2021 AMG Mercedes F1 Team

[Wouter]

I'd still call it trash, as you can find random mentions of it on no name website all over the net.

for example https://www.newsonf1.com/2021/03/no-ham ... e-russell/

where is the link to the "original" Kronen Zeitung newspaper interview, and when was it actually published?

The other question that's somewhat important, is has Lewis ever talked to Russell regularly? I'm betting no, and that this is nothing more than click bait!

Since people here were wondering if Russell doesn't get along well with Lewis, I posted an English-language article stating that he hasn't talked to him for a long time, but he just gets along really well with him. So nothing to worry about.
I posted it to reassure everyone here that there's nothing going on between Russell and Lewis, but it's not good enough yet?

You are not even satisfied with that, because der Kronen Zeitung is not a good source either/trash. That newspaper took over the conversation with Russell from an English news site, PA Media, where you can read Russell's exact words.
The Kronen Zeitung is a very reliable site and always mentions the source. I didn't post the link, because itis in German and most people here want to read English.

You want a link? Here you go: https://www.krone.at/2374529

Formel-1-Shooting-Star George Russell sprach in einem Interview mit der
britischen Nachrichtenagentur „PA“ über seine Beziehung zu Weltmeister Lewis Hamilton.

Formula 1 shooting star George Russell spoke in an interview with the
British news agency "PA" on his relationship with world champion Lewis Hamilton.

https://pa.media/sport/

[Morteza]

[PlatinumZealot]

Why would Sir Lewis Hamilton need to speak to Russell though? Lewis was sick with corona worrying about other things like recovering and negotiating his contract.

[_cerber1]

MARK HUGHES: HOW F1 RULE CHANGES HAVE HURT LOW-RAKE MERCEDES
https://the-race.com/formula-1/mark-hug ... SocialSnap

[Just_a_fan]

MARK HUGHES: HOW F1 RULE CHANGES HAVE HURT LOW-RAKE MERCEDES
https://the-race.com/formula-1/mark-hug ... SocialSnap

Mark Hughes's reply to a question in the comments, regarding the token spend:

I believe their monocoque is narrower around the leading edge of the sidepods. Not confirmed yet though.

[HungarianRacer]

MARK HUGHES: HOW F1 RULE CHANGES HAVE HURT LOW-RAKE MERCEDES
https://the-race.com/formula-1/mark-hug ... SocialSnap

Come on, this is another classic example of wanting to attribute an outcome to either a "silver bullet" on one team's side, or a singular root cause/point of issue on an other's, warping a whole bundle of evidence to fit the narrative in the process....

... So a low-rake car has less "natural" sway of aero center of pressure than a high-rake car, alright...

... So any track where the crucial corners have a big spread of speed between them will more heavily favour a high-rake car (hence Hungaroring and Sepang historically being difficult for Mercedes relative to other tracks)...

Highly debatable, especially since the W12's predecessor did it's arguably most brutal curb-stomping of it's competition at the Hungaroring last year...

... The spread of corner speeds at Bahrain is not extreme. But what Sakhir’s Turns 5-6 and 9-10 have in common is that they are fast corners bleeding into slower ones, where the centre of pressure ideally needs to change very significantly.

It seems that the high-rake Red Bull’s balance remains much more consistent than the Mercedes’ through these two decreasing-speed interconnected sequences. This was where virtually all of Mercedes’ lap time deficit lay...

1. I'm pretty sure they meant Turns 6-7 since T5 is hardly a corner, let alone a section where Mercedes would be losing significant time to Red Bull... But Turns 6-7 is hardly an example of what's described above, so one can already see where the "warping of evidence" begins (it's either an intentionally misleading analysis or Mark and Gary have never driven Bahrain on a simulator and are genuinely confused).

2. After we've been for years conditioned to believe that a high-rake car is fundamentally more sensitve, less consistent and harder to dial in well, because it requires a better/more precise utilization of the available aero devices to seal it's underside flow structure properly compared to the low-rake concept, I find the argument saying the EXACT OPPOSITE is true when there are LESS of those above referred to devices present on the cars, because the former has more "brute force" to energize the airflow and thus, to compensate for poor sealing, a bit too convenient and hard to believe...

3. If we assume the words of Szafnauer, Shovlin and Allison to be honest, it really is hard to imagine the likelihood of "potshots at truth" from outsiders like Gary Anderson being accurate to be high, when even the aforementioned insiders weren't exactly sure about the magnitude and spread of the new rules' impact until the first Grand Prix of the season commenced...

[dans79]

Come on, this is another classic example of wanting to attribute an outcome to either a "silver bullet" on one team's side, or a singular root cause/point of issue on an other's, warping a whole bundle of evidence to fit the narrative in the process....

Yep, and honestly I think the teams are feeding into it to ramp up the drama, and to put pressure on their opponents.

Look at the mini sector times from Bahrain, that @zibby43 posted.



The only type of corner they don't have a fastest mini sector in is slow speed. Imo, they have 3 issues currently.

