2022 Mercedes-AMG | Petronas F1 Team

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Amazing drive from Hamilton today. With the new cars and their overtaking ability it seems like it's worth it to be cautious at the start, and even if you end up P6 rather than p4 you can still have a great race.

Either way Merc are truly back on race day given that this is their first race without porpoising issues and were within reach of Perez. I think had Hamilton not had problems at the start and the rest of the race played out the same, p2 ahead of Perez was on the cards

[VacuousFlamboyant]

Asbolutely. Toto comments weren't far fetched. On a similar strategy to Perez, Hamilton would've won today. He found an incredible pace after the pits. I think Mercedes had less tyre degradation this weekend. Front tyres with the Soft compound were better than anyone. Then again, lowering the front in FP3 reintroduced porpoising.

Once they stiffen the floor even more and improve front suspension, I have no doubt it will be the fastest car out there. Suspension work over the kerbs at sector 3 left a few tenths compared to Redbull, for example.

I don't understand why they haven't pitted Russell after Max's last stop. He would've to be on Hards to stay out. He could've won that one, Perez would be a sitting duck had he stayed out to counter that move.

[maxxer]

Asbolutely. Toto comments weren't far fetched. On a similar strategy to Perez, Hamilton would've won today. He found an incredible pace after the pits. I think Mercedes had less tyre degradation this weekend. Front tyres with the Soft compound were better than anyone. Then again, lowering the front in FP3 reintroduced porpoising.

Once they stiffen the floor even more and improve front suspension, I have no doubt it will be the fastest car out there. Suspension work over the kerbs at sector 3 left a few tenths compared to Redbull, for example.

I don't understand why they haven't pitted Russell after Max's last stop. He would've to be on Hards to stay out. He could've won that one, Perez would be a sitting duck had he stayed out to counter that move.

Im curious i thought it was the rear suspension but you think the front is not stiff enough ?

[Neuron]

Have seen point that if S3 form Barcelona is an indicator for Monaco - Mercedes will be nowhere again... but let's see! Having 6 cars fightning for PP and race win... would be amazing.

[maxxer]

Have seen point that if S3 form Barcelona is an indicator for Monaco - Mercedes will be nowhere again... but let's see! Having 6 cars fightning for PP and race win... would be amazing.

reliabillity is going to be a big big factor this season hopefully merc has sorted that engine wise compared to last year

[PlatinumZealot]

I don't understand Toto's desperation towards Hamilton. Apologizing him after races, playing up his chances without any real signs of relatively better performances compared to the team mate. He is doing a disservice to the team by making feel it's their fault and not the driver's underperformance. May be it's time Toto steps back.

I think the desperation is in your mind.

[VacuousFlamboyant]

Im curious i thought it was the rear suspension but you think the front is not stiff enough ?

Not quite sure about stiffness. I think they have yet to find a good baseline for suspension rebound. It should take more time for it to extend back out to its original position. More damping as it rebounds at a softer rate. Decompression at the front for both RB and Ferrari seems better.

[chrisc90]

I really don’t think Lewis or the Mercs had the pace to compete for the win. Lewis was still 54.5 seconds behind the leader who had a dodgy DRS wing.

Sainz was carrying damage from the gravel. Charles had the race sown up soon as max hit the gravel.

Be interesting to see the race pace plots with Lewis compared to Russel, Perez, max. I still bet the merc is .7 behind on race pace.

[pursue_one's]

Hamilton added that Mercedes had “experimented something” on team-mate George Russell’s car that “ultimately ended up being the better way to go in qualifying”, meaning he would “probably take that on” from the next race in Monaco.

https://www.autosport.com/f1/news/hamil ... /10309177/

[Neuron]

imo this is big mistake made by Hamilton fan boys to count only a seconds... George was fightning hard for a position, Lewis was going alone a lot with clean air etc. It's immpossible to compare them just by stopwatch for god sake!

[JordanFiveOh]

I really don’t think Lewis or the Mercs had the pace to compete for the win. Lewis was still 54.5 seconds behind the leader who had a dodgy DRS wing.

Sainz was carrying damage from the gravel. Charles had the race sown up soon as max hit the gravel.

Be interesting to see the race pace plots with Lewis compared to Russel, Perez, max. I still bet the merc is .7 behind on race pace.

They mean if he hadn’t had the contact on lap 1. His race pace was absolutely legit. He was 50+ seconds behind on lap one and finished +54s after lifting and costing for 2-3 laps, meaning, he didn’t lose anything to the front (and had gained before the lift and coast). He probably couldn’t have challenged Charles, but Max, absolutely.

[Spoutnik]

In fact nobody could've challenged Charles... I'm really looking forward to Monaco. Merc seem very good in slow corner until this week end, let's see.

[Hammerfist]

Well Lewis and George were faster than sainz today clearly. That hasn’t happened before this year. I know sainz has been horrible but I think it shows progress when you can beat a Ferrari on pace.

they aren't there yet, both cars today had insufficient cooling package (smaller package = less drag), so it wasn't a real pace display, but the potential looks good, Hamilton gained so much time against Russel probably because the latter one was managing temperatures throughout the race while Hamilton was going all out and something did fail on his car when he slowed down and let Sainz past

Still had a Ferrari beat on pace and that's with both cars. Sainz cannot have damaged something while simply going to the gravel while not hitting anything else surely? Don't really think the cooling issues are a big deal. They didn't estimate the temperatures to be as high and developped a problem. It should be addressed the next time out. Not there yet as you said, but surely closing the gap.

[Spoutnik]

[dialtone]

Well Lewis and George were faster than sainz today clearly. That hasn’t happened before this year. I know sainz has been horrible but I think it shows progress when you can beat a Ferrari on pace.

they aren't there yet, both cars today had insufficient cooling package (smaller package = less drag), so it wasn't a real pace display, but the potential looks good, Hamilton gained so much time against Russel probably because the latter one was managing temperatures throughout the race while Hamilton was going all out and something did fail on his car when he slowed down and let Sainz past

Still had a Ferrari beat on pace and that's with both cars. Sainz cannot have damaged something while simply going to the gravel while not hitting anything else surely? Don't really think the cooling issues are a big deal. They didn't estimate the temperatures to be as high and developped a problem. It should be addressed the next time out. Not there yet as you said, but surely closing the gap.

Why not? Norris had to replace chassis and floor just for going over a kerb in free practice. Braking the diffuser when you spin in gravel seems entirely possible.