2023 Mercedes-AMG | Petronas F1 Team

[Vanja #66]

It's a competition. As it turns out, both Merc and Ferrari care quite a lot about that P2. I initially thought some teams might prefer the gamesmanship of the windtunnel hours, but we have all been proven wrong. It simply doesn't happen. It's not rewarding enough.

Indeed, any budget cap breach penalised with 10% ATR is equally not "rewarding" ie penalising enough

[AR3-GP]

I thought it was interesting that when Hamilton got the puncture, Bono told him to change the differential settings (Diff mid 12). Do they have a special mode for limping back to the pits?

[Juzh]

I thought it was interesting that when Hamilton got the puncture, Bono told him to change the differential settings (Diff mid 12). Do they have a special mode for limping back to the pits?

either completely open or completely closed. they've had it since ages, at least 2014

[atanatizante]

Merc were the fastest in the straights, did not expect expect that

[atanatizante]

- HAM always/on most cases setup his car towards race. Instead RUS does the other way around, hence why he got better results in qualy and poor tyre management in races which reflects in his poorer results
- Due to long straights and cooler conditions the car bodywork didn't show any cooling vents meaning it was less draggy. Seems that the car cooling needs adds a lot of drag and the news that W15 will have improved cooling sounds good both for lowering the car's drag and for using higher engine modes
- speaking about ICE power modes/mapps, indeed they used a higher than usual engine mapping due to ambient lower temps here
- since Austin and the new floor they are constantly working with new things/setup choices aiming for the W15. Those are mainly done at the FP's with some voices saying that HAM opted to try one solution here at Vegas, hence his unusual qualy result (5 tenths slower that RUS) but it was way better in the race (maybe someone could place here both drivers lap times from the race) and only such race incidents from the start and that tyre puncture set him back for a poor result...

[Luscion]

- HAM always/on most cases setup his car towards race. Instead RUS does the other way around, hence why he got better results in qualy and poor tyre management in races which reflects in his poorer results
- Due to long straights and cooler conditions the car bodywork didn't show any cooling vents meaning it was less draggy. Seems that the car cooling needs adds a lot of drag and the news that W15 will have improved cooling sounds good both for lowering the car's drag and for using higher engine modes
- speaking about ICE power modes/mapps, indeed they used a higher than usual engine mapping due to ambient lower temps here
- since Austin and the new floor they are constantly working with new things/setup choices aiming for the W15. Those are mainly done at the FP's with some voices saying that HAM opted to try one solution here at Vegas, hence his unusual qualy result (5 tenths slower that RUS) but it was way better in the race (maybe someone could place here both drivers lap times from the race) and only such race incidents from the start and that tyre puncture set him back for a poor result...

Russell seems slightly faster than Hamilton but Lewis had to make his way through traffic twice with 15 overtakes, between laps 32-42ish Lewis is faster and then again around lap 48 of the race Lewis & Piastri are faster and George

[organic]

Fp1 Vesti drives instead of Ham

[pursue_one's]

- HAM always/on most cases setup his car towards race. Instead RUS does the other way around, hence why he got better results in qualy and poor tyre management in races which reflects in his poorer results
- Due to long straights and cooler conditions the car bodywork didn't show any cooling vents meaning it was less draggy. Seems that the car cooling needs adds a lot of drag and the news that W15 will have improved cooling sounds good both for lowering the car's drag and for using higher engine modes
- speaking about ICE power modes/mapps, indeed they used a higher than usual engine mapping due to ambient lower temps here
- since Austin and the new floor they are constantly working with new things/setup choices aiming for the W15. Those are mainly done at the FP's with some voices saying that HAM opted to try one solution here at Vegas, hence his unusual qualy result (5 tenths slower that RUS) but it was way better in the race (maybe someone could place here both drivers lap times from the race) and only such race incidents from the start and that tyre puncture set him back for a poor result...

"since Austin and the new floor they are constantly working with new things/setup choices aiming for the W15. Those are mainly done at the FP's with some voices saying that HAM opted to try one solution here at Vegas, hence his unusual qualy result (5 tenths slower that RUS)"

Where'd you hear that? If possible, could you tell me?

[atanatizante]

- HAM always/on most cases setup his car towards race. Instead RUS does the other way around, hence why he got better results in qualy and poor tyre management in races which reflects in his poorer results
- Due to long straights and cooler conditions the car bodywork didn't show any cooling vents meaning it was less draggy. Seems that the car cooling needs adds a lot of drag and the news that W15 will have improved cooling sounds good both for lowering the car's drag and for using higher engine modes
- speaking about ICE power modes/mapps, indeed they used a higher than usual engine mapping due to ambient lower temps here
- since Austin and the new floor they are constantly working with new things/setup choices aiming for the W15. Those are mainly done at the FP's with some voices saying that HAM opted to try one solution here at Vegas, hence his unusual qualy result (5 tenths slower that RUS) but it was way better in the race (maybe someone could place here both drivers lap times from the race) and only such race incidents from the start and that tyre puncture set him back for a poor result...

"since Austin and the new floor they are constantly working with new things/setup choices aiming for the W15. Those are mainly done at the FP's with some voices saying that HAM opted to try one solution here at Vegas, hence his unusual qualy result (5 tenths slower that RUS)"

Where'd you hear that? If possible, could you tell me?

