2021 AMG Mercedes F1 Team

[zibby43]

P2 for Hamilton. Shame it had to be at Seb’s expense, but those 2 points mean it’s an 8-point lead heading into the summer break.

P2 is ok I suppose given the circumstances, but I still feel disappointed given the pace the car had, Lewis should have won the race easily. Got to give credit to Alonso for some great defence and wheel to wheel action, it was a brilliant move from Lewis to take the position from him in the end.

There's no point being too disappointed though, it could have been worse.

It’s all relative though. Gap could’ve been bigger had he won (by 7 points, assuming the DSQ stands).

But if they finished in the starting order, or Max would’ve claimed P2, Hamilton would be either leading by just a few points or trailing by 1 still.

Best thing from today is that the car is really starting to come to life!

[dans79]

Best thing from today is that the car is really starting to come to life!

Yep, i will be interested to se how they do in spa, with 2 weeks to think about tweaks, and 2 weeks to implement them.

[zibby43]

Best thing from today is that the car is really starting to come to life!

Yep, i will be interested to se how they do in spa, with 2 weeks to think about tweaks, and 2 weeks to implement them.

After seeing such strong qualifying performances at 2 very different circuits, I’m very optimistic about Spa. There’s no temperature range they can’t work the tires in now, and the car is back to utilizing less rear wing than RB, which will be a huge advantage at Spa. They’ll keep understanding the upgrades better until the next package goes on in Zandvoort.

Thankfully Bottas can make up places there.

[Marty_Y]

P2 for Hamilton. Shame it had to be at Seb’s expense, but those 2 points mean it’s an 8-point lead heading into the summer break.

P2 is ok I suppose given the circumstances, but I still feel disappointed given the pace the car had, Lewis should have won the race easily. Got to give credit to Alonso for some great defence and wheel to wheel action, it was a brilliant move from Lewis to take the position from him in the end.

There's no point being too disappointed though, it could have been worse.

It’s all relative though. Gap could’ve been bigger had he won (by 7 points, assuming the DSQ stands).

But if they finished in the starting order, or Max would’ve claimed P2, Hamilton would be either leading by just a few points or trailing by 1 still.

Best thing from today is that the car is really starting to come to life!

Totally, I was thinking the same after I posted that, I guess I was just a bit disappointed that Lewis didn't get his 100th win but as you said if he had won and Max came second he wouldn't have the lead in the drivers championship.

It's a shame he didn't get the chance to beat Max on the track because it just gives the Red Bull Honda trolls an excuse to act bitter and twisted, and make out that it is all luck or some kind of elaborate conspiracy against Max or cheating in some way etc.

Not just today but the whole weekend the W12 has shown massive improvements in loads of areas like using the softer compound tyres effectively in qualifying, following and overtaking on a track which is considered to be the second hardest to overtake on, operating well in different temperatures including hot conditions, and just generally having great pace.

I was reading this article https://www.bbc.co.uk/sport/formula1/58050498

Another bad sign for Red Bull is that for the first time since the Spanish Grand Prix in early May, Mercedes had a clear performance advantage in Hungary.

To make their car balanced and driveable, Red Bull had to take off rear downforce and run a smaller rear wing, something a team would never normally do in Hungary, where what's wanted is as much downforce as possible.

Mercedes expect this will be a one-off. But there is no doubt that an upgrade introduced by Mercedes in Silverstone has moved them forward, and at the same time Red Bull seem to have lost the prodigious straight-line speed seen in France and the two races in Austria. Mercedes do not understand this, as they have not added any more power.

The bit about Mercedes saying they have not added any more power intrigues me because James Allison said that there's a bit more to come from the power unit, so if they are telling the truth and they haven't added more power yet and it's not just that the car is more aerodynamically efficient is the performance coming from better deployment?

It's good to be going into the summer break with the lead back in both championships and the W12 looking like a race winner again.

