Mercedes F1

I knew he was fast, but now he has polished his track manners and drives sensibly, I find.
It wasn't always the case before. His excuse is that he was thrown at the deep end still very young.
IMO, he is the best driver in F1 at the moment. I will stick my neck out and predict that he will be WDC this year again.

 

OH my watch the risk you are taking with such a prediction lol Fully agree. Unless RedBull lose the fizz in their drinks or car, they are on the road to fully wining both titles. They are fully sorted. Sure much can happen but with the lead and tracks upcoming, no one is close enough to threaten their pace. Will be a dominant win as we look back from the next season coming.

 

If I can put aside my irrational dislike of some individuals there, I think Red Bull is the team of the moment, and they have taken the wind of Mercedes' sail in remarkable fashion last year, and gone back to their 2010-2013 strength. This year they are against Ferrari, which proves to be as erratic as ever, although they have most of the ingredients to be winning.

 

https://www.autosport.com/f1/news/how-storm-eunice-delayed-mercedes-f1-porpoising-alarm/10352622/

How Storm Eunice delayed Mercedes' F1 porpoising alarm
Mercedes only got a full grasp of how severe its porpoising issues were in Formula 1 pre-season testing after Storm Eunice impacted its first 2022 car shakedown at Silverstone.

Mercedes gave its W13 car a maiden run-out at Silverstone back in February when the UK was being hit by Storm Eunice that had wind gusts reaching over 120mph, causing a number of travel networks to shut down.

George Russell described the wind on the day as being “absolutely crazy”, but it also had the impact of meaning Mercedes did not get a full picture of just how bad the porpoising problem would be until the first proper test in Barcelona.

Mercedes trackside engineering director Andrew Shovlin said that while the team had discussed potential issues with the return of ground effect, it had not “forecast the sort of mechanism that was actually troubling us.”

“When we were at Silverstone, it was the middle of a storm, we were in 70 mile an hour winds,” Shovlin told Autosport in an interview looking back on Mercedes’ season so far.

“You often start with a car quite high for shakedowns and things, just to avoid damaging it and then drop it later. And during that day, we did run the car at a normal ride, and started to see the issue.

“But it was only when we got to Barcelona that you could actually look at it properly on a reasonable circuit and start to understand what was happening.”

 

Setting the stage for The Return of the Prodigal Son. The perfect story for Liberty Media $$$$

 

is Toto hurting the Mercedes brand? in my eyes, YES.

 

See Mercedes 21 and 22 results financially. He is hurting nothing at all. Most folks DO NOT care about Mercedes F1 lol, thats the bottom line!
F1 is a luxury. Financial results are superb for Ferrari as an entity no matter how inept F1 team strategy is as well. Data is easily found.

 

If today did not show they need to stop with the 'no sidepod' concept - nothing will lol.

https://www.autosport.com/f1/news/wolff-unacceptable-mercedes-qualifying-my-worst-in-f1-for-10-years/10359128/

Wolff: 'Unacceptable' Mercedes qualifying my worst in F1 for 10 years
Mercedes boss Toto Wolff labelled his team’s performance in qualifying for the Belgian Grand Prix as unacceptable, and the worst he had experienced in Formula 1 for a decade.


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By: Jonathan Noble
Aug 27, 2022, 7:27 PM
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Just one race one on from George Russell’s shock pole position in Hungary, Mercedes has found itself unable to find answers as to why it is so far off the pace at Spa-Francorchamps.

On a weekend when grid penalties for a number of frontrunners have given Mercedes another good shot of going for the win, Lewis Hamilton and team-mate Russell ended up just seventh and eighth fastest.

But of more concern was the fact that Hamilton was a whopping 1.838 seconds slower than pace-setter Max Verstappen.

Wolff said that such a dramatic change in fortunes for Mercedes since Hungary was not something that sat easy with him.

“You can't be on pole three weeks before, albeit for very different conditions, different track, and then be 1.8 seconds off the pace at the next one,” he said. “So there's something which we totally don't understand, or seem to get right.

“Clearly, Red Bull is here in a league of their own, as the next Ferrari is eight tenths off. But that is no consolation.

“It's for me the worst qualifying session that I had in 10 years. And irrespective of what positions we're going to start tomorrow, being on pole the previous weekend and three weeks later being nowhere, it's just not acceptable for ourselves.”

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Lewis Hamilton, Mercedes W13

Photo by: Erik Junius

Hamilton, who will line up fourth on the grid thanks to cars that qualified ahead of him having engine change penalties, said he was struggling for an explanation as to what had gone wrong.

“I never thought it would be two seconds off. It is way, way worse than I thought,” he said.

“For sure, it doesn’t make sense but that’s it, we tried everything. I put everything on and put everything off, changed wings, changed set-up, I’ve done everything this weekend.

“I’ve tried a lot of things and it is surprising to see us [so far off]. Maybe they’ve moved forward, I don’t know if they’ve got upgrades or not but it is difficult.”

Read Also:

• Russell: Verstappen can comfortably win Belgian GP from 15th
• Leclerc: Ferrari Spa F1 qualifying tyre mistake was "no big deal"
• Verstappen: Not finishing on Belgian GP podium will be a "shame"

Wolff echoed that there had been no obvious answer for why Mercedes was so slow, as there were a number of factors coming in to play.

