2021 AMG Mercedes F1 Team

[Morteza]

[AeroDynamic]

According to Craig Slater with insider contacts at Mercedes, some in senior positions have said it’s still unclear if Hamilton will come back. The team are awaiting to see what findings come out of the internal FIA investigation in those final laps of Abu Dhabi. The longer it goes on, the less likely Hamilton is to continue, reportedly.

Apparently it’s hit him very hard in the days since the Grand Prix.

[El Scorchio]

According to Craig Slater with insider contacts at Mercedes, some in senior positions have said it’s still unclear if Hamilton will come back. The team are awaiting to see what findings come out of the internal FIA investigation in those final laps of Abu Dhabi. The longer it goes on, the less likely Hamilton is to continue, reportedly.

Apparently it’s not him very hard isn’t he days since the Grand Prix.

I get it. He more than anyone else has to be seriously questioning the integrity of the sport. As Senna famously said 'You break your balls....' as Hamilton did all season long to be in that winning position fair and square one lap from the end, and then all of a sudden some bloke changes the rules of the sport on a whim causing it to be snatched away from you for the sake of 'entertainment'. It's match fixing in all but name.

Why would you want to put yourself through the rigours of a whole season of racing- and at the moment all the life compromises that go with it- if there's a danger of it just happening again should Masi or someone else decide the racing isn't dramatic enough and they are going to play God with the results? Who needs it?

[AeroDynamic]

According to Craig Slater with insider contacts at Mercedes, some in senior positions have said it’s still unclear if Hamilton will come back. The team are awaiting to see what findings come out of the internal FIA investigation in those final laps of Abu Dhabi. The longer it goes on, the less likely Hamilton is to continue, reportedly.

Apparently it’s not him very hard isn’t he days since the Grand Prix.

I get it. He more than anyone else has to be seriously questioning the integrity of the sport. As Senna famously said 'You break your balls....' as Hamilton did all season long to be in that winning position fair and square one lap from the end, and then all of a sudden some bloke changes the rules of the sport on a whim causing it to be snatched away from you for the sake of 'entertainment'. It's match fixing in all but name.

Why would you want to put yourself through the rigours of a whole season of racing- and at the moment all the life compromises that go with it- if there's a danger of it just happening again should Masi or someone else decide the racing isn't dramatic enough and they are going to play God with the results? Who needs it?

Right.

It must also be a pretty lonely feeling to feel like the only one that cares as much as the situation really demands.

For everyone who one served it in other cars, the grand stands, the followers, it’s just a trivial event in their own lives and a sporting controversy but doesn’t change anything. So while drivers might be like “that’s f***ed up” it’s a passing reaction.

For the guy who did break his balls And work so hard for that result, something that does reflect on his career, it’s a tough one to take. And he has to deal with it alone. Mercedes also feel it of course.

This wound reminds me very much of Ayrton’s in 1989. I would say Ayrton’s was a greater injustice but this event for Hamilton isn’t a lot better.

If he does come back, and has a genuine opportunity for the title, I can see him being at his best level but I think he would start the season very slow and that might cost him.

I say this because he’s probably taking a big break from F1 as he should be also is not going to be eager to work hard as he would have in the pre ‘21 season. He feels robbed and one has to imagine you feel a fear that you could work hard for nothing again.

Meanwhile, George will be eager to get into the new team. Settle, pursue every bit of time he can get in the simulator with the new car with Mercedes, and I expect him to start stronger between the two from better prep alone.

[Big Tea]

I think he is just letting the officials stew a little to make his point. They are probably expecting a s--tstorm if it is true as he can give them an awful lot of bad PR, but I am confident he will be back.
Had he won this year, I would not be surprised if he had decided it was enough as it would be a record for a long time, but he did not.

I expect him to see it as unfinished business

I just found this
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5GA-VF0aWLE

Dominicali says “Lewis Hamilton? I’m sure he will recharge his batteries and come back with even more desire than before to win his eighth world title”

[adrianjordan]

According to Craig Slater with insider contacts at Mercedes, some in senior positions have said it’s still unclear if Hamilton will come back. The team are awaiting to see what findings come out of the internal FIA investigation in those final laps of Abu Dhabi. The longer it goes on, the less likely Hamilton is to continue, reportedly.

Apparently it’s hit him very hard in the days since the Grand Prix.

Tabloid TV news generating click bait in my opinion. Name your sources Craig, otherwise we'll assume you made them up.

Lewis has been photographed at team events. The team made a big thing of his birthday.

His whole narrative for the past few years has been overcoming adversity "Still We Rise".

He'll be back and more motivated than ever. People said we saw some of Lewis' best driving in 2021. I think we're going to see something else in 2022 and, as long as Merc don't let him down, he'll get that 8th crown without any doubts!!

