2023 Mercedes-AMG | Petronas F1 Team

[taperoo2k]

I said this before and say it again, money loses value very quickly and whatever he has earned, wouldn't be sufficient enough to maintain a luxurious lifestyle for the next 30 years. I am sure he understands it and wouldn't let go a $100 millions while he can still net it. I don't think any of his interests outside of F1 would earn him that when he isn't an F1 driver anymore.

He's been pulling in $40m a year plus personal sponsorship. If he's managed not to invest that sensibly then earning any more won't help him anyway. The man's got $250-300m in the bank according to various sources. You think that's not going to keep him in silly clothes for the rest of his life?

Whatever state Ferrari is currently in, the lure of driving for Ferrari is not something to underestimate. Though I guess Lewis might use that offer from Ferrari to get a better deal out of Mercedes. I don't think Money will decide if Lewis continues in F1, it'll be his desire to win the championship and if he finds a team that can give him a chance of winning that decides it. He'll either stay at Mercedes or take another gamble and give Ferrari a go. There's plenty of other things he can do in Motorsports post F1. F1 needs Lewis more than Lewis needs F1 at this point.

Anyway I'm way more interested in what the upgrade package looks like and if it delivers even a small performance gain at Monaco.

[Cs98]

The zeropod is gone. Strange seeing as it “wasn’t the problem”.

[chrisc90]

Is it just a really deep inlet that is a C shape back to the tub?

What’s happens with the midwing? Bit hard to work out from the 1 pic seems so far

[ValeVida46]

The zeropod is gone. Strange seeing as it “wasn’t the problem”.

I think it's more strange that it's appeared when many "experts" on these very threads said it wasn't possible....

[Just_a_fan]

What's strange is talk about the car happening in the team thread...

[Cs98]

The zeropod is gone. Strange seeing as it “wasn’t the problem”.

I think it's more strange that it's appeared when many "experts" on these very threads said it wasn't possible....

What's strange is how many people have been defending a sidepod on these threads, like it's their pride and joy. The zeropod was an utter failure, and leaving it behind is good. Despite all the nonsense talk from the team and fans that "the sidepod isn't performance defining". Huh? 4th major change in less than 1,5 years to a non-performance defining part. This narrative is ridiculous.

[Cs98]

What's strange is talk about the car happening in the team thread...

Merely contrasting the upgrade to statements made by the team. 100% belongs in the team thread.

[taperoo2k]

The zeropod is gone. Strange seeing as it “wasn’t the problem”.

I think it's more strange that it's appeared when many "experts" on these very threads said it wasn't possible....

I'm sure it was no easy to task to move the cooling systems and other bits around to accommodate the change in shape to the sidepods but it's not an impossible thing to do. The only thing that's not possible for Mercedes to do due to the cost cap is to change the chassis design for this season.

[ValeVida46]

What's strange is how many people have been defending a sidepod on these threads, like it's their pride and joy. The zeropod was an utter failure, and leaving it behind is good. Despite all the nonsense talk from the team and fans that "the sidepod isn't performance defining". Huh? 4th major change in less than 1,5 years to a non-performance defining part. This narrative is ridiculous.

It's almost like Mercedes can't make mistakes.

Or if they find a problem, and correct it, they must be beholden to statements made months before

[Cs98]

What's strange is how many people have been defending a sidepod on these threads, like it's their pride and joy. The zeropod was an utter failure, and leaving it behind is good. Despite all the nonsense talk from the team and fans that "the sidepod isn't performance defining". Huh? 4th major change in less than 1,5 years to a non-performance defining part. This narrative is ridiculous.

It's almost like Mercedes can't make mistakes.

Or if they find a problem, and correct it, they must be beholden to statements made months before

These statements are not months old though. They've been saying the same thing non-stop since the start of 2022 until here and now. Some fans have been lapping it up. As is always the case in F1 though, talk is cheap. Look at what a team does, not what it says. Their actions have been screaming since the start of last season they believe the sidepod is very performance defining. You don't hide something you don't believe is important. And you certainly don't change it twice in the span of less than half a year if it's not defining.

[ValeVida46]

The zeropod is gone. Strange seeing as it “wasn’t the problem”.

I think it's more strange that it's appeared when many "experts" on these very threads said it wasn't possible....

I'm sure it was no easy to task to move the cooling systems and other bits around to accommodate the change in shape to the sidepods but it's not an impossible thing to do. The only thing that's not possible for Mercedes to do due to the cost cap is to change the chassis design for this season.

Absolutely. I don't think anyone suggested a new chassis. But there were a few that did say that because of the pod wing, it would be impossible to have a more traditional sidepod.
Given that Toto said there are "No sacred cows" ...everything is up for review. As it should be.

[SiLo]

The zeropod is gone. Strange seeing as it “wasn’t the problem”.

I think it's more strange that it's appeared when many "experts" on these very threads said it wasn't possible....

It's all about the rules for radius allowances on the sidepods. The midwing stops them being able to come back in again because the bottom of the wing already does. Looks like they have incorporated it into the top of the inlet, which stops this being an issue.

[ValeVida46]

What's strange is how many people have been defending a sidepod on these threads, like it's their pride and joy. The zeropod was an utter failure, and leaving it behind is good. Despite all the nonsense talk from the team and fans that "the sidepod isn't performance defining". Huh? 4th major change in less than 1,5 years to a non-performance defining part. This narrative is ridiculous.

It's almost like Mercedes can't make mistakes.

Or if they find a problem, and correct it, they must be beholden to statements made months before

These statements are not months old though. They've been saying the same thing non-stop since the start of 2022 until here and now. Some fans have been lapping it up. As is always the case in F1 though, talk is cheap. Look at what a team does, not what it says. Their actions have been screaming since the start of last season they believe the sidepod is very performance defining. You don't hide something you don't believe is important. And you certainly don't change it twice in the span of less than half a year if it's not defining.

So you say in F1 talk is cheap and actions are louder than words...yet you want to prioritise what they're saying instead of what they're doing?
Surely instead of kicking them, you can say that they're at least trying to figure out a way to get faster?

[ValeVida46]

The zeropod is gone. Strange seeing as it “wasn’t the problem”.

I think it's more strange that it's appeared when many "experts" on these very threads said it wasn't possible....

It's all about the rules for radius allowances on the sidepods. The midwing stops them being able to come back in again because the bottom of the wing already does. Looks like they have incorporated it into the top of the inlet, which stops this being an issue.

Which is a very simple solution, and one that was proposed on the W14 thread(from memory)...either there or twitter.

[Cs98]

It's almost like Mercedes can't make mistakes.

Or if they find a problem, and correct it, they must be beholden to statements made months before

These statements are not months old though. They've been saying the same thing non-stop since the start of 2022 until here and now. Some fans have been lapping it up. As is always the case in F1 though, talk is cheap. Look at what a team does, not what it says. Their actions have been screaming since the start of last season they believe the sidepod is very performance defining. You don't hide something you don't believe is important. And you certainly don't change it twice in the span of less than half a year if it's not defining.

So you say in F1 talk is cheap and actions are louder than words...yet you want to prioritise what they're saying instead of what they're doing?
Surely instead of kicking them, you can say that they're at least trying to figure out a way to get faster?

No, I want to highlight how meaningless those words were, and point out how silly it was to blindly believe it as so many in these threads did. The "it's not even the problem" sentiment was pervasive, because people listened to words instead of analysing what was happening with the car.