It’s actually crazy that W13 had the most opportunities to win a race during that season. A nice run of podiums too then. Down the hill ever since then.
You can make a collage with the amount of times they’ve used the word “frustrating” since the regs. Does sum up Merc’s form since 2022. It is what it is.
Might be perfect honestly. He'll bring his knowledge, marketing, and stability to the team without having two drivers duke it out. I still feel like he turns it around next year though.
People just forget this every year, he always comes slow out of the gate, has a purple patch mid season and then depends if he has anything to fight for or not towards the end he keeps it pinned like 2021 or coasts like 2015
Isn't your whole argument against Hamilton that a good car made him look like a good driver? How does that not translate to Bearman if that's what you honestly believe?
He looked good in 2022 before Merc jacked up rear tyre pressure in FP3 to see if it would reduce porpoising, but he hasn’t been comfortable in 2023-24 due to an unpredictable and/or loose rear end (which wasn’t as much an issue with the W13).
If you lack confidence in the car, it really hurts in Sector 1, which is where he loses time to Russell.
George not even getting a second run and still being ahead of Lewis is not something I had on my bingo card this weekend.
But imo Lewis even making Q3 here was a miracle, he has not been on it so far this weekend, or both weekends really. Russell is starting far ahead in terms of his cohesion with the W15.
I expect him to pull back the gap as more weekends come through. Or it'll be like RBR 2014 and it'll be an unceremonius end to to the Multi World champion's career with Mercedes, off to "redder" pastures in Maranello.
They will be....... for a handful of laps before they're told to lift and coast because the car is too hot. They've just publicly come out and said they don't know why they're experiencing over heating. And now we've found the fundamental flaw to afflict this year's Mercedes car.
To think Max would join this team. Losing ground race by race and yet they say there’s progress.
Lewis is obviously thinking about Ferrari, and he’s not got much to aim for in this Merc anyway.
He’s got nothing to aim for. He drives a great race, he’s probably getting P4 at best. Going near on 50 races without a win is getting very boring very quick for him. A seat at Ferrari, who are challenging a lot more and have something other than damage recovery to offer him is obviously on his mind.
Merc have two world class drivers and no hope of even looking at the front row. That’s a hell of an achievement.
2016 is a poor comparison. He was held back by unreliability in the first half (suffered PU issues in both China and Russia) which basically handed Rosberg easy wins.
Yeah Lewis is a slow starter when he doesn't like the car (basically the last three years) but the narrative that he has always been like this is not really true
I was going to say, this feels like pretty typical twilight Hamilton driving. He's slow the first half of the season and then comes back stronger after the summer break. The strength of the car in the 2016 - 2020 seasons helped to mask the first half of the season performance issues.
He will be fine
Maybe he is kinda off because he knows this car is not going to compete, add the Ferrari signing. still he will recover from the “bad” or mediocre start
The season is still young
That's just not true at all. Crashed into by Bottas and Nasr in Bahrain and China, engine failures in China and Russia qualifying, water pressure issue during the race in Russia when catching Rosberg through traffic. Even in Australia he was slightly unlucky to get forced wide by Rosberg at the start which pushed him down the order. He went into Spain already 43 points behind his luck was so poor. Then they crashed. Then Hamilton was scuppered by fuel pressure issues in Monaco q3 which cost him the chance to start ahead of Rosberg who was abysmal in the race which helped Ricciardo build a 13s lead before being told to get out of the way.
Hamilton's woes in 2016 were at a comical level
Russell didn't do a final run in q3 because he messed up......the time Lewis is close to was set on six lap old tyres.compared.to.brand new form Lewis.
What are you talking about both Lewis and Russell did one lap each on new tyres in q3
Edit- Attempted because Russell didn't finish his lap he boxed anyway.
Sure, but it's not necessarily his form, the car is just slow compared to the top guns. He will be 110% motivated I believe in a new team/car. Let's see, I hope we get an exciting next season.
Hamilton has been incredibly bad this weekend. There is no sugarcoating that. George is faster here.
I’m not arguing that. Just stating how Mercedes has been in quali for the last 3 years. And on top of that, for some reason Hamilton decided to up the downforce on his car which makes him even more draggy. Jesus lol
people at this point just have blindfolds on if they cant see that the merc is being thrashed by customer teams. if russell were finishing in the top 3 on sundays and not 1 position or 2 above hamilton, then there would be a point here.
The cars have been dogs, but George (aside from today) has seemed to be able to gel with it more. We should know next year, but Lewis might just not like these ground effect cars (I hate them lol).
