2022 Mexican Grand Prix - Autódromo Hermanos Rodríguez, Oct 28 - 30

[mendis]

That they did not give Russell the yellow - red strategy is very hard to understand.

I'm sure they realized they screwed up with Hamilton and then felt the need to avoid giving Russell a strat advantage to beat Hamilton. Had they gone with Russell's plan, they might have had two cars on the podium, but it would have been in an uncomfortable order....with a fall out similar to Zandvoort.

Mercedes appears to have taken Hamilton fans more seriously than team's own objective of getting a race win. A strong result for either driver could take the team in the right direction. It's no secret that George is making better calls from the car than Mercedes pit wall, like Carlos. Who in the right mind would have gone with same tyre choices for both the drivers at the start when they are 2 and 3 and repeating it for second stint. George did a good job of taking mediums that long and deserved a different strategy to Lewis. But it seems the only objective of Mercedes is to please Lewis. Very poor work. I was laughing when Bono kept telling Lewis that hards is the tyre choice and were waiting for Mediums on Max to drop off as if they haven't seen RB18 and Max's prowess to make tyres last.

[Sofa King]

I agree it’s boring, but why hold back Checo from second place? I don’t think it’s just a slow pit stop. If both Red Bulls have the same exact spec, then either Max is holding back or there is no material sandbagging. Next year will be more exciting with 3 teams at the top

Thinking RB is sandbagging and doing a better job hiding it than Merc did. They are performing nearly flawlessly aside from some recent pit errors. They have not been truly pushed since the first few races. I bet Max had tons of time in hand. Onto next season. Will we eventually see more parity with the tiered wind tunnel time plus the cost cap penalty? This is just boring.

[MadMax]

Thinking RB is sandbagging and doing a better job hiding it than Merc did. They are performing nearly flawlessly aside from some recent pit errors. They have not been truly pushed since the first few races. I bet Max had tons of time in hand. Onto next season. Will we eventually see more parity with the tiered wind tunnel time plus the cost cap penalty? This is just boring.

Max's lap times were so consistent that it was obvious he was driving just fast enough to control Hamilton. The car had pace to spare. It's a shame for Sergio that the car has been developed in line with Max's preferences, but that's the problem you face when you are Rubens to Max's Michael.

[DChemTech]

Thinking RB is sandbagging and doing a better job hiding it than Merc did. They are performing nearly flawlessly aside from some recent pit errors. They have not been truly pushed since the first few races. I bet Max had tons of time in hand. Onto next season. Will we eventually see more parity with the tiered wind tunnel time plus the cost cap penalty? This is just boring.

Max's lap times were so consistent that it was obvious he was driving just fast enough to control Hamilton. The car had pace to spare. It's a shame for Sergio that the car has been developed in line with Max's preferences, but that's the problem you face when you are Rubens to Max's Michael.

Doesn't mean they're sandbagging. They had a choice:
A) control pace and tyre deg to make a 1-stop on S/M work out.
B) running a higher pace to increase the gap over Ham, but taking an extra stop.

If the car had pace to spare, that doesn't mean they were artificially keeping the gap small - it was perhaps a matter of strategic requirement, and using the extra pace may in the end have reduced the gap if they required an extra stop.

[search]

Thinking RB is sandbagging and doing a better job hiding it than Merc did. They are performing nearly flawlessly aside from some recent pit errors. They have not been truly pushed since the first few races. I bet Max had tons of time in hand. Onto next season. Will we eventually see more parity with the tiered wind tunnel time plus the cost cap penalty? This is just boring.

Max's lap times were so consistent that it was obvious he was driving just fast enough to control Hamilton. The car had pace to spare. It's a shame for Sergio that the car has been developed in line with Max's preferences, but that's the problem you face when you are Rubens to Max's Michael.

Doesn't mean they're sandbagging. They had a choice:
A) control pace and tyre deg to make a 1-stop on S/M work out.
B) running a higher pace to increase the gap over Ham, but taking an extra stop.

If the car had pace to spare, that doesn't mean they were artificially keeping the gap small - it was perhaps a matter of strategic requirement, and using the extra pace may in the end have reduced the gap if they required an extra stop.

Perez pushed harder in the beginning and still made it on his set of tyres without issues, so there most likely was a bit of a margin for Verstappen as well, but yeah, I wouldn't call it sandbagging either. They just made sure to be able to make it home without another stop.

It would have been interesting to see how close Russell would have come on softs, or if he could have pushed him into another stop at least - but unfortunately Mercedes was way too conservative. They should have splitted strategies at the start already, and at the very latest when it became obvious that there wasn't much degradation anyway, and Ferrari no threat at all.

[DGP123]

Russell had to extend, while losing time. Would of come out 20+ sec off Perez\Ham, while negotiating traffic. That’s a significant gap to close on front runners. In comparison, Ricciardo was overtaking slow midfield runners, which is a much easier task. Don’t see it would of made any difference to Russell’s race.

