“…and it’s dangerous. We were just lucky that we didn’t have very bad accident in the last few years.” WtF would he say that??
How bout when he mentions biofuels as an alternative? Then the female anchor responds with "Isn't that from the movie CARS with the dinosaurs?"......like she has no idea the investment in biofuels and whom and what it is used for! I loved it when Wolff said there is no infrastructure for EV's currently.
That's Becky Quick. Funny (and strange) comment, but in her defense, she's no dope. I suspect she's quite knowledgeable on the subject. Thanks for posting the interview - I hadn't seen it.
Mercedes’ Andrew Shovlin has confirmed the W15 is pretty much at the end of its development path following its United States Grand Prix upgrades. Mercedes showed up with a big upgrade package for the W15 at the Circuit of the Americas, including a revised front wing flap, upper wishbones, sidepod inlet, rear cooling exits, and a new floor geometry. For Mercedes, that point of moving on has been reached, with trackside engineering director Andrew Shovlin confirming the upgrades introduced in Austin are the last planned changes for the W15.
I know a family EV car will take the charge or electrical output of 8 family size refrigerators just to charge. So it will be alot.
I suspect most of the cars are at the end of their development program. Maybe a few minor bits to help sort out their latest major upgrade, but that's about it.
Test to learn the Suzuka circuit. Too bad he misses this. Still ill. I expect Mercedes to have issues with him next year. A learning year it will be. Antonelli forced out of Super Formula test due to illness Mercedes F1 rookie Andrea Kimi Antonelli will now miss a planned Super Formula test The Mercedes Formula 1 driver had been set to travel from Tuesday's Abu Dhabi tyre test direct to Suzuka in Japan for an outing in Japan's top single-seater category on Friday. Driving for the Rookie Racing outfit, he had been expected to run in the same session as Haas driver Oliver Bearman on the final day of the three-day test which is reserved for rookies. The idea of both of them running there was to help them learn the Suzuka track, which is home to the Japanese Grand Prix, the third round of next year's F1 world championship.
Interesting angle because more than 1 team negatively affected by the cost of accidents and effects on upgrade. Its a risk with the new wonder-driver Toto thinks he has. Speed is 1 aspect, racing wheel to wheel, being successful at that without causing a 1mil + crash is another and being consistent. Russell has had enough issues in the past with crashes. This will be fun. One can imagine the meltdown in the Corporate structure of Mercedes if the 'Kimi' experiment fails early on. F1 in many ways began a young driver obsession this year. Thats nice but not always rewarding. Some drivers just need a bit of time. Same risk for RedBull with Lawson will be interesting to observe as fans. Will he be competitive / closer to Max than Checo and will he be clean, less crash/cost prone.
IF Lawson's gap between himself and Max is 3/10ths to 4/10ths or greater in qualifying and in the race for about 3 to 4 GP's, it's over for Lawson.
How Mercedes has kicked off its post-Hamilton era with new Adidas deal Mercedes has begun life after Lewis Hamilton by putting in place what it claims is a ‘groundbreaking’ Formula 1 deal with German sportswear brand Adidas. Adidas had been on the hunt for a high-profile outlet for its company after losing its iconic sponsorship rights to the German national football team, with rival Nike having taken over that deal from 2027. It was convinced early on that F1 would be a good fit, especially with the Liberty era having opened the door for a younger generation of fans. It is understood that discussions took place with several teams over the course of last season, but by the middle of the year, it was clear that Mercedes was the favourite. The scale of how far advanced discussions between the two parties had got became clear at the Austrian Grand Prix, when spy shots emerged in the Red Bull Ring paddock of mocked-up Mercedes team shirts featuring Adidas’s famous three stripes being evaluated. Image Unavailable, Please Login From Mercedes’ perspective, a move to an all-encompassing deal with Adidas was a no-brainer from a commercial and marketing perspective – and the timing was perfect as it prepared for life after Hamilton. Its previous fashion partnerships had been heavily influenced by the seven-time world champion – who played an instrumental role in the German manufacturer’s shift from a Hugo Boss partnership to a deal with Tommy Hilfiger from 2018. That Tommy Hilfiger deal was only for team and travel wear though, and it meant a separate arrangement for racewear had to be done with Puma. It is understood Mercedes had eyed opportunities to ramp things up over recent years but these had not reached fruition for various reasons. However, with Adidas’ interest being piqued by the German football team situation, and Hamilton’s exit offering the chance for a clean slate choice, a deal has now come together that shows the German manufacturer remains very commercially attractive even without its most successful driver. While no figures have been revealed, it is understood that the Adidas sponsorship is a step up in revenue compared to the Tommy Hilfiger and Puma package, plus it opens the door for wider commercial and marketing opportunities. https://www.the-race.com/formula-1/mercedes-post-lewis-hamilton-era-adidas-deal/
Mercedes’ F1 engineers are devoting much of their attention this winter to solving the rear overeating issues that plagued the Brackley squad’s W15 car last season, as they prepare for 2025. The team struggled with thermal degradation in warm conditions, a problem that undermined its car’s race pace on Sundays despite the outfit’s shift to an entirely new concept for 2024. Mercedes trackside engineering director Andrew Shovlin says that addressing this problem is a top priority for 2025, alongside tackling performance inconsistencies across different track types.
Why Mercedes is dusting off a 2020 F1 car for Antonelli https://www.the-race.com/formula-1/kimi-antonelli-mercedes-2020-car-jerez-test-explained/ Mercedes’ decision to go all the way back to 2020 is deliberate and is a consequence of fresh restrictions that have been imposed this year on the running of old F1 cars. But as a result of discussions that were triggered by an Imola test that Red Bull did with Max Verstappen in a 2022 RB18 ahead of last year’s Spanish Grand Prix to better understand ride problems with its RB20, the issue over TPC running became a hot topic. And, amid threats from some teams that they would unleash full-on separate TPC programmes for its race drivers to seek technical gains, new rules were laid down to limit what would be allowed. The new regulations that were eventually agreed upon imposed a host of new restrictions – including a limit of a maximum of 20 days per year of TPC for each team. Furthermore, current race drivers are limited to just 1000 kilometres of running in TPC cars. Those new restrictions did in theory still leave the door open to Mercedes to use TPC mileage by running Antonelli in its 2023 car in Jerez. However, with TPC running deemed to be quite valuable – and Mercedes likely to make use of it for Antonelli during the campaign for running at other tracks or some further driver training – a decision was taken to not unnecessarily burn it up this week for what is nothing more than a re-acclimatisation test after a winter away. Keeping the TPC allowance in its back pocket is why Mercedes has elected to bring out the 2020 car to make use of what is officially known as Testing of Historic Cars (THC). This is defined in the regulations as any track running by cars that were: “designed and constructed in order to comply with the Technical Regulations of any of the three calendar years falling immediately prior to the calendar year preceding the year of the championship.” This effectively means that, for the 2025 season, the cars of 2021, 2022 and 2023 are valid for TPC, while the first year of THC counts as 2020. Current cars are deemed to be the 2024 and 2025 challengers.
Antonelli testing in the W11(2020 car) at Jerez. Image Unavailable, Please Login Tweet— Twitter API (@user) date Tweet— Twitter API (@user) date
