Mercedes AMG Petronas F1 Team 2015

[KeiKo403]

hahaha...i think the only predicament that Mercedes might find them selves in is if results continue as they have been doing recently and that they'll have to ask Lewis to move over for a Rosberg win in a race or 2 so he can secure 2nd place in the WDC vs Vettel.
That could though lead to Lewis not being able to beat Vettels number of consecutive wins record or if he does beat that then his record might not be as big as what it could. Would Hamilton concede a win?

[Phil]

I honestly don't think Mercedes would ask him of that. It wouldn't fit with their PR nor their philosophy. It would only lead to bad press and more criticism towards their dominant engine and what it is supposedly doing to the sport. They'll be happy enough if they win both WDC and WCC titles without more controversy in light of competition that just can't keep up. No need to slaughter/embarrass them even more by (mis) using your already huge advantage.

[MercedesAMGSpy]

hahaha...i think the only predicament that Mercedes might find them selves in is if results continue as they have been doing recently and that they'll have to ask Lewis to move over for a Rosberg win in a race or 2 so he can secure 2nd place in the WDC vs Vettel.
That could though lead to Lewis not being able to beat Vettels number of consecutive wins record or if he does beat that then his record might not be as big as what it could. Would Hamilton concede a win?

Second place in the WDC isn't that important for Mercedes, when they win the WCC and the WDC they will be more than satisfied.

[Arterius]

I don't understand why people say that Rosberg second in the WDC isn't important to Mercedes. The best you can do in F1 is to be first in the WCC and first and second in the WDC. Surely their aim is to be the best they can be. That would then include Rosberg being second in the WDC.

[PlatinumZealot]

Toto know Rosberg does not want any handouts so he won't ask Lewis to move over but he might think little sabotaging is a noble way to lubricate a Rosberg win.

[adrianjordan]

So with Vettel closing in on Rosberg in the WDC, what approach do Mercedes take?

Should they start to use team orders and protect both drivers' positions, do they protect Hamilton's lead or do they just keep doing things the way they have been all season since they have such a strong position in the WCC and it does look unlikely that Ferrari have actually caught or overtaken Mercedes and this race was just a blip?

[Jordan44]

Why would they ask Rosberg to win? Doesn't make sense to me. They want the drivers and the constructors title. Hamilton is the one looking far more likely to take it so it only makes sense for them to support him securing as many wins as possible if Vettel becomes a threat. And for the constructors it doesn't matter who gets the points, they just need to maximise them.

The team marking Hamilton as the clear number one seems more likely to me.

[MercedesAMGSpy]

Only thing Mercedes can do is starting to favour their number one driver when Ferrari and Vettel are starting to become a big threat for the world championship. Next week in Japan will give the team a lot of answers about their problems.

[Cold Fussion]

So with Vettel closing in on Rosberg in the WDC, what approach do Mercedes take?

Should they start to use team orders and protect both drivers' positions, do they protect Hamilton's lead or do they just keep doing things the way they have been all season since they have such a strong position in the WCC and it does look unlikely that Ferrari have actually caught or overtaken Mercedes and this race was just a blip?

Clearly they got their simulations wrong for Singapore, the W05 and W06 have proven to be fast on every type of track so it's obviously a blip in their performance. Suzuka is a pretty similar track to Silverstone so I very much doubt we will see anything but Mercedes domination there.

[GPR-A duplicate2]

So with Vettel closing in on Rosberg in the WDC, what approach do Mercedes take?

Should they start to use team orders and protect both drivers' positions, do they protect Hamilton's lead or do they just keep doing things the way they have been all season since they have such a strong position in the WCC and it does look unlikely that Ferrari have actually caught or overtaken Mercedes and this race was just a blip?

