[Team] Mercedes: Will they ever dominate again?

[Skam85]

Originally Posted by Tourer

George "did a Bradbury" (to use an Australian expression). The expression stems from Australian speed skater, Stephen Bradbury winning gold at the Salt Lake Olympics when the the rest of the field crashed in front of him - you can check out video of it here.

Or in the words of another famous Australian (Jack Brabham) - "to finish first, first you need to finish".

Yep, very lucky win for Mercedes but George was 3rd on pace and deserved to pick it up.

What could have been for Oscar though, 20mm over in qualy likely cost him his first win.

[Tourer]

Originally Posted by Skam85

What could have been for Oscar though, 20mm over in qualy likely cost him his first win.

Agree - but that's the way it goes. He'll get his first GP win soon enough I reckon.

[PanozDP01]

Originally Posted by Tourer

George "did a Bradbury" (to use an Australian expression). The expression stems from Australian speed skater, Stephen Bradbury winning gold at the Salt Lake Olympics when the the rest of the field crashed in front of him - you can check out video of it here.

Or in the words of another famous Australian (Jack Brabham) - "to finish first, first you need to finish".

Yep, very lucky win for Mercedes but George was 3rd on pace and deserved to pick it up.

George had to beat a Red Bull(Perez) and a McLaren(Piastri) -both faster cars than his- to get this race win. He also had to beat both Ferrari's and his teammate.

[Tourer]

Originally Posted by PanozDP01

George had to beat a Red Bull(Perez) and a McLaren(Piastri) -both faster cars than his- to get this race win. He also had to beat both Ferrari's and his teammate.

Hence me saying he was 3rd on pace. Ferrari not as quick as MB here, one McLaren ran wide in Qual so had to come from further back, we all know Perez is struggling & George consistently has the legs on his team mate. Short version, George is doing a good job.

[Skam85]

Originally Posted by Tourer

Agree - but that's the way it goes. He'll get his first GP win soon enough I reckon.

I believe it will be this coming weekend

[GTRMagic]

Originally Posted by Skam85

I believe it will be this coming weekend

Will Mr Verstappen’s job be under threat if he loses a second weekend in a row?

[morninggents]

Originally Posted by Skam85

What could have been for Oscar though, 20mm over in qualy likely cost him his first win.

Not necessarily. A slight lift to ensure he stayed within the track limits may have cost him. I'm not sure what the time of his deleted lap was but a slight lift could easily have lost him a tenth of a second which would have made him only 5th or 6th on the grid rather than 7th.

[Guthrie]

Originally Posted by GTRMagic

Will Mr Verstappen’s job be under threat if he loses a second weekend in a row?

That's not gonna happen. He will win the race by a fair margin.

[bjohnsonsmith]

Originally Posted by Guthrie

That's not gonna happen. He will win the race by a fair margin.

Looking at McLaren's form, that's not a given.

[GTRMagic]

Two out of two…

That said.. will Mr Wolff get the same level of success out of his school-age prodigy?

[Skam85]

I think now that Merc are race winners and properly competitve again, that they will take Sainz and have Antonelli brew for a year/18mths at Williams.

[Richard C]

Originally Posted by Skam85

I think now that Merc are race winners and properly competitve again, that they will take Sainz and have Antonelli brew for a year/18mths at Williams.

Who knows what Sainz is holding out for, but I tend to think he is not interested in short term deals. So why would he want to spend a year maybe two at Mercedes? But I also think that unless he has something up his sleeve he is going to somehow screw himself by waiting so long.

Richard

[Skam85]

If I was Sainz I'd back myself on taking a one year deal and beating Russell, giving Toto a difficult choice for 2026.

[Teretonga]

Originally Posted by Skam85

If I was Sainz I'd back myself on taking a one year deal and beating Russell, giving Toto a difficult choice for 2026.

I think taking a 1+1 deal with a Mercedes option on the second year, what he was at first offered, may be the best deal he is going to get as regards a competitive seat.
If Antonelli gets the seat at Williams in 2025 then that comes at a financial gain for Williams.
And if Antonelli goes to Mercedes in 2026, can the gain simply be a switch for Sainz to Williams, or even if a year later, in 2027, Carlos swaps seats and transfers to Williams at his choice.
By that time two more years will have passed, he would have the first year of the 2026 regs with Mercedes and can choose between Williams and whoever else is showing promise, be it Audi, Ferrari (if Hamilton or Leclerc leave after 2026) Aston Martin Aramco Honda, et al.

