2023 Mercedes-AMG | Petronas F1 Team

[zibby43]

Fourth and Fifth. Decent positions. Hulk should be swallowed up after a few laps. I like this version 1 of the vanilla pods. Can't wait to see version 2.

Vanilla pods and new suspension have given them a platform that the drivers feel provides more consistency. And a clear development path moving forward.

[AR3-GP]

The car just doesn’t work in the wet. Cant get the tires in the window at all. Id say a q3 appearance is unlikely.
Are they still running medium downforce?

Both cars made it to Q3 in similar conditions last year.

And they have again.

In conditions that would have not suited the old spec car in qualifying, they were set to battle it out with ALO in Q3.

Helped by the competence of the team and it's drivers to maximize their result in tricky conditions. Stroll and Ferrari were clowns today.

[zibby43]

Both cars made it to Q3 in similar conditions last year.

And they have again.

In conditions that would have not suited the old spec car in qualifying, they were set to battle it out with ALO in Q3.

Helped by the competence of the team and it's drivers to maximize their result in tricky conditions. Stroll and Ferrari were clowns today.

LEC/the Ferrari just weren’t good enough in these conditions. There’s no way I’m putting all the blame on Ferrari operationally today.

The Mercs were 3-4 in Q1 as well. They lucked out in Q2 operationally, but the drivers and the car were capable all day.

I’m with Toni today.

[Hammerfist]

Lol at the “vanilla pods” term.

I look forward to see if lewis and george can pressure alonso tomorrow. That will show progress even on a rear limited circuit.

And i have to agree that leclerc’s demise was not solely on the pitwall. He has shown to be less than special in the rain so far in his career.

[pursue_one's]

[mzso]

Fourth and Fifth. Decent positions. Hulk should be swallowed up after a few laps. I like this version 1 of the vanilla pods. Can't wait to see version 2.

He was swallowed up before even the race start.

[mzso]

And they have again.

In conditions that would have not suited the old spec car in qualifying, they were set to battle it out with ALO in Q3.

Helped by the competence of the team and it's drivers to maximize their result in tricky conditions. Stroll and Ferrari were clowns today.

LEC/the Ferrari just weren’t good enough in these conditions. There’s no way I’m putting all the blame on Ferrari operationally today.

The Mercs were 3-4 in Q1 as well. They lucked out in Q2 operationally, but the drivers and the car were capable all day.

I’m with Toni today.

https://twitter.com/tonisokolov1011/sta ... w2eCbwUjFA

Well, you should. They pretended to be more clever than the driver today. And they weren't.

I guess we'll see in the Palmer video what were those laps like. Might have been a lot of traffic. Or the car behaved crappily on inters with a dry racing line. All of which would be moot if they just let the driver do what he wanted.

[Stu]

Interesting comments at the end.

“Interesting” being the operative word.

[chrisc90]

Almost like he didn’t want to admit that RB have wiped the grid with their floor detail.

[Mchamilton]

Almost like he didn’t want to admit that RB have wiped the grid with their floor detail.

Whole interview sounded more like he was fed up of the stupid questions and uneducated assumptions the media like Ted constantly yap on about when they talk about features on various cars.

[mzso]

Almost like he didn’t want to admit that RB have wiped the grid with their floor detail.

I don't think the complexity makes it effective. It's just what you do when you're already comfortable fastest: add little tweaks, nooks and crannies here and there to improve the airflow a little bit.

[214270]

Almost like he didn’t want to admit that RB have wiped the grid with their floor detail.

Whole interview sounded more like he was fed up of the stupid questions and uneducated assumptions the media like Ted constantly yap on about when they talk about features on various cars.

2nd that. He’s done with the Rb fetish the media currently has

[Just_a_fan]

Almost like he didn’t want to admit that RB have wiped the grid with their floor detail.

Er, no. He was saying that the floor has some details that showed that much focus/effort had been applied to it.

What is interesting is that the floor has features that can also be found on the Valkyrie. When Allison talks about spending enough time in the wind tunnel to get to the detail that RB has, that comparison came to mind immediately.

[Just_a_fan]

The whole "mind blowing" narrative is one made up by the F1 media - journalists who mostly couldn't tell you how a car engine works, let alone understand the complexity of aerodynamics.

You can see in Allison's responses and, crucially, his facial responses, that he thinks the questions he's being asked are fatuous nonsense, and are being asked by a person that really doesn't understand the subject matter he asking about. Even after Allison's excellent analogy about cam covers, Ted was still pressing the sidepod point.

[balex]

James Allison video

It's refreshing to see someone make clear that complexity is orthogonal to performance.

We know that when developing a complex system the simplest solution in any one area is often the most attractive. Mercedes' goal is to match Red Bull's performance, and there is nothing to say that Mercedes must match Red Bull's complexity to do that. This is why the level of complexity is not in itself intimidating to them: It is just the approach Red Bull have chosen to reach their current level of performance.

Also good of him to tackle the logical fallacy of "the thing I can see is the important thing". It's hard to believe it is still so prevalent. I hope the vanilla pods do bring true his (and many of our) dreams of talking about something else!