but the actual truth is that despite that, Bottas still doesn't even stand the slightest of chance against Russell.

Really really hope that Russell wil race in AbuDhabi.
I can't imagine anything else either way tbh, as it's by all it's means unlikely anyway that Hamilton gets to race AbuDhabi even if he's 100% fit, due to the quarantine duration of Covid in Bahrain AND the mandatory isolation period entering AbuDhabi, even though i wonder if there is a chance that he could actually 'fix' that by going to Abu Dhabi in day 8 of his 10-day quarantine period. I'm not sure whether the 10-day quarantine period would prohibit Hamilton from leaving Bahrain in isolation, in his own private yet.

What I do hope is that Hamilton, and would not be unsuspecting of, is to grant Russell the 'present' of 'giving' his car to Russell for the final GP.

I do hope so and I hope that Russell will completely obliterate Bottas.

I never have ever been even slightly fond of Bottas, but by what we've seen now, we're getting Stolen real racing by any GP that Russell is not in the Mercedes.

[e30ernest]

Really really hope that Russell wil race in AbuDhabi.
I can't imagine anything else either way tbh, as it's by all it's means unlikely anyway that Hamilton gets to race AbuDhabi even if he's 100% fit, due to the quarantine duration of Covid in Bahrain AND the mandatory isolation period entering AbuDhabi, even though i wonder if there is a chance that he could actually 'fix' that by going to Abu Dhabi in day 8 of his 10-day quarantine period. I'm not sure whether the 10-day quarantine period would prohibit Hamilton from leaving Bahrain in isolation, in his own private yet.

Does he still have his own private jet? I thought he sold that in an effort to be closer to carbon neutral?

While I want Hamilton to get better quickly, I do hope Russell gets to race instead for Mercedes next week too. The kid deserves another run.

[Manoah2u]

Really really hope that Russell wil race in AbuDhabi.
I can't imagine anything else either way tbh, as it's by all it's means unlikely anyway that Hamilton gets to race AbuDhabi even if he's 100% fit, due to the quarantine duration of Covid in Bahrain AND the mandatory isolation period entering AbuDhabi, even though i wonder if there is a chance that he could actually 'fix' that by going to Abu Dhabi in day 8 of his 10-day quarantine period. I'm not sure whether the 10-day quarantine period would prohibit Hamilton from leaving Bahrain in isolation, in his own private yet.

Does he still have his own private jet? I thought he sold that in an effort to be closer to carbon neutral?

While I want Hamilton to get better quickly, I do hope Russell gets to race instead for Mercedes next week too. The kid deserves another run.

Might be, but with Hamilton's bank account, he can make 1 call, and he has a private jet to his availability.

Hell, with his bank account, he wouldn't even feel it if he'd have an entire private touring bus literally towed by a Rolls Royce phantom, have a crew in hazmat suits connect a literal diamond tunnel from the bus to the passenger entry of the private jet, then have the private jet flown by a man in a hazmat suit with oxygen tank to AbuDhabi, land, and reverse process Hamilton into a touring bus to finish his quarantine and isolation.

but yes, i'd very much prefer to see Russell race. Actually expecting such.

[godlameroso]

just goes to show that they do not need hamilton to win, that car is just next level! the car and the staff on that side of the garage! for me just shows that these 6 championships could have been won by anyone who sits in that car.

They do need Hamilton. Do you think he'd make the same mistake and end up where he did? Hamilton would have built a gap to 3rd ASAP, then nursed his tires as far as possible, by then he's already demoralized Bottas, and at worst dueling with Verstappen in a slower car, with a massive gap to 3rd. By then he can pit and have fresh tires, no matter what happens once you extend the gap you can cover off any eventualities.

Russell's mistake was just bringing the car home, going just fast enough to make Bottas and the team look good. He could have rocketed off into the distance.

No one with a working brain is dumb enough to fall for the "don't go over the kerbs" shtick as anything but a command to slow down so you don't make a mockery of the sport.