2023 Mercedes-AMG | Petronas F1 Team

[mkay]

I want your opinions here. For sure, Hamilton struggles quite a bit during Q, but how much of the difference is down on pure struggling from Hamilton's side and how much on GR's (possible) saturday oriented set-up?

Lewis said he went the wrong way setup-wise going into Saturday. Something his side of the garage has got to fix. Not the first time this season that Lewis' side of the garage gets lost on setup between Friday and Saturday.

[ringo]

He will continue to hunger for wins until he gets a championship.

Honestly I don't think he has the talent for it. He brought the new mediums up to temp far to fast, and then didn't change his lines much to ensure he feed clean air to the front brakes and tires.

considering he sees all of Lewis's data you would think he'd have learned by now!

He thinks he is better so i dont expect him to put much respect to lewis' approach.
But i think he is champion material. Remember Max's 4 years before 2022 he was even rougher around the edges than Russel.
But when he got that championship he mellowed.
What will stop russel from getting a championship is Lewis. He doesnt have a weak teammate like Max had the luxury off to mess around and still finish with more points.
Russel is good he just need to focus on driving. He tends to be a loud mouth and attention seeker. I hope he bounces back.

[Just_a_fan]

I want your opinions here. For sure, Hamilton struggles quite a bit during Q, but how much of the difference is down on pure struggling from Hamilton's side and how much on GR's (possible) saturday oriented set-up?

Lewis said he went the wrong way setup-wise going into Saturday. Something his side of the garage has got to fix. Not the first time this season that Lewis' side of the garage gets lost on setup between Friday and Saturday.

It feels like Lewis is always seeking that extra tenth and that sometimes pushes the car out of its window. These cars do seem to have quite small sweet spots in terms of set-up. I think Lewis is still in the W12 mindset where they could find that extra bit in the set up, George is still able to think "that's close enough, I can make that work".

[ringo]

I want your opinions here. For sure, Hamilton struggles quite a bit during Q, but how much of the difference is down on pure struggling from Hamilton's side and how much on GR's (possible) saturday oriented set-up?

I think russel had the better race and qualy setup. He just doesnt use it well.
To be fair to him, hamilton was not that much quicker. The 5 second gap came down because leclerc was blocking russel. So leclerc was the bottleneck. Lewis knew this and took his time to chip away at the gap to russel without damaging his tyres. Just better race management. Then he applied pressure and sat there waiting for an error. Classic hamilton.
Seen this many times. Worked on Vettel, Webber, Bottas and Nico quite well and also on Max.

[Spoutnik]

I want your opinions here. For sure, Hamilton struggles quite a bit during Q, but how much of the difference is down on pure struggling from Hamilton's side and how much on GR's (possible) saturday oriented set-up?

I think it was an issue in 2022 as well, espcially given the weak top speed of the Merc. Thats why we had to see Lewis in the gearbox of Gasly for an entire race (Imola) or a painful Jeddah.

But this issue was solved, especially this year. I just think sometimes they get it wrong on Lewis side. I want to add also that Russell imo is a monster over 1 lap. While Hamilton isn't anymore the young guy at McLaren, these days he focus more on race and he has lost a bit - maybe - of raw speed over lap.

But overall Hamilton finish higher or just behind George when he qualify behind him (Monza, Miami, Zandvoort, Jeddah...). In the opposite scenario George finish wayback (for example Barcelona, which is quite representative cause both car run most of the race in clean air).
I just think, again, Hamilton is probably the best racer along with Verstappen.

[mkay]

I want your opinions here. For sure, Hamilton struggles quite a bit during Q, but how much of the difference is down on pure struggling from Hamilton's side and how much on GR's (possible) saturday oriented set-up?

I think russel had the better race and qualy setup. He just doesnt use it well.
To be fair to him, hamilton was not that much quicker. The 5 second gap came down because leclerc was blocking russel. So leclerc was the bottleneck.

That's not quite right. HAM came out close to ~4.5s behind RUS and brought the gap down to 2.5s by the time RUS got DRS on LEC. He basically caught RUS on average by ~0.4s/lap.

[Spoutnik]

I want your opinions here. For sure, Hamilton struggles quite a bit during Q, but how much of the difference is down on pure struggling from Hamilton's side and how much on GR's (possible) saturday oriented set-up?

I think russel had the better race and qualy setup. He just doesnt use it well.
To be fair to him, hamilton was not that much quicker. The 5 second gap came down because leclerc was blocking russel. So leclerc was the bottleneck. Lewis knew this and took his time to chip away at the gap to russel without damaging his tyres. Just better race management. Then he applied pressure and sat there waiting for an error. Classic hamilton.
Seen this many times. Worked on Vettel, Webber, Bottas and Nico quite well and also on Max.

I tend to disagree.
I think Russell was faster all weekend. And his mindset was on the win for sure.
But I do think Lewis was faster on the last stint.
He closed the gap (3.9 to 2.5 IIRC) before Russell even got into Leclerc' gearbox.
And we saw his lines etc, and the way he was able to put pressure on George (more than George against Nando).
Lewis has just got more experience and ofc his raw talent, I think the last stint and his "mature" race management showed it today.

