2020 British Grand Prix - Silverstone, 31-02 July / August

[Restomaniac]

While some have commented that the Mercedes dominance has made F1 Racing boring, which I somewhat agree with, there are other factors which keep me drawn to it. I enjoy watching the midfield battles, and wish the cameras would pay more attention to them. I enjoy watching the progress of the sport’s “young guns” - Norris, Russell, Albon, etc. I enjoy following the potential technology upgrades, and the attempts by the other teams to bring the Mercedes cars “back to the pack”, so to speak. To me, there’s much more to racing than just the podium results. JMO as a relatively new (3 years) fan. Enjoy the race, gentlemen.

I’ve enjoying midfield battles for the last 10 years, and I’m increasingly getting tired of it. Will I ever be able to enjoy a proper title battle in the near future? I don’t know dude, I’m right on edge of quitting and the worst thing is I’ll have to endure another season of it in 2021.

I don’t know how much additional benefits Mercedes will be getting out of this utter domination. A couple of years ago, I’d have gone straight for a Mercedes road car considering their technical excellence (if I had the money). Now, I’m just sick of seeing them.

Maybe I’m in a minority though.

I get that but that falls squarely on the shoulders of the other teams. People shouldn’t be avoiding Mercedes cars if anything they should be MORE interested in them (if they can afford them).

Look at 2017 as an example. Pretty much on the eve of the season the FIA ban FRIC, a system integral to the W8. Mercedes STILL win both the WDC and WCC. Just how much help do the other teams need? Should we make Mercedes drive with extra ballast, have them dragging a parachute, etc?

It’s not up to Mercedes to slow down to let others catch up, it’s up to others to stop being so shitty at THEIR jobs.

Sorry if this comes across as a rant but I just find this line of argument baffling.

[Bill]

Mercedes didn't invent fric lotus did.most teams had it .it was burned to reduce costs & it was a form of active suspension which is illegal.

[JRindt]

While some have commented that the Mercedes dominance has made F1 Racing boring, which I somewhat agree with, there are other factors which keep me drawn to it. I enjoy watching the midfield battles, and wish the cameras would pay more attention to them. I enjoy watching the progress of the sport’s “young guns” - Norris, Russell, Albon, etc. I enjoy following the potential technology upgrades, and the attempts by the other teams to bring the Mercedes cars “back to the pack”, so to speak. To me, there’s much more to racing than just the podium results. JMO as a relatively new (3 years) fan. Enjoy the race, gentlemen.

I’ve enjoying midfield battles for the last 10 years, and I’m increasingly getting tired of it. Will I ever be able to enjoy a proper title battle in the near future? I don’t know dude, I’m right on edge of quitting and the worst thing is I’ll have to endure another season of it in 2021.

I don’t know how much additional benefits Mercedes will be getting out of this utter domination. A couple of years ago, I’d have gone straight for a Mercedes road car considering their technical excellence (if I had the money). Now, I’m just sick of seeing them.

Maybe I’m in a minority though.

I get that but that falls squarely on the shoulders of the other teams. People shouldn’t be avoiding Mercedes cars if anything they should be MORE interested in them (if they can afford them).

Look at 2017 as an example. Pretty much on the eve of the season the FIA ban FRIC, a system integral to the W8. Mercedes STILL win both the WDC and WCC. Just how much help do the other teams need? Should we make Mercedes drive with extra ballast, have them dragging a parachute, etc?

It’s not up to Mercedes to slow down to let others catch up, it’s up to others to stop being so shitty at THEIR jobs.

Sorry if this comes across as a rant but I just find this line of argument baffling.

It is true that my line of argument comes across as illogical or even totally dumb. But, We must also not forget that Mercedes had a huge head start in this engine formula, which is yet to be caught up by other manufacturers. And they have maintained that head start by injecting upwards of half a billion dollars a year, which only Ferrari is able to match. I’d hardly call that fair competition.

Also, my recently found revulsion of Mercedes is not dictated by technical excellence alone. It’s a matter of personal ‘feel’ or even mystique. While in college, my dream car was Audi R8. I resolved to myself that if and when I earn enough, my first super car would be that. Right after college, I worked as an engineer in a Volkswagen plant which also produced Audi cars. After a year of constant familiarity with the innards of an Audi, my interest In the R8 wore off and now I just feel ‘meh’ whenever I see any Audi car.

Edit: Right now, Mercedes comes across, at least to me, as an ultra efficient corporate giant steamrolling the smaller outfits into oblivion. Where’s the romance in that?
Somehow Ferrari manages hold on to its mystique despite spending equal to Mercedes. I think, it’s because of their capability to fail spectacularly from a winning position. Just makes them very human.

