2023 Mercedes-AMG | Petronas F1 Team

[TotoWolf]

Good job today

[PlatinumZealot]

It's 3-0 for George against Lewis!

Still gonna be celebrating when George is beating a 40 year old in qualifying?

It will happen naturally.

I was observing how Zhao has been beating Bottas recently and Bottas was a stern challenge for Hamilton in qualifying. Doesn't make Zhao the greatest qualifier on the grid but it shows guys like Hamitlon and Alonso aren't immune to the effects of age.

[Stu]

Impressive performance today by both drivers & team with the Sh1tb0x V2.0 (TM-Toto Wolff).

Strange tactic by the team to send the cars out together each time (was this to get a slipstream - or maybe anti-slipstream - effect?); always GR first, followed by LH.

Very, very close grid, but with track temperature likely to change for race day (forecast is for sun tomorrow, I understand), how much will car behaviour change & what effect will it have on the race?

[chrisc90]

Impressive performance today by both drivers & team with the Sh1tb0x V2.0 (TM-Toto Wolff).

Strange tactic by the team to send the cars out together each time (was this to get a slipstream - or maybe anti-slipstream - effect?); always GR first, followed by LH.

Very, very close grid, but with track temperature likely to change for race day (forecast is for sun tomorrow, I understand), how much will car behaviour change & what effect will it have on the race?

Even more so confusing Lewis sitting so close to the Haas. No idea why he was centimetres away from the rear wing before starting a push lap. Create your own space and be wise. The Haas had its right to be there.

Where was it last year where we seen similar? Colder quali session followed by a warmer race? Something in my mind is telling me there was something similar where the Merc did well in the cooler temperatures and qualified well. Be interesting to note that if my suspicion is right, what played out in the race.

[ringo]

Impressive performance today by both drivers & team with the Sh1tb0x V2.0 (TM-Toto Wolff).

Strange tactic by the team to send the cars out together each time (was this to get a slipstream - or maybe anti-slipstream - effect?); always GR first, followed by LH.

Very, very close grid, but with track temperature likely to change for race day (forecast is for sun tomorrow, I understand), how much will car behaviour change & what effect will it have on the race?

Maybe giving them both equal track development. That is being on the track at the same time and same space.

[ringo]

Regardibg Lewis and George. A tenth between is not bad. George is young and quick. The gap should be bigger against a driver who is nit comfortable. But overall it's good both cars are righ there. Hamilton starts on the clean side and if George is not careful he could collide with Max into turn 1. I do not think Max will concede any ground to either Lewis or George.

The w14 is a mystery. I am not even sure if it's design flaws are as bad as the media snd Toto makes them out to be. They beat the Aston fair and square. Alonso can make little errors however' so maybe he just had a poor sesion, but the AMR was strong in first sector and thus could be a strong race car.
The concepts are so different, yet both cars are on similar levels. Makes you wonder what would happen if Mercedes fixes their quirks.

[Stu]

But dangerous to have them so close together when the chances of a yellow flag are high. That was always one of Ken Tyrell’s mantras….

[chrisc90]

Regardibg Lewis and George. A tenth between is not bad. George is young and quick. The gap should be bigger against a driver who is nit comfortable. But overall it's good both cars are righ there. Hamilton starts on the clean side and if George is not careful he could collide with Max into turn 1. I do not think Max will concede any ground to either Lewis or George.

The w14 is a mystery. I am not even sure if it's design flaws are as bad as the media snd Toto makes them out to be. They beat the Aston fair and square. Alonso can make little errors however' so maybe he just had a poor sesion, but the AMR was strong in first sector and thus could be a strong race car.
The concepts are so different, yet both cars are on similar levels. Makes you wonder what would happen if Mercedes fixes their quirks.

I just have a feeling that this quali weekend wasnt truely representative. Come the race it will be interesting to see the gaps/race pace compared to usual.

Definitely be interesting to see what comes of the W14, it was odd-ball performances like this (brazil) that threw a little bit of confidence behind the concept from the team.

[Stu]

…

The w14 is a mystery. I am not even sure if it's design flaws are as bad as the media snd Toto makes them out to be. They beat the Aston fair and square. Alonso can make little errors however' so maybe he just had a poor sesion, but the AMR was strong in first sector and thus could be a strong race car.
The concepts are so different, yet both cars are on similar levels. Makes you wonder what would happen if Mercedes fixes their quirks.

