2025 Mercedes-AMG | Petronas F1 Team

[Lasssept]

[SB15]

Long runs looked okay, but still a bit away from McLaren.

I know what Sky showed made it look close, but the McLarens were far more consistent on their lap times. Ferrari a bit behind and Max wasn't having a great time.

I think a podium is possible still.

Mercedes said they were stress testing tyres for the 2 sessions, so Antonelli's time seems to be the more representable one to look at.

[Matt2725]

Long runs looked okay, but still a bit away from McLaren.

I know what Sky showed made it look close, but the McLarens were far more consistent on their lap times. Ferrari a bit behind and Max wasn't having a great time.

I think a podium is possible still.

Mercedes said they were stress testing tyres for the 2 sessions, so Antonelli's time seems to be the more representable one to look at.

Well George is usually a few tenths faster than Kimi at the moment, so could be promising.

[venkyhere]

https://pbs.twimg.com/media/GudmI8mW4AE ... name=large

comparing the fuel runs between Norris/Russel/Verstappen,
- Redbull and McLaren hiding pace (they didn't even go to 8th gear in the straights)
- Mercedes are hiding lesser
- McLaren is class of the field through T6-T7 (advantage atleast 0.2s) and unchallenged
- Mercedes struggling through T4 and T9-T10 massively, compared to the other two.
- If the teams maintain the same wing levels for Q and R, then Redbull is going to blitz with straightline speed, and suffer tremendously with deg.

[Matt2725]

https://pbs.twimg.com/media/GudmI8mW4AE ... name=large

comparing the fuel runs between Norris/Russel/Verstappen,
- Redbull and McLaren hiding pace (they didn't even go to 8th gear in the straights)
- Mercedes are hiding lesser
- McLaren is class of the field through T6-T7 (advantage atleast 0.2s) and unchallenged
- Mercedes struggling through T4 and T9-T10 massively, compared to the other two.
- If the teams maintain the same wing levels for Q and R, then Redbull is going to blitz with straightline speed, and suffer tremendously with deg.

To be fair I don't recall 8th gear being used that often before at this track. The run up to T3 is maybe about the only straight that would be long enough.

[SB15]

https://pbs.twimg.com/media/GudmI8mW4AE ... name=large

comparing the fuel runs between Norris/Russel/Verstappen,
- Redbull and McLaren hiding pace (they didn't even go to 8th gear in the straights)
- Mercedes are hiding lesser
- McLaren is class of the field through T6-T7 (advantage atleast 0.2s) and unchallenged
- Mercedes struggling through T4 and T9-T10 massively, compared to the other two.
- If the teams maintain the same wing levels for Q and R, then Redbull is going to blitz with straightline speed, and suffer tremendously with deg.

To be fair I don't recall 8th gear being used that often before at this track. The run up to T3 is maybe about the only straight that would be long enough.

Mercedes has a shorter gear ratio, so them using 8th gear isn’t really a surprise.

[SB15]

https://pbs.twimg.com/media/GudmI8mW4AE ... name=large

comparing the fuel runs between Norris/Russel/Verstappen,
- Redbull and McLaren hiding pace (they didn't even go to 8th gear in the straights)
- Mercedes are hiding lesser
- McLaren is class of the field through T6-T7 (advantage atleast 0.2s) and unchallenged
- Mercedes struggling through T4 and T9-T10 massively, compared to the other two.
- If the teams maintain the same wing levels for Q and R, then Redbull is going to blitz with straightline speed, and suffer tremendously with deg.

To be fair I don't recall 8th gear being used that often before at this track. The run up to T3 is maybe about the only straight that would be long enough.

Mercedes has a shorter gear ratio, so them using 8th gear isn’t really a surprise.

[Quantum]

https://pbs.twimg.com/media/GudmI8mW4AE ... name=large

comparing the fuel runs between Norris/Russel/Verstappen,
- Redbull and McLaren hiding pace (they didn't even go to 8th gear in the straights)
- Mercedes are hiding lesser
- McLaren is class of the field through T6-T7 (advantage atleast 0.2s) and unchallenged
- Mercedes struggling through T4 and T9-T10 massively, compared to the other two.
- If the teams maintain the same wing levels for Q and R, then Redbull is going to blitz with straightline speed, and suffer tremendously with deg.

Cut the cake however you wanna eat it.
Deg or speed through T4 and T9-10.

Macca will need to manage T1, 3 and 4 relative Mercedes too, which is heavy braking and slow speed. They suffered in canada with those.

Russell's slower start on medium vs Norris and Antonelli is indicative of 2 variables.
Heavier fuel load on the stint, and driving to a target to ease the tyres in, probably as an experiment to see how long they could extend the life of the medium.15 laps on that set vs 12 for Norris.

Antonelli did 14 laps with a difference of under 0.1 to Norris.

They're not far off after FP2.
However, variables are still at play.

RB can also work their way on verstappens car as I suspect they orientate their sim work pretty much focused entirely on Max. Which is understandable as it is evident.

FP3 will be telling.
But Merc aren't wayyyy off. They're much closer than I expected.

[Lasssept]

[OverheatedTurbo]

Yeah, we’re not looking good.

[search]

Toto was just interviewed on German Sky, and said that it's solely down to track temperatures, and minimal changes can make the difference. When there's a cloud cover, the car is super fast, when not, the surface overheats.

[Matt2725]

Didn't watch FP3 but yeah wasn't expecting to be behind both Ferraris.

Better hope there's a bit of cloud cover for quali.

[venkyhere]

https://pbs.twimg.com/media/GudmI8mW4AE ... name=large

comparing the fuel runs between Norris/Russel/Verstappen,
- Redbull and McLaren hiding pace (they didn't even go to 8th gear in the straights)
- Mercedes are hiding lesser
- McLaren is class of the field through T6-T7 (advantage atleast 0.2s) and unchallenged
- Mercedes struggling through T4 and T9-T10 massively, compared to the other two.
- If the teams maintain the same wing levels for Q and R, then Redbull is going to blitz with straightline speed, and suffer tremendously with deg.

Cut the cake however you wanna eat it.
Deg or speed through T4 and T9-10.

Macca will need to manage T1, 3 and 4 relative Mercedes too, which is heavy braking and slow speed. They suffered in canada with those.

I think it's lack of lateral grip (a.k.a downforce) in medium speed corners w.r.t McLaren. Plus, Mclaren won't suffer in slow turns w.r.t Mercedes like they did in Canada, because the grain of tarmac is more substantial (unlike the baby bottom surface in Canada) - they tyre will grab.

[Matt2725]

Petition to resurface all race tracks to be smooth as silk.

[OverheatedTurbo]

Qualy pace looks dreadful.