2023 Mercedes-AMG | Petronas F1 Team

[ringo]

I do not think Totto can leave Mercedes without a proper continuity plan. The team will be lost like Williams was after Sir Frank stepped down as team Boss.
As for Hamilton and his comfort in the car, it seems some feature in the car is putting him off. He says something at the rear of the car. I think the aero balance is not what he is used to.
But he needs to adapt like everyone else. If it's something the engineers could have resolved if they were listening to him, then they really should take the blame for making a poorly balanced car.

[wogx]

If she is hired by the team, how could Hamilton fire her?
What if she got too greedy and said hey, I need more pay or I am gone, and left.
Hamilton could have nothing to do with her leaving. I am sure he would have kept her if she took a pay cut like he did.
It seems more that she decided to leave, than her being fired.

She was a personal assistant for LH, so...

Mercedes Formula 1 boss Toto Wolff has implied it was Lewis Hamilton’s decision to split with trainer Angela Cullen, saying change comes when “things don’t work out anymore”.

https://www.motorsport.com/f1/news/merc ... /10445148/

[wogx]

But he needs to adapt like everyone else. If it's something the engineers could have resolved if they were listening to him, then they really should take the blame for making a poorly balanced car.

On the other hand I haven't heard Russell complaining about the balance

[mendis]

I do not think Totto can leave Mercedes without a proper continuity plan. The team will be lost like Williams was after Sir Frank stepped down as team Boss.

This is 11th year for Toto at Mercedes. If he hasn't worked on succession planning all this while, then he is a questionable leader and can't be expected to make that happen now. It then becomes someone else's job to step in and fix it.

[Bill]

Even if they find gobs of downforce and get firmly ahead of the Aston I don’t see them anywhere near Redbull s straight line speed. And let’s face it if it’s gonna be a Redbull copy cat then they will always be second to the original. That’s just how things work in f1. I’m surprised at the big talk coming from Toto. It’s clear to me they are too far away to catch up even next year. Perhaps in 2025 if Redbull gets close to the ceiling of development for their concept. But otherwise I don’t see it.

Key to higher top speed is higher downforce generated by the floor!

Look at how shallow rear wing Red Bull is running! This is what gives them their higher top speed…which means their floor is working much better than Mercedes’s one!

Mercedes has been talking about the importance of the underfloor with these regulations since last year and they have often said that that’s where the concept changes compared to Red Bull!

redbull can run their car very low something merc tried but gave up on the idea too early because floor was getting damage.Redbull never gave up on high rake concept even when merc was 2 second quick like in 2014 ,it took them 8 eight year to win their champ with max although with help of floor being cut.Honda too never gave up on size zero concept and in 2021 they brought an engine which was even smaller than the original size 0 and are now dominating.even if merc make a great car their deployment or hybrid area is not as good as the Honda so championship is unlikely until 2026.merc has the right idea they should just have soldiered on ,thats were great technical leadership comes in rather than just starting all over and hoping things work out ,they will probably go backward.

[ThumbsUp]

Jeddah Race Debrief

[AR3-GP]

Even if they find gobs of downforce and get firmly ahead of the Aston I don’t see them anywhere near Redbull s straight line speed. And let’s face it if it’s gonna be a Redbull copy cat then they will always be second to the original. That’s just how things work in f1. I’m surprised at the big talk coming from Toto. It’s clear to me they are too far away to catch up even next year. Perhaps in 2025 if Redbull gets close to the ceiling of development for their concept. But otherwise I don’t see it.

Key to higher top speed is higher downforce generated by the floor!

Look at how shallow rear wing Red Bull is running! This is what gives them their higher top speed…which means their floor is working much better than Mercedes’s one!

Mercedes has been talking about the importance of the underfloor with these regulations since last year and they have often said that that’s where the concept changes compared to Red Bull!

redbull can run their car very low something merc tried but gave up on the idea too early because floor was getting damage.Redbull never gave up on high rake concept even when merc was 2 second quick like in 2014 ,it took them 8 eight year to win their champ with max although with help of floor being cut.Honda too never gave up on size zero concept and in 2021 they brought an engine which was even smaller than the original size 0 and are now dominating.even if merc make a great car their deployment or hybrid area is not as good as the Honda so championship is unlikely until 2026.merc has the right idea they should just have soldiered on ,thats were great technical leadership comes in rather than just starting all over and hoping things work out ,they will probably go backward.

You might have a point here. Unfortunately for Merc, I think their actions are more pressured by Hamilton's desire for short term success, rather than looking towards the long term with Russell.

Who really knows what the W13 concept could have become. While it did not perform right away, primarily due to the correlation issues, I suspect rival teams are breathing a sigh of relief that Mercedes was never able to realize the potential they saw in the data and have now seemingly abandoned it. The car was so different looking. That definitely scared people in the paddock. You much prefer if your rivals cars are similar to your own because it enables an easier exchange of ideas if they manage to do something better than you. If that W13 worked, no one would have been able to copy it. Scary.

