2023 Mercedes-AMG | Petronas F1 Team

[Jozsusz]

So it starts off, 1-0 for Russell over Hamilton.

Very impressive from Mr Saturday after looking well off all weekend, his race sim was also much stronger than Hamilton's yesterday. I expect him to kick on from last season and dominate Lewis this year.

xD ok

[dialtone]

HAM v VER


* Top speed is pretty similar.
* Acceleration out of T1 is questionable, I know they said traction but it seems more than that. I think it's confirmed in the backstraight after T10, you can see the speed line is simply less steep than the RBR, below 160+kph the only thing that matters is the engine, then above 260kph drag from the wing allows Merc to catch up.
* This lap HAM struggled just about every corner and fast speed in particular.

[organic]

Bullish from George. Seems they think they found something good with setup

[Hammerfist]

So the gap is really closer to 0.4 sec. You cant compare Merc's only lap to RB's final laps as the track was ramping up. So they are a little closer than they were last year, but not close enough. I really didn't want to see the zero pod concept, thought they would have gone even slightly in a different direction. It seems that is coming in with the rumoured B spec car, but the others aren't going to stand still. After listening to Toto it seems that they are reevaluating again. I don't know what I would do if I were them, if they ditch the concept now and start over it will hold them back for sure and make it probably impossible to catchup. Their only hope is that their concept has a higher ceiling than the others, just as they thought, but there is just no evidence of it. Their concept was supposed to yield the most downforce but from what I see so far this year, they don't generate as much downforce as Redbull, Ferrari or Aston Martin. Remains to be seen what the race will be like. They had good tire wear last year, why wouldn't they have that this year? We also need a few more races to find out what is really going on. I have a feeling the AM is a Bahrain special and other tracks will start highlighting its deficiencies but I could be wrong. All in all a very disappointing start of the sesason for the silver arrows, no way around it.

[Sofa King]

Last year, Merc’s average gap to pole improved from 0.93% over the first three races to 0.61% over the last three. This year they are starting at 0.72%. On race pace, they were about 0.66% back and ended up around 0.4% back with one race win.

I don’t think anyone see Merc winning either championship this year, but if they show a similar improvement in race pace tomorrow that they had in qualifying (~0.2%), so about 4 tenths of a second back (which is where Toto said they are), then they could pull off a few more wins this year with similar development as last year, but a much more stable platform. They should have more room to improve than the other top three teams, but we’ll see

[F1DataAnalysis]

Merc only 319 with that rear-wing wtf

That's wrong. F1 app showed HAM hitting 323kph and Russell hitting 322kph.

My values are relative to the best lap only (the most representative for performance)
The app shows the highest in the session

[dialtone]

Merc only 319 with that rear-wing wtf

That's wrong. F1 app showed HAM hitting 323kph and Russell hitting 322kph.

My values are relative to the best lap only (the most representative for performance)
The app shows the highest in the session

That's still 323 v 321 though I posted the telemetry from Q3 best laps.

[harty71]

Bullish from George. Seems they think they found something good with setup

Russell positive as always, he had the best race pace out of the pair in their long runs so knows he's in with a shout, I don't think it will be good enough to beat Alonso but we shall see.

[Spoutnik]

Good summary

[harty71]

Good summary

So not in a better position then.

[zeroday]

Good summary

So not in a better position then.

technically, with AMR in the picture that would actually signify it as a worse position than last year.

[harty71]

Good summary

So not in a better position then.

technically, with AMR in the picture that would actually signify it as a worst position.

Exactly, especially given the strength of Alonso's race pace, I think they will be battling for 4th this season.

[DGP123]

Awful summary.

There in no man’s land again. RB dominating, Alonso picking off Ferrari on Sunday’s, and then Merc essentially picking up the crumbs. Reliability again, could be key to pick up the odd podium here or there

[abedfo]

AM will drop off in the development race.

[ringo]

Surprising to see Mercedes so far back, I really expected them to do better. Floor isn't doing well enough, even if the car is low enough and has no bouncing. If they truly do away completely with slim sides, will be interesting to see how much they gain a few races later, it always takes some time to get to know the new car spec.

I think they are stuck. Mid wing wont have much use with a bluff sidepod.
They may have to remove it.. but it's where the SIS are.. so I am not sure what can be done. It's a headache.
The other options is to do their hybrid pods and somehow do a better floor and diffuser.