This is exactly what I have been saying for weeks, the field is so close together that small differences become amplified in the effect that they have on positions.
The percentage differences in pace are tiny because EVERYONE has raised their game.
This is where things like the budget cap, ceilings on wind tunnel time/CFD runs are having the desired effect.
The biggest differences are now in operational strategies, so expect sim run time/data to be the next thing to get a scaled ceiling.

I’m getting off-topic here, my biggest problem is that I’m playing the social media game the team are creating a great deal of angst among their fans.

[ringo]

Right. Ignoring redbull the feild is very close.
Thid weekend Williams are looking good for top 10. Last week it was the Alpines that had some pace. I do get that Mercedes want to have the dominant car but this one isnt too bad. Not that they should be complacent.
Funny enough the melbourne track can be a case of hungary and brazil all over again. So the team must stick to their plans of a drastic overhaul.

[taperoo2k]

…

The w14 is a mystery. I am not even sure if it's design flaws are as bad as the media snd Toto makes them out to be. They beat the Aston fair and square. Alonso can make little errors however' so maybe he just had a poor sesion, but the AMR was strong in first sector and thus could be a strong race car.
The concepts are so different, yet both cars are on similar levels. Makes you wonder what would happen if Mercedes fixes their quirks.

This is exactly what I have been saying for weeks, the field is so close together that small differences become amplified in the effect that they have on positions.
The percentage differences in pace are tiny because EVERYONE has raised their game.
This is where things like the budget cap, ceilings on wind tunnel time/CFD runs are having the desired effect.
The biggest differences are now in operational strategies, so expect sim run time/data to be the next thing to get a scaled ceiling.

I’m getting off-topic here, my biggest problem is that I’m playing the social media game the team are creating a great deal of angst among their fans.

I'd guess the W14 isn't a bad car when it's in the right window, it's just probably never going to beat Red Bull's design concept. I expect if the FIA decides to put a limit on Simulator time the teams might well protest. Given testing time is limited, being able to use the simulator without restriction is a good compromise. I guess they could limit how often teams can upgrade or replace simulators.

The social media stuff is probably being used as a distraction to steer fans away from whatever's going on in the Factory. I wouldn't be surprised if they are still figuring out the finer details of the concept changes.

[mendis]

It's 3-0 for George against Lewis!

Still gonna be celebrating when George is beating a 40 year old in qualifying?

It will happen naturally.

I was observing how Zhao has been beating Bottas recently and Bottas was a stern challenge for Hamilton in qualifying. Doesn't make Zhao the greatest qualifier on the grid but it shows guys like Hamitlon and Alonso aren't immune to the effects of age.

Lewis chose not to retire. So that's his problem. No one forced him to stay. Bottas was always a crap driver and it's being shown now by Zhou. There is no other inference there. May be Zhou is infact the greatest qualifier, who knows? He doesn't have those dominant Mercedes cars, otherwise we would have witnessed the dominance of The Great Zhou of China on the F1 stage.

[mzso]

Bingo.

Not so sure. The center of pressure is aerodynamic, front/rear balance is mechanical. If the driver sits more forward of the c.g. they will not sense the rear coming around as well as a more rearward position. Having said that, 10 cm doesn't seem like a critical distance. If you look back years ago before the rule of driver's feet behind the front wheel center-line you can see extreme forward driving positions. Polar moments and driver position might be the issue. Still, a pretty small change; I suspect the driver.

10cm is not a small change. It's not even a small change in a passenger car. lol.
Everyone has their seating position and height that they feel most confident driving in.
I can imagine the engineers went too far with the fuel tank undercuting to fit the radiators and thus have the slim sidepods.

It's not much, when it comes to seating position. Especially considering the mentioned old cars.

[mzso]

It's 3-0 for George against Lewis!

Still gonna be celebrating when George is beating a 40 year old in qualifying?

It will happen naturally.

I was observing how Zhao has been beating Bottas recently and Bottas was a stern challenge for Hamilton in qualifying. Doesn't make Zhao the greatest qualifier on the grid but it shows guys like Hamitlon and Alonso aren't immune to the effects of age.

That's not an excuse. See Alonso.

[Mchamilton]

It's 3-0 for George against Lewis!

Still gonna be celebrating when George is beating a 40 year old in qualifying?

It will happen naturally.

I was observing how Zhao has been beating Bottas recently and Bottas was a stern challenge for Hamilton in qualifying. Doesn't make Zhao the greatest qualifier on the grid but it shows guys like Hamitlon and Alonso aren't immune to the effects of age.

That's not an excuse. See Alonso.

VS stroll..