pauldyson1uk
Full Member
Mazepin , has brushed the wall , damaged his car.
Yeah but they are talking bollocks, they have problems, Lewis did get a tow at the end of FP3.Commentators suggesting Mercs will have to tow each other to quali well
Never known Mercedes to be genuinely struggling so badly before, maybe the DAS system removal has really effected them worse than we all expected?
It seems they've set the car up to be really 'tyre friendly' which is great for looking after the tyres in the race, but they just can't get them fired up in short runs. I suspect they'll make up plenty of ground in the race but qualfying could end up being a bit of an embarrasment for them. I wonder if Bottas will decide to be a team player today?
Driver | Team | Time |
---|---|---|
1) Pierre Gasly | AlphaTauri | 1:42.251 |
2) Sergio Perez | Red Bull | +0.344 |
3) Lewis Hamilton | Mercedes | +0.446 |
4) Charles Leclerc | Ferrari | +0.527 |
5) Carlos Sainz | Ferrari | +0.755 |
6) Lando Norris | McLaren | +0.760 |
7) Fernando Alonso | Alpine | +0.829 |
8) Yuki Tsunoda | AlphaTauri | +0.993 |
9) Esteban Ocon | Alpine | +1.043 |
10) Daniel Ricciardo | McLaren | +1.306 |
11) Sebastian Vettel | Aston Martin | +1.334 |
12) Lance Stroll | Aston Martin | +1.431 |
13) Valtteri Bottas | Mercedes | +1.494 |
14) Kimi Raikkonen | Alfa Romeo | +1.575 |
15) Max Verstappen | Red Bull | +1.733 |
16) Nicholas Latifi | Williams | +1.803 |
17) Antonio Giovinazzi | Alfa Romeo | +1.862 |
18) George Russell | Williams | +2.183 |
19) Mick Schumacher | Haas | +3.031 |
20) Nikita Mazepin | Haas | +3.460 |
This isn't sandbagging at all.
Its the rule change for this season which was done to curtail Mercedes dominance. The rear downforce loss Mercedes haven't clawed back entirely. Therefore less downforce, the harder it is to push the tyres to generate heat and grip. No-one foresaw that a higher rake would be an advantage this season. Though there will be no high rake cars next season, as the return of ground effect means thats any sort of rake will be a huge disadvantage for the aero.Never known Mercedes to be genuinely struggling so badly before, maybe the DAS system removal has really effected them worse than we all expected?
It seems they've set the car up to be really 'tyre friendly' which is great for looking after the tyres in the race, but they just can't get them fired up in short runs. I suspect they'll make up plenty of ground in the race but qualfying could end up being a bit of an embarrasment for them. I wonder if Bottas will decide to be a team player today?
Not sure that's completely the issue as they aren't getting the fronts switched on either. They don't lack grip once heated up, in race conditions they'll still be flying so downforce isn't the issue IMO.Its the rule change for this season which was done to curtail Mercedes dominance. The rear downforce loss Mercedes haven't clawed back entirely. Therefore less downforce, the harder it is to push the tyres to generate heat and grip. No-one foresaw that a higher rake would be an advantage this season. Though there will be no high rake cars next season, as the return of ground effect means thats any sort of rake will be a huge disadvantage for the aero.
Monaco has always been a problem track for them , but Baku is a good track, high speed straights, winners the last 2 races run, they should not be struggling here.Not sure that's completely the issue as they aren't getting the fronts switched on either. They don't lack grip once heated up, in race conditions they'll still be flying so downforce isn't the issue IMO.
They had a similar issue on the car last year but the DAS system helped them over come it. Look at Races like Portimao where they struggled massively for the first few laps.
It seems because of the nature of this circuit with lots of long straights and not many load bearing corners, they just aren't putting the heat through the tyres like they would in other proper tracks. Monaco is the same as it's slow corners or quick twitch corners, so unless your tyres are already heated they won't build it up through corners naturally.
I think Mercedes have simply made the cars too tyre friendly for street circuits, but could prove dividends in other tracks like Spain where we saw Verstappen kill his tyres much earlier.
Sure I heard on Sky that he was running a new engine.
what do you want him to do , back off.HAM gets another tow FFS.
obviously not, just wish he didn't get a tow.....what do you want him to do , back off.
he is not the first driver to benefit from the towobviously not, just wish he didn't get a tow.....
are you that shocked a non-merc fan would hope Merc don't get lucky/have a bad session?he is not the first driver to benefit from the tow