[Mamba]

Look at 2017 as an example. Pretty much on the eve of the season the FIA ban FRIC, a system integral to the W8. Mercedes STILL win both the WDC and WCC. Just how much help do the other teams need? Should we make Mercedes drive with extra ballast, have them dragging a parachute, etc?

If anything Red Bull were more affected by that ban than Mercedes. And Mercedes PR somehow got their fans to believe they were massively behind in '17 and '18 and were struggling massively. They had the power advantage in both years and their suspension system ban only made the car more difficult to set up in '17. It wasn't slower at all. If you look at the onboards the Ferrari were much more stable and less twitchy yet they were losing tenths per sector at some tracks. Merc controlled the narrative, but they had far from a slow car.

The only reason Ferrari were found out is because somebody ratted roughly what they were doing and that gave the other teams a starting point. Mercedes seem to keep all their people extremely happy so they don't get poached and don't whisper in other teams ears too much about the grey areas Merc are exploiting.

[NathanOlder]

Mercedes had a huge head start in this engine formula, which is yet to be caught up by other manufacturers. And they have maintained that head start by injecting upwards of half a billion dollars a year, which only Ferrari is able to match. I’d hardly call that fair competition.

Its published everywhere that Mercedes and Ferrari spend around 450 million dollars a year. So near half a billion is correct. When you read about RedBull, I often find figures of around 330 million dollars. Don't we need to add to that the 140 million dollars that Honda are pumping in this year. If thats the case, then RedBull are as big of a failure as Ferrari.
This season, along with Mercedes, Racing Point, Renault and Mclaren need the praise. Those 3 teams operate on a budget that people seem to want to believe poor old RedBull operate with.

[Bsowles]

Somebody (Restomaniac, I think) esponded:

“I get that but that falls squarely on the shoulders of the other teams. People shouldn’t be avoiding Mercedes cars if anything they should be MORE interested in them (if they can afford them). It’s not up to Mercedes to slow down to let others catch up, it’s up to others to stop being so shitty at THEIR jobs.”

I pretty much agree with that. If you want to have the tallest building, you don’t tear down all the buildings around you- you build the tallest building.

[Bill]

Mercedes advantage comes from the chassis all power units have converged at least last year.these articles says Ferrari had an edge of upto 0.7 tenth from pu and still didn't win championship https://www.planetf1.com/news/ferrari-e ... -mercedes/

[XRayF1]

I’ve enjoying midfield battles for the last 10 years, and I’m increasingly getting tired of it. Will I ever be able to enjoy a proper title battle in the near future? I don’t know dude, I’m right on edge of quitting and the worst thing is I’ll have to endure another season of it in 2021.

I don’t know how much additional benefits Mercedes will be getting out of this utter domination. A couple of years ago, I’d have gone straight for a Mercedes road car considering their technical excellence (if I had the money). Now, I’m just sick of seeing them.

Maybe I’m in a minority though.

I get that but that falls squarely on the shoulders of the other teams. People shouldn’t be avoiding Mercedes cars if anything they should be MORE interested in them (if they can afford them).

Look at 2017 as an example. Pretty much on the eve of the season the FIA ban FRIC, a system integral to the W8. Mercedes STILL win both the WDC and WCC. Just how much help do the other teams need? Should we make Mercedes drive with extra ballast, have them dragging a parachute, etc?

It’s not up to Mercedes to slow down to let others catch up, it’s up to others to stop being so shitty at THEIR jobs.

Sorry if this comes across as a rant but I just find this line of argument baffling.

It is true that my line of argument comes across as illogical or even totally dumb. But, We must also not forget that Mercedes had a huge head start in this engine formula, which is yet to be caught up by other manufacturers. And they have maintained that head start by injecting upwards of half a billion dollars a year, which only Ferrari is able to match. I’d hardly call that fair competition.

Also, my recently found revulsion of Mercedes is not dictated by technical excellence alone. It’s a matter of personal ‘feel’ or even mystique. While in college, my dream car was Audi R8. I resolved to myself that if and when I earn enough, my first super car would be that. Right after college, I worked as an engineer in a Volkswagen plant which also produced Audi cars. After a year of constant familiarity with the innards of an Audi, my interest In the R8 wore off and now I just feel ‘meh’ whenever I see any Audi car.

