2024 Mercedes-AMG | Petronas F1 Team

[Spoutnik]

Russell did the same thing in Hungary 2022 with the same condition (low temp + green track) and in the race he end up behind Lewis who was starting P7. Don't need to worry really, Lewis is nowhere in qualy these day but we can count on him in race pace he's still one of the very best at it. Russell is a beast over one lap, I just hope his race pace will be decent tomorrow. Each driver have their own strenght

[Hammerfist]

Without the tow it would have been another bloody verstappen pole. So well done George but for me Max is still favorite to win. Hamilton qualifying has been subpar for a while now. No more excuses.

[Cs98]

Man this thread just turns into people talking crapping on the drivers after every quali.

George got a tow from the start of the straight all the way to the finish line, Lewis was up on George until the last sector where George got the tow, Russell was around, iirc, 9kph faster than lewis on the straight because of it. They then went out of fresh softs and neither could improve because of the wind picking up. had Russell not gotten that tow both him and Lewis would be p6 and p7

Let's not peddle inaccuracies to detract, especially when you open your comment complaining about the state of the thread. George's second run was 26 ms from pole and would've been good enough for P3. George was just under 3 tenths faster than Lewis on both runs.

[matt_b]

George got a tow from the start of the straight all the way to the finish line, Lewis was up on George until the last sector where George got the tow, Russell was around, iirc, 9kph faster than lewis on the straight because of it. They then went out of fresh softs and neither could improve because of the wind picking up. had Russell not gotten that tow both him and Lewis would be p6 and p7

I initially thought the same but George did a 1:12.026 on his second run which included a Purple 28.971 in sector 3 (No tow from anyone) which would've been P3.

Lewis just couldn't match George in that final sector despite having a fresh engine and did a personal best (29.216). I will need to look where he was losing all that time because if he matched George in that sector he would've been up there.

[venkyhere]

Redbull spending more time on throttle and brakes, and less time in corners than Merc.
Mostly likely it means Merc had turned up the engine more and Redbull was very conservative with braking input.

Thank goodness I used "most likely" in my reckoning earlier. My bad nevertheless. It wasn't engine mode afterall, in FP3. Fine job bringing up the car to where it's natural fighting area is - at the front. Looks like their decision to STOP EXPERIMENTING OVER THE RACE WEEKEND and make only small changes one by one, has paid dividends. Better late than never.

Will be a great opening lap tomorrow. In the track interview Max said in reply to tomorrow's lap1 T1 question - "we will think about it. I am not stressed". That sounded ominous, maybe race pace is the ace they have up their sleeve, over Mercs.

[Mansell89]

Crikey I thought this thread would be celebratory on the back of that- how wrong I was!

Have we got any long run data worth any salt?

[Tvetovnato]

Man this thread just turns into people talking crapping on the drivers after every quali.

George got a tow from the start of the straight all the way to the finish line, Lewis was up on George until the last sector where George got the tow, Russell was around, iirc, 9kph faster than lewis on the straight because of it. They then went out of fresh softs and neither could improve because of the wind picking up. had Russell not gotten that tow both him and Lewis would be p6 and p7

This is a fair analysis, even though I doubt Hamilton’s lap would have been quicker anyway. In reality, only a couple of hundredths difference likely in George’s favour. Still, George put the lap in when he needed to. Great job!

[Luscion]

Crikey I thought this thread would be celebratory on the back of that- how wrong I was!

Have we got any long run data worth any salt?

This is the only thing i could find on long runs, dont know how much its worth though

[ringo]

Without the tow it would have been another bloody verstappen pole. So well done George but for me Max is still favorite to win. Hamilton qualifying has been subpar for a while now. No more excuses.

I think this time, based on data and the commentators, it was just bad luck. he had 2 purple mini sectors. The yellows were all because of the degrading conditions.
Russel went earlier when things were better, and also had a tow.
So I would not really bash Lewis this time. Let's see how the race goes. But I am glad he does feel better in the car, and we can see it. No experimenting and no excuses. The pace is there, just a poorly managed session. Look on what happened to Ferrari.

[SKYnRacing24]

Lewis will be second guessing himself now before his ferrari stint. This track is his back yard and has lost in qualy 8-1 now . This --- is brutal. He has no excuses now.