Hypothetically, if he had closed that gap, he would of taken much life out of those softs, and then been in a DRS train behind Perez & Ham. We know that Merc is not fast in a straight too.

Unfortunately for George, he ballsed his race up on lap 1. Was damage limitation after that

[chrisc90]

Unfortunately for George, he ballsed his race up on lap 1. Was damage limitation after that

That was Lewis pushing by him out wasn’t it over the kerb which allowed Checo to go on the inside.


Did anyone see Russell’s interview with sky about how he would have pushed any other driver off the track?

[DGP123]

Unfortunately for George, he ballsed his race up on lap 1. Was damage limitation after that

That was Lewis pushing by him out wasn’t it over the kerb which allowed Checo to go on the inside.


Did anyone see Russell’s interview with sky about how he would have pushed any other driver off the track?

Tbh, George talks a lot of nonsense now. I haven’t seen that interview, but if he admits he would of pushed another driver off the track, he would of been probably penalised with a 5/10 sec pen.

Not smart

[mendis]

Unfortunately for George, he ballsed his race up on lap 1. Was damage limitation after that

That was Lewis pushing by him out wasn’t it over the kerb which allowed Checo to go on the inside.


Did anyone see Russell’s interview with sky about how he would have pushed any other driver off the track?

It was hard but fair. George left the door open. Imagine the outrage if George would have done the same.

[Wouter]

Did I see Kelly with Penelope and Checo's son watching from below the podium?

.
No, Kelly left Mexico and went on Friday to Brasil and Penelope is always with her nannies in Monaco.
This was Carola Martinez, Perez his wife with two of their children.

[chrisc90]

Unfortunately for George, he ballsed his race up on lap 1. Was damage limitation after that

That was Lewis pushing by him out wasn’t it over the kerb which allowed Checo to go on the inside.


Did anyone see Russell’s interview with sky about how he would have pushed any other driver off the track?

Tbh, George talks a lot of nonsense now. I haven’t seen that interview, but if he admits he would of pushed another driver off the track, he would of been probably penalised with a 5/10 sec pen.

Not smart

https://vm.tiktok.com/ZMFAmb1k4/

Apologies for the tiktok link.

It was a terrible thing to say, expect better from him and the team on that perspective.

He also said Pirelli brought the wrong tyre, yet everyone else managed fine. Just another excuse to try deflect the fact they messed up.

[Wouter]

He also said Pirelli brought the wrong tyre, yet everyone else managed fine. Just another excuse to try deflect the fact they messed up.

Verstappen: "Felt on Friday that a hard tire wouldn't work in Mexico"

Max Verstappen already felt on Friday that the hard tire would not work in the Formula 1 Grand Prix of Mexico. Mercedes opted with both drivers on Sunday for the hardest rubber that Pirelli had taken, but that turned out not to be a happy choice. "I did try the hard tire during the first practice, but it didn't feel right. So I didn't want to use that compound in the race."

One- or two-stop in mind for the race?

"We knew in advance that the first stint was going to be crucial for us. We had to stay ahead at the start and then keep the soft tire alive long enough. Both worked well, although I did get a little bit at the end of the stint. bit in trouble at the left front. Anyway, the gap was already big enough to extend the stint a little longer," Verstappen said in the press conference after the race. "Once we went to the mediums, everything worked well anyway. We realized quite early in the second stint that we could make it to the end."

The Dutchman says that he entered the race with several tactical options and that the number of pit stops was not fixed. "We left that open. We had agreed that we would see what the tire degradation would be like during the race. That's why we opted for a start on softs, so we could go in all directions. That tire lasted surprisingly long until four laps before my pit stop and even then I wasn't really under pressure. It was all about managing."

"When we had mediums under the car, we had to wait a few more laps to see how they would hold up. But after a few laps the picture was very positive and we were sure there was no need for a second stop."

[chrisc90]

Just goes to show how much he thinks about the choice prior to the race on tyres.

Wasn’t it one track this year he told the team to change tyre on the sighting laps, and went on to win the race?

[marcel171281]

Just goes to show how much he thinks about the choice prior to the race on tyres.

Wasn’t it one track this year he told the team to change tyre on the sighting laps, and went on to win the race?

Yes, Hungary.

[search]

Russell had to extend, while losing time. Would of come out 20+ sec off Perez\Ham, while negotiating traffic. That’s a significant gap to close on front runners. In comparison, Ricciardo was overtaking slow midfield runners, which is a much easier task. Don’t see it would of made any difference to Russell’s race.

he wouldn't have lost much, it only took another three or four laps for Hamilton's lap times to trend into his direction:



If he had stayed out another couple of laps and then pitted for softs, he'd have finished 2nd easily imo, maybe won, going by the superiour speed of other cars on softs.

Ricciardo gained 35s on Bottas in the final 30 laps just by pitting for the better tyre. And he had to overtake way more cars on his way to the front.