2025 Mercedes-AMG | Petronas F1 Team

[Vaexa]

Sam Collins' analysis is unbearable. "Merc are in trouble with their engine". Utter nonsense.

Same dude who was spinning in circles, utterly confused as to why teams were going out during wet practice in Canada 2023. Takes about 60 seconds of ctrl + f in the official sporting regulations to find out you get an extra set of inters when you use a set during any practice session that's been declared wet.

He's a total hack who's unfortunately managed to swindle F1TV's production into believing he knows how cars work.

[Cassius]

Russell's long runs on low/mid level fuel seem to have quite some deg.

[SSJ4]

Max was consistently in low 1:33s in comparison

[Cs98]

The Merc seemed to have good raw pace but too much deg. The quali sims and early laps in stints were competitive, but not later on.

[Emag]

Max was consistently in low 1:33s in comparison

Pretty sure Max was mid-high 32s on most laps. So was Norris (but seemed a tenth slower here and there).

[zibby43]

Russell seems extremely happy with the car's feeling

Team radio or interview I missed? Appreciate these tidbits.

He was interviewed in the pit lane at around 1 hour and 44 minutes left on the clock (before the session was extended).

Thanks!

[Lasssept]

- Edd Straw's trackside verdict on every 2025 F1 car

Mercedes

Dangerous as it is to draw such conclusions about any Mercedes in this ground effect era, the W16 appears to give both Kimi Antonelli and George Russell genuine confidence. At times, perhaps a little too much confidence for Antonelli, although any moments he had are minor.

With Russell at the wheel, it looks even more convincing and, crucially, consistent.

In terms of giving the driver a predictable, responsive platform it looks to have an edge over the Red Bull and Ferrari at this stage - but whether it has the pace is unclear.

https://www.the-race.com/formula-1/ever ... edd-straw/

[Lasssept]

@Reel_SonoDas

[SB15]

The Merc seemed to have good raw pace but too much deg. The quali sims and early laps in stints were competitive, but not later on.

I don't believe that's the case in my opinion . I wouldn't doubt if Mercedes chosen a worse enough setup on purpose to see how the tyres are during a stint, because Mercedes love experimenting all the time. If my theory is true, then the reports of Russell being happy and also Marko's comments should excite everyone in the team. It looking far better than the W15. But that's just my theory.

[Macklaren]

The Merc seemed to have good raw pace but too much deg. The quali sims and early laps in stints were competitive, but not later on.

I don't believe that's the case in my opinion . I wouldn't doubt if Mercedes chosen a worse enough setup on purpose to see how the tyres are during a stint, because Mercedes love experimenting all the time. If my theory is true, then the reports of Russell being happy and also Marko's comments should excite everyone in the team. It looking far better than the W15. But that's just my theory.

Which Marko comments? I only saw his RBR comments

[Luscion]

The Merc seemed to have good raw pace but too much deg. The quali sims and early laps in stints were competitive, but not later on.

I don't believe that's the case in my opinion . I wouldn't doubt if Mercedes chosen a worse enough setup on purpose to see how the tyres are during a stint, because Mercedes love experimenting all the time. If my theory is true, then the reports of Russell being happy and also Marko's comments should excite everyone in the team. It looking far better than the W15. But that's just my theory.

Which Marko comments? I only saw his RBR comments

Something along the lines of "Mclaren and Merc's long run pace looking good and Ferrari's disappointing". but its the first day of testing and like Russell said, the unusually cold temps in Bahrain (track temps were 18c) could be helping their performance. but the car did seem to handle well

[Macklaren]

I know Kimi is just a kid but he has been pretty scrappy so far in the time I've seen him in FPs and testing. Prob needs to rein it in a bit until he has full control

[OverheatedTurbo]

That tyre deg is worrying. I hope they are testing some extreme setup that causes it

[SB15]

That tyre deg is worrying. I hope they are testing some extreme setup that causes it

More than Likely they are

[dren]

That tyre deg is worrying. I hope they are testing some extreme setup that causes it

What would be the logic in doing that?