Had no idea there was such levels of paranoia in F1. Mercedes just look to be struggling to me.
F1 2022 Season
- Thread starter pauldyson1uk
- Start date
Sandbagging is a thing, but bar a very small handful of people, most can see through it for when it’s real and isn’t.
Is it paranoia when it's been like this for what, 7 years or something? Maybe this year will be different due to the new regulations but paranoia? Hardly
Everything is a conspiracy innit.
I was surprised at that comment as well.
I had hoped that Mercedes would have been able to make some improvement. But Lewis car really does look awful to drive.
There's chatting shite and chatting the shite, most people can tell which is which.
Yeah I thought so too. Hamilton was like a second slower than Verstappen and that doesn't bode well. But I do hope that this is something they can fix within a couple of races and which would provide good advantage for Hamilton in the long run. But it's absolutely devastating for Hamilton to turn up after last season with a noncompetitive car.
Same.
It's worse case scenario. They ruined the sport last year and now I don't want to see them rewarded further.
I hope Ferrari are sand bagging.
A second slower but on a different tyre compound.
I think the top 3 will all be within 0.4s of each other tomorrow. Maybe RB and Ferrari will have a slight edge but it won't be anything dramatic.
I think Hamilton was on softs too, no?
It's more just using history as proof. Mercedes have had habits of struggling the winning at a canter.
Saying that though, the car doesn't look all that happy in places. I don't think they'll be that far off in the end though, just might take 2/3 races to get it sorted.
Russell was on softs and about 0.6s off Max, but Hamilton was on mediums and 1.1s off.
At least I think that's right, nobody seems bothered to list tyre compounds in any articles about it.
I could have sworn they were both on softs, but I could be misremembering.
I also was pretty sure his lap time was on softs.
Pretty sure they all ended up putting on softs midway through the session from what I rememeber. Lewis had some issues with the car
Yeah they were, everyone ended up on softs in the second half of fp2 from memory
Yup. Hamilton was asked what was different on Russell’s car as he was so far off his pace. Confirmed they were different setups but didn’t answer specifics.
Lewis Mazepin.
(granted, seems like Lewis was more of a case than Mazepin did last year)
Haha! Hamilton actually had the new floor in FP1 unlike Russell but they went back to the old one in FP2. I get the disbelief everyone has but I do think they’ll genuinely be a fair bit behind this weekend. How long that’s the case for who knows.Lewis Mazepin.
(granted, seems like Lewis was more of a case than Mazepin did last year)
One thing people are forgetting is that the porposing will get worse for Mercedes the quicker they go on the straights tomorrow and Sunday. So, as the entire grid had their engines turned down for fp2 and probably didnt do maximum ERS deployment over a single lap, we never got to see the full extent of the porposing for any team, though especially for the Mercedes.
I wonder if hamilton and russell will even be able to drive the car at maximum deployment i.e going for a hot lap or will Mercedes have to turn the power down for the GP on saftey ground for the drivers and the car itself i.e. too many vibrations.
I wonder if hamilton and russell will even be able to drive the car at maximum deployment i.e going for a hot lap or will Mercedes have to turn the power down for the GP on saftey ground for the drivers and the car itself i.e. too many vibrations.
Dont forget Mercedes have the least amount of wind tunnel and CFD time of any team on the grid this season. The more of their time they use up on porposing issue, the less time they get to work on other improvements to the car and work on next seasons car eventually.
Yeh you're both right they were all on softs.
Bettors seem pretty confident of a Max pole and win, Leclerc with an outside chance. Seem to rate Mercedes as the third team with Perez nestled in there too. Alonso as best of the rest followed by Lando. Seems like a fair assessment, let's hope it's a close qualy tomorrow.
Will be interesting to see how Charles defends vs Max. He was too soft when they battled in Austria, and then he spoke out after that about how he would have to change his style when against certain drivers...
If Leclerc and Sainz dont have enough ballsy move in them, there's no chance to beat Max. Sainz particularly, he's never been in this leading position i believe. I think i've never seen Sainz going hard in wheel to wheel battle so far irrc.
Mclaren is so disappointing so far, all talk about positivity and whatnot but they seems to move backward in pecking order, albeit it maybe temporarily.
Mclaren is so disappointing so far, all talk about positivity and whatnot but they seems to move backward in pecking order, albeit it maybe temporarily.
Porpoising is extremely difficult to replicate in any CFD or Wind tunnel scenario, the only way they’ll resolve this is by finding a ride height that stops the purposing and then working on that height with a floor solution to balance out the ground effect.
Correct me if Im wrong, but I dont think they are allowed to exceed 180 kph in the wind tunnel. The aero problems we are seeing begin at 250 kph.
A wind tunnel essentially has the rig fixed to the floor, it’s really difficult to replicate purposing. I’ve used the wind tunnel at Silverstone before with work, and at most you’re only going to get how airflow moves around an object.
The other challenge is that purposing will effect differently at each circuit, dependent on the ride height of the car. It’ll be something that can only truly be fixed via free practice or race conditions tbh.
That's what makes me think their problems are legitimate. Hamiltons head is constantly butting against the headrest and I don't see why they'd allow that even if it was them holding back.
Be amazing if both Botas and Russell finished ahead of Lewis this year (would Mercedes allow Russell to finish ahead of Hamilton?).
How would they prevent it? Shit in his gas tank?
Haha, more like if they are close together telling Russell to let Lewis pass him to be a team player to give Lewis every opportunity to win the title.
I’ll have whatever you’re smoking.
Sainz should be goading Leclerc into aggressive moves on Max and the reaping the reward
Sainz WDC after Max-Leclerc take each other out in every first corner.
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Sainz for WDC. I'm fine with that. I'm prefer him than Leclerc tbh.Sainz should be goading Leclerc into aggressive moves on Max and the reaping the reward
Sainz WDC after Max-Leclerc take each other out in every first corner.
Seeing “MSC” in the top 10 
Here we go!
Here we go!
helmet
People believing the Merc porpoising is part of the "sandbagging" is really weird. The best interpretation of Merc right now is that they are 'potentially' in a top 6 hunt for Quali. I could see Ham P4 and Rus P6 very easily.
Red Bulls are the team to beat, Ferrari's will come close, but for me still a 2 horse, 3 if Mercedes can sort their problems out. The bigger battle is for 3rd down, now that is an interesting scrap.
Very good point, that i had forgotten. If will have to be resolved on the track, if they dont want to raise the ride height as a solution.