• they aren't on top of the new tires yet, specially the softer compounds. They looked really good on the hard compounds, specially when you look at the lap times from Lewis's last stint!
• They have an aero instability that seems to only manifest itself with high velocity tail winds, or with moderate winds and the car undergoing a lot of yaw.
• The derating issue, thats sounds like it will be a software fix.

[SiLo]

Most of the time Lewis lost to Max was in the slower corner exits. Watching the laps it just looks like the Red Bull is a tad more stable in lower-medium speed corners, AND Max nailed his lap.

Imola will tell us a lot more about the relative car performance. I very rarely listen to Gary Anderson, he spouts a lot of rubbish most days.

[Just_a_fan]

Come on, this is another classic example of wanting to attribute an outcome to either a "silver bullet" on one team's side, or a singular root cause/point of issue on an other's, warping a whole bundle of evidence to fit the narrative in the process....

Yep, and honestly I think the teams are feeding into it to ramp up the drama, and to put pressure on their opponents.

Look at the mini sector times from Bahrain, that @zibby43 posted.

https://abload.de/img/exggeorw8aape8y5gjta.jpg

The only type of corner they don't have a fastest mini sector in is slow speed. Imo, they have 3 issues currently.

• they aren't on top of the new tires yet, specially the softer compounds. They looked really good on the hard compounds, specially when you look at the lap times from Lewis's last stint!
• They have an aero instability that seems to only manifest itself with high velocity tail winds, or with moderate winds and the car undergoing a lot of yaw.
• The derating issue, thats sounds like it will be a software fix.

Looking at where the Red Bull and Merc were quickest, it looks like Imola might favour Red Bull. There are several slow corners/chicanes and fewer fast corners. It's going to be interesting to see where the respective strengths are at that circuit.

[tangodjango]

Come on, this is another classic example of wanting to attribute an outcome to either a "silver bullet" on one team's side, or a singular root cause/point of issue on an other's, warping a whole bundle of evidence to fit the narrative in the process....

Yep, and honestly I think the teams are feeding into it to ramp up the drama, and to put pressure on their opponents.

Look at the mini sector times from Bahrain, that @zibby43 posted.

https://abload.de/img/exggeorw8aape8y5gjta.jpg

The only type of corner they don't have a fastest mini sector in is slow speed. Imo, they have 3 issues currently.

• they aren't on top of the new tires yet, specially the softer compounds. They looked really good on the hard compounds, specially when you look at the lap times from Lewis's last stint!
• They have an aero instability that seems to only manifest itself with high velocity tail winds, or with moderate winds and the car undergoing a lot of yaw.
• The derating issue, thats sounds like it will be a software fix.

I tend to agree with you. I think that with a perfect lap from Lewis the gap to pole would have been around two-tenths. Also I feel Mercedes will find more time with their car by Imola, right now they are probably having to reduce some front end loading to reduce the rear instability. Perhaps they will find more than Red Bull, perhaps Red Bull's updates will make them quicker but more unstable? Who knows just hope it's neck and neck as long as possible.

[zibby43]

Enjoy!

[Wouter]

Effective 1 July 2021, James Allison will begin a newly created role entitled Chief Technical Officer (CTO). In this role, James will step back from the day-to-day management of the F1 technical operations which he has led since early 2017 and will turn his energy instead to help the team meet the strategic challenges of the sport’s next era. As the CTO, James will continue to work closely with the technical leadership at both Brackley and Brixworth to help ensure that the team always has the right capability to meet its needs.

At the same time, Mike Elliott will be promoted to the role of Technical Director of the Mercedes-AMG Petronas F1 Team. After beginning his career at McLaren in 2000, and a subsequent stint at the Renault F1 Team,

Mike joined Mercedes in 2012 as Head of Aerodynamics and was central to developing the sport’s leading aerodynamics group in the subsequent years. Since 2017, he has been the team’s Technology Director and has played a key role in developing the team’s performance capability as part of our senior technical leadership.

The transition to the new organisation will take place across the coming months as we continue the 2021 championship battle on track and prepare for the significant challenge of the 2022 technical and sporting regulations in our development programmes back at base.

[astracrazy]

I'm trying to decide if this is a sort of promotion for James Allison to overseeing greater things, or a polite demotion.

It feels a bit like those times when boards have too much respect to sack the chairman, but they feel it's time for them to move on so they create a new honouree role for them instead. Out the way but around.

[mkay]

I'm trying to decide if this is a sort of promotion for James Allison to overseeing greater things, or a polite demotion.

It feels a bit like those times when boards have too much respect to sack the chairman, but they feel it's time for them to move on so they create a new honouree role for them instead. Out the way but around.

Maybe Allison wanted to take a step back and focus on his personal life/family?

Also, this may not be a pound-for-pound equivalent but Newey has been Red Bull's CTO for a long time now and he remains as influential within the team as he's ever been.

Like other recent staff moves/transfers, Allison's move is probably a result of the cost cap I'd assume. Teams are having to shift personnel around to meet the cap.

[dans79]

Might be some kind of loophole way of dealing with the cost cap!