2022 Mercedes-AMG | Petronas F1 Team

[wogx]

Toto was deeeeply involved in his new driver's first 2022 start

[Big Tea]

Toto was deeeeply involved in his new driver's first 2022 start

https://i.redd.it/k7201szr5ro81.jpg

No, your zip is defiantly done up, so I don't know where the draft is from

[Gillian]

George was not bad. His pace was actually better than Lewis in the stints.
If you look on racefans.net lap charts, the steeper curve shows pace dropping off more. The gentler curve shows when a driver is maintaining pace.
Lewis had a steeper curve than George. It just so happens that George could not catch him. This may have to do with Lewis managing his pace on the hards to save them, and George getting on them later and did not have to save them as much. But George is not all bad.
As for Albon vs Latifi, these cars are different and Latifi maybe has poor adaptability, so will be a poorer driver than last year. I think he will catch up to Albon. Therefore these new cars are not really an idication of ultimate driver performance so early in the season. I do expect Shumacher and Sainz to get closer to their teammates. It's the adaptable ones that are thriving.

But i was not surprised with Lewis being two tenths faster than George consistently in Qualifying. Bottas is fast as hell and people do not realize. He is faster than George, and Lewis is on average 2 to 3 tenths quicker than Bottas. So the gap is expected. It does not take away from George's speed. Eventually he will improve and Lewis will slow down.
What we can watch for now are people diminishing George to diminish Lewis because the hopes of Lewis being destroyed by George seem unrealistic. I think when Toto says Hamilton is the GOAT I think it is sincere, I do not think he is being facetious or pumping Lewis up.

Just wanted to say I actually agree with you for most of it. Which blows my mind.

George is not of Hamilton's level imo.

[f1jcw]

George was not bad. His pace was actually better than Lewis in the stints.
If you look on racefans.net lap charts, the steeper curve shows pace dropping off more. The gentler curve shows when a driver is maintaining pace.
Lewis had a steeper curve than George. It just so happens that George could not catch him. This may have to do with Lewis managing his pace on the hards to save them, and George getting on them later and did not have to save them as much. But George is not all bad.
As for Albon vs Latifi, these cars are different and Latifi maybe has poor adaptability, so will be a poorer driver than last year. I think he will catch up to Albon. Therefore these new cars are not really an idication of ultimate driver performance so early in the season. I do expect Shumacher and Sainz to get closer to their teammates. It's the adaptable ones that are thriving.

But i was not surprised with Lewis being two tenths faster than George consistently in Qualifying. Bottas is fast as hell and people do not realize. He is faster than George, and Lewis is on average 2 to 3 tenths quicker than Bottas. So the gap is expected. It does not take away from George's speed. Eventually he will improve and Lewis will slow down.
What we can watch for now are people diminishing George to diminish Lewis because the hopes of Lewis being destroyed by George seem unrealistic. I think when Toto says Hamilton is the GOAT I think it is sincere, I do not think he is being facetious or pumping Lewis up.

Just wanted to say I actually agree with you for most of it. Which blows my mind.

George is not of Hamilton's level imo.

Yep, I was quite disheartened. He's good, but he's not at a Lewis/Max level sadly on yesterdays performance, maybe he'll get better, but not sure if he is going to be team leader when Lewis leaves. But look at the past, Nico and Button wasn't at Lewis's level and they both won WDC.

[AeroDynamic]

Toto was deeeeply involved in his new driver's first 2022 start

https://i.redd.it/k7201szr5ro81.jpg

like 'go and get these cars George'

I'm gonna reserve judgement on George. Norris was out qualified by Daniel first time out and that didn't predict what was to come.

Since nobody knows how fast Hamilton is really, George could still be Verstappen's and Leclerc's level.. I trust he is since both Max and Leclerc have express confidence about George in their years racing him outside of F1 and he did a great performance in Sakhir in 2020. Theres Just too many assumptions about what Hamilton's pace is.

its funny how quickly opinions shift in F1. Leclerc beat Vettel so he was great. Then he is topped by Sainz last year and Marko infers that Leclerc is overrated and not the real deal compared to Verstappen. Now after Bahrain everyone sees Leclerc's game is bigger than Max's and completely outraced him, and beat Sainz with margin too.

