2024 Mercedes-AMG | Petronas F1 Team

[Mosin123]

Lewis shaking his head and not saying a word after the race and just sits in the car, seems pretty pissed they didnt listen to him about the softs, cant blame him

The soft was a garbage race tyre. What would be the point of putting him on that for a 4-5 lap glory run when he was right behind his teammate who was also on new tyres. Was he going to use the best of the tyre to pass George? Makes no sense. The plan as constructed made more sense, George on mediums picking off the McLarens and then Lewis coming a few laps after picking up easy positions. George then gave Lewis a gift by attacking Piastri too aggressively, but Lewis decided to hand it right back by not defending hard against George.

4 - 5 laps? would it not have done the last 15? If the C4 was predicted to last upto 35 laps, im certain the next tyres down, c5 in this case, would last 15 laps relatively easy, given Pirelli said they should do 17 - 23 laps. making them not an ideal choice for a viable stratagy, But for 15 laps end of race with those in front on worn slower tyres. No wonder LH is pissed off

[Cs98]

Lewis shaking his head and not saying a word after the race and just sits in the car, seems pretty pissed they didnt listen to him about the softs, cant blame him

The soft was a garbage race tyre. What would be the point of putting him on that for a 4-5 lap glory run when he was right behind his teammate who was also on new tyres. Was he going to use the best of the tyre to pass George? Makes no sense. The plan as constructed made more sense, George on mediums picking off the McLarens and then Lewis coming a few laps after picking up easy positions. George then gave Lewis a gift by attacking Piastri too aggressively, but Lewis decided to hand it right back by not defending hard against George.

The mediums easily did 25 laps. There's no reason to think that the softs can't do half that on low fuel.

Being able to do it doesn't mean it's faster. But the main reason you wouldn't do it is because he's sitting right behind George on new mediums. So is he going to use the best of the soft tyre to attack his teammate who is also attacking cars ahead? It doesn't make sense. You put the faster less durable tyre on the lead car so that they can make moves quickly, and then the driver on the more durable tyre comes along a few laps later and picks off the same cars again.

[Spoutnik]

For all the talk about Lewis being finished he drove a good race overall and finished 0,5 sec behind Russell despite not being on the better tyre for the last stint.

[Silent Storm]

Graining is also one of the reasons nobody went for softs…

[Cs98]

Lewis shaking his head and not saying a word after the race and just sits in the car, seems pretty pissed they didnt listen to him about the softs, cant blame him

The soft was a garbage race tyre. What would be the point of putting him on that for a 4-5 lap glory run when he was right behind his teammate who was also on new tyres. Was he going to use the best of the tyre to pass George? Makes no sense. The plan as constructed made more sense, George on mediums picking off the McLarens and then Lewis coming a few laps after picking up easy positions. George then gave Lewis a gift by attacking Piastri too aggressively, but Lewis decided to hand it right back by not defending hard against George.

4 - 5 laps? would it not have done the last 15? If the C4 was predicted to last upto 35 laps, im certain the next tyres down, c5 in this case, would last 15 laps relatively easy, given Pirelli said they should do 17 - 23 laps. making them not an ideal choice for a viable stratagy, But for 15 laps end of race with those in front on worn slower tyres. No wonder LH is pissed off

4-5 laps being the faster tyre, yes. I'm sure he would've had decent pace later too, but not as good as a fresh medium or hard.

[Luscion]

For all the talk about Lewis being finished he drove a good race overall and finished 0,5 sec behind Russell despite not being on the better tyre for the last stint.

Lewis would disagree, he's pretty disappointed with himself this weekend, said he made mistakes and said it hurts more because they could have won, George is also pretty bummed out because he said he also made mistakes.

[SKYnRacing24]

Lewis of old would of won this. In that interview he was reflecting hard on what could of been. His pace was fine made a few mistakes but the lack of trust and complacency between him and the pitwall will irk him the most. There's no doubt in his mind he knows he should of been put on softs and would of given him the opportunity to fight for the win. Its the same thing that irked him in Singapore last year. Ultimately it comes down to not being in front of Russell in qualifying.

Russell still has that question mark when a potential win is on the table he kinda bottles it. Tough conditions tbf but he nearly dnf'ed at the same corner as last year lol he will get there soon, lovely overtake on Lewis though.

[Mosin123]

The soft was a garbage race tyre. What would be the point of putting him on that for a 4-5 lap glory run when he was right behind his teammate who was also on new tyres. Was he going to use the best of the tyre to pass George? Makes no sense. The plan as constructed made more sense, George on mediums picking off the McLarens and then Lewis coming a few laps after picking up easy positions. George then gave Lewis a gift by attacking Piastri too aggressively, but Lewis decided to hand it right back by not defending hard against George.

4 - 5 laps? would it not have done the last 15? If the C4 was predicted to last upto 35 laps, im certain the next tyres down, c5 in this case, would last 15 laps relatively easy, given Pirelli said they should do 17 - 23 laps. making them not an ideal choice for a viable stratagy, But for 15 laps end of race with those in front on worn slower tyres. No wonder LH is pissed off

4-5 laps being the faster tyre, yes. I'm sure he would've had decent pace later too, but not as good as a fresh medium or hard.

