2017 AMG Mercedes F1 Team - Mercedes

[TAG]

A technical manager first priority is understand the direction the team needs to work toward. Their second and equally important task is to put the right people in the right role, some people work very well within guidelines, other people are more able to work given free rein. Success comes when you can harness synergy between the two.

[turbof1]

Moved some posts about the Ferrari team to the Ferrari team thread, as well as the discussion about team structure and engineer freedom/management to avoid breaking the continueity of the discussion. All can be found here: viewtopic.php?f=15&t=25525&start=360

[Avocado]

Congrats for the 2017 WCC&WDC.

[jurinius]

Congrats for the 2017 WCC&WDC.

And for the amazing work once again =D>

[PlatinumZealot]

Helmut Marko was right. Mercedes is not the fastest in the Hands of Bottas. I think he will get up to speed sooner or later. In that time Toto and Nikki's patience will be tested but they have to give Bottas time. He's a safe pair of hands just what you need at the season start.

[GPR-A duplicate2]

Helmut Marko was right. Mercedes is not the fastest in the Hands of Bottas. I think he will get up to speed sooner or later. In that time Toto and Nikki's patience will be tested but they have to give Bottas time. He's a safe pair of hands just what you need at the season start.

The question is, by the time Bottas picks up the speed, if it's around 5 or 6 GPs and if Lewis leads him by 30 or 40 points, will they allow them to race, If Ferrari and RB kept improving? While in the acclimitation period of those 5 or 6 GPs, if Bottas loses out a few 2nd place finish to either Ferrari or RB, will he be in a position to ask for equal status for this season? What will be the rules of engagement?

[WaikeCU]

Helmut Marko was right. Mercedes is not the fastest in the Hands of Bottas. I think he will get up to speed sooner or later. In that time Toto and Nikki's patience will be tested but they have to give Bottas time. He's a safe pair of hands just what you need at the season start.

The question is, by the time Bottas picks up the speed, if it's around 5 or 6 GPs and if Lewis leads him by 30 or 40 points, will they allow them to race, If Ferrari and RB kept improving? Whil in the acclimitation period of those 5 of 6 GPs, if Bottas loses out a few 2nd place finish to either Ferrari or RB, will he be in a position to ask for equal status for this season?

Lewis will be there for the win, but if Bottas can't match Lewis' speed. At least he could be a buffer to Lewis. As in holding up the competition behind him. By the time if they've managed to overtake Bottas, Lewis would be miles off in the distance.

[SiLo]

Helmut Marko was right. Mercedes is not the fastest in the Hands of Bottas. I think he will get up to speed sooner or later. In that time Toto and Nikki's patience will be tested but they have to give Bottas time. He's a safe pair of hands just what you need at the season start.

The question is, by the time Bottas picks up the speed, if it's around 5 or 6 GPs and if Lewis leads him by 30 or 40 points, will they allow them to race, If Ferrari and RB kept improving? Whil in the acclimitation period of those 5 of 6 GPs, if Bottas loses out a few 2nd place finish to either Ferrari or RB, will he be in a position to ask for equal status for this season?

Lewis will be there for the win, but if Bottas can't match Lewis' speed. At least he could be a buffer to Lewis. As in holding up the competition behind him. By the time if they've managed to overtake Bottas, Lewis would be miles off in the distance.

That's almost the ideal situation for Mercedes. They want 1 driver to win everything, 1 to come second and for them to win the WCC

[GPR-A duplicate2]

The question is, by the time Bottas picks up the speed, if it's around 5 or 6 GPs and if Lewis leads him by 30 or 40 points, will they allow them to race, If Ferrari and RB kept improving? Whil in the acclimitation period of those 5 of 6 GPs, if Bottas loses out a few 2nd place finish to either Ferrari or RB, will he be in a position to ask for equal status for this season?

Lewis will be there for the win, but if Bottas can't match Lewis' speed. At least he could be a buffer to Lewis. As in holding up the competition behind him. By the time if they've managed to overtake Bottas, Lewis would be miles off in the distance.

