2024 Belgian Grand Prix - Spa-Francorchamps, July 26 - 28

[Mosin123]

None did 34 laps on one set. The only one close was Alonso with 31 laps on it. Different cars, different behavior, performance and tyre utlization. Apples to oranges.

they still did a one stopper and stayed with in the rules, and didnt try to cheat a test..... you can try paint a different picture all you want, A one stopped was planned for LH, so they knew about wear obviously.... So as i said, i dont buy the tyres was worn out argument.

Do you have an official quote about Lewis was initallly planned for one stop?

was linked earlier.

[Dunlay]

they still did a one stopper and stayed with in the rules, and didnt try to cheat a test..... you can try paint a different picture all you want, A one stopped was planned for LH, so they knew about wear obviously.... So as i said, i dont buy the tyres was worn out argument.

Do you have an official quote about Lewis was initallly planned for one stop?

was linked earlier.

Not the fan thoughts, but an official statement.

https://www.motorsport.com/f1/news/why- ... /10640182/

"It was quite back and forth over the course of three laps," said Russell. "And I think it's difficult because when you feel something in your gut, you have to go with it.

"But when every single driver and team is pitting to go on to a different alternative strategy, and after all the data we had on Friday suggested a one-stop was not even close to being viable, you do kind of question that a couple of times, thinking, 'are we missing something here?'

"Like, why isn't anybody else doing this? But, you know, I just sort of felt at one with the tyres and I managed it a little bit at the beginning, and I knew that would give me a bit of money back at the end."

Wolff said: "As a driver, you don't have the full picture because he said his tyres are good. But at that stage nobody had a one-stop on the radar. We had to cover the cars behind, I think it was Piastri and Leclerc. And you can see that everybody else went on the two-stop logically.

[Farnborough]

Well, were they? I think it is really weird the teams are allowed to empty out the fuel tank. What is to say they actually do that every race. They only double checked Russell as he was EXACTLY on the minimum weight, which triggered suspicion. Others might also have left some fuel in the tank. Or accumulator. Or some place else even. With margins this close things like this are now very important. And thus to check by FIA, they must empty out the tank.

Horner offered competing insight (not intentionally or as criticism, but to answer a question placed) that's very valid and gives insight to all the teams approach.

They MUST provide fuel sample at end to fulfill 1 ltr sample I believe for analysis, anything extra drawn from the car is effectively carried as "ballast" throughout the whole race. They aim to have no surplus from this aspect to keep as close to target as possible. Thats clear and strategically logical.

This race, they didn't need to keep any fuel for a long cool down lap (reduces start kg) but they SEEMED to have that amount (looks like 2.27 kg per lap at race speed ) but no marbles available in "hard" weight to be accumulated either.

They have to meet the minimum weight, regardless of tyre wear, thats not a valid reasoning.

Looks like they gambled too far with their start weight to reasonably come out at target or slightly above at race end.

Also looks like they tried to hide it as well with the fudging of weigh /empty procedure etc.

[Mosin123]

Do you have an official quote about Lewis was initallly planned for one stop?

was linked earlier.

Not the fan thoughts, but an official statement.

https://www.motorsport.com/f1/news/why- ... /10640182/

"It was quite back and forth over the course of three laps," said Russell. "And I think it's difficult because when you feel something in your gut, you have to go with it.

"But when every single driver and team is pitting to go on to a different alternative strategy, and after all the data we had on Friday suggested a one-stop was not even close to being viable, you do kind of question that a couple of times, thinking, 'are we missing something here?'

"Like, why isn't anybody else doing this? But, you know, I just sort of felt at one with the tyres and I managed it a little bit at the beginning, and I knew that would give me a bit of money back at the end."

I cant think you can get more official than LH own words, he was pre planned to do a one stop, then the team called him in for a two stop, and gave GR a one stopper even though he planned for a two and didnt say a word to LH, LH own words man........ But what ever Dude. GR got dq'ed because his car was under weight, and his team was deceitful and tried to hide it, tried to cheat. end off.

[mwillems]

5, yes 5 other cars managed a 1 stopper, none failed the min weight, they all stayed above it, only one didnt..... you can try blame the tyres, But 5 others managed it. Bet none of those 5 left fuel in it to try cheat the check either.

