2023 Mercedes-AMG | Petronas F1 Team

[AMG.Tzan]

Can’t see the point of not pitting 1-2 laps earlier and go on the Hards 1-2 laps longer…

I know some people get hyped by the upgrade bringing performance but I’ll have to remind them last year Mercedes also brought an update here, also finished a close 2nd and also thought they’ve made a fast car at last…

Guess what happened some months later…

Well the bright side is that this floor is working by itself. The wings and body didn't change. So imagine if the whole car was optimized together? This war is not over yet. If we can close within 2 tenths of RedBull in 2024 we can win the WCC at least.

I really hope this is true mate!

But I don’t know! I get the feeling this performance today was track specific both for us and for Red Bull themselves on the opposite side!

Abu Dhabi will once again show the true picture just like it did last year!

But hopefully too, Mexico and Brazil suit Mercedes even more than Austin!

[Luscion]

Can’t see the point of not pitting 1-2 laps earlier and go on the Hards 1-2 laps longer…

I know some people get hyped by the upgrade bringing performance but I’ll have to remind them last year Mercedes also brought an update here, also finished a close 2nd and also thought they’ve made a fast car at last…

Guess what happened some months later…

Well the bright side is that this floor is working by itself. The wings and body didn't change. So imagine if the whole car was optimized together? This war is not over yet. If we can close within 2 tenths of RedBull in 2024 we can win the WCC at least.

I really hope this is true mate!

But I don’t know! I get the feeling this performance today was track specific both for us and for Red Bull themselves on the opposite side!

Abu Dhabi will once again show the true picture just like it did last year!

But hopefully too, Mexico and Brazil suit Mercedes even more than Austin!

According to Toto this was not a track they were expecting to be close to the front (even if we just look at quali) because eof the high speed corners and straights, so it shows the floor upgrade works and it's a bit more than the 1 tenth Allison talked about. that being said I still think the gap to RB is sizeable because Max was managing his brake issues

[chrisc90]

Can’t see the point of not pitting 1-2 laps earlier and go on the Hards 1-2 laps longer…

I know some people get hyped by the upgrade bringing performance but I’ll have to remind them last year Mercedes also brought an update here, also finished a close 2nd and also thought they’ve made a fast car at last…

Guess what happened some months later…

Well the bright side is that this floor is working by itself. The wings and body didn't change. So imagine if the whole car was optimized together? This war is not over yet. If we can close within 2 tenths of RedBull in 2024 we can win the WCC at least.

I really hope this is true mate!

But I don’t know! I get the feeling this performance today was track specific both for us and for Red Bull themselves on the opposite side!

Abu Dhabi will once again show the true picture just like it did last year!

But hopefully too, Mexico and Brazil suit Mercedes even more than Austin!

I said this before the weekend. A strong of ‘strong merc’ tracks coming up (excluding vegas as nobody has been before).

Upgrade appeared to work pretty well. Surprised George didn’t make up more time to be fair.

Important for fans to realise that some teams haven’t brought any upgrades since the summer break - so you will see a bit of converging towards the end of the season

[mkay]

Performance in the race wasn't representative. Max said that they changed the brakes on his car between the Sprint and the GP. That change must have gone wrong.

They pulled on average 0.3-0.4s/lap on Hamilton when both were in clear air in the Sprint - that gap all but disappeared today. Quite clear to something was amiss with RB today.

[AR3-GP]

Merc didn't learn anything from 2021 US GP.

[AR3-GP]

Well the bright side is that this floor is working by itself. The wings and body didn't change. So imagine if the whole car was optimized together? This war is not over yet. If we can close within 2 tenths of RedBull in 2024 we can win the WCC at least.

I really hope this is true mate!

But I don’t know! I get the feeling this performance today was track specific both for us and for Red Bull themselves on the opposite side!

Abu Dhabi will once again show the true picture just like it did last year!

