2026 Mercedes-AMG Petronas F1 Team

[AR3-GP]

The problem of George lacking straight line speed is not just limited to British gp, it was there in almost every race and almost every lap. Just that it was glaringly obvious in British gp. Even in Austria race where he was leading, the gains that Kimi made was always on straights. There again, George was faster through most corners.

Maybe that is the issue. Isack Hadjar pointed this out during FP1 at Silverstone:

Isack : "The faster I go [corner], the less I have in the straights. It's unbelievable, there's no power."
Wood : "Yep, unfortunately that's the error. Go slow to go fast. Currently P1."

Despite being faster than Isack in corners, Max on average, had better straight line speed. These are laps where both were in clean air, except for one lap on one straight where Isack had power boost on overtake. Unless Isack was also driving a different PU like George or it's a "talent gap".

https://i.ibb.co/8LS81jJz/max-isack.png

I posted a comment from Isack Hadjar during FP1 and the parc ferme document seeking to provide context to the Russell- Antonelli straight line speed differences during qualifying.

Isack Hadjar burns the tires out faster than his teammate which effects the straight-line speed. Wheel spin consumes energy and being unable to run aggressive rear brake bias on worn tires limits the harvesting. It's a snowball effect which will cause straight line speed differences. I don't have any context for the random laps that you pulled but I do know that Verstappen was having a PU issue during the race:

Lambiase: “OK, Max, you’re doing a great job. Gap behind 2.2. You still have an issue with straight line so you’re making it up in corners, which is pretty good at the moment. So keep your head down, very good.
Verstappen: “Yeah, we should have just done what I said yesterday. I would have easily got to this place.”

https://www.planetf1.com/news/max-verst ... team-radio

This makes any comparisons to RBR drivers not relevant to the Merc drivers.

[nitrotech]

Maybe that is the issue. Isack Hadjar pointed this out during FP1 at Silverstone:

Despite being faster than Isack in corners, Max on average, had better straight line speed. These are laps where both were in clean air, except for one lap on one straight where Isack had power boost on overtake. Unless Isack was also driving a different PU like George or it's a "talent gap".

https://i.ibb.co/8LS81jJz/max-isack.png

I posted a comment from Isack Hadjar during FP1 and the parc ferme document seeking to provide context to the Russell- Antonelli straight line speed differences during qualifying.

Isack Hadjar burns the tires out faster than his teammate which effects the straight-line speed. Wheel spin consumes energy and being unable to run aggressive rear brake bias on worn tires limits the harvesting. It's a snowball effect which will cause straight line speed differences. I don't have any context for the random laps that you pulled but I do know that Verstappen was having a PU issue during the race:

Lambiase: “OK, Max, you’re doing a great job. Gap behind 2.2. You still have an issue with straight line so you’re making it up in corners, which is pretty good at the moment. So keep your head down, very good.
Verstappen: “Yeah, we should have just done what I said yesterday. I would have easily got to this place.”

https://www.planetf1.com/news/max-verst ... team-radio

This makes any comparisons to RBR drivers not relevant to the Merc drivers.

I agree. To be honest, the experience and opinion of No.2 drivers from RBR doesn't fit any narrative. They belong in a different world. It's a one car team.

[Lasssept]

[zibby43]

Not sure Kimi's issue was reliability. I suspect his car was damaged because as he's done all year, he rides his car over the kerbs a lot more aggressively than others. He broke his car riding the car over the larger green and white serrated kerbs beyond the red and white kerb on the outside of Copse.

Good point but I guess I was hoping the team would know this and ensure the car was robust enough to handle it.

With the PU regulated for minimum weight removed from equation, high % of remaining contribution is carbon composite structures. Much of this being resin component.

When they reduce weight of overall, I don't know where people think that reduction is coming from, primarily as above in removing anything they judge to be in excess of primary function. Notionally "non structural " component are first in the firing line for this process as durability can be less important, but there are limitations to how far this can go, and how much of a "thumping" it can routinely be exposed to.

Obviously being at minimum weight limit conveys advantage, and across all performance metric. The driver still has a part to play in risk reduction toward component failure though. It's still part of a driver's suite of attributes to recognise and act on this, giving consideration to unnecessary high load exposure is always part of the whole in reliability.

It would have been good to see the race played out in full, without this failure, but maybe a lesson learned from this case will pay dividend in future races.

All very reasonable and well-articulated points. I was being greedy but concede they’ve thought about the design far more than I have and it’s partially up to Kimi to unleash his speed in a way that also looks after the car.

[wunderkind]

Some autoclaves and CNC machines in Brackley are still in their original British American Racing colors.