2025 Mercedes-AMG | Petronas F1 Team

[Mansell89]

Mercedes are 0.536 slower than last year FP2. Yup we're cooked! as expected but not this bad.

FP1 wasn’t awful.

In the debrief after both sessions, George and Shov seemed unperturbed, almost optimistic, about their prospects for tomorrow.

Russell found a lot of time in quali last year compared to FP2 I think- I know everyone finds a chunk but he made a real step from Friday to Saturday last year.

I think the grid will be super close tomorrow.

[zibby43]

Mercedes are 0.536 slower than last year FP2. Yup we're cooked! as expected but not this bad.

FP1 wasn’t awful.

In the debrief after both sessions, George and Shov seemed unperturbed, almost optimistic, about their prospects for tomorrow.

Russell found a lot of time in quali last year compared to FP2 I think- I know everyone finds a chunk but he made a real step from Friday to Saturday last year.

I think the grid will be super close tomorrow.

Good point I remember that now as well. I agree - should be a more interesting weekend with a few surprises thrown up.

[Mansell89]

FP3 should start to tell us more- I expect to see improvement from Mercedes and Alpine in particular - IF they’ve done the necessary set up work.

But let’s see- super close margins so you could be second row or second half for one slight mistake!

[Matt2725]

Could struggle to get both cars into Q3 I reckon.

[Lasssept]

[Mansell89]

Yeah not the big step you’d hope for in FP3, still searching for their sweet spot around here.

[Matt2725]

George was going sideways around the hairpin on his final flying lap just before the red flag came out. Either too quickly or they'd cooked the tyres already that early into the lap.

[SB15]

Yeah not the big step you’d hope for in FP3, still searching for their sweet spot around here.

Nope that's it, The team is looking towards the race.

[SB15]

https://i.postimg.cc/ZqPj93CK/Grte45j-XEAAsb5b.png

These "fans" needs to quite gaslighting and enter the realms of reality, the W16 hates this circuit especially with how many slow speed corners their are.

[Matt2725]

https://i.postimg.cc/ZqPj93CK/Grte45j-XEAAsb5b.png

These "fans" needs to quite gaslighting and enter the realms of reality, the W16 hates this circuit especially with how many slow speed corners their are.

To be fair, even the team were hyping themselves up saying the circuit should suit them more vs Imola.

[SB15]

https://i.postimg.cc/ZqPj93CK/Grte45j-XEAAsb5b.png

These "fans" needs to quite gaslighting and enter the realms of reality, the W16 hates this circuit especially with how many slow speed corners their are.

To be fair, even the team were hyping themselves up saying the circuit should suit them more vs Imola.

I knew the Ferrari and Mclaren would go quickly here, the Redbull is a bit of an anomaly because the C5's are a better Qualifying tyre.

But ultimately the biggest problem is that the softer compounds just doesn't work with the W16 and it's causing a lot of issues. The biggest issue is most certainly the W16's aero wake and that new floor can't come sooner enough.

[Lasssept]

Vanja H:

[f1isgood]

Monaco is a very atypical track. I wouldn't read much into it. It shouldn't be even part of the championship if someone asks me. Good as a star event but bad for everything else.

I think if Mercedes can't perform well at Barcelona they have taken a net performance deficit due a combination of factors (TD, upgrades not working etc.). They should be quick around Barcelona as they are historically very strong around there, Silverstone and Hungary and even their "shitbox" W13 was rapid there.

[Farnborough]

These "fans" needs to quite gaslighting and enter the realms of reality, the W16 hates this circuit especially with how many slow speed corners their are.

To be fair, even the team were hyping themselves up saying the circuit should suit them more vs Imola.

I knew the Ferrari and Mclaren would go quickly here, the Redbull is a bit of an anomaly because the C5's are a better Qualifying tyre.

But ultimately the biggest problem is that the softer compounds just doesn't work with the W16 and it's causing a lot of issues. The biggest issue is most certainly the W16's aero wake and that new floor can't come sooner enough.

It's rigid as he'll suspension wise. That generally doesn't pay back around here. Controlled malleability is where its at, not spring rates like granite.

[SB15]

To be fair, even the team were hyping themselves up saying the circuit should suit them more vs Imola.

I knew the Ferrari and Mclaren would go quickly here, the Redbull is a bit of an anomaly because the C5's are a better Qualifying tyre.

But ultimately the biggest problem is that the softer compounds just doesn't work with the W16 and it's causing a lot of issues. The biggest issue is most certainly the W16's aero wake and that new floor can't come sooner enough.

It's rigid as he'll suspension wise. That generally doesn't pay back around here. Controlled malleability is where its at, not spring rates like granite.

That too, there's no type of "give" from the suspension that allows rotation.

Also, you think Mercedes are running too much of an undercut on the sidepod?

I'm only highlighting this as some sort of explainination as to why the rear tyres heats up so quickly compared to others, it could very be not only the floor edge where the venturi exits are, but also how the car controls the wake particularly where the undercut is.