2024 Mercedes-AMG | Petronas F1 Team

[Luscion]

Even during the sprint where he got Norris off the line and was comfortably in P2, he was complaining about understeer with the car, which is what resulted in him making changes trying to fix it, he was joking and laughing during post quali interview that he said to himself he thought it couldn't get any worse, he admitted not getting into Q2 was his fault not the car's and apologized to Bono after the main race for changing the car saying he won't do that again

[PlatinumZealot]

How many engineers Toto lost in the last 3-4 years? Mike Elliot got sacked for 2023 car but 2024 car is even worse. Even narrower sweet spot and race pace got worse as well as tyre deg in comparison to the 2022 and 2023 cars. Will Toto let James Allison go as well, I remember James saying during Bahrain pre-season tests that MB has a better race pace than Ferrari.

Mike quit Merc just couple of weeks after Lewis visited the factory's wind tunnel in Oct..I supposed something must happen during that time

Perhaps Toto is now having second thoughts.

As works team Toto much be under tremendous pressure when having AM fighting infront

Mike gave his reason for quitting. No need to speculate.

Imagine you are well into your fifites, new regulation change, new role, you gave it your absolute best shot, and your work, due to the ignorance of everyone and yourself for that matter, is considered total trash!! You are tired, you have been going hard since 2011.... Do you push for another three years again into even ANOTHER regulation change?!! Nahh. You're gonna call it a day and let somebody else do that ---. I don't blame Elliot for retiring.

[CHT]

How many engineers Toto lost in the last 3-4 years? Mike Elliot got sacked for 2023 car but 2024 car is even worse. Even narrower sweet spot and race pace got worse as well as tyre deg in comparison to the 2022 and 2023 cars. Will Toto let James Allison go as well, I remember James saying during Bahrain pre-season tests that MB has a better race pace than Ferrari.

Mike quit Merc just couple of weeks after Lewis visited the factory's wind tunnel in Oct..I supposed something must happen during that time

Perhaps Toto is now having second thoughts.

As works team Toto much be under tremendous pressure when having AM fighting infront

Mike gave his reason for quitting. No need to speculate.

Imagine you are well into your fifites, new regulation change, new role, you gave it your absolute best shot, and your work, due to the ignorance of everyone and yourself for that matter, is considered total trash!! You are tired, you have been going hard since 2011.... Do you push for another three years again into even ANOTHER regulation change?!! Nahh. You're gonna call it a day and let somebody else do that ---. I don't blame Elliot for retiring.

And Adrian Newey is 66, went through thick and thin with RBR. Mike will be back for sure.

[AR3-GP]

Mike gave his reason for quitting. No need to speculate.

Is their an article on that? I never saw it. I'm curious. He was just tired of F1?

[Luscion]

Mike gave his reason for quitting. No need to speculate.

Is their an article on that? I never saw it. I'm curious. He was just tired of F1?

I could be wrong but i dont think Elliot gave a reason for why he left, just the normal farewell speech

“It has been one of the great privileges of my career to be part of this Mercedes team. During my time, I have seen it grow from a group of people pulling together to win races, then a first championship, to winning a record eight consecutive Constructors Championships. – and I am proud to have made my contribution to that journey.

“Although the last two seasons have not seen us winning races in the manner we aspire to, they have tested us in many other ways – and forced us to question our fundamental assumptions about how we deliver performance. During the past six months, I have enjoyed developing the technical strategy that we hope can provide the foundations of the team’s next cycle of success.

“I have decided that now is the right time to make my next step beyond Mercedes – first to pause and take stock, after 23 years of working flat-out in this sport, and then to find my next challenge. I would like to thank my team-mates for a fantastic 12 seasons together and wish them every success for the years to come.”

[CHT]

If is was a planned retirement, it will not be sudden and immediate exit.

LH quiting Merc was just as shocking as well and the biggest loser is perhaps Toto.

[Elite]

Sadly it seems Toto is completely deluded. He even thinks max will come and drive for him

He's in denial and refuses to take any responsibility or accept where they are.

