2024 Mercedes-AMG | Petronas F1 Team

[214270]

In recent yrs I’m less convinced these long runs tell an accurate story, esp when it comes to HAM. We’ll see soon enough

[Hammerfist]

All I know I just haven’t seen this dominant rb20 that all the pundits have been raving about. That car has issues. Yeah it appears to be good on deg but it just hasn’t set itself apart in testing or in the two practice sessions so far, which means it’s probably not a dominant car. Merc usually has issues in Bahrain. It’s not a good track for them historically so to finish f p2 1-2 is a great sign imo. Doesn’t mean they will be fastest in quali or race but it shows progress. I think the whole field has closed up on Redbull. I anticipate a more exciting season.

Everyone is saying that Red Bull has yet to turn up the wick on their PU. I guess we will find out in 24 hours whether that was true or not.

FWIW, I do think the gaps in FP2 are generally representative, which would suggest very competitive Saturdays and comfortable RB wins on Sundays.

I don’t think it has anything to do with them turning up the wick they’ve been slow in sector 3 since testing. May suggest they are draggier than last year, or their new side pods are forcing them to run the pu more conservatively. Last year they were always so fast in the straights, even in practice sessions. I haven’t seen it this year, not even once. I don’t think they will walk every race. Like I said Bahrain is not even a good Merc track. Wait for Australia and China. That will tell a different story for sure.

[j_ste]

Honestly, from Lewis onboard. The car innthe long run just looked very comfortable...a few times he was backing out of laps because he kept on catching up to Albon in front of him.

On his fastest lap, it was kind of scruffy. Also nearly lost the back end of the car at the final corner before the straight to start his lap and that led to messing up at turn one.

Definitely the best "friday" they have had on this track since maybe 2020?

[Luscion]

[Luscion]

[ali623]

Toto seems very happy, can barely keep the smile off his face.

[Gr1ff]

I speculate the whole Mercedes camp is very happy as the car we see this weekend is very basic compared to what is in the CAD and windtunel right now. I think this based on the fact they really want to understand the car in its most basic mechanical and aero form and build from there. Mercedes should have easily the biggest development potential based on basic launch car with now correlating toolsets back in the factory.

Hopefully they have another second in the back pocket and they have been waiting for validation from the first test

[Jdn1327]

Even after a fairly lacklustre session there is still a sense of calm in the team. They know where the car is and they're not panicking for setup answers or uncertainty. It's nice to have some stability.

[basti313]

I wonder after this Q2 with Hulk ahead of Rus...should Hulk not be the Nr. 1 solution for Merc next year?

[DGP123]

Russell .3 off
Hamilton .5 off

Interesting to see the race pace tomorrow now

[j_ste]

Great effort from George...qually issues remain for Lewis. Made zero improvement from him Q2 time.

[Hammerfist]

Not bad considering this is Bahrain. Lewis not having an extra set of new softs in q3 probably didn’t help. His qualifying has been so spotty. Congrats to George.

[mkay]

Great effort from George...qually issues remain for Lewis. Made zero improvement from him Q2 time.

HAM was within a tenth of RUS through Sector 2 (0.09s to be precise), he must have made a mistake in the last corner.

Car still looks tricky to drive particularly in high speed corners, and is definitely missing downforce.

Top speed was a little disappointing - only 314-316kph down the main straight. Either their DRS remains deficient, or they haven't really been able to shed that much drag compared to last year.

[Jdn1327]

Even after a fairly lacklustre session there is still a sense of calm in the team. They know where the car is and they're not panicking for setup answers or uncertainty. It's nice to have some stability.

I'll eat my words. Wasn't great from lewis. Still with the issues in qualifying. Let's hope whatever changes he made gives him pace in the race. Russell once again shows how good he is with getting the speed over 1 lap...

[DGP123]

Even after a fairly lacklustre session there is still a sense of calm in the team. They know where the car is and they're not panicking for setup answers or uncertainty. It's nice to have some stability.

I'll eat my words. Wasn't great from lewis. Still with the issues in qualifying. Let's hope whatever changes he made gives him pace in the race. Russell once again shows how good he is with getting the speed over 1 lap...

Yeah, will be interesting to see if last seasons trend on a race day continues. They usually converge and Lewis’s race pace proves decisive. GR needs to step up and hammer home the Q advantage he holds. If he doesn’t and Lewis overturns it tomorrow, then that’s a worrying sign going forward, as a potential team leader.