2025 Mercedes-AMG | Petronas F1 Team

[continuum16]

If they had some extreme setup that was making deg really bad they would have terminated the run and changed the setup. It would make no sense to do a whole race sim with a setup that you know is compromised.

[Matt2725]

If they had some extreme setup that was making deg really bad they would have terminated the run and changed the setup. It would make no sense to do a whole race sim with a setup that you know is compromised.

Not necessarily.

Last season they were having issues with deg characteristics changing from one set of tyres to another, even across identical compounds.
It wouldn't be out of the question to suggest testing to see if those traits are still a thing or not. If your deg is at least consistent, then you can at least deduce those unpredictable traits have been worked out somewhat.
Not to mention, Antonelli's race sim stints were fairly stable across the entire stint in terms of lap time. Even if the raw pace on show wasn't quite as fast, but we'll likely get a better idea with Russell tomorrow...it did look like their deg wasn't so much an issue this evening.

[SB15]

I’m very impressed with Antonelli. His stint didn’t look anything like a rookie. So we’ll see how he gets on tomorrow.

[Tonino]

I’m very impressed with Antonelli. His stint didn’t look anything like a rookie. So we’ll see how he gets on tomorrow.

The kid has been incredibly impressive so far, people forget he's only 18.

[Tonino]

[Lasssept]

- According to Mercedes team boss Toto Wolff, it’s time to get “a bit worried,” though there are still many unknown factors and variables at play.

In 2024, few teams performed as well in cooler conditions as Mercedes — but with F1 2025 testing getting underway in an unusually chilly Bahrain climate, the team hasn’t been quite as dominant as expected.
..
Of course, testing doesn’t reveal all the details of a car’s performance in competition, but Toto Wolff admitted that he’s “a bit worried at the moment because that should be conditions where we should be two seconds quicker than everybody else, which was the only highlight last year in terms of performance in Las Vegas, and we are not.

“So either we’ve remedied the problem and we are more balanced through all the climate conditions, or not.”
...
“I think we, you know, sometimes take junctions that go in the wrong direction,” he said in a press conference held in Bahrain.

“Maybe yesterday, we tried something in the afternoon that didn’t function. It wasn’t so good.”

Per the Mercedes boss, the goal this year has been to build “a car that gives more confidence”..

Wolff believes that the Mercedes W16 “seems to be a tiny step ahead” of last year’s car, “but like all of you said, we have no idea about fuel loads.

“Yesterday, [Lando] Norris was on a different planet. Very, very good.

“Lewis this morning, [Carlos] Sainz on the C2, very impressive.

“So you really have no idea. And the condition are really totally not representative.”

https://www.planetf1.com/news/toto-wolf ... ry-bahrain

[Macklaren]

this is clearly a sensationalist headline as always from that source -- Toto was clearly joking when he said that at the press conference

[SB15]

Really the car looked the opposite at what Toto was talking about but that’s just to sway Mercedes from the media.

[Lasssept]

Media Mercedes/Erik Junius

[Lasssept]

F1/Sky Sports

[Emag]

Great session for Mercedes I would say. Much higher track temps today, but Kimi still looked impressive.

[SB15]

Great session for Mercedes I would say. Much higher track temps today, but Kimi still looked impressive.

Still quite cooler temps. But we'll see in the meantime if the consistency continues positively.

[Matt2725]

Great session for Mercedes I would say. Much higher track temps today, but Kimi still looked impressive.

Still quite cooler temps. But we'll see in the meantime if the consistency continues positively.

Cooler for Bahrain, but very much on par with temps across the season (high teens).

Things looks positive.

[Jozsusz]

How's George's long run pace?

[F1Krof]

How's George's long run pace?

Consistent, but don't know if it's fast enough. Yesterday Max was on mid 32s on C3... so