2024 Mercedes-AMG | Petronas F1 Team

[SKYnRacing24]

https://www.autosport.com/f1/news/merce ... /10668840/

Russell saying the W15 is the most inconsistent car they've had in a long time, also apparently the floors their bringing to Brazil are a slightly modified version of the one Lewis used in COTA/Mexico

Cheers for doing gods work as usual Luscion. To the bolded...i mean i know a few of us have been beating a dead horse but having the actual driver confirm it is as bleak as it gets. We are 4 races from home and they are still experimenting....and on a sprint weekend. Even though i will be keeping a eye on Lewis's ferrari stint. Merc's 2025 will be very interesting due to the fact the W16 will have characteristics of this years car which could be even more of a headache with Kimi in the other car. I see the car being hit and miss with glimpses of speed but falling off even worse because of the 26 reg change. Worrying times for sure.

Was the W15 completely Alisons or did it have Mike Elliot's dna ?

It's so odd that this car does not gel with either drivers driving style. Usually it falls on either side of the garage...look at RB. But this W15 is a headache for both Russell and Hamilton. I though Allison would be the saviour for this car but alas he was a false dawn. Much like the last 3yrs of these regulations for Mercedes

Yeah it is perplexing especially when there were talks of Lewis getting what he wanted in certain characteristics (better rear and cockpit being moved back) It seems the later upgrades have taken away from the drivable aspects of the car in the early phase. Not to say GR has been hassling this car in qualy but the complaints on the pirelli side from him just gives me a feeling this suspension is trash .There were talks of Aldo Costa but that fell on its head but yeahh Alison was getting hyped up i remember it well in pre season testing lol

[Luscion]

Merc is horrible around here, Lewis complaining about no grip and no rear end, on boards looked horrible and Russell isnt doing much better either 6 tenths off on such a short track

[DGP123]

Merc is horrible around here, Lewis complaining about no grip and no rear end, on boards looked horrible and Russell isnt doing much better either 6 tenths off on such a short track

No surprise being half a second off. Mercedes are nowhere.

Need rain, otherwise it’s another weekend written off.

[SKYnRacing24]

Experimenting with setups will do that. As Luscion said the onboards looked like a sainsburys shopping kart. I was watching Ham fight in S2, laughed and put it on the main feed. GR squeezing everything out of that car so fair play on 5th. Ham looks like he's in his vettel/kimi late ferrari phase. Ferrari must be having second thoughts.

[j_ste]

About what you’d expect…hoping for rain.

[Lasssept]

[Luscion]

Experimenting with setups will do that. As Luscion said the onboards looked like a sainsburys shopping kart. I was watching Ham fight in S2, laughed and put it on the main feed. GR squeezing everything out of that car so fair play on 5th. Ham looks like he's in his vettel/kimi late ferrari phase. Ferrari must be having second thoughts.

Dont think Ferrari are having regrets, i think its well documented Lewis is just driving a car that doesnt suit him and one that changes performance/balance for almost no reason. in Austin when he was happy with the car he was on track to smash the sprint quali and get pole until he ran into yellow flags. From the start of quali seeing those times i knew he'd be out in SQ2, Whats really interesting to me is that Russell is now also complaining about the car 3 wheeling and theyre now both on the same spec car, so it points very much towards the upgrades being the cause of these balance and performance issues even though Merc are armament its not.

[SKYnRacing24]

Experimenting with setups will do that. As Luscion said the onboards looked like a sainsburys shopping kart. I was watching Ham fight in S2, laughed and put it on the main feed. GR squeezing everything out of that car so fair play on 5th. Ham looks like he's in his vettel/kimi late ferrari phase. Ferrari must be having second thoughts.

, Whats really interesting to me is that Russell is now also complaining about the car 3 wheeling and theyre now both on the same spec car,

Did Russell say this in a interview? He seems to be dragging pace out of it even if its difficult to drive. If this form for Lewis transfers over to Ferrari then both parties will cut ties after 2026. His race pace would be compromised due to his qualy woes and will put even more stress on race days. Ultimately he's checked out now and had enough of the W15 but its quite a fall from grace he's had this year. To rediscover that one lap pace at his age when he will have the fastest one lap driver on the grid as a team mate. Thats a big ask imo so i hope he's doing his homework and adapts in 2025 testing.

[cplchanb]

Ham said it himself that the W15 and these eras if cars don't fit his pointy driving style. These cars require a very gentle smooth style in order to extract that 1 lap qualy pace. Ham still shows his old self in race pace

[Big Tea]

Merc have never really got to grips with the new tyre size. It seems to have removed a component of their suspension

[DGP123]

Race pace dire. Hamilton nowhere, and Russell in no man’s land. Need rain tomorrow.

[Luscion]

Race pace dire. Hamilton nowhere, and Russell in no man’s land. Need rain tomorrow.

Merc is so slow my god, Lewis struggling to pass back marker and midfield cars and Russell just nowhere. Both Mercs finished exactly where they started....

[214270]

Race pace dire. Hamilton nowhere, and Russell in no man’s land. Need rain tomorrow.

Merc is so slow my god, Lewis struggling to pass back marker and midfield cars and Russell just nowhere. Both Mercs finished exactly where they started....

I saw zero friskiness from both drivers - proper no man’s land. They can’t attack forward; just hold on and bring the car home type driving out there.

Save for the first round of updates it’s been dire & they don’t have budget (even if they knew how) to effect change over the remaining campaign. It’s going to be a touch watch these next few races.

EDIT: Is there something going on with the site? Very slow for me right now.

[atanatizante]

Race pace dire. Hamilton nowhere, and Russell in no man’s land. Need rain tomorrow.

Merc is so slow my god, Lewis struggling to pass back marker and midfield cars and Russell just nowhere. Both Mercs finished exactly where they started....

By the way, on the last lap, he did a 12.5, which was only 2 tents slower than those 3 drivers racing hard at the top and was 3-tenths faster than what RUS did on his quickest lap. So, another argument in favor of the "free air is king" quote, after all ...

What is hilarious is the fact that raising the car for better compliance over the bumps will help them if the race tomorrow will be on a wet/damp race, although the balance is all over the place due to the lack of the second free practice session, according to HAM ... hopefully, they did some sim work done back at the factory after the sprint race in order to get the balance right ...

One thing I don`t explain: HAM set the fastest speed at the finish line - 347kph -, presumably due to a fabulous tow, but at the speed trap he recorded just the 9th speed being on par with RUS at 325kph ... maybe someone could enlighten me, please ...

[Juzh]

One thing I don`t explain: HAM set the fastest speed at the finish line - 347kph -, presumably due to a fabulous tow, but at the speed trap he recorded just the 9th speed being on par with RUS at 325kph ... maybe someone could enlighten me, please ...

https://postimg.cc/ZBb1WG2K

It's a loooong standing problem in brazil. Basically speed trap location is positioned too close to braking zone for turn 1, so cars which arrive with a much higher speed than normal have to brake before they reach it. That's why you see these discrepancies. It's been like this since forever and no one ever bothered to fix it.