2018 Mercedes AMG Petronas Formula One Team

[Bill_Kar]

It seems that one reason Mercedes were struggling against Ferrari is that Ferrari's car was illegal. Their energy store was giving more than the allowed energy per lap - the same effect as if they were using more than the allowed fuel rate.

Perhaps Mercedes should hold off dropping the current car just in case the Ferrari ends up being slower with a legal energy storage system...

I wonder how much of a boost the trick was. Can we speculate on how many tenths 20hps are worth?

[F1Krof]

Is there any truth to this matter? Were they really cheating?

[GPR-A duplicate2]

It seems that one reason Mercedes were struggling against Ferrari is that Ferrari's car was illegal. Their energy store was giving more than the allowed energy per lap - the same effect as if they were using more than the allowed fuel rate.

Perhaps Mercedes should hold off dropping the current car just in case the Ferrari ends up being slower with a legal energy storage system...

I wonder how much of a boost the trick was. Can we speculate on how many tenths 20hps are worth?

In the normally aspirated engines, it used to be around 2 tenths. I am guessing, as this is a battery trick, which typically provides the boost in a straight line to keep the peak power going, it must be worth more.

[Wynters]

Is there any truth to this matter? Were they really cheating?

Difficult to tell but I'm also not sure that I agree with your hypothesis that the Mercedes is so bad they need to scrap it.

Australia - Massive performance advantage in Quali and race
Bahrain - Weak Quali but Vettel only wins by a whisker
China - Weak Quali but Bottas beats Vettel on race pace (before Verstappen intervenes)
Baku - Ferrari dominate the weekend
Barcelona - Mercedes dominate the weekend

That looks pretty good from a Mercedes perspective, no? Even before Barcelona, Mercedes were quicker in race trim on three out of four tracks. That suggests there's good pace in the car, they just need to unlock it during Q3. To be fair, given the nature of F1 these days, Quali pace is close to being the be-all-and-end-all but it's not quite there yet.

On a related note, I'd love it if a team would publish the overtake Delta required for each track. It would be absolutely fascinating (although I imagine it would also be a PR disaster for certain tracks so I doubt it will ever happen).

[Just_a_fan]

Is there any truth to this matter? Were they really cheating?

If they were actually doing it, then yes they were cheating.

[SiLo]

Lots of rumours that the FIA told Ferrari they would drop any kind of punishment if they agreed to the 2019 regs (which they were very much against a short time ago). Not sure how teams would feel about that if it were true.

[TAG]

In the normally aspirated engines, it used to be around 2 tenths. I am guessing, as this is a battery trick, which typically provides the boost in a straight line to keep the peak power going, it must be worth more.

If true, this is gonna kill Ferrari in Canada, especially out of the hairpin down the long straight.

[LM10]

In the normally aspirated engines, it used to be around 2 tenths. I am guessing, as this is a battery trick, which typically provides the boost in a straight line to keep the peak power going, it must be worth more.

If true, this is gonna kill Ferrari in Canada, especially out of the hairpin down the long straight.

Why should this "kill" them? They would be slower than until now, but they would still have 4 MJ like every other team.

[TAG]

In the normally aspirated engines, it used to be around 2 tenths. I am guessing, as this is a battery trick, which typically provides the boost in a straight line to keep the peak power going, it must be worth more.

If true, this is gonna kill Ferrari in Canada, especially out of the hairpin down the long straight.

Why should this "kill" them? They would be slower than until now, but they would still have 4 MJ like every other team.

Kill in F1 is a relative term, a tenth or two in a sector, that's big. But I wouldn't worry, all of these rumors are just rumors, unconfirmed allegations.

[GPR-A duplicate2]

In the normally aspirated engines, it used to be around 2 tenths. I am guessing, as this is a battery trick, which typically provides the boost in a straight line to keep the peak power going, it must be worth more.

If true, this is gonna kill Ferrari in Canada, especially out of the hairpin down the long straight.

Why should this "kill" them? They would be slower than until now, but they would still have 4 MJ like every other team.

IF.... the rumor about the battery trick is true, then they are storing and using more than 4MJ. That is the contention. Which means, their current performance is due to having more than 4MJ energy and "IF" there is a clamp down, then they come back to 4MJ, making them relatively weaker.

[Phil]

Why is this being discussed in the Mercedes Team topic?

[TAG]

Why is this being discussed in the Mercedes Team topic?

Because you have to acknowledge the existence or potential of something before it can be discussed rationally?

[Bill_Kar]

It seems that one reason Mercedes were struggling against Ferrari is that Ferrari's car was illegal. Their energy store was giving more than the allowed energy per lap - the same effect as if they were using more than the allowed fuel rate.

Perhaps Mercedes should hold off dropping the current car just in case the Ferrari ends up being slower with a legal energy storage system...

I wonder how much of a boost the trick was. Can we speculate on how many tenths 20hps are worth?

In the normally aspirated engines, it used to be around 2 tenths. I am guessing, as this is a battery trick, which typically provides the boost in a straight line to keep the peak power going, it must be worth more.

Wow. That is a lot.

[GPR-A duplicate2]

Why is this being discussed in the Mercedes Team topic?

Because you have to acknowledge the existence or potential of something before it can be discussed rationally?

Because you can have sane discussions without being harassed OR negatively voted.

[Bill_Kar]

Why is this being discussed in the Mercedes Team topic?

Because you have to acknowledge the existence or potential of something before it can be discussed rationally?

Because you can have sane discussions without being harassed OR negatively voted.

But we could have moderators removing our posts

Apart from that, in a subtle way, Ferrari's talks are related to Mercedes F1 Team. How can we comment on the team's performance and say whether they've done a good job or not, if we don't know Ferrari's legality status?
We only have one measure of performance; and it is in correlation with other cars.