This forum contains threads to discuss teams themselves. Anything not technical about the cars, including restructuring, performances etc belongs here.
At 7 p.m. local time, Mercedes decided to replace the monocoque. The engine and gearbox appeared to have survived.
Russell destroyed the Imola version of the floor and many other parts that went with it in his crash in the second practice session. It was used until the Belgian GP and then again in Baku and Singapore. The spare parts store was better stocked with this specification than with the latest components. The monocoque had to be replaced. Nevertheless, the recent accidents are beginning to embarrass Mercedes. “This is not ideal for the cost cap,” said team boss Toto Woff contritely.
So Toto goes along with Hamiltons BS about the car being 100% at fault for him beaching it. First time Ive ever seen a driver blame the car for a simple spin and expect to be taken seriously.
Russell was the only driver in the 17 second range and went the fastest in FP1. After getting the second fastest time in sprint qualifying last race. I guess maybe Toto just wants George to tootle around in the lower mid pack to save on cost cap. Instead of actually going for results.
Team are a shambles. Have been for a long time now. No end in sight, without restructuring and new leadership. It’s completely stale, and desperate for new blood and ideas.
Its getting embarrassing. This car is acting like the w13. Running low configurations (major bouncing) and both top tier drivers and even kimi have had major crashes and spins which will fk them in the cost cap. At this point in time i feel for the drivers trying to handle this death trap of a car. The team are clueless. The fact that Lewis's floor is damaged is just the icing on the cake. We needed a clean weekend and its started off worse than Austin.
“And that’s part of the game, is being able to be adaptive, and we’ve got this new car – I don’t know how it’s going to handle, hopefully she’s great.”
I think we can keep the old chassis, but everything else has to go out, The engine has to come out, the gearbox has to be checked and then everything else. Two corners of the car are completely gone. So it's serious damage.
We're in serious trouble. We are all struggling to stay within the budget cap and of course we had a bad accident with Kimi at Monza. Then the second one with George last week [in Austin] and now again this week.
[It was] 35G," the Austrian revealed. So that was a really big impact. He was taken to the medical centre, but he's okay.
But of course, the car is badly damaged... but we have the [spare] parts.