[zibby43]

P2 is ok I suppose given the circumstances, but I still feel disappointed given the pace the car had, Lewis should have won the race easily. Got to give credit to Alonso for some great defence and wheel to wheel action, it was a brilliant move from Lewis to take the position from him in the end.

There's no point being too disappointed though, it could have been worse.

It’s all relative though. Gap could’ve been bigger had he won (by 7 points, assuming the DSQ stands).

But if they finished in the starting order, or Max would’ve claimed P2, Hamilton would be either leading by just a few points or trailing by 1 still.

Best thing from today is that the car is really starting to come to life!

Totally, I was thinking the same after I posted that, I guess I was just a bit disappointed that Lewis didn't get his 100th win but as you said if he had won and Max came second he wouldn't have the lead in the drivers championship.

It's a shame he didn't get the chance to beat Max on the track because it just gives the Red Bull Honda trolls an excuse to act bitter and twisted, and make out that it is all luck or some kind of elaborate conspiracy against Max or cheating in some way etc.

Not just today but the whole weekend the W12 has shown massive improvements in loads of areas like using the softer compound tyres effectively in qualifying, following and overtaking on a track which is considered to be the second hardest to overtake on, operating well in different temperatures including hot conditions, and just generally having great pace.

I was reading this article https://www.bbc.co.uk/sport/formula1/58050498

Another bad sign for Red Bull is that for the first time since the Spanish Grand Prix in early May, Mercedes had a clear performance advantage in Hungary.

To make their car balanced and driveable, Red Bull had to take off rear downforce and run a smaller rear wing, something a team would never normally do in Hungary, where what's wanted is as much downforce as possible.

Mercedes expect this will be a one-off. But there is no doubt that an upgrade introduced by Mercedes in Silverstone has moved them forward, and at the same time Red Bull seem to have lost the prodigious straight-line speed seen in France and the two races in Austria. Mercedes do not understand this, as they have not added any more power.

The bit about Mercedes saying they have not added any more power intrigues me because James Allison said that there's a bit more to come from the power unit, so if they are telling the truth and they haven't added more power yet and it's not just that the car is more aerodynamically efficient is the performance coming from better deployment?

It's good to be going into the summer break with the lead back in both championships and the W12 looking like a race winner again.

Totally agree about missing out on number 100. It would’ve been nice to get that 9th Hungary GP win, too. He’ll be booed mercilessly in Belgium if he picks up 100 there, but I’m sure he’ll soak it up haha.

Good point about the ability to use the softer compounds. That’s huge for quali.

Thanks for including that excerpt. That’s very interesting indeed as we keep getting little hints that Merc have maybe unlocked something there. The new aero package has definitely helped with efficiency, too.

[Just_a_fan]

The bit about Mercedes saying they have not added any more power intrigues me because James Allison said that there's a bit more to come from the power unit, so if they are telling the truth and they haven't added more power yet and it's not just that the car is more aerodynamically efficient is the performance coming from better deployment?

I think it's driveability and improved deployment rather than additional headline horsepower.

[SiLo]

The bit about Mercedes saying they have not added any more power intrigues me because James Allison said that there's a bit more to come from the power unit, so if they are telling the truth and they haven't added more power yet and it's not just that the car is more aerodynamically efficient is the performance coming from better deployment?

I think it's driveability and improved deployment rather than additional headline horsepower.

Potentially just able to use "more" of the available maximum power of the engine.

[Jolle]

The bit about Mercedes saying they have not added any more power intrigues me because James Allison said that there's a bit more to come from the power unit, so if they are telling the truth and they haven't added more power yet and it's not just that the car is more aerodynamically efficient is the performance coming from better deployment?

I think it's driveability and improved deployment rather than additional headline horsepower.

Potentially just able to use "more" of the available maximum power of the engine.

Good chance, after they were able to examine the first batch of power units, they found that they were not on the limit yet.
So far since the beginning of this hybrid era, the engine penalty of all the Mercedes cars are counted on one hand, so they are very conservative.