None did 34 laps on one set. The only one close was Alonso with 31 laps on it. Different cars, different behavior, performance and tyre utlization. Apples to oranges.

they still did a one stopper and stayed with in the rules, and didnt try to cheat a test..... you can try paint a different picture all you want, A one stopped was planned for LH, so they knew about wear obviously.... So as i said, i dont buy the tyres was worn out argument.

Every single team will try to game that test. And every test they think they can get away with. No point pillorying Merc and pretending the whole sport isn't about gaming an advantage without being overtly seen to do so.

Merc realised their mistake, tried to hide it because there's no material difference between being honest and being caught. What Merc didn't do was set out in the weekend to give George an advantage that Hamilton didn't have.
Even the strategy makes sense. George needed something radical to get further up. Lewis needed to just cover those behind as it was expected that he'd easily pass George. What's the big deal?

The right outcome happened, but George must be furious and to be fair, the rules shouldn't include weighing variable weight tyres, so I also understand why George feels very hard done to.

[Jurgen von Diaz]

5, yes 5 other cars managed a 1 stopper, none failed the min weight, they all stayed above it, only one didnt..... you can try blame the tyres, But 5 others managed it. Bet none of those 5 left fuel in it to try cheat the check either.

That's not relevant to what we were discussing. We were discussing whether tire weight changes could possibly account for the missing weight. You said you didn't believe that it could - i argued otherwise.

This is not about blaming or excusing it. So no need to get defensive.

Also, while also of little relevance: That 5 others cars managed a 1-stopper means little as a comparison, if they planned for that at the start. It appears that Mercedes never planned for Russell to do a 1 stop (they might have planned it for Hamilton originally).

It was LH pre planned race stratagy, So yes they knew about wear.........

Imagine if they had done this one-stopper to Lewis and it would have been a losing strategy at the finish line and a DSQ. Tinfoil hats would be flying everywhere because of how Merc tried to screw him over.

[Dunlay]

was linked earlier.

Not the fan thoughts, but an official statement.

https://www.motorsport.com/f1/news/why- ... /10640182/

"It was quite back and forth over the course of three laps," said Russell. "And I think it's difficult because when you feel something in your gut, you have to go with it.

"But when every single driver and team is pitting to go on to a different alternative strategy, and after all the data we had on Friday suggested a one-stop was not even close to being viable, you do kind of question that a couple of times, thinking, 'are we missing something here?'

"Like, why isn't anybody else doing this? But, you know, I just sort of felt at one with the tyres and I managed it a little bit at the beginning, and I knew that would give me a bit of money back at the end."

I cant think you can get more official than LH own words, he was pre planned to do a one stop, then the team called him in for a two stop, and gave GR a one stopper even though he planned for a two and didnt say a word to LH, LH own words man........ But what ever Dude. GR got dq'ed because his car was under weight, and his team was deceitful and tried to hide it, tried to cheat. end off.

So you don't have the official statement, yet using hearsay to justify. Lewis also said he didn't turn the steering in Hungary. That shows something. I find it amusing that people are hell bent on denying a good drive and good presence of mind from a driver that outsmarted their favorite driver.

[Mosin123]

Not the fan thoughts, but an official statement.

https://www.motorsport.com/f1/news/why- ... /10640182/

I cant think you can get more official than LH own words, he was pre planned to do a one stop, then the team called him in for a two stop, and gave GR a one stopper even though he planned for a two and didnt say a word to LH, LH own words man........ But what ever Dude. GR got dq'ed because his car was under weight, and his team was deceitful and tried to hide it, tried to cheat. end off.

So you don't have the official statement, yet using hearsay to justify. Lewis also said he didn't turn the steering in Hungary. That shows something. I find it amusing that people are hell bent on denying a good drive and good presence of mind from a driver that outsmarted their favorite driver.

a vid of LH speaking those words, is official enough for me.

GR has a lot of history of speaking turd, saying one thing and the team coming out saying a completely different thing so im less inclined to believe him.

[Dunlay]

I cant think you can get more official than LH own words, he was pre planned to do a one stop, then the team called him in for a two stop, and gave GR a one stopper even though he planned for a two and didnt say a word to LH, LH own words man........ But what ever Dude. GR got dq'ed because his car was under weight, and his team was deceitful and tried to hide it, tried to cheat. end off.