It's not that bad. the gap was only 2 tenths, plus he was yellow in all 3 sectors. If he was green, then I would be more worried.
The car was the best car today, but that Q3 session turned things into a lottery.
He can still win. This race is a very long one. George does have what it takes to win in terms of skill. He has proven as much in Brazil. The risk is how measured he is.

The Mclarens and Max are a huge threat for the win.

Nah a podium is out of the question let alone a win. IF its changeable conditions then maybe but he has alot of good drivers infront with equal performanced cars. Just watched his interview and his answers are troubling, he has no clue whats going on with the pace. He keeps banging on about practice sessions for some reason but bro its " PRACTICE " you dont really know where your competitors pace stands or whos holding back. Didnt know this is his first time hes qualified outside the top 5 since he started in 2007. Grim statistics are grim.

The more i think about it the more im convinced Russell was struggling with last years car more than Lewis and whatever changes they have made to the W15 has been right up his street. Yes Lewis has his racepace but Russell isn't that far away from him. The side by side was revealing. Lewis looks like he can't hustle a car in qualy trim compared to Russell and its something he won't fix as he's leaving.

I generally can't see him turning it around. Its been a running theme all year apart from Japan. Russell has more envelop to put this car in places Lewis can't.

[denyall]

Great progress for Merc. Really excited to see what comes tomorrow and the next few races. Hopefully we some cool podiums with so many teams in the mix.

Challenging Q3, Mr. Saturday delivers as always.

[Luscion]

Lewis will be second guessing himself now before his ferrari stint. This track is his back yard and has lost in qualy 8-1 now . This --- is brutal. He has no excuses now.

It's not that bad. the gap was only 2 tenths, plus he was yellow in all 3 sectors. If he was green, then I would be more worried.
The car was the best car today, but that Q3 session turned things into a lottery.
He can still win. This race is a very long one. George does have what it takes to win in terms of skill. He has proven as much in Brazil. The risk is how measured he is.

The Mclarens and Max are a huge threat for the win.

Nah a podium is out of the question let alone a win. IF its changeable conditions then maybe but he has alot of good drivers infront with equal performanced cars. Just watched his interview and his answers are troubling, he has no clue whats going on with the pace. He keeps banging on about practice sessions for some reason but bro its " PRACTICE " you dont really know where your competitors pace stands or whos holding back. Didnt know this is his first time hes qualified outside the top 5 since he started in 2007. Grim statistics are grim.

The more i think about it the more im convinced Russell was struggling with last years car more than Lewis and whatever changes they have made to the W15 has been right up his street. Yes Lewis has his racepace but Russell isn't that far away from him. The side by side was revealing. Lewis looks like he can't hustle a car in qualy trim compared to Russell and its something he won't fix as he's leaving.

I generally can't see him turning it around. Its been a running theme all year apart from Japan. Russell has more envelop to put this car in places Lewis can't.

Him saying he lost grip in quali and they changed nothing on the car is interesting, maybe that changes for him come race time. Hopefully George can keep Max behind and Lewis can move up but not much to go off of on the long runs

[organic]

https://i.imgur.com/967YsaM.jpeg

going off on this Lewis was up a good bit on Russell and lost it all in S3, either Lewis messed up there or that tow was worth quite a bit (for some reason this doesnt show the S3 times)

uhh those sector times aren't representative. 24.2 in sector 1 is like 3-4s off the pace

That image is showing the sector times of cooldown laps/non-push

[Luscion]

https://i.imgur.com/967YsaM.jpeg

going off on this Lewis was up a good bit on Russell and lost it all in S3, either Lewis messed up there or that tow was worth quite a bit (for some reason this doesnt show the S3 times)

uhh those sector times aren't representative. 24.2 in sector 1 is like 3-4s off the pace

That image is showing the sector times of cooldown laps/non-push

Yea, I'll wait until someone more reliable posts the sector times

[Mansell89]

Crikey I thought this thread would be celebratory on the back of that- how wrong I was!

Have we got any long run data worth any salt?

This is the only thing i could find on long runs, dont know how much its worth though

https://pbs.twimg.com/media/GPkcs68agAA ... name=small

Thanks man!