2024 Mercedes-AMG | Petronas F1 Team

[venkyhere]

Notice period that started before current season is long enough.
Toto got a taste of his own medicine - for almost a decade, acted like superboss of FoM and influenced the governance of the sport unscrupulously, and sometimes not even trying to hide it.

Ground effect era started, and :
1) Engineering failed like a house of cards. The ground effect car is a disaster (by top team standards). Whatever recovery was shown was a flash in the pan, winning the odd race here and there, without any consistency - 4th in the championship by a large margin.
2) his numero uno driver, finding it impossible to drive the car, and knowing that all those long contract negotiations have resulted in just a 1+1 (showing that the boss doesn't trust his ability to be driving at highest level anymore), is leaving, gave a season long notice.

Big picture - nature's balancing act via statistical averaging, time for some years in the doldrums.

Hence, Toto, time to 'suck it up'.

[Dunlay]

Notice period that started before current season is long enough.
Toto got a taste of his own medicine - for almost a decade, acted like superboss of FoM and influenced the governance of the sport unscrupulously, and sometimes not even trying to hide it.

Ground effect era started, and :
1) Engineering failed like a house of cards. The ground effect car is a disaster (by top team standards). Whatever recovery was shown was a flash in the pan, winning the odd race here and there, without any consistency - 4th in the championship by a large margin.
2) his numero uno driver, finding it impossible to drive the car, and knowing that all those long contract negotiations have resulted in just a 1+1 (showing that the boss doesn't trust his ability to be driving at highest level anymore), is leaving, gave a season long notice.

Big picture - nature's balancing act via statistical averaging, time for some years in the doldrums.

Hence, Toto, time to 'suck it up'.

I had hoped that for Lewis and he has been going through a barren run. Same for Toto. It would apply to Max too. He would have to endure that. Hopefully soon enough and 4th title would be his last. That's how Sports work. Horner and Red Bull went through that for 7 long years. There should always be new winners. That's how the sports would be richer.

[r85]

https://x.com/fiagirly/status/1855888501297889626

Opinions on this?

[Quantum]

Notice period that started before current season is long enough.
Toto got a taste of his own medicine - for almost a decade, acted like superboss of FoM and influenced the governance of the sport unscrupulously, and sometimes not even trying to hide it.

Ground effect era started, and :
1) Engineering failed like a house of cards. The ground effect car is a disaster (by top team standards). Whatever recovery was shown was a flash in the pan, winning the odd race here and there, without any consistency - 4th in the championship by a large margin.
2) his numero uno driver, finding it impossible to drive the car, and knowing that all those long contract negotiations have resulted in just a 1+1 (showing that the boss doesn't trust his ability to be driving at highest level anymore), is leaving, gave a season long notice.

Big picture - nature's balancing act via statistical averaging, time for some years in the doldrums.

Hence, Toto, time to 'suck it up'.

Todt, Brawn, Horner, Toto, some might argue even Brown now...All the same.
No different. Being irked by Toto because it's Toto is all fine and dandy, but unscrupulous?
It's all in the game yo.

[PlatinumZealot]

https://x.com/fiagirly/status/1855888501297889626

Opinions on this?

It's true. No surprises. Since 2021 LH has not been at full performance and he has admitted it each time, even when he says he is in the best shape of his life.

[Espresso]

https://x.com/fiagirly/status/1855888501297889626

Opinions on this?

Yeah it is the sad truth. Fan base rage....
Whats even more sad is the so called (British) fans attacking all those F1 teams because of the idolising of the British drivers... ..forget most teams have a majority of British employees. They should be proud of that, shouldn´t they?

Lets be clear it´s not about the drivers but about the fanbase (including the media and stewards?) that looses sight of sportmanship in favour of radicalisation. And it´s tough for Lewis to navigate through this sharkpit.

Personally it a good thing for the Mercedes team to close a chapter and build their way back to the front row.

[OverheatedTurbo]

https://x.com/fiagirly/status/1855888501297889626

Opinions on this?