So you don't have the official statement, yet using hearsay to justify. Lewis also said he didn't turn the steering in Hungary. That shows something. I find it amusing that people are hell bent on denying a good drive and good presence of mind from a driver that outsmarted their favorite driver.

a vid of LH speaking those words, is official enough for me.

GR has a lot of history of speaking turd, saying one thing and the team coming out saying a completely different thing so im less inclined to believe him.

Lewis never makes a good, inspired decision for himself on track and then has loads to complain when his team mate does. Then we got all his fans justifying why he is correct. This is not the first time and I 100% certain, it won't be last.

[Mosin123]

So you don't have the official statement, yet using hearsay to justify. Lewis also said he didn't turn the steering in Hungary. That shows something. I find it amusing that people are hell bent on denying a good drive and good presence of mind from a driver that outsmarted their favorite driver.

a vid of LH speaking those words, is official enough for me.

GR has a lot of history of speaking turd, saying one thing and the team coming out saying a completely different thing so im less inclined to believe him.

Lewis never makes a good, inspired decision for himself on track and then has loads to complain when his team mate does. Then we got all his fans justifying why he is correct. This is not the first time and I 100% certain, it won't be last.

GR got dq'ed right? And you specifically 100 % lay the blame on the tyres right? so it was a bad call, that dropped him out the points, and the race... LH took the win, Seerms you are mistaken, Lets stick to facts instead of whataboutery.

[erudite450]

a vid of LH speaking those words, is official enough for me.

GR has a lot of history of speaking turd, saying one thing and the team coming out saying a completely different thing so im less inclined to believe him.

Lewis never makes a good, inspired decision for himself on track and then has loads to complain when his team mate does. Then we got all his fans justifying why he is correct. This is not the first time and I 100% certain, it won't be last.

GR got dq'ed right? And you specifically 100 % lay the blame on the tyres right? so it was a bad call, that dropped him out the points, and the race... LH took the win, Seerms you are mistaken, Lets stick to facts instead of whataboutery.

Not sure why you are bothering to respond to that guy. He's just trolling. Just ignore him.

[F1NAC]

Wouldn't Merc simply do the test by themselves to see if tyres were really the problem and then issue the statement? Because it seems that tyres weren't culprit

Why would Tyres not be the culprit?

Because nothing at the moment suggest so…

[Quantum]

Wouldn't Merc simply do the test by themselves to see if tyres were really the problem and then issue the statement? Because it seems that tyres weren't culprit

Why would Tyres not be the culprit?

Because nothing at the moment suggest so…

Apart from George doing 32 laps Hard tyre stint on a newly surfaced Spa race track.
With no Hard tyre running in free practice.

That suggests high wear(loss of rubber mass too), and not nothing.

Horner:

“Absolutely, I’m sure that you would have lost well over a kilo of rubber,” he told Sky. “We saw that on Friday.”

[Dunlay]

a vid of LH speaking those words, is official enough for me.

GR has a lot of history of speaking turd, saying one thing and the team coming out saying a completely different thing so im less inclined to believe him.

Lewis never makes a good, inspired decision for himself on track and then has loads to complain when his team mate does. Then we got all his fans justifying why he is correct. This is not the first time and I 100% certain, it won't be last.

GR got dq'ed right? And you specifically 100 % lay the blame on the tyres right? so it was a bad call, that dropped him out the points, and the race... LH took the win, Seerms you are mistaken, Lets stick to facts instead of whataboutery.

No it wasn't a bad call. It was a perfect call and a perfect execution, regardless of the result. Shows a lot of astute brilliance of a driver from inside the cockpit to assess the race situation and make such a call. Like he did in Zandvoort in 2022.

[Just_a_fan]

Shows a lot of astute brilliance of a driver from inside the cockpit to assess the race situation and make such a call. Like he did in Zandvoort in 2022.

Hardly brilliance. The choice was "go with the 2-stop and finish way back in the points, go for a 1-stop and maybe catch a podium". I doubt he even thought about the win being possible when making the decision to stay out. It was a good call and it worked well for him (other than the non-fault DSQ, of course).