2024 Mercedes-AMG | Petronas F1 Team

[Hammerfist]

Idk if Lewis is lacking confidence in quali , he's just being pessimistic or something else is going on but yea, here's his post quali interview. Shovlin also hinted at George benefitting from the new front wing

My interpretation of his comments is that he thinks they are favoring George. They didn’t have equal parts this weekend and I think he expects that to continue. I said it back when the Ferrari move was announced. They will start to favor George. It’s only natural.,. Anyway George had a big advantage in sector 1 but Lewis was faster in the remaining sectors. So it looks like a fundamental difference between the two cars.

I don’t agree that Merc fell off in quali. Leclerc was always the man to beat even in free practice. They never ran at the same times and Mclaren was sandbagging as usual. But I never felt the Merc was ever a contender for pole.

[ringo]

Having watched it again... Yes he could be saying that. He tends to say crazy stuff in Monaco. Like the Ally G says comment. Haha.
But with how he is infering this.. i think he is accepting that George is the future and he is actually okay with facilitating that.
I don't think he has a problem with it.
Even the team's promos and social media are pushing George more and that's fine by me.

[Luscion]

Idk if Lewis is lacking confidence in quali , he's just being pessimistic or something else is going on but yea, here's his post quali interview. Shovlin also hinted at George benefitting from the new front wing

Anyway George had a big advantage in sector 1 but Lewis was faster in the remaining sectors. So it looks like a fundamental difference between the two cars.

He did say there was bit of a difference with their cars in the high-speed corners cause of the new wing Russell has. Someone also said lewis said its worth 2 tenths? didnt see it myself so idk

[PlatinumZealot]

George was consistently up 1.5 tenths in S1. S1 is the easiest sector that puts only a gnats hair between drivers so this big a difference is down to the front wing for sure. No complaints from me though. He's only 0.08 off with a slower car. He did well. Was hoping he would challenge Leclerc but reality is this is the speed of the car.

[Formula 1 fan]

What are exactly upgrades for Canada race for Mercedes team?

[Seanspeed]

Two tenths just for a front wing?

Eh....

[CHT]

This reminds me of 7xWDC MS being out qualified by younger Nico Rosberg at Merc. If we factor in the conspiracy of upgrade that can only mean that GR is just as good as LH now.

[ringo]

George is very good. He was only made mediocre by people with an agenda.
The guy has yet to perform poorly in his F1 career. But magically is mediocre. Zero basis.
But we will see who he pairs up with next year.

The wing could be worth 2 tenths in the sector.
The wing can allow the setup of the car to have more scope to exploit the straight line speed for sector one and also braking stability.

As PZ said, lewis didnt do bad to be a few hundreths behind, which really is nothing.
That different is probably not even perceivable in a replay. A click of a diff setting, and a subsequent slip of a wheel could cause that difference over 3km.

[Dunlay]

I thought Lewis was getting the front row. He looked good all through practice. If he and car are in good place, despite not having a pole car, he gets most out of the car. Not sure if they changed something. Good to see George keeping consistent performances on all tracks. His reference is Lewis, so in that sense he is keeping his head in the right place. Anyone know if they changed the ride height again? Toto said on Friday, they have to change it.

[Jdn1327]

I'm not saying Russell is a bad driver or anything, nor do I have my tinfoil hat on. Would it be logical to say that maybe Russell may have certain engine modes that Lewis won't get because he is leaving? No excuse for Lewis or anything. Even if it gives you a tenth or so, it means a lot because Lewis and George are so close. It would just be natural for Mercedes to favour George at this point. Any views on this?

[Jurgen von Diaz]

I'm not saying Russell is a bad driver or anything, nor do I have my tinfoil hat on. Would it be logical to say that maybe Russell may have certain engine modes that Lewis won't get because he is leaving? No excuse for Lewis or anything. Even if it gives you a tenth or so, it means a lot because Lewis and George are so close. It would just be natural for Mercedes to favour George at this point. Any views on this?

Did they favor George in '22 too in engine modes? Merc isn't competing for the title, so why wouldn't they maximize points instead of slowing Lewis down?

[Jurgen von Diaz]

It seems that there always has to be an explanation when Lewis is behind George. This does not seem to be the case, for example, with Ferrari or McLaren drivers; they just have this normal variation in performance.

[Dunlay]

I'm not saying Russell is a bad driver or anything, nor do I have my tinfoil hat on. Would it be logical to say that maybe Russell may have certain engine modes that Lewis won't get because he is leaving? No excuse for Lewis or anything. Even if it gives you a tenth or so, it means a lot because Lewis and George are so close. It would just be natural for Mercedes to favour George at this point. Any views on this?

Would that have been the case with Alonso in 2007 at McLaren and may be that's why he couldn't beat Lewis? It was a weird situation for McLaren back then and if the current situation at Mercedes with no controvery can create these thoughts of team bias, then it must have been a reality at McLaren due to the controversy. Isn't it?

NO. I don't believe it was the case at McLaren then or it is now at Mercedes. It would be extremely stupid to think that way. It's very natural for even Lewis to get these thoughts of a bias when he feels his team mate is doing better than him. It's just a human thing. This weekend, it was an upgrade on George's car. But the qualifying form in the previous races this season, wasn't different either. It wasn't different in previous couple of years. George is an extremely talented young driver and him being slightly faster in quali trim shouldn't be shocking to Lewis or his fans. He himself used to be that against Jenson, while Jenson used to produce a trick or two in races.

Imagine if Lewis is consistently beaten by Charles at Ferrari, what would be the reaction? After all, Charles is the fastest qualifier on the grid. Instead of downplaying George as a driver and creating conspiracy theories, it would be better served to look at the upside. Lewis is every bit as fast as George in quali and slightly better in races. At this age, it's such a great position to be in. Hope wisdom prevails on all quarters.

[Luscion]

It seems that there always has to be an explanation when Lewis is behind George. This does not seem to be the case, for example, with Ferrari or McLaren drivers; they just have this normal variation in performance.

Lewis himself isnt making excuses

[j_ste]

Missed a trick during that pit stop "phase"...only two extra points but still.

Also, its crazy how every year, you kind of forget how dull the race is