“I mean, if we would understand, we could tune it,” he said. “But the car is draggy in a straight line. Lewis said it was like dragging a parachute behind him.

“It is unstable on the rear. It understeers through [Turns] eight and nine. It bounces through the high-speed and gives no confidence.

“I mean, there is not a positive that I heard about how the car performs here this weekend and throughout the weekend. So I think now it's time to consolidate and decide what to do next year.”

 

Looks like Merc were maybe the ones bending the rules the most ref underfloor plank and the fia changes have backfired

 

So what Russell said this week was plain stupid ?

 

Yes. The audacity of mr ''letter of the law'', sushi-with-a-fork-eating thundertwat

 

Or just wishful thinking and hoping.

 

So better to say nothing because now he looks like a dumb guy..

 

He's been leading the charge on dumb statements all season. Was pushing hard for the FIA to interfere with porpoising and finally they got what they wanted. I mean look at this one from yesterday:

Yuki Tsunoda dangerous move on George Russell - YouTube

WTF is he on about?!

 

I guess frustrated to drive this Mercedes after waiting so many years and realizing this is not a dominant one ..

 

Tthe funny part is to see Merc falling apart now. For years they talked about how united the team is and that's their source of success. Now we have Lewis and Toto calling the car a ****box, lobbying the FIA for more rule changes (boy did that work). How long before individuals are named?

 

I do not see criticism of the car to be a show of disharmony in the team? The team certainly dont look uncomfortable... Quite different to the looks and body language of the Ferrari team for instance.... Which certainly does not look like a united team.

And what other rule apart from porpoising are merc pushing for?

Is this that rule where you thought the plank changes meant a floor rule change?
The same thing you have been moaning about for how many weeks? And still cant grasp the fact it was the fia that pushed it through and is more a rule clarification than a rule change and had nothing to do with merc? And was about the PLANK not the floor?

 

https://www.autosport.com/f1/news/hamilton-facing-f1-power-unit-grid-penalty-after-spa-collision/10360209/

Hamilton facing F1 power unit grid penalty after Spa collision
The power unit used by Lewis Hamilton in Formula 1's Belgian Grand Prix has been returned to Mercedes' powertrains base in Brixworth for inspection following his collision with Fernando Alonso.


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By: Adam Cooper
Aug 29, 2022, 4:58 PM
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If it has been damaged too much to be used again, the seven-time world champion will have to take a grid penalty in the near future.

Hamilton’s W13 landed heavily after he was launched when he made contact with Alonso on the first lap. Onboard footage from Alonso and other following cars showed fluid emerging from the back of the Mercedes, while Hamilton reported that he could feel damage.

The team studied the telemetry from the car and some 38 seconds after the impact he was told by his engineer Peter Bonnington, “Back off, no full load, part throttle, part throttle.”

Shortly after the impact, Bonnington urged Hamilton to park on the right side of the track. Hamilton continued slowly while looking for a place to pull up before responding to further requests to stop by switching off the power unit some 90 seconds after his hard landing.

Bonnington’s urgent messages and the smoke from the car suggested that all might not be well with the V6 after running without its coolant, even for a relatively short period.

A Mercedes spokesman confirmed to Motorsport.com that the power unit has been returned to Brixworth for examination and thus a verdict on whether it can be used again, noting that the health of the V6 was “definitely a concern.”

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Lewis Hamilton, Mercedes W13 crash with Fernando Alonso, Alpine A522

Hamilton had used only two V6s prior to taking his third of the year on Friday at Spa, so the example in question was almost brand new and thus expected to complete around seven race weekends - and potentially enable Hamilton to make it to the end of 2022 without further changes. Its loss from the pool will be costly.

Hamilton is also currently on the usage limit with his final MGU-K (also new in Spa), turbo, MGU-H, control electronics and energy store, and thus any further examples of those items will also trigger grid penalties.

The team says that his earlier power units are still operational. However they will have run a high mileage by now and typically teams save such engines for Friday practice, and Hamilton would clearly benefit from a fresh example for Monza.

Hamilton’s gearbox also took a hard hit when the car landed at Spa, and the gearbox carrier was cracked.

The internals are also subject to a damage inspection and, if they are no longer usable he will have to take a third set in Zandvoort. This will not trigger a penalty.

 

Change or suffer. Money May be also limiting factor!

Mercedes facing "difficult" situation over F1 car concept change for 2023
Mercedes has admitted that it is in a "difficult" spot in trying to come to a conclusion over whether it needs to change Formula 1 car concept for next year.

 

Ummmmm......that's a no-brainer.........of course Mercedes needs to change the concept of the car........just ask the 7x WDC title holder and his boss--->" It's undrivable!!!"


Just don't ask George Russell.

 

Self-inflicted wound.

 

I’m certain Russell would prefer wins than Diva car based podiums lol

 

Rather obvious but mega try points for the concept lol. How quickly would Stroll copy it if it was winning??

 

Mercedes' £6 million F1 energy bill prompts solar farm plan
Mercedes is planning to invest in a solar farm to help deliver electricity to its Formula 1 factory, amid the ongoing energy price crisis in the United Kingdom.

 

The solar farm will probably deliver 5% (IF that) of the total electricity. They need 20 soccer stadium sized solar farms to deliver at least 50% of the electricity. Then what about when it isn't sunny....is there a fall back plan??---> staying hooked up to the power grid (nuclear or coal).