And in the search for gold (Antonelli) he lost the best driver on the grid. I can't wait to see Hamilton in that Ferrari next year.

I think the fact that Mike Elliot and James Allison both have failed to deliver a front running car shows that it's a lack of Ground Effect understanding across the organisation. Pretty shocking for a team of their calibre (well their calibre a few years ago)

Sadly Mercedes didn't realise that they need Hamilton more than he needed them. Hamilton single handed won 2017, 2018, 2020 and 2021 If not for that farce (which Mercedes should've protested if they actually cared!!).

The only way to solve this is to restructure, hire new people and fire the deluded guy at the top. This could take over 5 years and I think 2026 will not be any better.

But I don't really care too much as the goat is going to drive with the goat team

[Cs98]

It's different when you used to win trying to claw your way back. Than when you don't know how to win and settle for what you get.
Aston Martin and Alonso are Force India fundamentally. P7 is what they expect. Stroll is nowhere and Alonso is new to the team and has no reason to experiment. They car is solidly 3rd of 4th best car on the grid. Force India are glad with that status.
As for Lewis only complaining about setup when he loses to George. That's not true. Even when he is ahead he says he made some changes after Practice 3 that seem to work or wasnt the best. He always says that. Why would he be a spoiled sport if he gets a good result and complains? The hate brigade will say he is ungrateful etc. The man cannot win in the eyes of some.
But again, why did he experiment and come 3rd last year? Clearly he knows what he is doing. And clearly he doesnt see beating George as any kind of career goal to accomplish. He's just keeping his head down and smelling the roses and learning about car setups. He really has nothing to prove after 103 wins and 7wdc.

Yeah, fundamentally Force India... + a brand new factory + a new wind tunnel + full funding + new ownership + new technical leadership + new drivers + an incoming works engine partner. Basically the exact same team, kind of like how RBR is just Jaguar with a new badge. Nothing has changed for those two teams, ambition level is still back of the midfield.

Alonso has no reason to experiment? Why he has the exact same reasons to "experiment" as Hamilton, all they care about is getting back to the front. They've already felt the taste of victory. The real reason he doesn't "experiment" is because he's crushing his teammate, he's not in need of an excuse.

He never calls them "experiments" when he's ahead, nor does he feel the need to bring it up. It's only when behind he brings it up as an excuse. Of course, we won't find you in here saying that "Hamilton might've beat Russell because his experimental set-up worked", ever. Eventhough if you truly believed he was doing these experiments, and you were honest, that would be a very likely possibility. Would it not? Or do experiments only fail, only work one way? Convenient.

But again, why did he experiment and come 3rd last year? Clearly he knows what he is doing. And clearly he doesnt see beating George as any kind of career goal to accomplish. He's just keeping his head down and smelling the roses and learning about car setups. He really has nothing to prove after 103 wins and 7wdc.

And 6th the year before that, let's not forget.

Keeping his head down? Not exactly. He's keeping his head up in the media, on the team radio, making sure everyone far and wide knows that Sir Lewis Hamilton is indeed conducting "experiments". If he truly didn't care he wouldn't be so adamant about reminding everyone after every session. Of course he does care, and he understands that it does matter for his remaining career. A person who didn't care would act like Seb Vettel did in the final seasons of his career.

[Jurgen von Diaz]

Over the past three years, Hamilton fans have been saying that George beat Lewis because of experiments, and the same thing is happening again. Hamilton does these experiments for himself, and if he ends up behind George at the end of the season, he says he doesn't care. Lewis fans are saying that the experiments are the reason for this result.

It's great that finally, the curtains are open, and Hamilton has said that he was the one who did the cooking in the kitchen with the setups, not the team. I think this has always been the case. Hamilton wants to win so badly that he takes risks with the setups.

[Spoutnik]

There's no need to fight about Russell vs Ham. Russell will earn his number 1 statut, but he will he compete for P8 against Ocon. We are happy for this team and the very good management from Toto to keep/attract the talent !