Still he bring the points for the team to stay ahead of Ferrari in the WCC. And he overtake Alonso in the WDC.

[Luscion]

George Russell cost Mercedes the victory today, first by forcing his teammate off the track in Lap 1 instead of conceding defeat with dignity, and then put every chance of salvaging a victory in the garbage bin by holding him up instead of letting him by to use his far superior pace to overtake the leading duo.

Unfortunately, for all his talent, his obsession with wanting to be the man who beat Lewis has made him an active and constant liability to the team. Hamilton has to focus on making sure he qualifies ahead of GR at every race lest his teammate cost him again.

Agreed, Hamilton had a great start, got past Norris and alongside Russell but Russell unnecessarily forcing Lewis off the track ruined it, they could have potentially gotten a 1-2 imo. Hopefully this weekend gives Lewis more motivation to qualify better and ahead of George

[randolf]

George Russell cost Mercedes the victory today, first by forcing his teammate off the track in Lap 1 instead of conceding defeat with dignity, and then put every chance of salvaging a victory in the garbage bin by holding him up instead of letting him by to use his far superior pace to overtake the leading duo.

Unfortunately, for all his talent, his obsession with wanting to be the man who beat Lewis has made him an active and constant liability to the team. Hamilton has to focus on making sure he qualifies ahead of GR at every race lest his teammate cost him again.

Agreed, Hamilton had a great start, got past Norris and alongside Russell but Russell unnecessarily forcing Lewis off the track ruined it, they could have potentially gotten a 1-2 imo. Hopefully this weekend gives Lewis more motivation to qualify better and ahead of George

None of that was necessary if Lewis would have qualified ahead. Like Norris said, Lewis had no intention of making the corner by going so fast into turn 1. It wasn't George pushing him so much, but it was just his lower position that qualified that made him go for that corner hot.

[Big Tea]

Russell and Hamilton need to sort out a system where if one cannot pass after having no pressure from the other for a while, they should swap with an agreement to swap back if neither car can do it. At least until or if they have a superior car again, then a fight is a fight. Right now team points are more important than driver points.

[Tvetovnato]

I want your opinions here. For sure, Hamilton struggles quite a bit during Q, but how much of the difference is down on pure struggling from Hamilton's side and how much on GR's (possible) saturday oriented set-up?

I think russel had the better race and qualy setup. He just doesnt use it well.
To be fair to him, hamilton was not that much quicker. The 5 second gap came down because leclerc was blocking russel. So leclerc was the bottleneck. Lewis knew this and took his time to chip away at the gap to russel without damaging his tyres. Just better race management. Then he applied pressure and sat there waiting for an error. Classic hamilton.
Seen this many times. Worked on Vettel, Webber, Bottas and Nico quite well and also on Max.

I tend to disagree.
I think Russell was faster all weekend. And his mindset was on the win for sure.
But I do think Lewis was faster on the last stint.
He closed the gap (3.9 to 2.5 IIRC) before Russell even got into Leclerc' gearbox.
And we saw his lines etc, and the way he was able to put pressure on George (more than George against Nando).
Lewis has just got more experience and ofc his raw talent, I think the last stint and his "mature" race management showed it today.

Still he bring the points for the team to stay ahead of Ferrari in the WCC. And he overtake Alonso in the WDC.

It was 5.2 at most actually. The first lap out of the box, Hamilton was quite a bit slower than George, likely to bring the tyres in. Then it was no contest.

We don’t know who was quicker in the first stint due to heavy management and traffic. We actually seldom see them on the same terms in the races since one of them is usually on an alternate strategy or stuck in traffic.

But Hamilton needs to get his act together in Q. Would have been a win today if he had. This was likely the last chance for a win for Merc this season, since we now go back to Red Bull domination again.

[Luscion]

Lewis talking about him needing to do better in quali and that he will.

[Hammerfist]

I want your opinions here. For sure, Hamilton struggles quite a bit during Q, but how much of the difference is down on pure struggling from Hamilton's side and how much on GR's (possible) saturday oriented set-up?

I think russel had the better race and qualy setup. He just doesnt use it well.
To be fair to him, hamilton was not that much quicker. The 5 second gap came down because leclerc was blocking russel. So leclerc was the bottleneck.

That's not quite right. HAM came out close to ~4.5s behind RUS and brought the gap down to 2.5s by the time RUS got DRS on LEC. He basically caught RUS on average by ~0.4s/lap.

Russell probably used up too much tire when he came out of the pits. If I recall his first lap after the outlap was a fastest lap of 36.1 and then Lewis took his time on the outlap and the following lap then unleashed a 35.5. From then on he was catching Russell hand over fist. Not sure if Lewis would have gotten Lando though. Sainz made it very difficult for the Merc to get Lando so I don't think that would have happened regardless of who the Merc driver was.

[Spoutnik]

Lewis talking about him needing to do better in quali and that he will.

https://x.com/MercedesNewsUK/status/170 ... TuV7A&s=09

I saw his body language and he seemed disappointed on the podium. It's a very mature reaction from him.
I think this car can have a chance to win in Brazil maybe (lets hope), probably Austin will be a good race especially considering Hamilton' pace around here but I think RB will be too fast out there.

[dans79]

Here is the gap between lewis and George at the start of the lap.