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Specifically graining on hards. Norris was told Verstappen had graining on his hards as well (they told him that after their seconds pitstops to calm him).AR3-GP wrote: ↑08 Mar 2026, 11:37It was tires. They asked Lando if he thought he could go to the end on mediums just before the final stop. He replied sarcastically that he was chewing through the hards so medium could be a problem._cerber1 wrote: ↑08 Mar 2026, 11:32Something strange happened in the middle of the race. And it doesn't look like it's related to the tires.
https://ibb.co/GvNbRTtm
https://www.planetf1.com/news/lando-nor ... tralian-gp“[It’s] way too much. It’s chaos,”
“There’s gonna be a big accident, which is a shame that you’re kind of driving, and we’re the ones just waiting for something to happen and something to go quite horribly wrong, and that’s not a nice position to be in.
“There’s nothing we can really do about that now. So, yeah, it’s a shame. It’s very artificial, depending on just what the power unit decides to do and randomly does at times.
“You just get overtaken by five cars, and you can do nothing about it sometimes.”“There’s nothing we can change about it, so there’s no point talking about it anymore,” he said.
“It’s just depending on what people do, you can have a 30, 40, or 50 kph speed. So when someone hits someone at that speed, you’re gonna fly, and you’re gonna go over the fence, and you’re gonna do a lot of damage to yourself and maybe to others.
“That’s a pretty horrible thing to think about.
“[But] that’s not my job. Of course, we’ll say what we need to say as drivers.
“Of course, some will be happier than others, and I understand that, of course, but, at the same time, it’s what we have, and we’ve [McLaren] clearly not done anywhere near as good a job as some other teams.
https://www.racefans.net/2026/03/08/pia ... ore-start/Oscar Piastri on the reason behind his crash in the reconnaissance lap:
"Essentially I had 100 kilowatts more power than I've had the whole weekend at the point that I shifted and when I shifted went into a wheel spin and given that I was on the curb already it was a combination of bad factors so obviously just very disappointed."
Its funny how the FIA set cfd and windtunnel alocatio s yet the pu manufacturer only delivers the newly developed pu at the start of the first race..._cerber1 wrote: ↑08 Mar 2026, 15:09The performance gap between Mercedes' customer teams is due to software differences and delays in the distribution of the latest engines.
Customer teams like McLaren, Williams, and Alpine only received their latest engines at the Australian Grand Prix, leaving them lagging behind in terms of performance.
CjC wrote: ↑08 Mar 2026, 15:03Sounds like there is A LOT to learn about the Merc PU as a customer.
The lacking deployment comments sound even less naive now.
https://www.gpblog.com/en/news/mercedes ... stralia-gp
Again, it’s encouraging that there is some low hanging fruit to be had from the PU it’s just how long will it take to figure it out?
Mercedes shafting their customers just like 2014. In my opinion it's going to be much harder with the open engine development for Mclaren to compete with Mercedes."The discussion with HPP about having more information has been going on for weeks because even in testing, we were pretty much going on track, running the car, looking at the data, and thinking, ‘Oh, that’s what we have. Good, now we react to what we have.’ That’s not how you work in Formula One," Stella revealed to GPblog.
This sounds like Mercedes HPP is doing bare minimum, providing the PU but not really sharing all the data to simulate it properly.CjC wrote: ↑08 Mar 2026, 15:03Sounds like there is A LOT to learn about the Merc PU as a customer.
The lacking deployment comments sound even less naive now.
https://www.gpblog.com/en/news/mercedes ... stralia-gp
Again, it’s encouraging that there is some low hanging fruit to be had from the PU it’s just how long will it take to figure it out?
It's exactly like 2014 right? When Mercedes was hiding the PU specs from Mclaren until the last moment. That's why Ron dropped them.FittingMechanics wrote: ↑08 Mar 2026, 15:25This sounds like Mercedes HPP is doing bare minimum, providing the PU but not really sharing all the data to simulate it properly.CjC wrote: ↑08 Mar 2026, 15:03Sounds like there is A LOT to learn about the Merc PU as a customer.
The lacking deployment comments sound even less naive now.
https://www.gpblog.com/en/news/mercedes ... stralia-gp
Again, it’s encouraging that there is some low hanging fruit to be had from the PU it’s just how long will it take to figure it out?
Cheeky from Mercedes. Other Mercedes customers should form a working group to speed up the learning process.
Thought it can't happen in 2026 but I guess here we are. Toto also talked they may drop a team as well.AR3-GP wrote: ↑08 Mar 2026, 15:26It's exactly like 2014 right? When Mercedes was hiding the PU specs from Mclaren until the last moment. That's why Ron dropped them.FittingMechanics wrote: ↑08 Mar 2026, 15:25This sounds like Mercedes HPP is doing bare minimum, providing the PU but not really sharing all the data to simulate it properly.CjC wrote: ↑08 Mar 2026, 15:03Sounds like there is A LOT to learn about the Merc PU as a customer.
The lacking deployment comments sound even less naive now.
https://www.gpblog.com/en/news/mercedes ... stralia-gp
Again, it’s encouraging that there is some low hanging fruit to be had from the PU it’s just how long will it take to figure it out?
Cheeky from Mercedes. Other Mercedes customers should form a working group to speed up the learning process.
Of course. That would only be natural for them to do so. I mean it would be completely unacceptable if produced the dominant PU after such tectonic Al regs change only then to allow McLaren beating them for the Title. McLaren were allowed to win only because Mercedes were not there in position to fight for the championship in 2022-2025.