If the merc year is just one year and there is a swap prearranged
for Sainz to Williams then Vowles gets Sainz for the new formula, just a year later, and Vowles gets a year to lift Williams chassis performance before Carlos arrives.

[PanozDP01]

Originally Posted by Skam85

If I was Sainz I'd back myself on taking a one year deal and beating Russell, giving Toto a difficult choice for 2026.

The guy beating Hamilton is going to be an easy walk for Sainz is he..

[peebee2]

Originally Posted by PanozDP01

The guy beating Hamilton is going to be an easy walk for Sainz is he..

Who’s beating Hamilton? He’s top Merc this season.

[chunterer]

Originally Posted by peebee2

Who’s beating Hamilton? He’s top Merc this season.

Since Silverstone.

[bathurst77]

edit

[bjohnsonsmith]

Originally Posted by chunterer

Since Silverstone.

After Silverstone, Russell had 111 points to Hamilton's 110 and since Hungary and today's race, Hamilton has 143 points to Russell's 141. Both have had one retirement, however Hamilton has finished in the points in every race but Russell hasn't, as he finished 17th in Melbourne.

[bathurst77]

https://speedcafe.com/russell-victor...-infringement/

“After the Race, car number 63 was weighed, and its weight was 798.0 kg, which is the minimum weight required by TR Article 4.1,” declared a report from FIA technical delegate Jo Bauer.

“After this, fuel was drained out of the car and 2.8 litres of fuel were removed.

“The car was not fully drained according to the draining procedure submitted by the team in their legality documents as TR Article 6.5.2 is fulfilled.

“The car was weighed again on the FIA inside and outside scales and the weight was 796.5 kg.

“The calibration of the outside and inside scales was confirmed and witnessed by the competitor.”

“As this is 1.5 kg below the minimum weight requested in TR Article 4.1, which also has to be respected at all times during the Competition, I am referring this matter to the Stewards for their consideration.”

The penalty should officials deem the car to be in breach of the regulations is exclusion.

That would hand Hamilton the race win from Piastri, with Charles Leclerc rising to third.

It would also hand Daniel Ricciardo a world championship point for 10th.

[bathurst77]

Russell disqualified: Mercedes driver stripped of Belgian GP win

“The Stewards heard from the team representative of Car 63 (George Russell), the FIA Technical Delegate, the FIA Single Seater Director and the FIA Single Seater Technical Director,” the stewards' summary outlined.”

“Car 63 was weighed on the FIA inside and outside scales with both scales showing the same result of 796.5 kg.

“The calibration of both scales was confirmed and witnessed by the competitor.

“During the hearing the team representative confirmed that the measurement is correct and that all required procedures were performed correctly.

“The team also acknowledged that there were no mitigating circumstances and that it was a genuine error by the team.

“The Stewards determine that Article 4.1 of the FIA Formula 1 Technical Regulations has been breached and therefore the standard penalty for such an infringement needs to be applied.

“Competitors are reminded that they have the right to appeal certain decisions of the Stewards, in accordance with Article 15 of the FIA International Sporting Code and Chapter 4 of the FIA Judicial and Disciplinary Rules, within the applicable time limits.”

[peebee2]

To be fair to George, I thought he drove excellently today. DSQ unfortunate.

[Greem]

Exclusion for Russell. Schoolboy error by the team.

[GT6]

Well all we can say is mercs threw that one away, could have closed up on ferarri in the constructors championship by a good way

[chunterer]

Originally Posted by bjohnsonsmith

After Silverstone, Russell had 111 points to Hamilton's 110 and since Hungary and today's race, Hamilton has 143 points to Russell's 141. Both have had one retirement, however Hamilton has finished in the points in every race but Russell hasn't, as he finished 17th in Melbourne.

Lovin the stats but on the whole George has tended to have the upoer had but far less fortume in the races.

Like today!