2024 Mercedes-AMG | Petronas F1 Team

[SKYnRacing24]

Great job from Lewis but tomorrow will be a mammoth to keep these faster cars behind. Ultimately it doesn't matter where Russell finished. Tomorrow with the deg challenges ahead with a back to old spec car will be interesting to watch . Parc Ferme is locked in. So god knows what the drivers have beneath them in race trim. I feel Lewis will show his experience once again and hopefully maximise the package.

[Luscion]

I’m doubtful over tomorrow without a session to dial in the downgraded spec. I hope they have a good Sunday car.

While they've had no actually running on the slicks, its a spec they have a lot of data on. According to Shov they had people in the sim right after fp2 ended and already planned on improving race pace and balance, we'll see

[j_ste]

Lewis for sure had more to give there…but P3 is never a bad spot to start at Spa.

The dry pace for the teams is going to be fascinating. Everyone has all the tyres they will ever need, too.

[214270]

I’m doubtful over tomorrow without a session to dial in the downgraded spec. I hope they have a good Sunday car.

Well with the car having a wider setup window it's been more of a Sunday car than a quali car. Max has chosen a higher df package as well. Hence his pace in quali today. Will be interesting tomorrow.

We’ll see. Setting up the car for a fast lap has been made easier today because of the weather, I’m concerned they’re going to chew tyres tomorrow. Id be surprised if the cars behind we’re racing haven’t dialled that in correctly.

[214270]

I’m doubtful over tomorrow without a session to dial in the downgraded spec. I hope they have a good Sunday car.

While they've had no actually running on the slicks, its a spec they have a lot of data on. According to Shov they had people in the sim right after fp2 ended and already planned on improving race pace and balance, we'll see

Yeah, we’ll see. Here’s to hoping !

[atanatizante]

Based on the trap speeds and mainly S2 times it seems that HAM opted for a higher DF setup and RUS did the opposite.
This hunch is also based on the Q2 time HAM did, 22 degrees track temp and that he said the rears were overheating, meaning that the car has enough load level necessary to properly warm up the tyres, something that RUS didn't have and was moaning over the radio, plus that he just ran wide at turn 9 in Q1, had I`m not mistaken ...

Higher DF would help HAM to better manage his tires in the race and it`ll be interesting tomorrow to see had the MCL38 DRS delta is big enough to pass him on the Kemel straight or not, bearing in mind that HAM`, NOR`, and PIA` car had the same top speed 318kph at that speed checkpoint.

Now as I remember for the last 2 races W15 has had a better delta than MCL38 and then it should be down to how much deg has every car, after all, as VER said on the media pen. And last but not least I have to remind you that although in both FP on Friday both cars on the race sim and low track temps didn`t have a good race pace & low deg, the car was the updated/upgraded one, not the last spec they used on Hungary and for the race here ...

[erudite450]

I was hoping that Lewis would keep P2. If he managed that, he probably would have led into les combes. With Verstappen racing Russel and the McLarens, one could dream

[Luscion]

I was hoping that Lewis would keep P2. If he managed that, he probably would have led into les combes. With Verstappen racing Russel and the McLarens, one could dream

Mclarens are too fast to hold back imo unless Merc have improved their race pace quite a bit overnight but i could see him getting through Leclerc and maybe Perez

[214270]

[PlatinumZealot]

George appears to be the poorest wet weather driver of the new generation of drivers. Lando is just marginally better than him. Lewis still continues to show his skill in wet weather and is on par with Max (car being the difference) and Charles. That is really something for a 40 year old driver.

Not really. He schooled Lewis in the wet Imola 2022 race. He just likes a certain balance that's all. He's somewhere between Jenson Button and a Lewis Hamilton driving style. He can be deathly fast in the wet if things line up.

[PlatinumZealot]

I was hoping that Lewis would keep P2. If he managed that, he probably would have led into les combes. With Verstappen racing Russel and the McLarens, one could dream

Good and Bad thing about Spa is the pole doesnt matter that much. Haha. So the fastest car will be thru in by the first stops. Rain is our only hope.

[Luscion]

Andrew Shovlin post qualifying: “We weren't happy with the balance or pace of the car yesterday, so we made some fairly major changes to the mechanical and aero specification of the car overnight. We'd hoped for a dry window in FP3 to evaluate those, but unfortunately it stayed wet throughout and there was no chance to accumulate any meaningful running.”

“Wet qualifying sessions are difficult at present as the grid is tight. You need to time your new sets to coincide with when the track is at its quickest. By Q3, we were down to one new set of Intermediates. We'd decided to carry more fuel and do multiple laps to try and land one with the driest conditions. That was similar to McLaren.”

“We lost out to Leclerc though who used his new set right at the end. Had we not been carrying the fuel, we would have had the pace for P2.”

“We don't know where we will stack up on race pace, as the car is quite different to the one we ran in the dry yesterday. Starting from P3 and P6 though, we are hopefully well placed to fight for a podium.”

[Jdn1327]

I’m doubtful over tomorrow without a session to dial in the downgraded spec. I hope they have a good Sunday car.

Well with the car having a wider setup window it's been more of a Sunday car than a quali car. Max has chosen a higher df package as well. Hence his pace in quali today. Will be interesting tomorrow.

We’ll see. Setting up the car for a fast lap has been made easier today because of the weather, I’m concerned they’re going to chew tyres tomorrow. Id be surprised if the cars behind we’re racing haven’t dialled that in correctly.

Most of the teams are concerned with deg tomorrow. I think the merc sit somewhere in the mix with redbull and mclaren. Be it behind them slightly. I think their times in fp1 and fp2 weren't really representative because of the new parts they brought. Its gonna be a race for the lap time junkies tomorrow.

[Mosin123]

George appears to be the poorest wet weather driver of the new generation of drivers. Lando is just marginally better than him. Lewis still continues to show his skill in wet weather and is on par with Max (car being the difference) and Charles. That is really something for a 40 year old driver.

Not really. He schooled Lewis in the wet Imola 2022 race. He just likes a certain balance that's all. He's somewhere between Jenson Button and a Lewis Hamilton driving style. He can be deathly fast in the wet if things line up.

Apart from Imola, can you name any others? in the few we have had this year, he has gone backwards. in two of those, he should have won. in 1, he went off track more times in one race than most go off all season....... so i cant say i agree he is " deathly " fast in the wet if things line up, must be a lot of things lining up....... needs lots of Leprechaun luck more like.

[justin2102]

George appears to be the poorest wet weather driver of the new generation of drivers. Lando is just marginally better than him. Lewis still continues to show his skill in wet weather and is on par with Max (car being the difference) and Charles. That is really something for a 40 year old driver.

Not really. He schooled Lewis in the wet Imola 2022 race. He just likes a certain balance that's all. He's somewhere between Jenson Button and a Lewis Hamilton driving style. He can be deathly fast in the wet if things line up.

Apart from Imola, can you name any others? in the few we have had this year, he has gone backwards. in two of those, he should have won. in 1, he went off track more times in one race than most go off all season....... so i cant say i agree he is " deathly " fast in the wet if things line up, must be a lot of things lining up....... needs lots of Leprechaun luck more like.

Spa 2021 p2 in Williams, Imola 2022,Some parts of the 2024 Canadian GP, Silverstone fp3 maybe,overtakes round the outside in the S's of suzuka 2022 and many more that I can't remember