[ 2020 ] AMG Mercedes F1 Team - Mercedes

[Phil]

I was scolded by my mate zibby43 and a few others for under-estimating Redbull a few weeks ago. When have Christian Horner and Helmut Marko not over-estimated their chances? I like the way the media built up the narrative of Verstappen possibly leading the WDC after the first 3 races. I'll be expecting them to eat their words in Budapest this weekend. If I may borrow Verstappen's line on Hamilton: Adrian Newey is good but he's not God.

Anyway, their only chance of a decent season rests on Verstappen.

This might better belong in the RedBull topic, but perhaps Helmut & Co. were so bullish, perhaps because they have promised Verstappen a team around him to make him WDC. They need to be able to supply Verstappen that car and quite frankly, i think they need Max more than Max needs RB.

Even so; never under estimate RedBull. I wouldnt put it past them to catch up and i certainly wouldnt bet against Max to be that driver who could make it happen. Will it be enough to beat Mercedes? Probably not, but i think Mercedes will not get in the way to which of their drivers will win. If Bottas is strong, they might lose more points towards each other in the drivers championship to give Max an outside chance if RB dont drop the ball with reliability.

[Bill]

If Max would have finished the first race he would be setting pretty well in the championship table and if Honda haven't lost their high altitude advantage the idea that Max would leading the 1st three races is not crazy.

[Moore77]

If Max would have finished the first race he would be setting pretty well in the championship table and if Honda haven't lost their high altitude advantage the idea that Max would leading the 1st three races is not crazy.

IF Mercedes continues like this, Hamilton would win 25 WDCs. You can imagine anything with an IF. How do you know Honda lost their high altitude advantage? Previous two years, Mercedes got hampered by reliability (2018) and cooling issues (2019), without which, they could have easily won those two races as well.

There is nowhere Honda has mentioned in the last 12 months that they have changed their turbo design, which is the primary differentiator in high vs low altitude performance due to the burst speed limitations. In that regard, Honda has the same high altitude performance, just that Mercedes has not faced any reliability or cooling issues this year and have displayed the full range of performance of their PU. Besides, Spielberg is no Mexico where these differences gets way more glorified and Mercedes faces bigger challenge.

[tangodjango]

If Max would have finished the first race he would be setting pretty well in the championship table and if Honda haven't lost their high altitude advantage the idea that Max would leading the 1st three races is not crazy.

IF Mercedes continues like this, Hamilton would win 25 WDCs. You can imagine anything with an IF. How do you know Honda lost their high altitude advantage? Previous two years, Mercedes got hampered by reliability (2018) and cooling issues (2019), without which, they could have easily won those two races as well.

There is nowhere Honda has mentioned in the last 12 months that they have changed their turbo design, which is the primary differentiator in high vs low altitude performance due to the burst speed limitations. In that regard, Honda has the same high altitude performance, just that Mercedes has not faced any reliability or cooling issues this year and have displayed the full range of performance of their PU. Besides, Spielberg is no Mexico where these differences gets way more glorified and Mercedes faces bigger challenge.

Actually I think wazari posted on the Honda thread that they did change the turbo design this year. So there's definitely some credence to that.

[Moore77]

If Max would have finished the first race he would be setting pretty well in the championship table and if Honda haven't lost their high altitude advantage the idea that Max would leading the 1st three races is not crazy.

IF Mercedes continues like this, Hamilton would win 25 WDCs. You can imagine anything with an IF. How do you know Honda lost their high altitude advantage? Previous two years, Mercedes got hampered by reliability (2018) and cooling issues (2019), without which, they could have easily won those two races as well.

There is nowhere Honda has mentioned in the last 12 months that they have changed their turbo design, which is the primary differentiator in high vs low altitude performance due to the burst speed limitations. In that regard, Honda has the same high altitude performance, just that Mercedes has not faced any reliability or cooling issues this year and have displayed the full range of performance of their PU. Besides, Spielberg is no Mexico where these differences gets way more glorified and Mercedes faces bigger challenge.

Actually I think wazari posted on the Honda thread that they did change the turbo design this year. So there's definitely some credence to that.

I went through his posts and the one post that i found is from last year where he speaks about tevised turbo was from last year brfore Russia upgrade. Other than some posters speculatung things, haven't heard Honda themselves confirming anthing officially.

viewtopic.php?f=15&t=27821&p=858840&hil ... fb#p858840

[dans79]

Lewis has give the the W11 Some really strong praise.

https://www.autosport.com/f1/news/15061 ... s-produced

"There have been a couple of cars in the past that have been - I think Toto [Wolff] mentioned one being a 'diva' which was not the word that I particularly had used - but you know, it was a real handful the majority of the time.

"This one's more refined. We really worked hard last year, in really being clear and concise in picking out what the issues were with the '19 car and what we wanted to do moving forwards.

"And that just continues to come from the great communication that we have as drivers with the team, with the engineers, the understanding we have with the terminology we use, and the team really take that in, and then have implemented that into the car today.

"But we've only been to one track. It's still not easy to get the lap out of the car, but I think that's F1 in general. But it is the best car that we've had so far."

[Mark4211]

Annotated Wheel Adjustments: Pole Position Lap, Lewis Hamilton - Hungary 2020

https://streamable.com/pptkci

[ncx]

Speeds in quali:
At the finish line, where the cars are already over 260kph and not traction limited, BOT is only 0.5kph faster than HAM, but at the speed trap, not much after the finish line, he is 3.7kph faster. This suggests that HAM carries a bit more aero load, compatibly with his highest margin on BOT being in twisty S2. Or not?

[nacho]

Apparently Mercedes accidentally put Bottas with the wrong ride height in qualy of Steirmark GP and in Hungarian qualifying they accidentally put too much fuel in the car.

[nzjrs]

Bottas complains about a light changing on his dash that he mistook for the start lights.... And oh my God he is 100% correct (check the video)

https://www.formula1.com/en/latest/arti ... 1GGJq.html

That's really unfortunate and something I guess they will prevent happening again.

[tangodjango]

Apparently Mercedes accidentally put Bottas with the wrong ride height in qualy of Steirmark GP and in Hungarian qualifying they accidentally put too much fuel in the car.

Source?

[nacho]

Apparently Mercedes accidentally put Bottas with the wrong ride height in qualy of Steirmark GP and in Hungarian qualifying they accidentally put too much fuel in the car.

Source?

Interview in Finnish after the race:
https://www.is.fi/formula1/art-2000006576359.html

[Unf]

This is obvious that Bottas is treated like driver no. 2. Only one year contracts one by one, "miastakes" like these above... It's clear.

[tangodjango]

This is obvious that Bottas is treated like driver no. 2. Only one year contracts one by one, "miastakes" like these above... It's clear.

He should be grateful they allow him equal status till it's obvious he's out of the race instead of treating him like Massa/Barrichello.

[tangodjango]

Apparently Mercedes accidentally put Bottas with the wrong ride height in qualy of Steirmark GP and in Hungarian qualifying they accidentally put too much fuel in the car.

Source?

Interview in Finnish after the race:
https://www.is.fi/formula1/art-2000006576359.html

Ok sounds like scrambling for excuses.