George did one of the greatest qualifying laps of all time (allegedly) in a 'Williams' [expletive car] but like Max said it wasn't as bad as people think that weekend and there were other variables behind that performance other than George's own pace ability.

We question George now after one weekend? we have to wait and see. We've seen Max and Leclerc get beaten by teammates, so why is it when George is beaten by Lewis in one weekend that he's suddenly not their level? Lewis is a all time great, so if he beats George, George can't be Max or Leclerc or Hamilton's own level? says who?

[cooken]

Way too early to judge Russel. First real race weekend with the team, made one mistake in Q in a clearly very difficult car to drive, and acquitted himself quite well during the race.

[mstar]

Don't believe the stuff russell said about the final run. I am not buying that. When it came down to qualy, lewis turned up the heat. He was 1-2 tenths quicker when both on the track at the same time. He was studying the telemetry so closely (i assume at lewis's lap traces?), then in Q3 on used softs again slower. On final run he knew on pace vs pace his Q2 lap he said himself was really really good (but slower than lewis). He was forced to try something else and made a mistake. My point was he was forced to try something new/not same as lewis as in a straight fight he knew he didn't have the pace with his q2/q3 runs beforehand.

The difference in the race was lewis was always driving within himself on older tyres but still lapping the similar to George. George was just going for it maximum attacking trying to close lewis down. On the on-boards you could see lewis was managing a lot more (he did have older tyres), but george was pushing hard on fresher tyres. So you can't really compare both. I still think George doesn't have the mental capacity of lewis/max to think a race through and predicting the race scenarios, when to push, when to tyre save etc. He relies on his pit wall a lot more.

[Hammerfist]

Don't believe the stuff russell said about the final run. I am not buying that. When it came down to qualy, lewis turned up the heat. He was 1-2 tenths quicker when both on the track at the same time. He was studying the telemetry so closely (i assume at lewis's lap traces?), then in Q3 on used softs again slower. On final run he knew on pace vs pace his Q2 lap he said himself was really really good (but slower than lewis). He was forced to try something else and made a mistake. My point was he was forced to try something new/not same as lewis as in a straight fight he knew he didn't have the pace with his q2/q3 runs beforehand.

The difference in the race was lewis was always driving within himself on older tyres but still lapping the similar to George. George was just going for it maximum attacking trying to close lewis down. On the on-boards you could see lewis was managing a lot more (he did have older tyres), but george was pushing hard on fresher tyres. So you can't really compare both. I still think George doesn't have the mental capacity of lewis/max to think a race through and predicting the race scenarios, when to push, when to tyre save etc. He relies on his pit wall a lot more.

I agree. I think merc may have made a mistake with their car this year but also with their new driver. Bottas might be better than russel. The feeling i got this weekend is that lewis had george covered in all aspects. There was a slight wobble in the first stint where lewis’ tires fell off before george but to me that was due to the fact he was pushing so hard to pass sainz, and in doing so he used up the tires more. After that george always had a tyre advantage as he was always pitting later.
And lewis is not even peaking yet. He usually peaks after the summer break. Imo george has his work cut out if he wants to beat lewis this year but we shall see.

[zibby43]

A 1-race referendum on Russell's entire Mercedes career.

When he delivered exactly the car's maximum.

C'mon guys.

[e30ernest]

A 1-race referendum on Russell's entire Mercedes career.

When he delivered exactly the car's maximum.

C'mon guys.

Yes, it is much too early to judge GR. When I did my post, I did not mean to make it seem like I was judging him based on that one race.

As I said in last year's team thread, this year will either cement GR as the next great driver, and/or it will elevate Lewis' greatness further.

[ringo]

Toto was deeeeply involved in his new driver's first 2022 start

https://i.redd.it/k7201szr5ro81.jpg

like 'go and get these cars George'

I'm gonna reserve judgement on George. Norris was out qualified by Daniel first time out and that didn't predict what was to come.

