Supposedly, according to Italian news, Sainz going to Mercedes for two years. Supposedly again, done deal, while young Antonelli is supposed to learn his trade at Williams. https://www.gazzetta.it/Formula-1/12-04-2024/carlos-sainz-va-alla-mercedes-f1.shtml Rgds
And now a report is that Max has been offered a big bucks contract at Mercedes. Which one is ending up at the Star?
Max would be an absolute fool to leave RB. He did his time building a team, now lets maximize the results.
Mercedes has shown in the last 10 years they are nothing without an overpowered engine. The chassis issues they had remain until today, they didn't solve it, only overcame it with engine superiority. They've lost people left right and center. RBR is the first one to have their engine fired up of all teams. As it stands are the 2026 engine rules accepted? Since it'll likely be extremely rubbish anyways? And as far as I can tell the engines will actually be simpler vs today.
The same report that Newey is headed to Ferrari. This whole Max is leaving and Newey is leaving because of all the so called drama happening at RedBull is quite the story to tell from the journo's. I'll believe it when I see it....until then, it's just a story and bunch of talk really.
Disagree. Mercedes had great chassis from 13'-20'. Aldo Costa designed them. Often, it wasn't just engine superiority they had over the competition, but aerodynamic as well. Their cars were balanced and on rails during that era. Newey did build some turds in that era. It wasn't all Renaults fault. But after Aldo Costa left in 19', it was all down hill slowly but surely. They didn't have to develop the car during the covid 20' season and were able to run on the fumes Costa had left behind for them. By 21', when Red Bull finally had a good engine in Honda, and it was Allison by himself, it was clear Costa had been carrying the teams car design, and that they were in trouble. Thrown in Andy Cowell and Paddy Lowe leaving, and it becomes obvious that trio held Mercedes technical department together
How long did Ferrari go without a title. No shock Mercedes are not successful for years now. Nothing new its racing. Teams, people change, move and regs change. Then we have change on the grid etc.
Both Max and Newey are under contract...no changes happened so far, so neither can leave. It's all the dumb f'in media out-clickbaiting each other
It's evident that the best indididuals in a dominating group become very much in demand after a while. Unable to muster their own talent pool, rivals have no alternative than poaching them. That happens in business, industry, or even F1, and isn't a surprise.
I agree for the most part. May I add that Mercedes had the luxury of building relatively inefficient cars with "dirty" aero. Meaning the cars made great downforce but the drag penalty was not that much of a factor due to the superior PU's.
The Mercedes cars didn't really suffer from aero drag during that era. I think people just assume that. Ferrari pulled near even with Mercedes in power during 17' and 18'. Where they were inferior was in chassis balance. They were competitive over short stints and qualifying, but would get outclassed by Mercedes on older tires often. Costa simply understood tire degradation on a high level. He came from the school of Byrne and Newey in that he didn't care about single lap pace at all, and was willing to sacrifice it. It was Costa who was the real brains behind Mercedes chassis having long pace awesomeness.
Engage your brain for a moment, clearly I am talking about pre 2022 when they had stupid amount of power advantage.
I would think the aero advantage is about .4 to .6 over the field. Same as last year no matter how 'close' the mid pack boredom is. Nothing is changing up front. Ferrari have 1 big upgrade and even Sainz is saying if effective, it wont be enough.
Field (well Ferrari and Mclaren) are a lot closer this year vs last. No restrictions in upgrading. In fact, RB has least amount of time available to upgrade, so no excuses from the rest.
My thoughts exactly, and thats not even factoring in the tire deg advantage. No wonder why Prost is saying Max championships has less value.
