f1316 wrote:I'm thoroughly confused now about where Mercedes biggest strengths really are. Barcelona sector times vs Ferrari made it seem as if it was all low speed - vettel only a tenth off in first two sectors but losing out massively in sector three.godlameroso wrote:They say this is a power circuit, but is it really? If you can carry more speed through the end of Radillon, you can carry more speed up the hill. Red Bull proved this until 2013. I think Mercedes advantage is in sector two and three, because that's where the low to mid speed corners are. I don't think Mercedes is better than Ferrari or Red Bull in the really fast stuff like Pouhon or the very next turn.
But since then we've seen a relatively stronger Ferrari in Monaco and Hungary than in Silverstone or indeed high power tracks like Canada or Austria. This would lead one to believe that it's high speed where they excel.
Probably, the answer is they're generally stronger on all fronts and setup/updates are making it hard to isolate the differences. But will definitely interested to see if what you say turns out to be true as this may clarify things a bit.
Mercedes biggest strengths are in sectors with corners, straights and roads in general. It's a car that is great everywhere, it's that simple. You can't decide where a car is great or not by comparing it to another one without factoring in tires. Ultimately if you're on the limit then taking too much out of one sector may cost you in another sector. Burn S1/2 and the tires can be going off by S3, ease off S2 to bring the temps down a little and you main gain more back in S3 than you held back in S2. Or simply a track that responds to the car pushing in S2 at max but pushing that hard in the other sectors has no benefit but prevents a good S2.
So while comparing to Ferrari and expecting a good sector based on the specific car you are ruling out that the drivers are holding back on purpose for the most efficient lap they can product with the tires they have.
There is also something else I feel that the Mercedes car has done that no car has achieved in an extremely long time including Red Bull. I think it's an adaptable car whereas Red Bull was a high downforce only car. So where in say 2010-2013 there were tracks where Red Bull was 1.5 seconds a lap faster at a higher downforce track, at a low downforce one they may be behind Mclaren/Ferrari or only 0.5 seconds a lap faster. I feel like the Mercedes car is designed to take off downforce and run low drag efficiently in a way the Red Bull wasn't capable of. So they bolt on downforce and are 1.2 seconds a lap faster, and they take off downforce for another track and are still 1.2 seconds ahead.
Where Williams only looks competitive in power tracks with long straights and Red Bull only look strong at Hungary and Monaco, Mercedes looks great everywhere. This will play around with which sectors you expect them to be fast in, awesome at the high downforce sector in Hungary and less good down the straight, but then they take off the downforce, have low drag and are now stronger in the straights in Spa than the downforce sectors/sections of the track.
It's just a disturbingly good car.