[Bill]

lewis will be better served if he do a swap with charles his career is coming to an end and Toto want charles for future ,i get the feeling both are getting inpatient with their respective teams .i dont belief ferrari has suddenly lost all the pace we saw last year ,i think they have something to unlock

[chrisc90]

Why would Charles drop to a lesser team though? Doesn’t make sense.

I really can’t see any driver adjustments happening to be fair, especially in the top flight. Excluding a retirement of Lewis - potentially.

Then his seat probably filled with lando who is clearly a talent that’s not having the smoothest of times at mclaren.

[KimiRai]

Why would Charles drop to a lesser team though? Doesn’t make sense.

Why would Alonso drop to a lesser team? Doesn't make sense.

I'm not saying Charles should go to Merc necessarily, of course...

[Hammerfist]

Id rather be at mercedes than ferrari. Merc is about to overtake ferrari on track and are already ahead in the standings and its a much more stable team imho.

Lewis isnt going anywhere until he retires.

[JordanMugen]

Why would Charles drop to a lesser team though? Doesn’t make sense.

Why would Alonso drop to a lesser team? Doesn't make sense.

I'm not saying Charles should go to Merc necessarily, of course...

1. Because he had no choice. Alpine wouldn't give him the deal he wanted. Perhaps Alonso was also shown the wind tunnel numbers and that sealed the deal, who knows?

2. Charles could certainly be tempted by Mercedes, if Ferrari continues to disappoint him and Mercedes are more promising. I wouldn't put it past Red Bull to be keen on an out-of-contract Leclerc as well.

I guess Mercedes would also consider Norris, and probably Piastri, Albon and De Vries too (Albon or De Vries if they are after a number 2 driver).

The ball would in Hamilton's court as to whether he wants to continue with Mercedes, of course.

[Jdn1327]

Don’t want to venture too far away from the team topic. However, nothing personal.
What do you propose other than a wind tunnel limitation, CFD limitations, cost cap etc to bring the playing field more level?

I dont see much more they could do other than further regulations like one chassis supplier or to go further than that and have one engine supplier. Then it becomes a stock car series. And I know everyone wants to see drivers in equal cars but that's not really the case. Brawn tried with these regulations but honestly it's not working out. What the FIA should do is ask the drivers what they want...I think Vettel did ask this in 2019...are the drivers' recommendations included in regulation changes?

[RonMexico]

Key to higher top speed is higher downforce generated by the floor!

Look at how shallow rear wing Red Bull is running! This is what gives them their higher top speed…which means their floor is working much better than Mercedes’s one!

Mercedes has been talking about the importance of the underfloor with these regulations since last year and they have often said that that’s where the concept changes compared to Red Bull!

redbull can run their car very low something merc tried but gave up on the idea too early because floor was getting damage.Redbull never gave up on high rake concept even when merc was 2 second quick like in 2014 ,it took them 8 eight year to win their champ with max although with help of floor being cut.Honda too never gave up on size zero concept and in 2021 they brought an engine which was even smaller than the original size 0 and are now dominating.even if merc make a great car their deployment or hybrid area is not as good as the Honda so championship is unlikely until 2026.merc has the right idea they should just have soldiered on ,thats were great technical leadership comes in rather than just starting all over and hoping things work out ,they will probably go backward.

You might have a point here. Unfortunately for Merc, I think their actions are more pressured by Hamilton's desire for short term success, rather than looking towards the long term with Russell.

Who really knows what the W13 concept could have become. While it did not perform right away, primarily due to the correlation issues, I suspect rival teams are breathing a sigh of relief that Mercedes was never able to realize the potential they saw in the data and have now seemingly abandoned it. The car was so different looking. That definitely scared people in the paddock. You much prefer if your rivals cars are similar to your own because it enables an easier exchange of ideas if they manage to do something better than you. If that W13 worked, no one would have been able to copy it. Scary.

I'm going to butcher the quote but Irvine when he saw the 1996 Ferrari supposedly said this thing looks so different to the field it will either be terrible or excellent.
Newey himself said they deliberately built a car that will work across a broad spectrum of track and corner types. The Mercedes might have been superb in Barcelona but no good in half the other tracks. Was that not Mercedes MO for the championship years? Have the best car over the season

[ValeVida46]

Merc wind tunnel correlation affected by out-of-tolerance parts. Very disappointing if true, and relevant individuals have reportedly been dismissed.

https://www.formu1a.uno/en/mercedes-win ... ntil-2024/

More information has surfaced surrounding problems during the development of the W14 in the wind tunnel over winter.

Mercedes has worked to better understand this issue, carrying out a complete investigation in the factory through scans both in the scale models used in the tunnel and in the real ones.

It has emerged that some parts used in the wind tunnel (the scale models) were inaccurate and went beyond the necessary parameters.

These problems have not only affected the development of the W14, such as the delays we reported during the winter, but also in terms of correlation. Subsequently, some of those who worked in this area have been dismissed.

Kindly posted by Mkay in the W14 thread.

If this has any substance, it points to negligence or even misconduct. Would be very interesting to see if Mercedes corroborates the story, and the circumstances surrounding the discovery.
The positive to come out of this is that at least there are systems in place to do thorough checks for inconsistencies.