[ringo]

The bit about Mercedes saying they have not added any more power intrigues me because James Allison said that there's a bit more to come from the power unit, so if they are telling the truth and they haven't added more power yet and it's not just that the car is more aerodynamically efficient is the performance coming from better deployment?

I think it's driveability and improved deployment rather than additional headline horsepower.

Potentially just able to use "more" of the available maximum power of the engine.

Remember last year engine modes were limited to 1 mode per weekend. I think they compromised and found an inbetween power level thats good for qualifying and race. It may be possible theyre pushing the unit now to get back closer to one of their qualy modes from last year. The engine probably has some realiability related upgrades,... or because of their data. they know the engines can last on higher power.

[SiLo]

I think it's driveability and improved deployment rather than additional headline horsepower.

Potentially just able to use "more" of the available maximum power of the engine.

Remember last year engine modes were limited to 1 mode per weekend. I think they compromised and found an inbetween power level thats good for qualifying and race. It may be possible theyre pushing the unit now to get back closer to one of their qualy modes from last year. The engine probably has some realiability related upgrades,... or because of their data. they know the engines can last on higher power.

Yeah it won't be until a good way into the season that the teams will really understand how much further they can push the engine. Real world use is just so different to the test bed.

[Marty_Y]

I think it's driveability and improved deployment rather than additional headline horsepower.

Potentially just able to use "more" of the available maximum power of the engine.

Remember last year engine modes were limited to 1 mode per weekend. I think they compromised and found an inbetween power level thats good for qualifying and race. It may be possible theyre pushing the unit now to get back closer to one of their qualy modes from last year. The engine probably has some realiability related upgrades,... or because of their data. they know the engines can last on higher power.

I think all of the above statements ring true.

I remember last year when the rule was changed to 1 power mode for qualification and race, that Toto said he spoke to HPP who said that their goal was to develop next year's PU to be robust enough to run the highest mode constantly or words to that effect. So as you say now that they have more real world data they're probably closer to achieving their goal.

I agree about driveability, channel 4 did a good side by side comparison of Mercedes and Red Bull's fastest qualification laps (which sadly I can't find on the internet to share, but here's one from sky which doesn't show the time lost and gained as well as the channel 4 one did, https://www.skysports.com/watch/video/s ... comparison) it shows how Mercedes gain time all through the lap because the car is more drivable.

And now that the W12 is more aerodynamically efficient it makes sense that the deployment can be used to better effect around the whole lap because not so much is being used up fighting drag.

[ab_f1]

Canal+ reporting George to Mercedes.

[selvam_e2002]

Best thing from today is that the car is really starting to come to life!

Yep, i will be interested to se how they do in spa, with 2 weeks to think about tweaks, and 2 weeks to implement them.

After seeing such strong qualifying performances at 2 very different circuits, I’m very optimistic about Spa. There’s no temperature range they can’t work the tires in now, and the car is back to utilizing less rear wing than RB, which will be a huge advantage at Spa. They’ll keep understanding the upgrades better until the next package goes on in Zandvoort.

Thankfully Bottas can make up places there.

confused... will they have another update in Zandvoort? Please confirm and if feasible share the article.

[LaplacesDemon]

The bit about Mercedes saying they have not added any more power intrigues me because James Allison said that there's a bit more to come from the power unit, so if they are telling the truth and they haven't added more power yet and it's not just that the car is more aerodynamically efficient is the performance coming from better deployment?

I think it's driveability and improved deployment rather than additional headline horsepower.

I agree - driveability and deployment were their main PU issues in pre season and early races. It is reasonable to expect this is where they made the biggest progress as these problems were addressed.

There are other ways of improving the PU that do not involve hardware changes and do not result in an increase in power such as increasing the fluid temps and running smaller rads and closing up the bodywork.

[ringo]

Canal+ reporting George to Mercedes.

Hmmm maybe that's why he was crying after scoring points. That may have been the condition for him to get a contract. Bottas screwed himself. The crash did help the team.. but it also helped Williams get points.