2021 AMG Mercedes F1 Team

[SiLo]

should go back to knock-offs for extra spice in pitstops

[Marty_Y]

This confirmed by Mercedes?

According to motorsport-total Wolff said that post race talking to sky. Now motorsport.com has an article up quoting Allison and he says they did not get the gun on cleanly and machined the nut.

It makes you wonder if they don't have a cut off tool (or dremmel) and blunt chisel?

LOL, I was thinking the same, but didn't suggest it because I thought it would be a stupid idea because that might damage the thread and stop the new wheel going on. I guess it wouldn't even be considered because it would take too much time and the priority would be to find a way to stop it happening in the first place.

[dans79]

This confirmed by Mercedes?

According to motorsport-total Wolff said that post race talking to sky. Now motorsport.com has an article up quoting Allison and he says they did not get the gun on cleanly and machined the nut.

It makes you wonder if they don't have a cut off tool (or dremmel) and blunt chisel?

It doesn't matter if your going to come out over a lap behind, specially at Monaco. If it had been a red flag situation I'm sure they would have continued to work on it.

[El Scorchio]

I think as soon as your chances of points have realistically gone, then in this day and age it just becomes more sensible to save the engine and other components.

There would have been nothing to gain from sending him back out at Monaco and everything to lose if he were to get caught in an accident.

Actually I wonder if we'll see that later on in the year under the cap at all. Teams just pulling cars from the latter part of races for financial reasons.

[NathanOlder]

I think as soon as your chances of points have realistically gone, then in this day and age it just becomes more sensible to save the engine and other components.

There would have been nothing to gain from sending him back out at Monaco and everything to lose if he were to get caught in an accident.

Actually I wonder if we'll see that later on in the year under the cap at all. Teams just pulling cars from the latter part of races for financial reasons.

Ya think they got a refund on the unburnt fuel ?

[nevill3]

Brundle was saying that there is a tool that has been used in the past that goes over the nut and splits it in half when hit with a hammer, but he was unsure whether Mercedes has such a tool now.

[i70q7m7ghw]

Youch so the Bottas issue was mostly human error it seems. Didn't get the gun on the nut intially, and then in the panic gave the gun full beans and completely stripped the nut.



Watch the front left gunner in slow motion, then compare it to the top right. He wasn't in position (maybe Valterri missed his marks slightly) so he was slow getting the gun to the nut. Being out of sequence, I wonder if he started the gun before he even located it on the nut.

[NL_Fer]

So Mercedes is allowed to take the wheel to Brackley and have some rubber guys take a look at the tire, while it is there?

[joetoml1n]

Youch so the Bottas issue was mostly human error it seems. Didn't get the gun on the nut intially, and then in the panic gave the gun full beans and completely stripped the nut.



Watch the front left gunner in slow motion, then compare it to the top right. He wasn't in position (maybe Valterri missed his marks slightly) so he was slow getting the gun to the nut. Being out of sequence, I wonder if he started the gun before he even located it on the nut.

Yeah BOT is fairly good on his marks front to back, But he’s significantly to the right, about 20 right? That’ll compromise the RHS massively. You’re already very close to the wheel, then imagine having it 20cm closer than that. It’s more difficult to adjust to than being off the marks longitudinally, as you follow the wheel in with the gun, so adapting to a long stop isn’t as bad (unless you have to move your kneeling position!) When suddenly you’ve got to bring the gun close to your chest you’re out of position from the get go

[RZS10]

It's also easier to adapt when the car goes long because there's no guy with a massive wheel stopping you from adjusting your position ... for those who get gelocked by sky F1 has uploaded the footage you can go frame by frame with , and .
He's at a weird angle, not enough room to adjust, it looks like the still moving tyre actually hits his gun, he bumps his arm into the tyre being held left of him. The mechanic who takes off the tyre then kinda puts his arms in the way and in the end his gun is still wobbling around on the nut whilst everyone else has their tyres off the car.

[dans79]

It's also easier to adapt when the car goes long because there's no guy with a massive wheel stopping you from adjusting your position ... for those who get gelocked by sky F1 has uploaded the footage you can go frame by frame with , and .
He's at a weird angle, not enough room to adjust, it looks like the still moving tyre actually hits his gun, he bumps his arm into the tyre being held left of him. The mechanic who takes off the tyre then kinda puts his arms in the way and in the end his gun is still wobbling around on the nut whilst everyone else has their tyres off the car.

I wonder if one of the reasons they are having issues, is because they have new mechanics with the race team.

[basti313]

The mechanic who takes off the tyre then kinda puts his arms in the way and in the end his gun is still wobbling around on the nut whilst everyone else has their tyres off the car.

Especially the wobble looks weird to me: While all other guns look perfectly straight, this one seems to transmit torque as it rotates away and the mechanic can barely hold it.
Is it rather the release pin of the security lock that caused the issue? I think this was not correctly disengaged end the gun was already rotating. So rather a timing issue in the end.

[siskue2005]

It's also easier to adapt when the car goes long because there's no guy with a massive wheel stopping you from adjusting your position ... for those who get gelocked by sky F1 has uploaded the footage you can go frame by frame with , and .
He's at a weird angle, not enough room to adjust, it looks like the still moving tyre actually hits his gun, he bumps his arm into the tyre being held left of him. The mechanic who takes off the tyre then kinda puts his arms in the way and in the end his gun is still wobbling around on the nut whilst everyone else has their tyres off the car.

I wonder if one of the reasons they are having issues, is because they have new mechanics with the race team.

But I thought all the pitstop teams are really experienced mechanics

[dans79]

It's also easier to adapt when the car goes long because there's no guy with a massive wheel stopping you from adjusting your position ... for those who get gelocked by sky F1 has uploaded the footage you can go frame by frame with , and .
He's at a weird angle, not enough room to adjust, it looks like the still moving tyre actually hits his gun, he bumps his arm into the tyre being held left of him. The mechanic who takes off the tyre then kinda puts his arms in the way and in the end his gun is still wobbling around on the nut whilst everyone else has their tyres off the car.

I wonder if one of the reasons they are having issues, is because they have new mechanics with the race team.

But I thought all the pitstop teams are really experienced mechanics

Maybe, but at some point you have to break in the new guys!

[Marty_Y]

It's also easier to adapt when the car goes long because there's no guy with a massive wheel stopping you from adjusting your position ... for those who get gelocked by sky F1 has uploaded the footage you can go frame by frame with , and .
He's at a weird angle, not enough room to adjust, it looks like the still moving tyre actually hits his gun, he bumps his arm into the tyre being held left of him. The mechanic who takes off the tyre then kinda puts his arms in the way and in the end his gun is still wobbling around on the nut whilst everyone else has their tyres off the car.

I wonder if one of the reasons they are having issues, is because they have new mechanics with the race team.

Toto Wolff said the guy on the gun is normally good,

Mercedes team principal Toto Wolff said that there were “many factors” that contributed to the issue, refusing to put it down to a single error.

“We need to review the design, we need to review the material of our wheel nut, because the mechanics that operate the wheel nuts need to do it in a way that you can’t machine it off,” Wolff said.

“And as a matter of fact, a mechanic that did that is one of the best, and one of the fittest in terms of pitstop speed, that the team has.

“So there are always things coming together. It’s never someone’s fault, it’s always multi-faceted

.”