Have Mercedes thrown in the towel on the 2021 season?

What we are seeing here is how the effects of the budget cap start to bite.

Mercedes had one of the highest budgets in F1, with almost unlimited resources.

Adapting to a reduced budget must be a hard reality call for Toto Wolff.

Only recently he had to turn down a testing session for the team on financial ground.

 

I think Merc is worried that Ferrari is spending almost all of this year on car development for next year. So the answer is -- unless RB F's up or blows up, they will throw in the towel.

And my guess is this will pissoff Hamilton and he may quit.

 

Agree with both of the above. Mercedes has been up against this situation before with Ferrari...while it looks grim for them now I wouldn't count them out just yet. If two races post summer break things haven't improved then for sure its done. One Verstappen DNF Hamilton P1 and this is back to par. Still a lot of laps to go and this is the normal ebbs and flows of a long season

 

They were competitive at Paul Ricard and there are still many circuits that will suit them better than the Red Bull Ring. They would be wrong if they gave it up now, IMO.

 

Toto stated no giving up. Simply stopped significant updates. Will make maximum results with this package.

 

All teams have to manage to the budget cap. Even redbull. No way Merc are throwing in the towel yet. But they better start getting wins pronto or it’s game over 2021.

 

Exactly. Anyone believing the vomit coming from Toto's mouth...I've got a bridge to sell you.

 

Even Haas is trying to get the most from what they have, despite being the last ones and penniless, but I think that Mercedes' situation is different.

 

Mercedes and Red Bull where desperately close to each other in Paul Ricard. No way are they simply giving up after being solidly beaten by 1 car of their main rivals in 1 race.

This is purely one of their ''win/win'' statements they've made over the past 8 years. By saying this, if they lose the title, they'll simply state it was an error stopping development so early. If they win the title, they managed to win it ''without developing''.

Can't lose.

 

AMuS

According to sources at Mercedes, only small things will be added to the car before the summer break. Things that already completed their final wind tunnel loop a few weeks ago. After that there won't be any upgrades, all engineers are fully working on the 2022 car.

 

It is simply more cost effective for Mercedes to stop development of the current car and use their FIA truncheon to slow down the opposition i.e. inconsistent enforcement of track limits, flexing rear wings, setting minimum pit stop times("safety" concerns). What happened to the investigation of Mercedes front wings? What rubbish.

 

Mercedes are a very public team with information. Pit and paddock observation is quick to see new things. At this point in the season most teams are now slowly moving to the next new car. This era is ending. They all have plans. The difference in shifting to the new car will be small amounts of time. Not months.

 

No, they haven´t, but TOTO will try to makes us believe so...

 

This is a classic in sports - when you're behind, fake an injury, say you wanted to preserve your energy for another day, say it was your mistakes, not the other guy's superior performance and effort. Red Bull starts to win? First, try to get the bosses to make rule changes to see if that irritates them. When that doesn't work, and they get even better, just say you've quit for the year anyway, so of course they'll win.

I don't have a dog in the fight (and own a MBZ, so I financially support them in a really small way lol) but there are top tier athletes out there in several sports that resort to this BS every time someone starts to beat them. Can't blame yourself? Blame the track, blame the refs, blame the sun or rain or wind. Don't give credit to the other guy, it was you who let yourself down. It's narcissistic at best, sour grapes at worst. Not the greatest tragedy, but not being able to own up to someone just doing better lessens the person who doesn't own it IMHO.

 

Yeah, it looks like the Hamilton abd Mercedes haters have been doing all that for years on this forum.

 

VERY good comeback.

Kevin

 

Any little error by Mercedes is fun to watch (as a Ferrari fan, even though we're not quite up with RB and MB this year) especially after such an incredible string of wins/titles and almost unhuman lack of breakdowns by HAM's car. This is the first string of 4 races where Mercedes hasn't won a race in the entire Hybrid era over 7 years. FINALLY!

 

To his credit, Hamilton wants more bullets fired and to beat Red Bull, which is great because he hates to lose, as do all great competitors. I don't know how I'd feel if my team tossed in the towel...The more F1 tinkers with the regs, rules and finances, the harder it is to just have racing. They could have looked at some of the salary caps used in other spots, perhaps creating a system of penalties or shared resources for some of the development? Not sure what might work best, but I can think of at least a few ways to get around a cap on expenditures, and knowing auto racing in general, you ain't trying if you're not cheating...

 

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Never expect Mercedes to quit. You can beat them, but they won't go down easy. And the moment you ease up and give them an inch...they take a mile.

 

@DeSoto
@subirg
@furoni
@Bas

Good call gents. More mind games from the master of mind games Toto.

Mercedes still planning car and engine upgrades to boost F1 hopes

Mercedes has revealed it is planning to bring aerodynamic and engine improvements for the next races that it hopes can help it close the gap to Formula 1 rival Red Bull.

https://www.autosport.com/f1/news/mercedes-still-planning-car-and-engine-upgrades-to-boost-f1-hopes/6621736/

 

Clearly I lost the thread at some point, but what is the status of engine upgrades vs. tokens; didn't Honda get a 1 year exemption of sorts?

 

Huh, that's funny as they where so clear that they'd stop developing the car just days ago...lol

engine was homologated before the start of the season. Only upgrades allowed are for reliability reasons, and they have to be shown not only to FIA but also all teams, and are subject to approval. Honda had a few issues, especiallyy in the alpha tauris, and where permitted to upgrade for reliability. This allowed them to run use faster engine modes it seems.