As I said before there are voices over the internet (mostly Italian YouTubers), so I don`t know how reliable they could be that info, although there could be feaseble knowing that many teams are doing that kind of thing knowing their championship standing ...

[atanatizante]

- HAM always/on most cases setup his car towards race. Instead RUS does the other way around, hence why he got better results in qualy and poor tyre management in races which reflects in his poorer results
- Due to long straights and cooler conditions the car bodywork didn't show any cooling vents meaning it was less draggy. Seems that the car cooling needs adds a lot of drag and the news that W15 will have improved cooling sounds good both for lowering the car's drag and for using higher engine modes
- speaking about ICE power modes/mapps, indeed they used a higher than usual engine mapping due to ambient lower temps here
- since Austin and the new floor they are constantly working with new things/setup choices aiming for the W15. Those are mainly done at the FP's with some voices saying that HAM opted to try one solution here at Vegas, hence his unusual qualy result (5 tenths slower that RUS) but it was way better in the race (maybe someone could place here both drivers lap times from the race) and only such race incidents from the start and that tyre puncture set him back for a poor result...

Russell seems slightly faster than Hamilton but Lewis had to make his way through traffic twice with 15 overtakes, between laps 32-42ish Lewis is faster and then again around lap 48 of the race Lewis & Piastri are faster and George

This top speed was in a mega tow provided by two cars I said that time that it was a singular situation but after the second SC he set twice the speed of 361kph when he had also the above situation ... by the way, which driver set the highest top speed in this race?

It`s true that chasing only 1 car with DRS he set a speed between 352 and 354 kph, something that RUS couldn`t manage when he was overtaking, setting a top speed between 348 and 350kph, presumably the latter opting for a higher DF setup ... having said that it worth mentioning that their delta top speed between DRS and non-DRS was between 18 and 20 kps, which is an increase from 6 months ago ...



What baffles me is that the official top speed HAM did only 325.7kph on the speed trap but on the race at the DRS detection point he had always a speed in the bracket of 333-335kph so it seems that the live timing speeds are not so accurate after all ...

[Juzh]

- HAM always/on most cases setup his car towards race. Instead RUS does the other way around, hence why he got better results in qualy and poor tyre management in races which reflects in his poorer results
- Due to long straights and cooler conditions the car bodywork didn't show any cooling vents meaning it was less draggy. Seems that the car cooling needs adds a lot of drag and the news that W15 will have improved cooling sounds good both for lowering the car's drag and for using higher engine modes
- speaking about ICE power modes/mapps, indeed they used a higher than usual engine mapping due to ambient lower temps here
- since Austin and the new floor they are constantly working with new things/setup choices aiming for the W15. Those are mainly done at the FP's with some voices saying that HAM opted to try one solution here at Vegas, hence his unusual qualy result (5 tenths slower that RUS) but it was way better in the race (maybe someone could place here both drivers lap times from the race) and only such race incidents from the start and that tyre puncture set him back for a poor result...

Russell seems slightly faster than Hamilton but Lewis had to make his way through traffic twice with 15 overtakes, between laps 32-42ish Lewis is faster and then again around lap 48 of the race Lewis & Piastri are faster and George

https://postimages.org/

This top speed was in a mega tow provided by two cars I said that time that it was a singular situation but after the second SC he set twice the speed of 361kph when he had also the above situation ... by the way, which driver set the highest top speed in this race?

It`s true that chasing only 1 car with DRS he set a speed between 352 and 354 kph, something that RUS couldn`t manage when he was overtaking, setting a top speed between 348 and 350kph, presumably the latter opting for a higher DF setup ... having said that it worth mentioning that their delta top speed between DRS and non-DRS was between 18 and 20 kps, which is an increase from 6 months ago ...

https://postimages.org/

What baffles me is that the official top speed HAM did only 325.7kph on the speed trap but on the race at the DRS detection point he had always a speed in the bracket of 333-335kph so it seems that the live timing speeds are not so accurate after all ...

Highest of the race was sainz at 366 kmh
hamilton had second highest at 364 kmh, from what i've seen this weekend mercedes was on average 100% the fastest car on straights.
Speed trap data is not reliable because they positioned it on the edge of braking zone and most cars are already on the brakes by the time they hit the measuring point, nothing is wrong with speeds from live timing app.

[Cassius]

The speed trap was positioned in the braking zone, so this is more a ranking of late brakers.

[Juzh]

The speed trap was positioned in the braking zone, so this is more a ranking of late brakers.

It was obvious in FP3 it was going to be the case. I dont understand why FIA didn't just move it 100m back and then we can get some useful data. As it stands this measuring point is useless.

[AR3-GP]

If I didn't know any better, I'd say Mercedes had a real "party mode" on the ICE side which they were able to use because of the weather.




The Merc PU has probably been the most up and down this year. More power than anyone in the cold of Las Vegas, but completely nerfed and neutralized in the hot conditions of Hungary.

[Luscion]

The Merc PU has probably been the most up and down this year. More power than anyone in the cold of Las Vegas, but completely nerfed and neutralized in the hot conditions of Hungary.

Does this include the teams they supply as well or is it just a Merc thing, possibly due to the zero pods