[PlatinumZealot]

Sadly it seems Toto is completely deluded. He even thinks max will come and drive for him

He's in denial and refuses to take any responsibility or accept where they are.

And in the search for gold (Antonelli) he lost the best driver on the grid. I can't wait to see Hamilton in that Ferrari next year.

I think the fact that Mike Elliot and James Allison both have failed to deliver a front running car shows that it's a lack of Ground Effect understanding across the organisation. Pretty shocking for a team of their calibre (well their calibre a few years ago)

Sadly Mercedes didn't realise that they need Hamilton more than he needed them. Hamilton single handed won 2017, 2018, 2020 and 2021 If not for that farce (which Mercedes should've protested if they actually cared!!).

The only way to solve this is to restructure, hire new people and fire the deluded guy at the top. This could take over 5 years and I think 2026 will not be any better.

But I don't really care too much as the goat is going to drive with the goat team

I also blame Mercedes for 2021. If they were keeping Bottas in line, Masi wouldn't even have the option of pulling that farce! But I digress.

[Hammerfist]

Sadly it seems Toto is completely deluded. He even thinks max will come and drive for him

He's in denial and refuses to take any responsibility or accept where they are.

And in the search for gold (Antonelli) he lost the best driver on the grid. I can't wait to see Hamilton in that Ferrari next year.

I think the fact that Mike Elliot and James Allison both have failed to deliver a front running car shows that it's a lack of Ground Effect understanding across the organisation. Pretty shocking for a team of their calibre (well their calibre a few years ago)

Sadly Mercedes didn't realise that they need Hamilton more than he needed them. Hamilton single handed won 2017, 2018, 2020 and 2021 If not for that farce (which Mercedes should've protested if they actually cared!!).

The only way to solve this is to restructure, hire new people and fire the deluded guy at the top. This could take over 5 years and I think 2026 will not be any better.

But I don't really care too much as the goat is going to drive with the goat team

Yeah Toto has to go. I like the guy but it’s obvious the job is way above his pay grade. Well bad analogy but you know what I mean.
2026 is gonna be a disaster if things don’t start changing now. That’s almost guaranteed imo.

[Hammerfist]

Sadly it seems Toto is completely deluded. He even thinks max will come and drive for him

He's in denial and refuses to take any responsibility or accept where they are.

And in the search for gold (Antonelli) he lost the best driver on the grid. I can't wait to see Hamilton in that Ferrari next year.

I think the fact that Mike Elliot and James Allison both have failed to deliver a front running car shows that it's a lack of Ground Effect understanding across the organisation. Pretty shocking for a team of their calibre (well their calibre a few years ago)

Sadly Mercedes didn't realise that they need Hamilton more than he needed them. Hamilton single handed won 2017, 2018, 2020 and 2021 If not for that farce (which Mercedes should've protested if they actually cared!!).

The only way to solve this is to restructure, hire new people and fire the deluded guy at the top. This could take over 5 years and I think 2026 will not be any better.

But I don't really care too much as the goat is going to drive with the goat team

I also blame Mercedes for 2021. If they were keeping Bottas in line, Masi wouldn't even have the option of pulling that farce! But I digress.

I knew things were weird in 2021 when they decided they would stop development on the car before the summer break. Really? You were in a cut throat championship fight and your priority is the new regulations? Countless bad decisions have been made after that one and we are where we are now.

[Mosin123]

Over the past three years, Hamilton fans have been saying that George beat Lewis because of experiments, and the same thing is happening again. Hamilton does these experiments for himself, and if he ends up behind George at the end of the season, he says he doesn't care. Lewis fans are saying that the experiments are the reason for this result.

It's great that finally, the curtains are open, and Hamilton has said that he was the one who did the cooking in the kitchen with the setups, not the team. I think this has always been the case. Hamilton wants to win so badly that he takes risks with the setups.

Worked last year when he was fighting for p2 in the drivers with Perez while GR was fighting to finish 8th...

People have short memorys...

[PlatinumZealot]

Lewis is working assiduously on one final win for Mercedes.. nothing else really matters at this point! haha