But those in front was on old mediums, not new. old mediums that had been sliding around all over the shop..... they was worn, highly worn, you could tell, because LH was catching them with the hard tyre, and GR caught them extremly easy on his mediums. Softs would have been the tyre if that was Redbull, ill be shocked if Horner doesnt mention it some time, just for a dig at Toto.

[chrisc90]

I think even if Lewis got his soft tyre, it wouldnt have changed position in the final result. If you want to battle for the win, you must first qualify higher up.

[ringo]

Hamilton could have stayed on his medium tyre and be second potentially.

Russel keeps squandering the chances. He would have easily been beaten by Hamilton today if not for the handicap of the hard tyre. Throughout the race Hamilton was the stronger of the two on pace and precision.

Anyhow, the car is improving and I feel with more stable conditions for tracks coming up, even if Lewis is behind Russel in qualifying by a few hundredths, he can win with this car. It just needs to be within 3 tenths of the fastest car.

[Hammerfist]

The soft was a garbage race tyre. What would be the point of putting him on that for a 4-5 lap glory run when he was right behind his teammate who was also on new tyres. Was he going to use the best of the tyre to pass George? Makes no sense. The plan as constructed made more sense, George on mediums picking off the McLarens and then Lewis coming a few laps after picking up easy positions. George then gave Lewis a gift by attacking Piastri too aggressively, but Lewis decided to hand it right back by not defending hard against George.

The mediums easily did 25 laps. There's no reason to think that the softs can't do half that on low fuel.

Being able to do it doesn't mean it's faster. But the main reason you wouldn't do it is because he's sitting right behind George on new mediums. So is he going to use the best of the soft tyre to attack his teammate who is also attacking cars ahead? It doesn't make sense. You put the faster less durable tyre on the lead car so that they can make moves quickly, and then the driver on the more durable tyre comes along a few laps later and picks off the same cars again.

I think you are way off man. In miami 22 merc put russell on softer and newer tire than Hamilton after a safety car after george requested it. There is no good reason they couldn’t have accommodated lewis’s request today.

[Luscion]

Hamilton could have stayed on his medium tyre and be second potentially.

Russel keeps squandering the chances. He would have easily been beaten by Hamilton today if not for the handicap of the hard tyre. Throughout the race Hamilton was the stronger of the two on pace and precision.

Anyhow, the car is improving and I feel with more stable conditions for tracks coming up, even if Lewis is behind Russel in qualifying by a few hundredths, he can win with this car. It just needs to be within 3 tenths of the fastest car.

They both just seem really disappointed with themselves today, Lewis said its probably the worst race hes ever driven and Russell apologized to Toto and said it was an ugly race, even though he got 3rd he looked on the verge of tears after the race. But yea hopefully theyre back in it again, more upgrades coming in spain and apparently the new front wing is supposed to give them even greater results there.

[214270]

I think even if Lewis got his soft tyre, it wouldnt have changed position in the final result. If you want to battle for the win, you must first qualify higher up.

A scenario that could’ve played out is HAM in 5th on S, with RUS in 3rd remaining on H at safety restart. It requires RUS to pass NOR (which might’ve been doable with DRS) & HAM passing both McLarens to play out; but RUS would need to put in a shift or he’s at risk from HAM. What it appears they did instead was prioritise protecting RUS from HAM

[Cs98]

4 - 5 laps? would it not have done the last 15? If the C4 was predicted to last upto 35 laps, im certain the next tyres down, c5 in this case, would last 15 laps relatively easy, given Pirelli said they should do 17 - 23 laps. making them not an ideal choice for a viable stratagy, But for 15 laps end of race with those in front on worn slower tyres. No wonder LH is pissed off

4-5 laps being the faster tyre, yes. I'm sure he would've had decent pace later too, but not as good as a fresh medium or hard.

But those in front was on old mediums, not new. old mediums that had been sliding around all over the shop..... they was worn, highly worn, you could tell, because LH was catching them with the hard tyre, and GR caught them extremly easy on his mediums. Softs would have been the tyre if that was Redbull, ill be shocked if Horner doesnt mention it some time, just for a dig at Toto.

George was in front of him on new mediums! How is this so hard to grasp? New softs behind new mediums makes no sense, you'd waste the best part of the tyre chasing your own teammate and then by the time you are supposed to overtake the McLarens you've already used up the best performance. Now if you only view it from the perspective of Hamilton (which I know most in this thread always do), then maybe you'd want the softs just to have a better chance of getting a shot of passing George in those first laps. But from a team perspective it doesn't make sense to adopt such a strategy since they don't care about the order between teammates, and wouldn't want them losing time fighting each other anyways.

All these issues for Lewis can be explained by one thing, track position due to poor quali.

[Mosin123]

I think even if Lewis got his soft tyre, it wouldnt have changed position in the final result. If you want to battle for the win, you must first qualify higher up.

i think, with Pirellis expected wear on each tyre, softs lasting 17 - 23 laps, being on teh sofgts for teh last 15 laps would have gave Merc a race win, seeing as GR cant keep his car on track.