Yeah it is the sad truth. Fan base rage....
Whats even more sad is the so called (British) fans attacking all those F1 teams because of the idolising of the British drivers... ..forget most teams have a majority of British employees. They should be proud of that, shouldn´t they?

Lets be clear it´s not about the drivers but about the fanbase (including the media and stewards?) that looses sight of sportmanship in favour of radicalisation. And it´s tough for Lewis to navigate through this sharkpit.

Personally it a good thing for the Mercedes team to close a chapter and build their way back to the front row.

Cult LH will always be the problem. Next year, Merc will be cleansed of all of this, even team forums. I cannot wait for the new chapter. Bring on 2025 already.

[Big Tea]

https://x.com/fiagirly/status/1855888501297889626

Opinions on this?

It's true. No surprises. Since 2021 LH has not been at full performance and he has admitted it each time, even when he says he is in the best shape of his life.

I think his turning point was when Cullen left. She seemed to be able to keep his head in the right place and he has not been there since.

[Tonino]

I’ve got to admit, Lewis's fans are some of the most unhinged I’ve seen in my 30 years of watching F1. Granted, back then there was no social media, but some of the takes coming from his fanbase this year have been downright bizarre.

It feels like anything Toto says is immediately seen as him being resentful or slagging off Lewis. I watched Toto’s High Performance interview, and if you actually listen to it, he was very complimentary about Lewis, multiple times. But I mean, his fans' take on Toto’s comments on the 2021 season, when Lewis went to some Caribbean island with a few friends and they told Toto he was doing okay, is completely unhinged. They’re making it sound like Toto is a terrible person who doesn’t care about Lewis’s mental health. I mean, what??

December 9th can’t come soon enough. As a Mercedes fan, I really need a break from all this vitriol and madness, and I’m sure Toto and the team feel the same. Looking forward to a more peaceful 2025 season.

[djones]

I’ve got to admit, Lewis's fans are some of the most unhinged I’ve seen in my 30 years of watching F1. Granted, back then there was no social media, but some of the takes coming from his fanbase this year have been downright bizarre.

It feels like anything Toto says is immediately seen as him being resentful or slagging off Lewis. I watched Toto’s High Performance interview, and if you actually listen to it, he was very complimentary about Lewis, multiple times. But I mean, his fans' take on Toto’s comments on the 2021 season, when Lewis went to some Caribbean island with a few friends and they told Toto he was doing okay, is completely unhinged. They’re making it sound like Toto is a terrible person who doesn’t care about Lewis’s mental health. I mean, what??

December 9th can’t come soon enough. As a Mercedes fan, I really need a break from all this vitriol and madness, and I’m sure Toto and the team feel the same. Looking forward to a more peaceful 2025 season.

I have been on this forum for almost 20 years (see the info next to my name) - so in a way that is 20 years of relevant social media experience that can be proven.

Believe me, Lewis supporters are pretty average really, it's just there are a lot of them. The most toxic fans by a huge margin that I have experienced are some of the Max fans. This may in part be related to his fan base likely being quite young and more active on social media.

[Matt2725]

I’ve got to admit, Lewis's fans are some of the most unhinged I’ve seen in my 30 years of watching F1. Granted, back then there was no social media, but some of the takes coming from his fanbase this year have been downright bizarre.

It feels like anything Toto says is immediately seen as him being resentful or slagging off Lewis. I watched Toto’s High Performance interview, and if you actually listen to it, he was very complimentary about Lewis, multiple times. But I mean, his fans' take on Toto’s comments on the 2021 season, when Lewis went to some Caribbean island with a few friends and they told Toto he was doing okay, is completely unhinged. They’re making it sound like Toto is a terrible person who doesn’t care about Lewis’s mental health. I mean, what??

December 9th can’t come soon enough. As a Mercedes fan, I really need a break from all this vitriol and madness, and I’m sure Toto and the team feel the same. Looking forward to a more peaceful 2025 season.