Too soon to discuss that, isn't it OR do we really need to discuss this? I like this, because this happens every time Vettel wins and then only for reality to prevail.
1. Vettel is on his 4th PU and has already done 2 Races and Hamilton has done 1 and half race on his 3rd PU. Vettel can't go on and on with that PU for the next 6 races. If reliability doesn't hit (even the ultra reliable Merc PU failed in Monza, which was 7th race for the PU), then of course the performance degrades on the PU.
2. Lewis is still 2 DNFs ahead of Vettel and even if DNFs happen to Lewis, Vettel has to win both the times. Plus, for the remaining 4 races (where Lewis doesn't have a DNF), Vettel has to win 2 of them and has to finish right behind Lewis in the other 2 (assuming Lewis finished right behind Vettel where Vettel won). That is a total of 4 more wins for Vettel to win WDC. Too long a shot, given that the PU performance is going to be critical for races like Russia and US, with some really long straights.

So, it is safe to say, Mercedes can afford to let their drivers race, as long as Vettel is behind both of them.

[SiLo]

I think people are making too big a meal of the performance this weekend. I'm chalking it down to not being able to work the tyres properly.

I expect them back at the front in Japan, and to be pushing quite hard as well.

[Phil]

Clearly they got their simulations wrong for Singapore, the W05 and W06 have proven to be fast on every type of track so it's obviously a blip in their performance. Suzuka is a pretty similar track to Silverstone so I very much doubt we will see anything but Mercedes domination there.

Ben (Bhall2) did the work in the Singapore thread in digging out the numbers, but IMO they show some interesting data:

Code: Select all

Monaco 2014        2015

Merc: 1:15.989    1:15.098 (-0.891)
RB:   1:16.384    1:16.041 (-0.343)
Fer:  1:16.686    1:15.849 (-0.837)
Will: 1:18.082    1:17.278 (-0.804)

Singap 2014        2015

Merc: 1:45.681    1:45.300 (-0.381)
RB:   1:45.854    1:44.428 (-1.426)
Fer:  1:45.907    1:43.885 (-2.022)
Will: 1:46.000    1:45.676 (-0.324)

On two similar tracks (Monaco & Singapore), Mercedes was quicker last year than their competition than they were in Singapore. So perhaps Singapore was indeed an anomaly track wherein their car doesn't work as well as it does on other tracks. We see that in 2014 already, the difference between Mercedes and their closest competitor was larger (4 tenths), than it was in Singapore (1.8 tenths).

I personally think the PU advantage was clearly larger last year and masked their Singapore performance slightly, so no one ever really thought about it. This year in Singapore, interestingly, Renault and Ferrari teams made a huge jump relative to their 2014 times, whereas both Mercedes and Williams only found 3 tenths. Perhaps the problem isn't as much set-up related as it is PU related; perhaps in how the ERS works on this particular track - or too much torque out of slow corners or something else. Both Mercedes drivers thought that the car was fine (Rosberg & Hamilton on AMuS) after all.

I don't think they are in trouble at all. The performance difference between Mercedes and their competitors in more typical tracks like Monza, Spa, - actually just about any track so far this year - has been rather big. You don't lose that just like that. The engineers at Mercedes might be boggled by their performance in Singapore, but I hope they don't go into panic mode - as I think they've done a fantastic job this year so far and I see no reason why this shouldn't continue on a more typical track like Suzuka again. We'll see, but I assume business will resume in 5 days.

[FoxHound]

Mercedes have said several times, the issue in Singapore was one of traction out of the slower corners.
They did not encounter this issue at Monaco or Hungary, which have some similarities to this track. Which leads me to believe they have changed the way they prepare the tyre due to the FIA imposing the "at any time" pressure check regulation.

[Phil]

Have any quotes? Last few interviews I've seen were that they clearly had no idea yet (at least officially). The traction theory is AFAIK derived from comparing on-board laps between the Mercedes and Ferrari? Even so, the question is WHY are they lacking that traction? Has anyone compared the 2014 on-boards? Despite them being quicker then, the gap was extremely small, smaller than it was on any other track that season.

[SiLo]

Mercedes have said several times, the issue in Singapore was one of traction out of the slower corners.
They did not encounter this issue at Monaco or Hungary, which have some similarities to this track. Which leads me to believe they have changed the way they prepare the tyre due to the FIA imposing the "at any time" pressure check regulation.

I don't think that will have affected them. The tyre operates around the same temp or higher than they sit in the tyre blankets.

Did the FIA actually put out a notice saying it was "at any time"? That doesnt make sense as they can leave the tyres out of the blankets etc.