2021 AMG Mercedes F1 Team

[214270]

I haven't heard the team radio apart from what was shown on TV, but from what I understand is the team probably told him after the first corner. His question at the end of the race was in the lines of whether he left it on, meaning he knew at that point it was on. I don't think he would have been able to drive that car with it on for the entire 2 laps.

Yeah you could be right; there might’ve been an intermediary exchange which wasn’t played out for TV.

There wasn't any exchange regarding brake magic until he came back to pits after the race. Hamilton took it extra easy in all braking zones until turn 16 where he made a routine adjustment to brake balance at 54% forward for that corner, and this probably overrode any brake magic settings. From that point it seemed like his brakes were working fine, but he just wasn't pushing anymore.

If that’s the case then there’s a pretty serious lack of joined up thinking on display at Merc. You have a situation where HAM changes his grip at the start, no one thinks maybe to further ‘protect’ the switchgear in the region. Then we get an accidental press; HAM trundles around probably thinking there’s something wrong with the car, in the wrong mode & no one thinks to inform him. The dots are not being connected.

[Mezger]

Call me a conspiracy theorist or someone who talks out of his behind, but I just wonder if Lewis locked up for real and to protect his image and face in this WDC the team and him go along with this tale of him knocking the 'magic button. A long fight to go and little things like a cock up lock up could really hurt his confidence. No one would want to let his cat out the bag.
Anyway I'll keep smoking what I'm smoking, just adds to the show y' know.

[Big Tea]

Call me a conspiracy theorist or someone who talks out of his behind, but I just wonder if Lewis locked up for real and to protect his image and face in this WDC the team and him go along with this tale of him knocking the 'magic button. A long fight to go and little things like a cock up lock up could really hurt his confidence. No one would want to let his cat out the bag.
Anyway I'll keep smoking what I'm smoking, just adds to the show y' know.

If he believed the car was still raceable I think he would have tried really hard for even just a single point.
Be it available or not, it is in him to try

[214270]

No, that’s a bit ridiculous to thing they’d be able to concoct that story whilst he’s not even removed himself from the racecar & debriefed. Seriously, the brake magic discussion was like the 2nd radio comms exchanged post-incident; the 1st being HAMs quick apology…no chance it wasn’t real.

[sprint car76]

Nice try. Must be smoking some good stuff.

[e30ernest]

Also from onboards it doesn't look like he braked any later than anyone else there so a lock-up like that would probably not have happened under circumstances. In fact he looked quite cautious on that start.

[b2bL44]

Call me a conspiracy theorist or someone who talks out of his behind, but I just wonder if Lewis locked up for real and to protect his image and face in this WDC the team and him go along with this tale of him knocking the 'magic button. A long fight to go and little things like a cock up lock up could really hurt his confidence. No one would want to let his cat out the bag.
Anyway I'll keep smoking what I'm smoking, just adds to the show y' know.

Here are onboard screen grabs from Lewis' formation lap after the red flag. Normal brake balance was 51.0%, when brake magic was inadvertently engaged it went up to 86.5%.

https://www.reddit.com/r/formula1/comme ... formation/

[PlatinumZealot]

Call me a conspiracy theorist or someone who talks out of his behind, but I just wonder if Lewis locked up for real and to protect his image and face in this WDC the team and him go along with this tale of him knocking the 'magic button. A long fight to go and little things like a cock up lock up could really hurt his confidence. No one would want to let his cat out the bag.
Anyway I'll keep smoking what I'm smoking, just adds to the show y' know.

U missed out the videos and evidence that he didnt. After a start Turn one Baku is relatively slow speed. Tyres wont lock that easily under normal conditions.

[nzjrs]

An interesting comment from Matthew Carter on the Missed Apex podcast: "Lewis has say over his teammate".



I've never heard it stated so strongly from a person with some authority and information on the matter.

[b2bL44]

Not really surprising though, right? If you're a driver who's performing at your best you want to protect the team working environment.

