2024 Mercedes-AMG | Petronas F1 Team

[ToffeeTyres]

Such a shame Hamilton messed up Q3 as he would have surely won this race. Really enjoyed this race wasn’t expecting it to be as good and not talking Mercedes just race in general. A safety car would have made thing more exciting. And to add at the end of this comment. People saying Hamilton is past it is just wrong this race proved that

[Luscion]

Such a shame Hamilton messed up Q3 as he would have surely won this race. Really enjoyed this race wasn’t expecting it to be as good and not talking Mercedes just race in general. A safety car would have made thing more exciting. And to add at the end of this comment. People saying Hamilton is past it is just wrong this race proved that

Yea even his fastest in Q2 lap would have been enough to start P3 but he didnt get a clean run in. According to Shovlin, Lewis outperformed all their simulations

https://www.mercedesamgf1.com/reports/g ... ng-one-two

[Matt2725]

Impossible to say he would have won it.

This is based on the assumption that George drives the same race in that scenario, which he obviously would not.

His managing of his rubber towards the end made the pace differential look bigger than reality.

[GrizzleBoy]

Impossible to say he would have won it.

This is based on the assumption that George drives the same race in that scenario, which he obviously would not.

His managing of his rubber towards the end made the pace differential look bigger than reality.

Yes, but if Lewis is behind him the whole race, his ability to manage his rubber goes away, and he has not yet shown that his tyre management is on Lewis' level while on the same tyre strategy.

[Luscion]

https://www.auto-motor-und-sport.de/for ... las-vegas/

Overheating the tires would be a feat
The Grand Prix in Las Vegas offered a unique mixture that played into Mercedes' hands. The asphalt temperatures never rose above 17 degrees. The track surface is smooth and constantly offers little grip. Pirelli brought its three softest compounds to the gambling city. And the Mercedes is one of the cars that puts more strain on the rear tires than the front soles. The dreaded overheating of the tires would be a feat with these parameters. And that is precisely why the Las Vegas Strip Circuit offers the ideal conditions for the four-time winner of the season.

Only in the second half of the race did the grip improve with more tire rubber on the track. But only by so much that it did Mercedes no harm. McLaren and Ferrari were promptly able to set similar lap times to the leaders. Wolff breathed a sigh of relief: “Now we know the configuration where everything fits. We just have to find out how to get there safely and not fly out of the window.”

The double victory changed all travel plans. None of the team fled Las Vegas. Russell canceled his flight home: “We're celebrating with the team tonight. They deserve it. But on Monday we all have to sit down together and analyze exactly what made us so fast in Las Vegas. Perhaps these findings can also help us in Qatar and Abu Dhabi.”

The engineers are more optimistic. Despite the completely different track characteristics, they believe that Qatar also offers good opportunities. “It's another night race with constant temperatures. There are many fast corners that our car likes and few traction sections that our car doesn't like. The asphalt has little grip, the tire compounds are the same.”

[mendis]

Such a shame Hamilton messed up Q3 as he would have surely won this race. Really enjoyed this race wasn’t expecting it to be as good and not talking Mercedes just race in general. A safety car would have made thing more exciting. And to add at the end of this comment. People saying Hamilton is past it is just wrong this race proved that

Yea even his fastest in Q2 lap would have been enough to start P3 but he didnt get a clean run in. According to Shovlin, Lewis outperformed all their simulations

https://www.mercedesamgf1.com/reports/g ... ng-one-two

It means their data gathering that they fed to the simulation software, was off the mark. The car had more potential than they thought for this race.

[PlatinumZealot]

Qatar shoumd suit Hamilton the way Brazil (dry) suits him. It should also suit the car. Flat track.

[organic]

Qatar shoumd suit Hamilton the way Brazil (dry) suits him. It should also suit the car. Flat track.

The problem is the car cooks its tyres and Qatar takes that to the extreme.

[Matt2725]

Qatar shoumd suit Hamilton the way Brazil (dry) suits him. It should also suit the car. Flat track.

Based only upon Russell's pace after the kerfuffle with Lewis at the start last year, I would suggest the track favours both Merc drivers.
George said this weekend they expect to be quick at Qatar. That being said, they didn't expect to be quick in Vegas so obviously they don't really know.

Could be a tight run race at the front.

[mendis]

Impossible to say he would have won it.

This is based on the assumption that George drives the same race in that scenario, which he obviously would not.

His managing of his rubber towards the end made the pace differential look bigger than reality.

Yes, but if Lewis is behind him the whole race, his ability to manage his rubber goes away, and he has not yet shown that his tyre management is on Lewis' level while on the same tyre strategy.