Wolff's comments about Lewis' "devoted fanbase" I think he called them, were quite telling. He was pretty thin with how he veiled those comments. It's quite clear LH fans have likely caused issues within the team in terms of morale and cohesion. It wasn't so long ago they were tagging members of the team directly online.

I know Rosie Wait was on the receiving end in the latter half of this season. It gets pretty unhinged at times.

[KimiRai]

As a Mercedes fan, I really need a break from all this vitriol and madness, and I’m sure Toto and the team feel the same. Looking forward to a more peaceful 2025 season.

It's very peaceful in the midfield...

Last time Lewis left a team it marked the end of that team's fortunes for a very long time. I wouldn't be happy if I was a Mercedes fan

[Cs98]

I’ve got to admit, Lewis's fans are some of the most unhinged I’ve seen in my 30 years of watching F1. Granted, back then there was no social media, but some of the takes coming from his fanbase this year have been downright bizarre.

It feels like anything Toto says is immediately seen as him being resentful or slagging off Lewis. I watched Toto’s High Performance interview, and if you actually listen to it, he was very complimentary about Lewis, multiple times. But I mean, his fans' take on Toto’s comments on the 2021 season, when Lewis went to some Caribbean island with a few friends and they told Toto he was doing okay, is completely unhinged. They’re making it sound like Toto is a terrible person who doesn’t care about Lewis’s mental health. I mean, what??

December 9th can’t come soon enough. As a Mercedes fan, I really need a break from all this vitriol and madness, and I’m sure Toto and the team feel the same. Looking forward to a more peaceful 2025 season.

Next year will be a welcome turning of the page for the Merc team. Russell and Antonelli have great potential, every bit the potential of the Norris/Piastri partnership. And you can see what happens when you have a positive driver pairing spurring on the team like at McLaren. No excuses, no conspiracies, no harrassment of team members, just pure focus towards winning with two young talented drivers at the helm. Suddenly the results come.

[Mosin123]

I’ve got to admit, Lewis's fans are some of the most unhinged I’ve seen in my 30 years of watching F1. Granted, back then there was no social media, but some of the takes coming from his fanbase this year have been downright bizarre.

It feels like anything Toto says is immediately seen as him being resentful or slagging off Lewis. I watched Toto’s High Performance interview, and if you actually listen to it, he was very complimentary about Lewis, multiple times. But I mean, his fans' take on Toto’s comments on the 2021 season, when Lewis went to some Caribbean island with a few friends and they told Toto he was doing okay, is completely unhinged. They’re making it sound like Toto is a terrible person who doesn’t care about Lewis’s mental health. I mean, what??

December 9th can’t come soon enough. As a Mercedes fan, I really need a break from all this vitriol and madness, and I’m sure Toto and the team feel the same. Looking forward to a more peaceful 2025 season.

Next year will be a welcome turning of the page for the Merc team. Russell and Antonelli have great potential, every bit the potential of the Norris/Piastri partnership. And you can see what happens when you have a positive driver pairing spurring on the team like at McLaren. No excuses, no conspiracies, no harrassment of team members, just pure focus towards winning with two young talented drivers at the helm. Suddenly the results come.

Norris and Piastry, With what ive seen this season from the pair in the best car on the grid, I wont be filled with confidence if that is what i should expect from GR and Antonelli. I expect more from GR, Antonelli gets a free pass as it will be his first season, But considering he was so highly rated we let LH go, he should be expected to perform to the level Max shown in his first season.

Dont get why just becasue LH is leaving, the team will be less pressured to perform, like this season, i expect Mercades to challange for the constructors, that is the level a top team should be aiming for, any thing less is accepting your not good enough, now the rot has just set in and the rebuilding needs to start, now we on a Williams / Mclaren / ferrari barren run.

[PlatinumZealot]

With Lewis gone it will be like a McLaren that intensity will be totally gone. The intensity of a team normally reflects that of it's lead driver.

Currently George is sorta the lead driver... But Lewis is keeping the pressure on with getting the car right and the experiments. It was working beautifully until the British GP and Spa after which the team went back to their snarky ways and started ignoring him to favour George.