That's almost the ideal situation for Mercedes. They want 1 driver to win everything, 1 to come second and for them to win the WCC

In all honesty, that is exactly what Brawn thought about Nico, when they hired Lewis in 2013. It just so happened that, Nico showed he was better than that and created the headache and importantly, the new management of Toto, Niki and Paddy were open to having a proper fight between their drivers.

Nico was a champion, not just because Lewis had bad luck, but because he was resilient and kept coming back even after a season like 2015 where Lewis just dominated. He never backed down and I am not sure if there is another driver on the grid who would have such determined mindset in every single qualifying to have remained so close to Lewis and even on occasions, outperforming him.

Somehow I think, the worse is yet to come with regards to Bottas falling behind Lewis, contrary to people thinking Bottas will improve and come closer. The one important fact that people are not taking into account is, how error free can Bottas be? Even if he is slower than Lewis, can he provide the error free performances that Nico gave? I have my doubts.

[SiLo]

Yeah I'm undecided on Bottas. Will wait a few races and see how he does. Rosberg was faster than most gave him credit for unfortunately.

[jurinius]

Bottas has shown that he can be a great defender better than Nico, he looks good and he is already up where he should be. Lewis joins Mercedes where Nico was installed many years before He managed to do better than him. Now people are talking about Valteri's times like he is driving a Mercedes since 2 years ! maybe we can just remember wheel to wheel duel between Rosberg (Mercedes) and Valteri (Williams) ?

[Raleigh]

Valteri's racecraft has been very good, he's one of the few drivers I've seen make a move stick on Lewis and absolutely unflappable in defense. No unnecessary moves or panic even with a Mercedes bearing down on him, just calmly putting the car exactly where it needs to be.

The main question at this point is how fast he is compared to Lewis, I think he's got the speed but may not initially be quite on the same pace.

Nico by contrast was very quick (on the right day, perhaps even quicker than Lewis) but not necessarily a great racer, clumsy in defense and underwhelming on attack, even in the Mercedes prone to getting stuck behind slower cars. Not a great driver in the rain either, which has always been a mark of raw talent over hard work, rain was always a chance for Red Bulls and Ferraris to get between the Mercs (We haven't yet seen if Valteri is good in the wet, the Williams has been a lot weaker in the rain than the dry over the last 3 years).

[PlatinumZealot]

That's almost the ideal situation for Mercedes. They want 1 driver to win everything, 1 to come second and for them to win the WCC

Well, Mercedes (ie Toto and Zetche) want the WCC, but not for the team to be LH44 f1-team, so I feel the will keep a cap on Lewis' influence.

[dans79]

Well, Mercedes (ie Toto and Zetche) want the WCC, but not for the team to be LH44 f1-team, so I feel the will keep a cap on Lewis' influence.

That's really hard to stop or prevent. If you ask the average fan (F1T members don't apply) about 2000-2004, most will probably give Shumi all the credit.

[F1Krof]

Nico by contrast was very quick (on the right day, perhaps even quicker than Lewis) but not necessarily a great racer, clumsy in defense and underwhelming on attack, even in the Mercedes prone to getting stuck behind slower cars. Not a great driver in the rain either, which has always been a mark of raw talent over hard work, rain was always a chance for Red Bulls and Ferraris to get between the Mercs (We haven't yet seen if Valteri is good in the wet, the Williams has been a lot weaker in the rain than the dry over the last 3 years).

I agree, but Nico addressed them in 2016, he was at his absolute best. He was aggressive and precise, more than any time before.

I think Valteri on the other hand, needs a bit of time. Once he finds himself in groove and get a good result his confidence will grow and he will be up there with Hamilton (but not in front I'm afraid).

However, I'm worried if he gets tumbled and pressed from Ferrari and RBR to the point where he gets overwhelmed, add the pressure from the team and the fact that he has a 1 YEAR contract... hmmm I hope we don't see that.