2023 Mercedes-AMG | Petronas F1 Team

[Spoutnik]

Yes ferrari were faster in Canada.
I am not confident in mercedes being a clear second best.
Russel took forever to pass Stroll showing that even the Aston is still formidable.

Signs that p2 to p5 is an ugly cage match between ferrari, aston, merc and mclaren.

As for 49 points gap, at halfway mark. It's a bad time to be behind Lewis. He traditionally wakes up in the second half of the season.

We can look back over the half season and say that it has not been too bad a run for Mercedes. Both drivers pushing themselves and getting very good results. The updates have improved the car. Maybe not as much as we would have liked. But so far i would give the drivers an A and the team a B plus. Only Max has driven as well as these 2. Theyve dropped the least amount of points when taking the car's capacity into context.

Yes Hamilton always hits his peak after the summer break : 2014, 2017, 2018 and 2021 comes to mind.

Merc are still 2nd best team at the operational level. And imo they have got the best line-up.
Alonso is good, but Stroll... no comment needed
Same for RB
Ferrari have a good line up on paper but Sainz lost 51 points on his own (mistakes) and Leclerc had a few inconsistency (Miami, Barcelona) even if he's the better driver.
All in all it's not particularly good because Merc are clear 2nd in the WCC despite not being so clear 2nd in terms of race as I tried to show it earlier !

[dans79]

Lewis is now only 1 point behind Alonso!

I know he will achieve his goals.

[/quote]

If Merc keeps improving the car, and Checko has another meltdown period, he might start targeting second!

[PlatinumZealot]

Post race interview Lewis saying the bouncing has returned hard this weekend and team doesn’t know where it come from. But will work through the data to see what was happening

i think thats some bs, because the car was softer sprung than it has been a long time.

Not to mention i was onboard with Lewis all race and it didn't look like anything other than soft suspension coupled with a track that is bumpy in spots.

Was definitely bouncing in Pouhon.

[Hammerfist]

Boy were they slow in s2! This car won’t improve much until we see an entirely new floor. Sounds like that’s not coming this year so my dreams of catching rbr by years end have pretty much evaporated. Oh well…

[zibby43]

Boy were they slow in s2! This car won’t improve much until we see an entirely new floor. Sounds like that’s not coming this year so my dreams of catching rbr by years end have pretty much evaporated. Oh well…

New floor, new suspension, relocated cockpit/pods/SIPS, etc. Car needs a lot.

They’ve proven they can’t really take that big step in-season. All the time we hear from the drivers or the team that issues persist that they don’t understand. This aero era is really troubling them.

They’ll be squabbling with McLaren, Aston, and Ferrari the rest of the season. Their better driving pairing will probably make the difference in P3. I would usually say their operations are better, but this weekend was a disaster and their pit stop crew is little league at best. Their ops are better than Ferrari, at best.

McLaren are for real now. They’ll be a threat at every circuit type now.

[dans79]

It's interesting to see how all the Fairweather fans are now turning on the team via social media.

[mkay]

Boy were they slow in s2! This car won’t improve much until we see an entirely new floor. Sounds like that’s not coming this year so my dreams of catching rbr by years end have pretty much evaporated. Oh well…

New floor, new suspension, relocated cockpit/pods/SIPS, etc. Car needs a lot.

They’ve proven they can’t really take that big step in-season. All the time we hear from the drivers or the team that issues persist that they don’t understand. This aero era is really troubling them.

They’ll be squabbling with McLaren, Aston, and Ferrari the rest of the season. Their better driving pairing will probably make the difference in P3. I would usually say their operations are better, but this weekend was a disaster and their pit stop crew is little league at best. Their ops are better than Ferrari, at best.

McLaren are for real now. They’ll be a threat at every circuit type now.

Funny you criticize their pit stops when they've probably had their best weekend of the season, with both Hamilton stops sub-3s. I otherwise agree.

