Mercedes F1

I think your estimate is pessimistic. Solar power can be harvested even when the sun don't shine (although it's reduced).
As long as there is sunlight, there is energy to be obtained. Also, progress is made in energy storage.
In future, buildings will be designed by energy engineers and the whole construction concept will have to change.
They will take advantage of the maximum of surfaces (roofs, walls, footpaths) to harvest solar energy, then store it underground , where waste water will also be recycled. This will happen for housing and industrial buildings.
It's a good effort for Mercedes to adapt to new technologies.

 

Well, in California, they are reverse engineering this whole "green" energy. Buy the EV's first, then we'll figure out how to charge the vehicles.

Currently, they've told people with EV's not to charge and run appliances because of HEAT(ambient temperature) which drains the energy grid hence blackouts and brownouts in California.

The government needs to pump in TRILLIONS just to update the energy grid in California......yeah.....well done!!

 

Yep, the technology is OK, but badly served by the infrastructure; it's the same here.
That's why there are individual initiatives from large companies to produce their own energy for office complex, etc ... like Mercedes is doing.
Once more it's the power to be that's a fault, because campaigning to built reliable energy sources isn't sexy enough for the electorate.

 

Huge f*ck up by Mercedes. It would be a 2nd and 3rd easily.

 

Absolutely...winning the race on pace (i.e George overtaking Max) was never going happen...
Lewis very right to be pissed off...

 

Hard to find other teams numbers. Mercedes are always published. If others have numbers be nice to see those.

https://www.autosport.com/f1/news/2021-mercedes-financial-numbers-reflect-painful-f1-cost-cap/10381567/

2021 Mercedes financial numbers reflect "painful" F1 cost cap
Newly released financial numbers from the Mercedes Formula 1 team reflect the impact of the first year of what Toto Wolff called a "painful" cost cap in 2021.

By: Adam Cooper
Oct 8, 2022, 12:49 PM
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The overall spending of Mercedes-Benz Grand Prix Limited fell from £324.9m in 2020 to £297.4m last year, despite the calendar being extended from 17 to 22 races as the impact of COVID faded.

While many elements included in the overall total do not come under the cap, the drop in spending of £27.4m reflects how the team had to adjust to the new era of cutting costs.

It also contributed to an overall increase in profits, from £13m in 2020 to £68.8m in 2021.

The other key element in the profit hike was an increase in turnover, meaning sponsorship and F1 prize money income, went from £355.3m to £383.3m.

Parent company Mercedes-Benz AG did not have to make a financial contribution, reflecting just how much income the team is generating.

Mercedes does however still provide finance to the separate HPP organisation from which the F1 team in turn buys its power units.

In another indication of how the cost cap has had an impact, the overall headcount at Mercedes-Benz Grand Prix tumbled in 2021. It rose from 1016 staff in 2019 to 1063 in 2020, the last year without a cap – when most F1 teams invested heavily before the restrictions came in.

In 2021, with the cap now applied, it fell back again to 1004.

However, more significant than the overall fall was the drop in the number of people employed in design and engineering – those who fall directly under the cap. Having risen by 34 in 2020, it was slashed by 75 last year, from 906 to 831.

In contrast, the total of those employed in administration, not restricted by the cap, rose from 157 to 173 in 2021.

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Mechanics work on the George Russell Mercedes W13 in the garage

Photo by: Steve Etherington / Motorsport Images

That was boosted by extra human resources, legal and accounts staff members, many of whom were hired to help the team deal with the extra work created by monitoring and administering the cap.

Wolff said that meeting the cap in 2021 had been "painful", but that ultimately it helped to increase the profitability of the organisation.

"What has happened in F1 is that by setting a spending limit on the largest part of the cost centres in the team, we had to restructure and change our processes, make people redundant, unfortunately also, to fit into the cost cap," Wolff told Autosport.

"Which is particularly painful if you hear the discussions of teams not having done that.

"As an organisation that was spending on engineering, in order to achieve the best performance, and suddenly needing a structure that needs to analyse from the moment of purchase throughout the production, the logistics and then deployment on the car, and setting priorities of what you give to the car, that's super painful and difficult.

"The advantage is that, like the US [sports] franchises, we've set the spending limit, we've excluded support areas.

"So the support areas still needed to grow vastly in order to support the organisation with the cost cap. But the bottom line, if you've been successful on track with the TV money, sponsorship is basically going directly into your margins. And that has happened in the US.

"The bottom line pays for itself, because we can't spend more than that. We grow costs in the support areas.

"The cost cap has been restructuring-wise such a painful exercise, but financially it has changed the business model from to a lightly profitable company, or just profitable company, into a business with a 25% EBIT [earnings before interest and tax] margin."

Wolff said the headcount for the administration side of the company has grown even further in 2022.

