2022 Mercedes-AMG | Petronas F1 Team

[shamyakovic]

I genuinely cant see him getting on the podium this race, unless something drastic happens with the cars infront of him. I think the biggest trouble will come from behind.

Behind from whom? Alpha romeo ? Hass?
Merc are middle ground between the top 2 cars and the rest.

Dont count the Haas out. The Ferrari PU s very strong. They've already out qualified George.

Guess we'll all see tomorrow what happens.

And that has nothing to do with the fact that George botched up his first corner and was 1 sec slower there.... right

[chrisc90]

Behind from whom? Alpha romeo ? Hass?
Merc are middle ground between the top 2 cars and the rest.

Dont count the Haas out. The Ferrari PU s very strong. They've already out qualified George.

Guess we'll all see tomorrow what happens.

And that has nothing to do with the fact that George botched up his first corner and was 1 sec slower there.... right

Easy to look at doing the 'perfect lap'. Jeez, if Max/sainz had a better lap he would have been on pole.

[shamyakovic]

Dont count the Haas out. The Ferrari PU s very strong. They've already out qualified George.

Guess we'll all see tomorrow what happens.

And that has nothing to do with the fact that George botched up his first corner and was 1 sec slower there.... right

Easy to look at doing the 'perfect lap'. Jeez, if Max/sainz had a better lap he would have been on pole.

So going 1 sec slower than ur previous best sector is nothing but looking for a "perfect lap"....right
If max/sainz has gone that much slower from their best sector then I would have said the same

[Mchamilton]

Dont count the Haas out. The Ferrari PU s very strong. They've already out qualified George.

Guess we'll all see tomorrow what happens.

And that has nothing to do with the fact that George botched up his first corner and was 1 sec slower there.... right

Easy to look at doing the 'perfect lap'. Jeez, if Max/sainz had a better lap he would have been on pole.

Russels q2 lap would have put him 6th, 0.014 behind Lewis.

[Marty_Y]

At the start of last year I was worried and they turned it around and should have won both championships, they still won the constructors.

This year the car appears to have a similar lap time deficit but it has a obvious problem, and I think they'll solve that problem.

Imo there's nothing wrong with the concept, once it's working properly they should have the advantage.

Why the advantage? Based on what?

Based on the reasoning that the car is only 4-5 tenths behind when they are running it in a extremely compromised configuration and with hardly set up time, when it's working properly the drivers will be able to set it up and drive with confidence, not fight it round the track.

[LM10]

I think 5 tenths is managable.
Today's car is full of compromises, I'm sure once they'll sort it out, it'll be quick.

I was surprised that with all the compromises they were just 0.5 behind ferrari. However that in qualifying, but in the race it can swing either way

I said to myself, if they're only 5 tenths behind, this car can be a destroyer when everything is sorted out.
Question is when they can do it, they'd need to sort out the problems in the first 4 races.

If Toto is to be believed, he said that at the moment they don't even know if the porpoising is the only problem they have or if they have a fundamental issue which they can't tell for the simple reason of the porpoising making it impossible to further analyse the behaviour of the car.
This sounds like from solving it within a couple of races to not solving it this season everything is possible right now.

[Juzh]

So the PU is down on power, chassis is not in a happy place and just now Toto admitted, they are carrying a lot of drag. It seems like they have gone the route of 2019, "downforce at all cost" and have ended up in a vicious situation and they started work on this car concept in 2020.

He did? Really?

He did, yes. In an interview with sky

[Vanja #66]

Thanks again! Cheers!

[mstar]

I am not sure but lewis really turned it up come qualy. When both Russell and Lewis was on track lewis on track lewis was quicker. But I had both on screen Russell definitely bouncing more and lower RH, to me. Lewis less so. Wonder if lewis had enough of the bouncing and raised his RH.

The key to the race will be how you fast you are on the harder tyre. If the car is fast on that tyre then we have a chance.

[Tzk]

Based on the reasoning that the car is only 4-5 tenths behind when they are running it in a extremely compromised configuration and with hardly set up time, when it's working properly the drivers will be able to set it up and drive with confidence, not fight it round the track.

I also believe they should be able to fight with RB and Ferrari if they sort the issues. Currently it looks like the workaround for the porpoising and in general the car setup comprimises their pace by a lot. I'm also not sure if their car concept is by design a bit too draggy or if their setup compromise makes it draggy. They might be running a bit more ground clearance and try to recover the lost DF on the floor by using a bigger wing. That will probably make them suffer on the straights. So if they can fix and manage the bouncing, then they may be well in the mix.

I currently refuse to believe that Mercedes got the generel concept of the car (aka small sidepods) completely wrong. However it seems like the RedBull and/or Ferrari concept with bigger sidepods seems to be a bit more forgiving, better to setup or simply have a wider setup window.

We'll see how fast Mercedes solves these issues and how much they'll gain from it. I prefer to see the deficit cut down to 1-2/10th, so RB, Ferrari and the Mercs are in a close fight for the championship.

[silver]

I'm also not sure if their car concept is by design a bit too draggy or if their setup compromise makes it draggy. They might be running a bit more ground clearance and try to recover the lost DF on the floor by using a bigger wing. That will probably make them suffer on the straights. So if they can fix and manage the bouncing, then they may be well in the mix.

The drag of a car doesn't change much with setup changes, for as long as all the elements that are capable of producing drag remain the same. Increased AoA of the wings or the ride height adds to drag, but not a great deal. A lot of overall aero refinement is needed to get back on terms of the other two competitors. If they haven't already known this fact that they have relatively more drag than their competitors, then it's going to take a long time. But if they quickly got a cue of this in Barcelona, then they have reduced some time. Still not going to be happening in a jiffy.