As I said before, the brain drain which started pre-COVID is really hurting them. They could have really used the likes of Aldo Costa (suspension), or Andy Cowell (PU-side). Surprised Toto called back Allison instead of aggressively pursuing Wache at Red Bull. Allison hasn't overseen the development of an original race winning chassis since the SF-70H. His Merc success 2017-2021 were all built off of the team assembled by Brawn in the early 2010s.

There's no reason to suggest Mercedes will ever get on top of these regulations if they don't start bringing in fresh blood who can make sense of it all.

[zibby43]

Boy were they slow in s2! This car won’t improve much until we see an entirely new floor. Sounds like that’s not coming this year so my dreams of catching rbr by years end have pretty much evaporated. Oh well…

New floor, new suspension, relocated cockpit/pods/SIPS, etc. Car needs a lot.

They’ve proven they can’t really take that big step in-season. All the time we hear from the drivers or the team that issues persist that they don’t understand. This aero era is really troubling them.

They’ll be squabbling with McLaren, Aston, and Ferrari the rest of the season. Their better driving pairing will probably make the difference in P3. I would usually say their operations are better, but this weekend was a disaster and their pit stop crew is little league at best. Their ops are better than Ferrari, at best.

McLaren are for real now. They’ll be a threat at every circuit type now.

Funny you criticize their pit stops when they've probably had their best weekend of the season, with both Hamilton stops sub-3s. I otherwise agree.

As I said before, the brain drain which started pre-COVID is really hurting them. They could have really used the likes of Aldo Costa (suspension), or Andy Cowell (PU-side). Surprised Toto called back Allison instead of aggressively pursuing Wache at Red Bull. Allison hasn't overseen the development of an original race winning chassis since the SF-70H. His Merc success 2017-2021 were all built off of the team assembled by Brawn in the early 2010s.

There's no reason to suggest Mercedes will ever get on top of these regulations if they don't start bringing in fresh blood who can make sense of it all.

One swallow does not a summer make. This weekend’s pit stop performance should be the bare minimum floor of performance going forward.

[DGP123]

Boy were they slow in s2! This car won’t improve much until we see an entirely new floor. Sounds like that’s not coming this year so my dreams of catching rbr by years end have pretty much evaporated. Oh well…

Was never going to happen. Unfortunately, it won’t happen next year either. Too much needed to overhaul this, and as has been stated, they’ve lost the brains and ideas to get out of this mess. They look lost.

If we’re being honest, I’m pretty sure Hamilton wants out now. There’s just nowhere to go.

[Hammerfist]

Sub 3s is not the standard anymore. You want to be 2.5s or better.

[Ollywood1987]

Need to find the link but the rest of their substantial upgrade is coming first round after summer break. The article hinted at a new floor to complete their aero testing for next year. I’ll post once I find it again

[organic]

Need to find the link but the rest of their substantial upgrade is coming first round after summer break. The article hinted at a new floor to complete their aero testing for next year. I’ll post once I find it again

They've just brought floor changes, a new front wing and a completely new sidepod...

Consider Monaco brought a new sidepod, new engine cover, new front suspension, new floor fences

There isn't a team that has brought more upgrades than Merc so far - McLaren and Ferrari are the only comparable teams. I would be very surprised if an entirely new floor spec will come

[denyall]

It's interesting to see how all the Fairweather fans are now turning on the team via social media.

It's always the same. Any dynasty that ends fans goes through grief, many "fans" are now arriving at the anger phase when the see the dominance of RB.

Long time fans of the sport will have been prepared for this but anyone who latched on to Merc when Lewis arrived is in for a rough time for the next 2+ years.

I'm still definitely in the bargaining phase! Hoping for a miracle turnaround!

[denyall]

If we’re being honest, I’m pretty sure Hamilton wants out now. There’s just nowhere to go.

Last I heard the current contract talk is about diversity goals within the team.

I don't understand why people look at Lewis and think he'd quit because he wasn't winning. I never saw much of this with other drivers who were winning and then had a slow down. Kimi was the hero of F1 and hardly won anything after his championship.

Must just be Lewis things

[organic]

To me Lewis looks more energised and happier than at any point the last 18 months. Don't see him leaving anytime soon