Edit: Right now, Mercedes comes across, at least to me, as an ultra efficient corporate giant steamrolling the smaller outfits into oblivion. Where’s the romance in that?
Somehow Ferrari manages hold on to its mystique despite spending equal to Mercedes. I think, it’s because of their capability to fail spectacularly from a winning position. Just makes them very human.

So you despise MGP because they are doing their job?
Not others not being able to do theirs properly? After years in this new engine formula? In this new aero formula?
Is that it?

Look, I would want to see a proper title race between teams as well.
But to put the blame on MGP is just ridiculous.

Any F1 team exists to beat the others. Period.
MGP are doing that for a long time now just because others are not getting their act together.
Ferrari can beat them, they have the resources incl money; RBR can as well, even if it is 'only' for the enthusiastic drive they have (and Mateschitz' money).
I am sure Renault could do as well, but are restraint somehow (political/monetary?).

F1 is no romantic man vs machine arena anymore.
As much as I would like to have it like that again.
It is driven mostly, say 98%, by the economic value F1 provides to the enterprise called a Formula 1 team.

MGP are just doing their job ...

[Mchamilton]

Someone should make a 'bitch about mercedes thread' and keep all this ranting and back n forth in there rather than the race thread

[Restomaniac]

Look at 2017 as an example. Pretty much on the eve of the season the FIA ban FRIC, a system integral to the W8. Mercedes STILL win both the WDC and WCC. Just how much help do the other teams need? Should we make Mercedes drive with extra ballast, have them dragging a parachute, etc?

If anything Red Bull were more affected by that ban than Mercedes. And Mercedes PR somehow got their fans to believe they were massively behind in '17 and '18 and were struggling massively. They had the power advantage in both years and their suspension system ban only made the car more difficult to set up in '17. It wasn't slower at all. If you look at the onboards the Ferrari were much more stable and less twitchy yet they were losing tenths per sector at some tracks. Merc controlled the narrative, but they had far from a slow car.

The only reason Ferrari were found out is because somebody ratted roughly what they were doing and that gave the other teams a starting point. Mercedes seem to keep all their people extremely happy so they don't get poached and don't whisper in other teams ears too much about the grey areas Merc are exploiting.

RedBull were not at all. Trying to suggest so is an attempt to massively alter historic facts. RedBull themselves stated as such. They had it but didn’t need it where as it was an integral part of the W08.

Clearly these facts don’t fit with the narrative that Mercedes have never had to face adversity though so.......

To bring it back to this race Mercedes have done an amazing job where as others (I’m looking at you Ferrari and RedBull) aren’t.

[Restomaniac]

Someone should make a 'bitch about mercedes thread' and keep all this ranting and back n forth in there rather than the race thread

I generally would agree but it’s in the context of the current W11 being miles ahead as was proved AGAIN. As such a conversation about WHY that is the case is surely relevant?

[Just_a_fan]

Mercedes advantage comes from the chassis all power units have converged at least last year.these articles says Ferrari had an edge of upto 0.7 tenth from pu and still didn't win championship https://www.planetf1.com/news/ferrari-e ... -mercedes/

And the irony is that because Ferrari had so much extra power - allegedly from not totally legal means - Mercedes went out and worked their socks off to find more power. Now Ferrari's engine has had its "loophole" closed off, Mercedes have been left with a power advantage again. It's rather funny, really. If only Ferrari had done the hard yards instead of the shortcut, where might they be today?

[sosic2121]

Did anything come of Valterri's Q2 lap!? Apparently he was behind Lewis on track and set his best time on the lap Lewis spun. so suraely there would be yellow flags?

Hamilton kept his car ontrack that way he didn’t trigger the yellow flags.

Since when has a car facing the wrong way or stationary on track not triggered yellow flags?

Really rookie mistake by Hamilton but with no damage or any consecuence. Was he trying to force Bottas to slow down knowing his lap wasn't good? Similar to Bottas in Austria?

Ahh those little dirty tricks Mercedes drivers play...

[jumpingfish]

I don't think that Mercedes had so weak engine in 2019 as they cried because even with cheats and +100500h.p. SF90 had the same maximum speed as Racing Point on Monza qualy. Mercedes was much slower on straights compared to RP there, why? Drag? Were they affraid of engine failures or overheating issues? This winter Mercedes brought ~25h.p. but is it enough to make them faster for 1sec per lap on Silverstone? IMO Merc had +/- the same power as illegal Ferrari but it was hidden because their aero was superior (but drag) compared to another cars + overheating issues.

[Bill]

Ferrari tricks were only applied during qualifying in the race no they couldn't even use whatever they had to defend position.these is why it said power units have converged last year.