Carter also mentions that COVID threw a curveball into teams making decisions with their drivers. Williams got sold to Doritos, Russell was part of that deal and was blocked by the team from moving to Mercedes. Bottas was in negotiations with Renault/Alpine, but they went with Alonso instead.

[Just_a_fan]

An interesting comment from Matthew Carter on the Missed Apex podcast: "Lewis has say over his teammate".

https://youtu.be/o8LFALaDahw?t=2266

I've never heard it stated so strongly from a person with some authority and information on the matter.

I don't remember Carter being involved in Hamilton's contract negotiations. Learn something new every day.

It wouldn't, of course, be surprising that the dominant driver in a team (and of his generation) would be asked his opinion on things. Nothing new there. Schumacher and Prost both come to mind in that regard too.

[nzjrs]

An interesting comment from Matthew Carter on the Missed Apex podcast: "Lewis has say over his teammate".

https://youtu.be/o8LFALaDahw?t=2266

I've never heard it stated so strongly from a person with some authority and information on the matter.

I don't remember Carter being involved in Hamilton's contract negotiations. Learn something new every day.

It wouldn't, of course, be surprising that the dominant driver in a team (and of his generation) would be asked his opinion on things. Nothing new there. Schumacher and Prost both come to mind in that regard too.

Nice snark. I also think it's normal Hamilton would decide. Wrt. Mr Carter, after watching every interview with him on the podcast there (it's probably his eighth I'd guess), my estimation of him is quite insightful, still well connected, reasonable, and most often correct. YMMV of course.

I don't care if Hamilton personally sniffs every potential teammate or requires they cook him a pasta dinner before being hired or not. I posted the video as it's a more connected persons take on common argument here and as a recommendation of an individual members here could watch more of and learn quite a lot about the inner workings of the pit lane.

If members are in it for the partisan he-said she-said, in previous episodes he has said very spicy and interesting things about Cyril and Horner. If the brit's want a local angle, he speaks positively about Joylon Palmer too. He is just a good trustworthy and reasonable bloke. Take my recommendation or leave it.

[214270]

I too don’t buy it. HAMs circle is too small (it’s pretty much just him and a solicitor as I understand it when it comes to contracts). I also don’t believe Wolff gets down like that sharing in public either, so where’s he getting his info from? He has no access.

And if you actually deconstruct what was said, the specific clause discussed in that snippet has been in the public domain since ROS exit, HAM mentioned it in an interview way back in 16/17.

[Just_a_fan]

I don't care if Hamilton personally sniffs every potential teammate or requires they cook him a pasta dinner before being hired or not.

Vegan, of course!

I posted the video as it's a more connected persons take on common argument here and as a recommendation of an individual members here could watch more of and learn quite a lot about the inner workings of the pit lane.

If members are in it for the partisan he-said she-said, in previous episodes he has said very spicy and interesting things about Cyril and Horner. If the brit's want a local angle, he speaks positively about Joylon Palmer too. He is just a good trustworthy and reasonable bloke. Take my recommendation or leave it.

He's giving his opinion and it's good to hear it. Always good to get more than one view on things so thanks for posting it.

I'm sure Hamilton has a view on team mates, and I'm sure he will discuss it with Wolff - he'd be mad not to. I doubt Wolff would allow Hamilton a team mate veto, however. Mercedes are team driven, after all, and if a potential team mate is estimated to be better for the team as a whole, Hamilton's view will be politely listened to but that's it. They'll take on whomever they feel will give the team the best result.

I think the days of drivers vetoing team mates is probably gone. Teams need two decent point scorers as points bring in prize money. If you had an effectively unlimited budget and big sums paid by tobacco e.g. in the Schumacher/Ferrari days, you didn't need to worry. But today, the teams need both drivers to maximise the points haul.

[dans79]

For the record!

https://www.grandprix247.com/2019/08/17 ... mmate/amp/

Wolff explained the situation, “We make this type of choice solely on the basis of team interests. But Lewis has been with us for a long time, so, I submitted our narrow list to him, asking for his opinion and he thinks exactly like us, both of them deserve to be his teammate for him.”