2023 f1

[riander5]

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According to Toto Merc's alternate design has already been done in the Wind tunnel.
This is really confusing because if they had done that and if they saw performance Improvement then they would have gone with the Alternate concept isn't it?
https://www.planetf1.com/news/toto-w...n-wind-tunnel/

Unless W14 in Baharain was simply gathering data ,
https://www.si.com/fannation/racing/...and-at-baku-gp

Well it is only Race 1 and it will be interesting to see how all of this is going to unfold.

Interesting... would be crazy to see them just bring out either a) a wildly different car or b) some updates that level them with red bull. Sounds a bit far fetched, unless Hamilton, Russel and Toto are amazing actors... they truly look dissapointed

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Mercedes isn't really terrible, but it's really bad in race situations. The performance is average everywhere. Braking, low speed cornering, high speed cornering, mechanical grip. There's no 1 place where they excel, so it becomes a huge weakness in racing situations. It's decent competitive on a clean qualifying lap, but in a fight for position, with no one area better than other cars, it makes passing impossible. AM's insanely good mechanical grip/acceleration zone performance makes it easy to pass others, and stop others from passing. You can see it in the data, or even the in cars. Coming out of turn 1, Alonso sticks right behind the car he's trying to pass, while Lewis trying to pass Sainz on bad tires could not follow close at all.

This year's Merc will continue to fall backwards in racing situations IMO. Sitting duck after any DRS zone unless they have massive tire advantage.

Yeah I just wonder how they went from the W12 that was so good, and likely slightly better than red bull in 2021, to just missing the mark so drastically while red bull nailed it with the new regulations. Maybe they just don't have the technical ability red bull does considering neither squad can throw unlimited money at the car anymore.

[shakalaka]

Well it's obvious RBR breached the cost cap last year and as much as Horner wants to make it sound like it was a breach by 1%, oh and we used it for 'catering' or whatever, several hundreds of thousands can make a big difference to the overall picture. And that's just what was discovered. Who the hell knows how much more there is to it.

[riander5]

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Well it's obvious RBR breached the cost cap last year and as much as Horner wants to make it sound like it was a breach by 1%, oh and we used it for 'catering' or whatever, several hundreds of thousands can make a big difference to the overall picture. And that's just what was discovered. Who the hell knows how much more there is to it.

I guess my point is, even if they breached it by 10-20 million, I dont think that would have helped Merc be competitive if they had some extra dough in there. As we've seen so far, they are getting worse.

[shakalaka]

True. Merc just completely dropped the ball under the new rules. I imagine a lot to do with the mass exodus of lot of higher ups moving/leaving for other teams due to various reasons including the cost caps. But ultimately they didn't have unlimited money to throw at the problem like they maybe could have in the past.

[riander5]

Its the end of an era....

But I suppose with my limited F1 knowledge, teams typically only remain dominant for a rule set at a time.

Red bull now, Merc before, Red bull before that, Ferrari before them?

[ganesh]

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Yeah I just wonder how they went from the W12 that was so good, and likely slightly better than red bull in 2021, to just missing the mark so drastically while red bull nailed it with the new regulations. Maybe they just don't have the technical ability red bull does considering neither squad can throw unlimited money at the car anymore.

Merc lost two Key Aero engineers. Guess where they went, One went to RBR and the other one went to AMR.
Also Merc has been constantly loosing people on the Power train department as well.

[phreezee]

AMR also got Dan Fallows from RBR.

[tonytiger55]

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Well it's obvious RBR breached the cost cap last year and as much as Horner wants to make it sound like it was a breach by 1%, oh and we used it for 'catering' or whatever, several hundreds of thousands can make a big difference to the overall picture. And that's just what was discovered. Who the hell knows how much more there is to it.

I was thinking... Elections are won by door knocking etc. But if we break that down, it ultimatly comes down to catering I shit you not. Be organised, get the good food in so the volunteers are good to go.

I was thinking, if you want to get more out of your staff in solving a problem, how do you do it? How do you push to get that 1% that can make the difference? Catering. Feed the belly, POWER the brain. Get them the good stuff. When Merc engineers and designers are up at 3am, Toto coming in with a tray of Bratwurst is not going to cut it. You can't run a team or push the envelope by having sausage parties.

I think RBR got around this problem by providing the team with smoked salmon, Peking duck, and chicken curry... you know...the good stuff.. Either that or Max has been eating chicken Vindaloo pre race. Technically then the car would not better, he is driving faster. The science explaination on that would be so he can finish the race quick to use the toilet. I mean, come on. When you are driving and need to take a dump. Have we all not suddenly become Paul Walker and shifted the car into sport mode?
On a secodary note, you really think the S stands for sport for the family car that drives on public roads..? How many times have we all felt the unease in our guts and shifted the car into 'S'. That extra RPM in pulling through a amber light, cutting through traffic makes the difference in getting home to use the loo. Those Honda designers were genius. Think about it, no seriously... the Japanese have the best toilets in the world. Its make sense for them to have a 'S' mode on a car. Well it makes sense in my Honda CRV anyways.

Jokes aside. I think the former happened. A happy worker is a busy worker. I think Horner took a leaf out of Mr Burns book and did a Tar Tar Sauce move.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=X25rP4rTw3A

@shakalaka You think Hamilton will go to Ferrari at some point to end his career? With that amout of talent.. I would like to see what he could do..

[TurboMedic]

What the fuck did I just read

[shakalaka]

Man Tony you need to stop smoking that ganja. lol

As for the Ferrari thing, I doubt it. It's not like they are doing particularly good right now anyway. Their drivers aren't the issue as they have 2 good ones, they just need to get their shit together from every other way.

[riander5]

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What the fuck did I just read

I was thinking the exact same thing

[rage2]

You can tell who the new fans are by not recognizing a @tonytiger55 classic.

[shakalaka]

Oh I can detect the sarcasm and his support of RBR and anti-Ham/Merc'ness, I am just saying that the ganja he's smoking is still too strong for him to handle though. Haha.

[LilDrunkenSmurf]

No rage2 means Tony would post something like that before every race, previously.

[shakalaka]

Tony's an interesting cat for sure Haha.

[flipstah]

Neat article about brakes: https://www.motorsport.com/f1/news/t...arge/10441981/

[ganesh]

Lewis part ways With Angela Cullen.

[shakalaka]

Just another thing to add on top of the downfall of Lewis.

AMR showed up in FP1 - they are doing really well. Maybe they can bring the challenge to RBR, I'd be happy with that too.

[sexualbanana]

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True. Merc just completely dropped the ball under the new rules. I imagine a lot to do with the mass exodus of lot of higher ups moving/leaving for other teams due to various reasons including the cost caps. But ultimately they didn't have unlimited money to throw at the problem like they maybe could have in the past.

I think it comes down to how each team reacts to technical changes. RBR guessed correctly with their specs and MB got it massively wrong. Now the former has a big head start on most of the competition (though AMR seems to be making significant headway in closing that gap) and MB is stuck trying to fix the problems that come with being wrong.

[phreezee]

Gonna be the exact same podium this race.
Only question is if Russell beats Stroll for 4th.
I'm not sure Lewis gives a fuck anymore. Leclerc might pass him from 10th+.