2019 Mercedes AMG Petronas Formula One Team

[dans79]

Apparently Mercedes believes that keeping their number two happy was worth throwing away a relatively safe 1-2 in this race ... i guess Lewis is mature enough to not get too wound up from being screwed over with the strat.

I'm think this is exactly what he needs honestly. I fully expect him to go on a tear now just to prove a point.

[loner]

now expect Toto saying oh six better than sex

[f1jcw]

Apparently Mercedes believes that keeping their number two happy was worth throwing away a relatively safe 1-2 in this race ... i guess Lewis is mature enough to not get too wound up from being screwed over with the strat.

I'm think this is exactly what he needs honestly. I fully expect him to go on a tear now just to prove a point.

Tear? Not sure I understand?

[GPR-A]

Lewis has grown to the level of an elderly statesman and doesn't behave like most others to openly abuse the team. He has such a good control over his emotions. While he wouldn't be agreeing to the strategy, but wouldn't be too unhappy about Bottas winning it. I feel if told, he would have let Bottas through with his one stopper.

Mercedes underestimated Ferrari's straightline speed and put Lewis on second stop to make Bottas' win look more legitimate. Upteen number of times Lewis has proved his ability to take the tyre life beyond their simulations and yet, they told him that the wear rate was higher. If they so underestimated Ferrari's power at that stage to put Lewis on two stops, they could have as well let him on one stop.

[izzy]

it just very slightly took the shine off this amazing achievement that apparently they believed they could pass a Ferrari on this track, when pretty much every fan knew they obviously couldn't. That's such an old cockup

but on the upside it was another race where the drivers made the difference, and they have the best pair don't they, over a season

[f1jcw]

The thing is in the past, I have seen Lewis disadvantaged with strategy, especially against Rosberg. In the race and qualifying, were Lewis has to run again cause either Bottas or rosberg hd to use a extra tyre to get through, all in the name of equality. But I can’t recall it happening the other way. They even went as far as dismantling his team in 2016. It is like when he was at McLaren instead of using his ability to raise the team, they use "equality" to bring him down to the level of his partner.

[dans79]

Apparently Mercedes believes that keeping their number two happy was worth throwing away a relatively safe 1-2 in this race ... i guess Lewis is mature enough to not get too wound up from being screwed over with the strat.

I'm think this is exactly what he needs honestly. I fully expect him to go on a tear now just to prove a point.

Tear? Not sure I understand?

See #1, and #2
https://en.m.wiktionary.org/wiki/on_a_tear

[f1jcw]

I'm think this is exactly what he needs honestly. I fully expect him to go on a tear now just to prove a point.

Tear? Not sure I understand?

See #1, and #2
https://en.m.wiktionary.org/wiki/on_a_tear

Ah, I hope he does.

[dans79]

Tear? Not sure I understand?

See #1, and #2
https://en.m.wiktionary.org/wiki/on_a_tear

Ah, I hope he does.

Given his comments, post-race it seems likely.

https://www.racefans.net/2019/10/13/ham ... tegy-f-up/

[Phil]

I agree, this is exactly what Hamilton needs. Can't blame Mercedes given the position they were in, but I felt a bit robbed that they didn't leave Hamilton out. Assuming they had asked Hamilton to let Bottas by (or assuming Bottas would have gotten by), he would have most likely lost 8 points to Valtteri instead of the 9 he did (I thinkValtteri would have gotten the fastest lap otherwise), yet this way, Hamilton dropped to 3rd but got the fastest lap point.

Anyway, the championship gap is now 64 points. He would have to get around 11 points more than Valtteri at COTA to pretty much seal is (not quite mathematically though, due to the fastest lap points). If he wants to seal it mathematically, he will need 14 points more than Valtteri, which I think is pretty unlikely, given I expect Ferrari to win Cota (a bit like last year).

We will see.

[e30ernest]

Is the new tire wear percentage graphics based on anything? The graphics showed he had lots of life on his tires, and Hamilton was pacing pretty good up to his second stop. He might have been able to make the one-stop work. I guess the team wants to be "fair" this time around.

[RZS10]

Nah it's just a shitty gimmick for the dumb average audience who know that stuff from racing games - it doesn't even seem to be based on the laps driven in relation to Pirelli's prediction of tyre life ... it's just a stupid as the overtake difficulty prediction they show ... just one more clear indicator how the sport is being further 'americanized'

[dans79]

Nah it's just a shitty gimmick for the dumb average audience who know that stuff from racing games - it doesn't even seem to be based on the laps driven in relation to Pirelli's prediction of tyre life ... it's just a stupid as the overtake difficulty prediction they show ... just one more clear indicator how the sport is being further 'americanized'

It has nothing to do with americanized'!

[RZS10]

Ok, let me rephrase then: dumbed down with a focus on spectacle and show instead of the core aspects of the sport ...

[zibby43]

Couple of thoughts:

1) Hamilton wasn't going to hold onto the win with the 1-stopper that he was ultimately left on; he took too much out of the tires.

2) How Merc handled HAM earlier in the race sealed his fate.

3) At the end of the day, with the strategy Hamilton was left with, pitting a second time was the best option to avoid a tire going kaboom (resulting in a finish outside the top 10 or DNF; remember what happened to Ferrari at Silverstone a few years ago).

HAM likely lost a pretty nailed-on 2nd, but only surrendered 2 points (due to achieving the Fastest Lap and bringing in a points haul of 16, as opposed to 18).

4) I'm not totally surprised, but I'm a little surprised, that the bigger story in this thread seems to be a 1-3 finish vs. a 1-2 finish and not Merc's 6th consecutive Constructors' Championship.

5) Bottas deserved to win that race. He didn't put a foot wrong, and he put Merc in the driver's seat at the beginning of the race with his start, which he earned from his better qualifying position. I'm not saying Hamilton also didn't deserve to win with better strategy, but there's no way that Bottas didn't deserve to win, either.