The problem is the upgrades in pipeline. If those upgrades are being built with the assumption that, they can afford a bit more drag for the sake of gaining performance, then it's going to add to pain. It's possible as they didn't know where they stand in the competition. If this is going to be the case, then they have to rethink if they want to bring those upgrades out. If the upgrades are adding performance by keeping the drag levels same, then it's a good thing. It would be absolutely great if the upgrades are adding performance and also lowering the drag levels. We don't know what the situation is as it all depends on if they have to go back to drawing board to relook at their drag levels. Their PU situation doesn't seem to be great for them to go ahead and add any upgrade that has potential to increase drag.

So far, their bigger problem is porpoising and they don't seem to have an idea of where the problem lies in their design. I am not sure if they have a way of knowing if the aero upgrades in the pipeline are going to add to the woes or help reduce them in this unforeseen problem. So this is the first priority. If they can simultaneously achieve aero upgrades and solving porpoising, then it's a good situation. But if they have to hold back upgrades until they figure out solution to porpoising, it's a problem. It's not an easy situation to be in.

[Big Tea]

Based on the reasoning that the car is only 4-5 tenths behind when they are running it in a extremely compromised configuration and with hardly set up time, when it's working properly the drivers will be able to set it up and drive with confidence, not fight it round the track.

I also believe they should be able to fight with RB and Ferrari if they sort the issues. Currently it looks like the workaround for the porpoising and in general the car setup comprimises their pace by a lot. I'm also not sure if their car concept is by design a bit too draggy or if their setup compromise makes it draggy. They might be running a bit more ground clearance and try to recover the lost DF on the floor by using a bigger wing. That will probably make them suffer on the straights. So if they can fix and manage the bouncing, then they may be well in the mix.

I currently refuse to believe that Mercedes got the generel concept of the car (aka small sidepods) completely wrong. However it seems like the RedBull and/or Ferrari concept with bigger sidepods seems to be a bit more forgiving, better to setup or simply have a wider setup window.

We'll see how fast Mercedes solves these issues and how much they'll gain from it. I prefer to see the deficit cut down to 1-2/10th, so RB, Ferrari and the Mercs are in a close fight for the championship.

There will be more variables than we have seen so far. Tyre ware, fuel use energy recovery even driver fatigue will all come into play as will strategy calls and interaction between drivers, both against eachother and other cars on track being passed.

The race will not be the same as testing, practice and qualli.

[Mchamilton]

Based on the reasoning that the car is only 4-5 tenths behind when they are running it in a extremely compromised configuration and with hardly set up time, when it's working properly the drivers will be able to set it up and drive with confidence, not fight it round the track.

I also believe they should be able to fight with RB and Ferrari if they sort the issues. Currently it looks like the workaround for the porpoising and in general the car setup comprimises their pace by a lot. I'm also not sure if their car concept is by design a bit too draggy or if their setup compromise makes it draggy. They might be running a bit more ground clearance and try to recover the lost DF on the floor by using a bigger wing. That will probably make them suffer on the straights. So if they can fix and manage the bouncing, then they may be well in the mix.

I currently refuse to believe that Mercedes got the generel concept of the car (aka small sidepods) completely wrong. However it seems like the RedBull and/or Ferrari concept with bigger sidepods seems to be a bit more forgiving, better to setup or simply have a wider setup window.

We'll see how fast Mercedes solves these issues and how much they'll gain from it. I prefer to see the deficit cut down to 1-2/10th, so RB, Ferrari and the Mercs are in a close fight for the championship.

You have to consider than mercedes are a few weeks behind in solving their issues. Theyve saif they were too confident in their bahrain aero upgrade solving any issues that they didnt focua to heavily on resolving the porpoising initially. I dont think the 'setup window' has a huge amouny to do the sidepod concept.

[PlatinumZealot]

It might be possible that Mercedes can move to U-shaped side pods by Europe. They already have that beautiful downwashing wing and the radiators set close to the chassis so they have all the spaice in the world to make a tie fighter style shape to the flanks of the side pods while leaving a big ramp in the middle.

[Marty_Y]

Hamilton positive despite problem porpoising

Andrew Benson

BBC Sport’s chief F1 writer in Bahrain

Fifth on the grid and nearly 0.7 seconds off the pace is not a familiar place for Mercedes, but such had been their build-up to this race that Lewis Hamilton admitted he “genuinely felt positive about today” after qualifying.

“We definitely didn't expect to be fifth,” he said, “and so I'm happy to be in there. The guys ahead, they are a lot quicker, six-tenths is a lot of time. But yes, I do know there's potential, and I think just got to work very, very fast and be precise over these next weeks to try and close that gap as soon as we can.”

Porpoising - high-frequency bouncing - on the straights is the main concern. “We have made a small step,” said George Russell, down in ninth after a mistake on his one lap in Q3. “Just see how much we are bouncing around and we know how much performance there is if we can get the car lower to the ground.

"It’s no secret. When you’re bouncing you have to raise the car otherwise you just can’t drive it. That is our big limitation at the moment.” Engine performance is also a question mark at Mercedes, for the first time ever in the hybrid era. All the Mercedes-powered cars are struggling on the straights. The company line is that it’s hard to separate the influence of drag and power, but McLaren’s Lando Norris admitted: “You can see the bunch of Mercedes guys are lacking a little bit.”