But hopefully too, Mexico and Brazil suit Mercedes even more than Austin!

According to Toto this was not a track they were expecting to be close to the front (even if we just look at quali) because eof the high speed corners and straights, so it shows the floor upgrade works and it's a bit more than the 1 tenth Allison talked about. that being said I still think the gap to RB is sizeable because Max was managing his brake issues

Every team had excuses this weekend. RB said worse than expected because of bumps. Mclaren said bad track. Aston said bad track. Ferrari said bad track. Mercedes said bad track.

At some point you have to ignore it. It's the same for everyone.

[GrizzleBoy]

Maybe their brakes are like Mercs when they were dominating. As soon as they were in traffic they were hamstrung by brakes that reached critical temps the moment they had to run behind another car.

[mkay]

Merc didn't learn anything from 2021 US GP.

I firmly believe that they didn't think they had enough pace to win (which goes back to my comment about VER's brake change making gaps appear closer than they should have been).

It was quite clear from Bono's commentary, too, when he said that the fight for P2 was on, and "perhaps the win". They clearly thought Max was going to run away with it and that they would only fight NOR for P2.

[Spoutnik]

Merc didn't learn anything from 2021 US GP.

I firmly believe that they didn't think they had enough pace to win (which goes back to my comment about VER's brake change making gaps appear closer than they should have been).

It was quite clear from Bono's commentary, too, when he said that the fight for P2 was on, and "perhaps the win". They clearly thought Max was going to run away with it and that they would only fight NOR for P2.

I understand the argument. But even against Norris it wasn't a good stratey. He came out of the pit with almost 10 sec to Norris while he was under 2 sec behind him and catching him at the end of the first stint.

[Luscion]

Even Max thinks Merc could have won it today if not for their bad strategy

[Luscion]

Merc didn't learn anything from 2021 US GP.

In what way do you mean?

[AR3-GP]

Merc didn't learn anything from 2021 US GP.

I firmly believe that they didn't think they had enough pace to win (which goes back to my comment about VER's brake change making gaps appear closer than they should have been).

It was quite clear from Bono's commentary, too, when he said that the fight for P2 was on, and "perhaps the win". They clearly thought Max was going to run away with it and that they would only fight NOR for P2.

Whether it was Ver or Nor that they were fighting, the better strategy was the 2 stop and undercut. This was proven in the 2019, 2021, and 2022 races at COTA.

[AR3-GP]

Merc didn't learn anything from 2021 US GP.

In what way do you mean?

Merc lost at COTA in '21 by staying out and "extending" stints. Hamilton himself lost to Bottas here in '19 because they tried to 1 stop. The race winning strategy for the last 4 years in COTA has been 2 stop with undercuts or stopping before the opposition. Merc has either left Hamilton on the 1 stop ('19), or done their purposeless stint extending ('21,'23).

[organic]

Merc didn't learn anything from 2021 US GP.

In what way do you mean?

Merc lost at COTA in '21 by staying out and "extending" stints. Hamilton himself lost to Bottas here in '19 because they tried to 1 stop. The race winning strategy for the last 4 years in COTA has been 2 stop with undercuts or stopping before the opposition. Merc has either left Hamilton on the 1 stop ('19), or done their purposeless stint extending ('21,'23).

Once you've been undercut by a car of similar pace and if you don't have a top speed advantage - in merc's case a deficit - you just have to extend to generate a tyre age offset which then will give you more pace delta to overtake when you do catch them. It's completely standard pitstop strategy and everyone does it. We don't tend to see RB do the extend strategy because they rarely get undercut because they have the fastest car and can afford to trigger an early undercut knowing they will be able to pull enough of a gap in clean air such that they won't be at risk at the end of the stint.

Van haren (max/RB insider) posted that RB knew Hamilton's strategy was a good one. It's probably the strategy max would've been on had Lewis or Norris blinked first in stint 1

[organic]

Oh dear Hamilton could be disqualified