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Toto Wolff, Team Principal and CEO, Mercedes AMG

Photo by: Simon Galloway / Motorsport Images

"This is pre-empting 22 accounts, but we have 30 people more in finance, we have eight people more in legal, we have 50 heads more in marketing, communication, sponsorship, all of that, to administer the cost cap."

Wolff cited one example of how while previously a senior engineer would interview job candidates, now that is done by an HR specialist, allowing the engineer – who comes under the cap – to focus all their efforts on their main role.

"Imagine the hiring process. An engineer in the past would hire a candidate or would interview candidates. First of all, you can't afford it [in terms of their time.]

"But the other thing is, we don't know if we can afford it financially. So they need to link back with HR, and HR needs to link back with finance, and say we need another head that's costing us £45,000 a year. Can we afford it?"

Like other top teams, Mercedes has shifted many F1 people into non-racing projects.

"In applied science, we have America's Cup, and we have various other projects on performance engineering," Wolff added.

"We don't want to be an engineering boutique that offers service to the industry. It's really about records, wherever wants to be - records on land, sea, air and space, this is an area for us."

 

An interesting description of his experience with the car. Crazy car lol!

https://www.autosport.com/f1/news/hamilton-finding-limit-of-mercedes-like-creeping-up-behind-a-kicking-horse/10390919/

Hamilton: Finding limit of Mercedes F1 car like creeping up behind a kicking horse
Lewis Hamilton has likened trying to find the limit of his Mercedes Formula 1 car to the uncertainty of creeping up behind a horse that could kick you.


By: Jonathan Noble , NobleF1
Oct 27, 2022, 4:14 PM
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The seven-time world champion has endured a difficult 2022 campaign with the Mercedes W13, which has suffered from excessive bouncing and a lack of performance.

Hamilton has described the car as the most ‘unpredictable’ of his career, and says the experience of taming it has been a challenge.

Speaking in an interview with selected media, including Autosport, looking back at the 2022 season, Hamilton said of the car: “I described it to my engineers: imagine if you are creeping up behind a horse and you’re trying to get as close as possible, what’s the breaking point before it kicks you in the face? And you know it’s going to hurt when it hits your face.

“That’s one of the best ways I can say what it’s like, when you’re trying to lean on the car and it’s snapping and unrecoverable. And this car, it’s random.”

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Lewis Hamilton, Mercedes W13

Photo by: Erik Junius

Hamilton said that he knew from the very first test with the car before the start of the season that things were not going to be easy – but he had hoped the team would get on top of things quicker than it did.

“I had a feeling when I first drove the car. But you can never say no, and you can never say never,” he said. “Maybe we would have fixed it by the first race. Who knows?

“It’s sometimes difficult to know how long it’s going to take to fix those things. Plus, I’d never had bouncing like that.

"I didn’t expect the guys to take as long. They didn’t expect it to take as long as it’s taken them to understand what’s causing the bouncing. They’ve had to create new tools, all these things we didn’t have before.

"You just hold on to hope. And then the next upgrade comes and it doesn’t work, and the next one comes and doesn’t work. Imagine people that are building those things and they are seeing performance in the windtunnel but they are not seeing it on the track. Ah Jesus, you just keep getting knocked back down.

“But what doesn’t kill you makes you stronger, and we’re still standing tall. It’s not going to be easy to change the car into a leading car for next year but I think we have a much better understanding in why the car is the way it is.”

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Lewis Hamilton, Mercedes W13

Photo by: Zak Mauger / Motorsport Images

While the extreme bouncing of Mercedes has been a key factor in holding Mercedes back, Hamilton says there were several factors at play to explain the lack of performance compared to Ferrari and Red Bull.

“It’s been a bunch of different things from the get-go,” he said. “Bouncing was the one that’s most visible.

"Stiffness, global stiffness of the car, to the point that the suspension is pretty useless. Stiffer than the tyres. The tyres are then squashing and bouncing, so we’re bouncing on the tyres as well.

“And then aero characteristics. Drag is a huge problem for us. When we get past a certain speed that’s when other people are pulling away.

“It’s when you brake and the front dips and the rear comes up and the aero transferring during that period and when you get on the power. It’s different between low and high-speed. There are so many problems.

“That’s why literally I have tried everything. I’ve tried every setting you can possibly do. That’s what I was doing at the beginning of the year.

“The whole idea of performing at your best and getting the best result each weekend, of course that would be nice but I was really about problem solving. So: 'I will sacrifice this session or all the sessions to be able to find more data and information for you.' So that when we go back to the factory they’ve got a better understanding of what’s going on. But it ultimately hindered some of the weekends.”

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George Russell, Mercedes W13

Photo by: Erik Junius

That willingness to experiment over the season also played a part in the dynamics between Hamilton and team-mate George Russell – who enjoyed several stand out qualifying and race performances.

Asked about a shift of competitiveness in the team, Hamilton said: “George is doing a great job. I don’t have any problems with it. There’s no issues in the background with us.

“George, I would say, and his team, they don’t experiment the same, obviously. But that’s because I’ve been here for a long time, so I’m willing to take these risks.

