2018 Mercedes AMG Petronas Formula One Team

[F1Krof]

Yep, they’ve fallen off. What happenend to them? Ferrari quite faster on a COLD track where Mercedes was excpected to dominate.

[Shrieker]

Dafuq is going on with Mercedes. They weren't the fastest on a hot track (but were close), and now even further behind on a cold track ? What's the deal here ?

[wesley123]

Only Hamiltons performance is the deal here imo. He did everything perfectly in Australia but was screwed over by a tactical error, and in Bahrain he was required a gearbox change, in a car that ran the most laps in winter testing without any issues. Hamilton is one driver on the grid who seems to be negatively affected by such events.

They were by quite a margin the quickest in Australia, and Bottas is around where you expect them to be. So I don't think there is anything actually going on at Mercedes.

[Chene_Mostert]

Only Hamiltons performance is the deal here imo. He did everything perfectly in Australia but was screwed over by a tactical error, and in Bahrain he was required a gearbox change, in a car that ran the most laps in winter testing without any issues. Hamilton is one driver on the grid who seems to be negatively affected by such events.

They were by quite a margin the quickest in Australia, and Bottas is around where you expect them to be. So I don't think there is anything actually going on at Mercedes.

Yes that and The Mercedes AMG Wo 9 EQ power Plus car is 0.5sec per lap slower than Ferrari in China.

[wesley123]

Sure about that? Toto was managing Bottas and i am not sure what Ricciardo would bring over Bottas, assuming they can reach an agreement with Hamilton. This is all about building an harmonic team.

Racecraft. It's way too often that Bottas is sleeping or not daring an overtake, in Bahrain that shouldn't have been much of an issue considering the grip Bottas had over Vettel.

[wesley123]

Only Hamiltons performance is the deal here imo. He did everything perfectly in Australia but was screwed over by a tactical error, and in Bahrain he was required a gearbox change, in a car that ran the most laps in winter testing without any issues. Hamilton is one driver on the grid who seems to be negatively affected by such events.

They were by quite a margin the quickest in Australia, and Bottas is around where you expect them to be. So I don't think there is anything actually going on at Mercedes.

Yes that and The Mercedes AMG Wo 9 EQ power Plus car is 0.5sec per lap slower than Ferrari in China.

Yes, and Mercedes lost a full second in two weeks. Sorry, but no. Hamilton has been outqualified by his teammate twice and is clearly lacking performance.

Maybe Ferrari would still have qualified on pole, but the gap isn't that big as it appears to be

[Chene_Mostert]

Only Hamiltons performance is the deal here imo. He did everything perfectly in Australia but was screwed over by a tactical error, and in Bahrain he was required a gearbox change, in a car that ran the most laps in winter testing without any issues. Hamilton is one driver on the grid who seems to be negatively affected by such events.

They were by quite a margin the quickest in Australia, and Bottas is around where you expect them to be. So I don't think there is anything actually going on at Mercedes.

Yes that and The Mercedes AMG Wo 9 EQ power Plus car is 0.5sec per lap slower than Ferrari in China.

Yes, and Mercedes lost a full second in two weeks. Sorry, but no. Hamilton has been outqualified by his teammate twice and is clearly lacking performance.

Maybe Ferrari would still have qualified on pole, but the gap isn't that big as it appears to be

No, Ferrari gained a full second from 2017. Mercedes not. Its often said Australia is not a representative track.

[Big Tea]

Some people have mentioned the wind there, could it be affecting the Merc more than Ferrari? or even Hamilton not liking a car that suddenly does unpredictable things? Just once or twice but enough to spook him for the whole weekend.

[De Jokke]

Are merc morrons? Everyone could see that they had to pit Lewis with the SC as RBR obviously did with their drivers. Another victory squandered...

[JonoNic]

Are merc morrons? Everyone could see that they had to pit Lewis with the SC as RBR obviously did with their drivers. Another victory squandered...

Algorithms suggested something different?

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[Vanja #66]

Are merc morrons? Everyone could see that they had to pit Lewis with the SC as RBR obviously did with their drivers. Another victory squandered...

Well Lewis did have 5 hard laps on that remaining set of softs he had. He'd loose track position and be at a disadvantage near the end of the race. If that happened, people would point at Kimi and say - Mercedes should have kept Hamilton out, look what Kimi did by staying out.

[De Jokke]

Toto (in hindsight) agrees they should have boxed Lewis. 3/3 lost, jeezes merc

[wesley123]

No, Ferrari gained a full second from 2017. Mercedes not. Its often said Australia is not a representative track.

It's representative enough to see that the 1s merc lost isn't in the car alone. You don't just lose a second in two weeks

[F1Krof]

Yes that and The Mercedes AMG Wo 9 EQ power Plus car is 0.5sec per lap slower than Ferrari in China.

Yes, and Mercedes lost a full second in two weeks. Sorry, but no. Hamilton has been outqualified by his teammate twice and is clearly lacking performance.

Maybe Ferrari would still have qualified on pole, but the gap isn't that big as it appears to be

No, Ferrari gained a full second from 2017. Mercedes not. Its often said Australia is not a representative track.

+1 this.

[Vanja #66]

Read somewhere that FIA found out Merc were adding more oil in Melbourne and Bahrain after the race and have quietly banned them from doing it. Not much more info, I think it was a tweet and it mentioned German media. Does anyone know more of this, or some article to read about it? Since this is speculation and refers to this team, I'm asking it here instead of car and engine threads.

Could be fake news or some gossip speculation, most likely is.