[AeroDynamic]

According to Craig Slater with insider contacts at Mercedes, some in senior positions have said it’s still unclear if Hamilton will come back. The team are awaiting to see what findings come out of the internal FIA investigation in those final laps of Abu Dhabi. The longer it goes on, the less likely Hamilton is to continue, reportedly.

Apparently it’s hit him very hard in the days since the Grand Prix.

Tabloid TV news generating click bait in my opinion. Name your sources Craig, otherwise we'll assume you made them up.

Lewis has been photographed at team events. The team made a big thing of his birthday.

His whole narrative for the past few years has been overcoming adversity "Still We Rise".

He'll be back and more motivated than ever. People said we saw some of Lewis' best driving in 2021. I think we're going to see something else in 2022 and, as long as Merc don't let him down, he'll get that 8th crown without any doubts!!

Other than the obvious of giving him a car as competitive as any other front running car, let’s outline what Mercedes’ needs to get right this year to truly give him an equal fighting position compared to last year - that is assuming no new weaknesses where everything was right in ‘21:

A reliable and robust engine with which can compete with the stamina of the Honda - no grid penalties. Turkey was one of the weekends that cost him the title. If it was a dry race he would’ve walked it like Brazil. If he had secured p3 or higher it might have been enough in Turkey.

A car that works as well as the competition: it shouldn’t be a difficult target to nail the sweet spot set up like it was last year. They figured it out in the final phase of the championship but it was kinda too late by then. Monaco in particular, was another weekend due to this that cost him the title. He will have to take some responsibility for that weekend because it was his set up direction he tried to fit with the car but it wasn’t working. Bottas’ set up was either safer or something that didn’t fit Hamilton’s approach.. that or Bottas’s set up on paper was not going to beat the teams estimations of where red bull will be.


A car that is more broadly adaptable and less sensitive - the RB only twice in the whole season, suffered in conditions and both times it was qualifying; Silverstone and Mexico. Otherwise it was bullet proof when it came to being adaptable to conditions; wet, warm, hot, cool, dry. It didn’t like certain tracks that were front limited but that was the only weakness. The Mercedes’ was falling out of its optimal level too many times throughout the season. The tyres were apparently a difficult target for the team to hit and get right. We saw this in Spa amongst other races. This has been the case since 2020; I.e. Turkey. Mercedes just struggles to turn on the tyres quickly compared to the competition. This proved to be the case in races like Imola this year. It takes some laps for the Mercedes’ to spread its wings on the tyres.

Those seem to be the main things. Obviously he needs a car that won’t fall apart like it did in The second Austrian race - that cost him 6 points. I never found out if it was because he took a kerb too aggressively or not, he denied using the kerbs any differently to the others. Whatever it was, it shouldn’t happen. I doubt it was his fault.

It seemed Mercedes’ worked out how to reliably get competitive starts but that was definitely a massive problem through most of the season. It definitely didn’t help in some races. Imola might have played out very differently if he secured a good start there. It cost him the most in Monza in the sprint start - that weekend was an open goal win.

Too many variables didn’t go his way on a number of weekends. Nuanced ones that did actually have an impact on the final tally. Max had some massive ones but outside of them, he had a lot of things to his way to keep him in the fight. If max never lost Baku or his place in Hungary, he could’ve won the championship much earlier. Conversely, if everything went Mercedes’. And Hamilton’s way without engine penalties, regs hurting their car and resetting their understanding of the car.. the conditions etc.. they could’ve won the championship also, possibly even if max had lost nothing in Hungary and won Baku (if he had won Baku, Lewis would’ve secured 15 more points as well, so in total Max lost 25-28 pts ground on Lewis) if things went Mercedes’ way and had a car that worked as effectively across the variables as Red Bulls chassis and engine did, they could’ve secured Monza, Turkey, USA, Spa, and 3 points in Brazil / Monza sprints.. 34 points amiss in total they lost in ground potentially.

Beating your opponents in motorsport is one thing, beating their team strategists is another, and surviving and hoping fortune falls your way when the variables of motorsport crop up.

[Jolle]

He’s just having a good holiday and a recharge. It was a long and brutal season. Last year he did the same (and even without a contract).
I expect we will see a hyper focused Hamilton at the start of the season.

[pursue_one's]

According to Craig Slater with insider contacts at Mercedes, some in senior positions have said it’s still unclear if Hamilton will come back. The team are awaiting to see what findings come out of the internal FIA investigation in those final laps of Abu Dhabi. The longer it goes on, the less likely Hamilton is to continue, reportedly.

Apparently it’s hit him very hard in the days since the Grand Prix.