Since nobody knows how fast Hamilton is really, George could still be Verstappen's and Leclerc's level.. I trust he is since both Max and Leclerc have express confidence about George in their years racing him outside of F1 and he did a great performance in Sakhir in 2020. Theres Just too many assumptions about what Hamilton's pace is.

its funny how quickly opinions shift in F1. Leclerc beat Vettel so he was great. Then he is topped by Sainz last year and Marko infers that Leclerc is overrated and not the real deal compared to Verstappen. Now after Bahrain everyone sees Leclerc's game is bigger than Max's and completely outraced him, and beat Sainz with margin too.

George did one of the greatest qualifying laps of all time (allegedly) in a 'Williams' [expletive car] but like Max said it wasn't as bad as people think that weekend and there were other variables behind that performance other than George's own pace ability.

We question George now after one weekend? we have to wait and see. We've seen Max and Leclerc get beaten by teammates, so why is it when George is beaten by Lewis in one weekend that he's suddenly not their level? Lewis is a all time great, so if he beats George, George can't be Max or Leclerc or Hamilton's own level? says who?

That's the thing.. people automatically assume George is slower than Max because it suits a narrative. But as far as his reputation goes, he can still team up with any of the young guns and blow them away. People are equating Lewis to Max as if they were in the same car when they never were. As far as I am concerned I think Leclerc is very clutch, and from his sauber days you car arguably say his qualifying pace is raw talent; I suspect beyond Max's. I do not have proof, but when you compare Max to Daniel to Vettel then to Leclerc, I could have seen where Leclerc had raw pace like Jarno Truli. It was his racing brains that I was doubtful of most.
As for George, fast guy, and he can race well on heavy fuel. That's what strikes me most with him. His first few laps are always very racey.

[izzy]

A 1-race referendum on Russell's entire Mercedes career.

When he delivered exactly the car's maximum.

C'mon guys.

Lol well said. Mercedes have any amount of data on him, and he's only going to get better.

[Hammerfist]

A 1-race referendum on Russell's entire Mercedes career.

When he delivered exactly the car's maximum.

C'mon guys.

Well he didn’t get the cars maximum because he finished behind his teammate and objectively he was slower overall when all things considered.
And I’m not rating Russell for just one race I also factor in his time at Williams where he really didn’t dominate his direct competition on race day. There’s a chance he could be quite mediocre for Merc. That’s all I’m saying.

[WaikeCU]

A 1-race referendum on Russell's entire Mercedes career.

When he delivered exactly the car's maximum.

C'mon guys.

There’s a chance he could be quite mediocre for Merc. That’s all I’m saying.

There's a chance he'd become a 8-time WDC, but what do I know? Just stop searching for flaws.

I think the team could still focus on Lewis as their main driver right for the time being, until he calls it a day. That 8th title is still possible and it would be a privilege for a team like Merc to be able to help Lewis achieve that record. Pretty sure management are monitoring George's progress throughout his F1 career so far on why he's in that 2nd seat and not for example Esteban, Stoffel or Nick.

[Just_a_fan]

A 1-race referendum on Russell's entire Mercedes career.

When he delivered exactly the car's maximum.

C'mon guys.

Well he didn’t get the cars maximum because he finished behind his teammate and objectively he was slower overall when all things considered.
And I’m not rating Russell for just one race I also factor in his time at Williams where he really didn’t dominate his direct competition on race day. There’s a chance he could be quite mediocre for Merc. That’s all I’m saying.

In the race he started behind Lewis and then overtook others to get behind Lewis on the road. At that point, with little chance of either of them getting higher than 5th, they ran in line astern for the race. No point fighting over 5th and risk taking each other off when 5th and 6th was the best points they could realistically get. That they benefitted from late DNFs late in the race was just luck.

The team maximised the points in a race where they were very much second tier behind Ferrari and Red Bull.

I have no doubt that if the positions had been reversed, Lewis would have followed George around.

We need to see what happens once the car is a front runner - assuming it manages it this season.