“I have the big, deep conversations with people I’ve been with for 10 years. So, me and Shov [Andrew Shovlin] can have arguments, constructive arguments.

“George, it’s his first year with the team so he’s come in and he’s just doing his job to the best of his ability. Very little movement of setup. I’m doing all the leg-work, back and forth here and there, different wings, all these different things and I like that anyway.

“If we come into next year and we have a car that we are much happier with, then we can be more focussed on that whole… not having to go crazy with setups. Then we can have a better battle.

“If he finishes ahead at the end of the season, I don’t really feel anything about it; we’re not in the championship. We are fourth and sixth. Now, if it was first and second, it’s different.”

 

Translation:

Short chat with a Mercedes technician who made me understand how they risked compromising 2023 to try to understand a project that, at one point, they believed was simply wrong. Confirm that the TD39 helped them.

Tweet

— Twitter API (@user) date

 

What a surprise!
And the next year floor rules will help them more you bet ?

 

Mercedes wants to wait for a "quiet time over the winter" to hammer out a fresh Formula 1 contract with Lewis Hamilton.

 

Mercedes have already decided to keep Hamilton for some time.

Otherwise they would already be on the look-out for a replacement.

 

I'll say a lot about Toto, but he gets results for his team. He runs the Mercedes F1 team like a business, ruthlessly looking for any way to improve his teams competitiveness on and off the track, because that's what you have to put your drivers in a position to win.

Mercedes and Red Bull are serious people. They use the value of what they bring to F1 as leverage in lobbying with the FIA, just as Todt and Luca used to do back in the day when Ferrari had serious leadership. With Todt there was the subtle threat of "Ferrari must be occasionally accommodated, or else it might reconsider its participation in F1". Horner and Marko openly threatened to withdraw from F1 if there wasn't an engine freeze, and you know what? They got their way.

Ferrari have no such leadership. They've got the goth kid from South Park and a dude with a wardrobe from the 80's leading them.

 

Results change everything.

If Hamilton doesn't perform, he'll be phased out in a way that makes it look like his decision. If he's unable to win a race next year, and Leclerc nabs another few wins for Ferrari, then Mercedes will definitely consider forming a super team of Leclerc-Russell to get back on top.

 

+1

 

Leclerc may not be ripe for picking as early as next year; he needs more punishment at Ferrari to make up his mind, IMO

His management team must be watching closely Audi and Porsche; they could become alternative to Mercedes within a few years.

So there is probably no need to be hasty. Staying on people"s wish list is what matters for Leclerc.

 

Indeed. Audi and Porsche-Williams could be viable for Leclerc if the Ferrari incompetence and disrespect continue.

Why stay at Ferrari making $10-12 million for heartbreak, when you can make $20 million at Audi or Porsche to help build a team, and if it doesn't work out, they'll move you to their LMDh program?

 

Fernando? Is that you?

 

I wish.

Loved that dude in a Ferrari.

 

Yes, but his plan of quitting Ferrari to build a new team and then do endurance didn't work as planned exactly. A faux pas, IMO, he should not have lept into the unknown.

He got richer though.

 

2012 broke Alonso. He wasn't the same after that. He drove his heart out and showed he was the best, but Ferrari let him down in those early races with where the car was, and he never got over it or forgave the team for it, imho.

 

I don't think so. In 2013 he still could have won if FIA hadn't changed the tyres mid season. It was 2014, everybody had high expectation because of the rule change but it flopped.

Anyway, I think Alonso was neither smart nor honest when he left Ferrari. He had just agreed to a longer contract in exchange of a bigger salary, just to back-pedal a year later: dude, if you weren´t sure you just had to accept the shorter, worse paid deal. Montezemolo could have retained him, but let him go: probably both regretted that. I still think Alonso was badly advised by his management (and Briatore?), more interested in their % of the deal than in securing a good seat.

 

Didn't he get into conflict with the techical team that cost the job of a few engineers?

 

Purely out of safety concerns.

Gee, really?

He is also under contract.

+1 probably true. Effing Flav, what a lizard.

 

100% agree, why the Management at Ferrari allowed TD39 to hurt the car instead of MBZ having to adjust as the others is besides me. I remember Todt going insane in 2003 over the Michelin tires expansion, and protesting the results if something was not done, which the FIA did do and it hurt Williams and McLaren for the rest of the season. Binotto might be a great Engineer, but does not seem to have the Backbone to stand up to the FIA.

 

I think the fact that he also lost a 50+ points lead through no fault of his own, by being taken out at two races by Kimi and Romain in Lotus-Renaults certainly didn't help. I agree that the Ferrari strategy in 2010 at the last race cost him the Championship that year. The fact that the Strategist were covering Webber instead of Seb, says it all. Although if it has been MS in that Ferrari, he would have taken out Vitaly from blocking him instead of settling for the finishing position that cost him a Championship.