" Mercedes are increasingly confident that Lewis Hamilton will return to racing in an effort to secure a record eighth Formula One world championship.

Hamilton’s future has been shrouded in uncertainty since he relinquished the title to Max Verstappen in controversial circumstances in Abu Dhabi last month. Toto Wolff, the Mercedes team principal, said that he could not provide any assurances that his “disillusioned” driver would remain in the sport. Hamilton, who has not spoken publicly since a brief post-race interview, complained on the team radio that the result of the concluding grand prix had been “manipulated”.

But insiders have said the 37-year-old has been keeping himself in shape at his mountain home in Colorado — enjoying snowshoeing as well as other forms of exercise — and is expected to report for pre-season testing next month.

The situation is said to remain dependent on the outcome of an inquiry by the FIA, the sport’s governing body, into what happened in Abu Dhabi. "

https://www.thetimes.co.uk/article/merc ... -dxccvppqx

[El Scorchio]

According to Craig Slater with insider contacts at Mercedes, some in senior positions have said it’s still unclear if Hamilton will come back. The team are awaiting to see what findings come out of the internal FIA investigation in those final laps of Abu Dhabi. The longer it goes on, the less likely Hamilton is to continue, reportedly.

Apparently it’s hit him very hard in the days since the Grand Prix.

" Mercedes are increasingly confident that Lewis Hamilton will return to racing in an effort to secure a record eighth Formula One world championship.

Hamilton’s future has been shrouded in uncertainty since he relinquished the title to Max Verstappen in controversial circumstances in Abu Dhabi last month. Toto Wolff, the Mercedes team principal, said that he could not provide any assurances that his “disillusioned” driver would remain in the sport. Hamilton, who has not spoken publicly since a brief post-race interview, complained on the team radio that the result of the concluding grand prix had been “manipulated”.

But insiders have said the 37-year-old has been keeping himself in shape at his mountain home in Colorado — enjoying snowshoeing as well as other forms of exercise — and is expected to report for pre-season testing next month.

The situation is said to remain dependent on the outcome of an inquiry by the FIA, the sport’s governing body, into what happened in Abu Dhabi. "

https://www.thetimes.co.uk/article/merc ... -dxccvppqx

I can understand it hanging on the outcome of that. He likely wants an assurance that his (or any other driver’s) blood sweat and tears, and hard fought championship can’t be ripped away by a fool in race control at the last second ever again.

[AeroDynamic]

According to Craig Slater with insider contacts at Mercedes, some in senior positions have said it’s still unclear if Hamilton will come back. The team are awaiting to see what findings come out of the internal FIA investigation in those final laps of Abu Dhabi. The longer it goes on, the less likely Hamilton is to continue, reportedly.

Apparently it’s hit him very hard in the days since the Grand Prix.

" Mercedes are increasingly confident that Lewis Hamilton will return to racing in an effort to secure a record eighth Formula One world championship.

Hamilton’s future has been shrouded in uncertainty since he relinquished the title to Max Verstappen in controversial circumstances in Abu Dhabi last month. Toto Wolff, the Mercedes team principal, said that he could not provide any assurances that his “disillusioned” driver would remain in the sport. Hamilton, who has not spoken publicly since a brief post-race interview, complained on the team radio that the result of the concluding grand prix had been “manipulated”.

But insiders have said the 37-year-old has been keeping himself in shape at his mountain home in Colorado — enjoying snowshoeing as well as other forms of exercise — and is expected to report for pre-season testing next month.

The situation is said to remain dependent on the outcome of an inquiry by the FIA, the sport’s governing body, into what happened in Abu Dhabi. "

https://www.thetimes.co.uk/article/merc ... -dxccvppqx

I can understand it hanging on the outcome of that. He likely wants an assurance that his (or any other driver’s) blood sweat and tears, and hard fought championship can’t be ripped away by a fool in race control at the last second ever again.

Yeah I mean I myself felt disillusioned initially with the sport with the race control management.

The way sport and games work is having boundaries and rules; competing / playing / operating within the same confines of rules as everyone.

Since Massi took over he has caved under pressure to bend or simply not follow the rules at the behest or the teams or drivers. It started with racing after years of moaning from verstappen didnt work with Charlie, it worked right away with with Massi.

Now team principals are demanding no safety car, or one more racing lap and he just comes up with excuses as if he wasnt following the rules- even in situations where he infact was, like in Abu Dhabi.

The most glaringly obvious example of him not having a grip on the rules was Spa when Jonathan Wheatley owned him over Checo rejoining the event after crashing out.

The rules are steady becoming useless now. Its make them up as you go along.

Stewards used to apply rules by the book even if they didnt feel right doing it. Last year the sport / game extended to skill in lobbying the referee to do what you want. It seem to really kick off in Silverstone when Horner was lobying Massi over the racing incident in copse.. and climaxed in the final two races terribly. Only reason Massi has his job still is because they dont have a replacement for him.