Spa? Heck, he was on much older tyres than Lewis. When are we going to accept that Lewis has race pace edge over russell is now a myth?

[Bracken]

Impossible to say he would have won it.

This is based on the assumption that George drives the same race in that scenario, which he obviously would not.

His managing of his rubber towards the end made the pace differential look bigger than reality.

Yes, but if Lewis is behind him the whole race, his ability to manage his rubber goes away, and he has not yet shown that his tyre management is on Lewis' level while on the same tyre strategy.

Spa? Heck, he was on much older tyres than Lewis. When are we going to accept that Lewis has race pace edge over russell is now a myth?

I agree, hello, Mercedes fan here. Russell has improved massively with his race pace this season and has generally outperformed a struggling Lewis in this department.

[ismail1991]

from formula1.com :

Asked to talk through his session, and how it all unravelled, Hamilton said: “Yeah, it didn’t work when it mattered. I tried, but it didn’t come off. I should have been on pole. At least I’ve got pace, which is a good showing over the weekend and that’s the positive to take from it.”
On whether that positive gives him confidence for the race, he replied: “Not really. I think the race is kind of done. Obviously the win is out of the question… A great job from George.”

When is this 40 yr old man, winner of 7 world titles, going to muster enough humility and courage to say a simple "Yes, it was my mistake" instead of a contrived "it didn't work, I tried it didn't come off", which has a hint of 'it was something beyond driver skill, but I was the guy who deserved pole instead of that guy'. He would make a good CEO-type or a politician - a wordsmith.

Lewis has lots of humility compared to other drivers. He doesnt need any more humility. He most of the time takes most of the blame to himself. In Q3, it all went wrong. He locked the fronts in the first lap. He couldnt have a marker lap and then it all went downhill. In the second run, his prep lap was at traffic, he was released earlier than he should. He couldnt prep the tires. In addition, I didnt understand why Mercedes didnt stick to their run plan of George being in front of Lewis. George had a very good prep lap.

[OverheatedTurbo]

from formula1.com :

Asked to talk through his session, and how it all unravelled, Hamilton said: “Yeah, it didn’t work when it mattered. I tried, but it didn’t come off. I should have been on pole. At least I’ve got pace, which is a good showing over the weekend and that’s the positive to take from it.”
On whether that positive gives him confidence for the race, he replied: “Not really. I think the race is kind of done. Obviously the win is out of the question… A great job from George.”

When is this 40 yr old man, winner of 7 world titles, going to muster enough humility and courage to say a simple "Yes, it was my mistake" instead of a contrived "it didn't work, I tried it didn't come off", which has a hint of 'it was something beyond driver skill, but I was the guy who deserved pole instead of that guy'. He would make a good CEO-type or a politician - a wordsmith.

Lewis has lots of humility compared to other drivers. He doesnt need any more humility. He most of the time takes most of the blame to himself. In Q3, it all went wrong. He locked the fronts in the first lap. He couldnt have a marker lap and then it all went downhill. In the second run, his prep lap was at traffic, he was released earlier than he should. He couldnt prep the tires. In addition, I didnt understand why Mercedes didnt stick to their run plan of George being in front of Lewis. George had a very good prep lap.

He should have done what GR did and leave the pits as late as possible to take advantage of a clear track + Evolution, but didn't. LH has the experience to call/suggest these things, but for some weird reason he did not?? Why blame Merc?

[GrizzleBoy]

Impossible to say he would have won it.

This is based on the assumption that George drives the same race in that scenario, which he obviously would not.

His managing of his rubber towards the end made the pace differential look bigger than reality.

Yes, but if Lewis is behind him the whole race, his ability to manage his rubber goes away, and he has not yet shown that his tyre management is on Lewis' level while on the same tyre strategy.

Spa? Heck, he was on much older tyres than Lewis. When are we going to accept that Lewis has race pace edge over russell is now a myth?

Spa is another race where George had the luxury of managing his tyres most of the race. Lewis was not racing behind George in Spa the whole time, and Lewis wasn't made aware that George wasn't stopping again (despite asking numerous times about the status of the race, with no answer from the pit wall) so he left it too late to attack.

Also, George finished the race with an illegal car so why even go there.

[Bracken]

I had the feeling yesterday that the team wasn't giving Lewis a fair chance at challenging for the win. I felt that they boxed him too early in the first stint and could have gone further and put in some decent times. The data doesn't agree, he was way slower than Russell at the end of the first stint, a longer overcut would have put him even further behind.