[proteus]

According to Craig Slater with insider contacts at Mercedes, some in senior positions have said it’s still unclear if Hamilton will come back. The team are awaiting to see what findings come out of the internal FIA investigation in those final laps of Abu Dhabi. The longer it goes on, the less likely Hamilton is to continue, reportedly.

Apparently it’s hit him very hard in the days since the Grand Prix.

" Mercedes are increasingly confident that Lewis Hamilton will return to racing in an effort to secure a record eighth Formula One world championship.

Hamilton’s future has been shrouded in uncertainty since he relinquished the title to Max Verstappen in controversial circumstances in Abu Dhabi last month. Toto Wolff, the Mercedes team principal, said that he could not provide any assurances that his “disillusioned” driver would remain in the sport. Hamilton, who has not spoken publicly since a brief post-race interview, complained on the team radio that the result of the concluding grand prix had been “manipulated”.

But insiders have said the 37-year-old has been keeping himself in shape at his mountain home in Colorado — enjoying snowshoeing as well as other forms of exercise — and is expected to report for pre-season testing next month.

The situation is said to remain dependent on the outcome of an inquiry by the FIA, the sport’s governing body, into what happened in Abu Dhabi. "

https://www.thetimes.co.uk/article/merc ... -dxccvppqx

I can understand it hanging on the outcome of that. He likely wants an assurance that his (or any other driver’s) blood sweat and tears, and hard fought championship can’t be ripped away by a fool in race control at the last second ever again.

It is delusional to think he wont be returning. I remember how he also came running back when Russell performed fantastically with his car, even though he was allready a champion and still suffering from covid. He could have easily let George to drive for another race, but instead he came back and almost died after the race due to the physical strain. He wont let the chance for 8th championship go by. He might even be getting lenient treatment by stewards because of Masi....

I get some of the people here are diehard fans which will be triggered by my opinion - which is how i see it, but dont throw away your common sense because of it. He will be back. And there is a 90% chance he will get the title. The magical Mercedes engine alone is the game changer.

[xaero]

The magical Mercedes engine alone is the game changer.

Some will never understand how important driver's contribution is

[proteus]

The magical Mercedes engine alone is the game changer.

Some will never understand how important driver's contribution is

In the last 3 races the Mercedes engine allowed the title hope to become alive. You can have the best driver in the world and he cant do nothing if he has no power on the straights - we saw Alonso/Honda. In Brazil Lewis was literally flying and i believe that atleast half of the field is able to take corners atleast as fast as he can, while on the straights he blew past them effortlestly.

Why are you allways thinking i am trying to tarnish Lewis, or trying to make him look bad? I have no problems saying he is one of the greatest, and that he has massive talent for racing, because it is true. You on the other hand cant cope with the fact that he got the edge for last 3 GPs, which he used to perfection. His engine was a step above competitors.

[Ryar]

" Mercedes are increasingly confident that Lewis Hamilton will return to racing in an effort to secure a record eighth Formula One world championship.

Hamilton’s future has been shrouded in uncertainty since he relinquished the title to Max Verstappen in controversial circumstances in Abu Dhabi last month. Toto Wolff, the Mercedes team principal, said that he could not provide any assurances that his “disillusioned” driver would remain in the sport. Hamilton, who has not spoken publicly since a brief post-race interview, complained on the team radio that the result of the concluding grand prix had been “manipulated”.

But insiders have said the 37-year-old has been keeping himself in shape at his mountain home in Colorado — enjoying snowshoeing as well as other forms of exercise — and is expected to report for pre-season testing next month.

The situation is said to remain dependent on the outcome of an inquiry by the FIA, the sport’s governing body, into what happened in Abu Dhabi. "

https://www.thetimes.co.uk/article/merc ... -dxccvppqx

I can understand it hanging on the outcome of that. He likely wants an assurance that his (or any other driver’s) blood sweat and tears, and hard fought championship can’t be ripped away by a fool in race control at the last second ever again.

It is delusional to think he wont be returning. I remember how he also came running back when Russell performed fantastically with his car, even though he was allready a champion and still suffering from covid. He could have easily let George to drive for another race, but instead he came back and almost died after the race due to the physical strain. He wont let the chance for 8th championship go by. He might even be getting lenient treatment by stewards because of Masi....

I get some of the people here are diehard fans which will be triggered by my opinion - which is how i see it, but dont throw away your common sense because of it. He will be back. And there is a 90% chance he will get the title. The magical Mercedes engine alone is the game changer.

This subject is a good PR for media, forums, Lewis and Mercedes, especially when there is no racing.