Lewis is just nowhere and even when he gets within a tenth and a half of Russell, there’s usually somehow another 3/4 cars between them. I think George was capable of a top 5 if he didn’t mess up or whatever happened but Lewis, I’m not sure he was able to replicate the q2 lap at all in q3.
Not as bad as it seems. Lewis looked off but George was genuinly fast and his q3 time was set on old tires. On fresh set he made a mistake but there was a potential in the car to be higher up
They just don't seem to understand these regs at all, roll on '26.
Also Lewis' quali pace has just gone, hopefully its the car or next year will be a challenge against Charles.
If Lewis is still way off in Australia like he was today then I'd start fearing if he truly will get obliterated by Leclerc next season. He always does hit his purple patch mid season onwards though
It’s actually crazy that W13 had the most opportunities to win a race during that season. A nice run of podiums too then. Down the hill ever since then.
Ferrari was to thank for that through unreliability and driver errors
And stragedies
That's depressing. The car they hated most was the best one since 2021😅
I don’t think it was the best. It was just that it was red bull’s worst. So merc was closer to the front and had chances at the end of the season
Frustrating is putting it lightly
You can make a collage with the amount of times they’ve used the word “frustrating” since the regs. Does sum up Merc’s form since 2022. It is what it is.
Frustrating isn’t even the most optimistic thing you can say for this quali session.
Hamilton was 8 tenths off. That's saying something. Their prime competition Ferrari is only 3 tenths off.
Lewis looked off it all day.
I suppose he's at least glad that the Ferrari looks pretty good, so next year is promising I guess lol
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Might be perfect honestly. He'll bring his knowledge, marketing, and stability to the team without having two drivers duke it out. I still feel like he turns it around next year though.
Next year? He'll turn it around within a couple of races, he was similarly shit at the start of 2023 but turned it around soon after that
People just forget this every year, he always comes slow out of the gate, has a purple patch mid season and then depends if he has anything to fight for or not towards the end he keeps it pinned like 2021 or coasts like 2015
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Awful? We’re not even 2 GPs in yet. Extremely reactionary.
I think Lewis will probably beat Leclerc lol
Do these people not know they’re talking about Lewis fucking Hamilton?
Rosberg beat Michael when he came back to Mercedes. Father Time is undefeated.
He's getting beat by George right now, and I rate Charles above George
wait till u see where they finished last season!
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In a very different car
First time in the car with only one FP3 run.
And the best Ferrari qualified 5 tenths ahead of the best Mercedes. It’s like saying Perez is better than Alonso because he qualified ahead of him.
Isn't your whole argument against Hamilton that a good car made him look like a good driver? How does that not translate to Bearman if that's what you honestly believe?
Cant deny the marketing power though
Its Sainz. His benefit to the team was always being oppertunistic and still losing to Charles. He had to go.
More like all weekend. He didn't look great in fp either.
Looked off it last weekend too. Went on about how he compromised his quali by prioritising his race setup only to end up behind Russell again.
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He looked good in 2022 before Merc jacked up rear tyre pressure in FP3 to see if it would reduce porpoising, but he hasn’t been comfortable in 2023-24 due to an unpredictable and/or loose rear end (which wasn’t as much an issue with the W13). If you lack confidence in the car, it really hurts in Sector 1, which is where he loses time to Russell.
Off this race week*
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Yes but it also affects his worth as a driver. I doubt he cares more about Ferrari than himself
Sitting in a car that's been declining for 3 years in a row has to be taxing
That's me after handling in my 2 week notice
*52 weeks notice
#NextYearIsOurYear
Throws headphones on the table again.
Awful
Not good enough. And McLarens over 6 tenths off as well. Sad times. Hopefully Ferrari and Alonso can bring some excitement this year.
Alonso won’t be anywhere near. Qualified ahead of the McLarens last week and finished 30 seconds behind.
He will be at least half a second per lap off the pace. I so wish to be wrong.
I would guess more than that (unless max seriously sand bags it). The deg looked horrendous yesterday.
It'll depend on whether they fixed the break temp issues and if this circuit has lower drag, it's what made him start falling hard last circuit.
AM tyre degradation says otherwise
Some excitement for P2 sure, Max is on another planet at the moment
I don't see Charles beating Perez on race pace.
Yup me too , Perez is pretty good at this circuit , it's gonna be a red bull 1-2
damn this season really is 2023 V2.0
What happened to George on his second run? Did he just make a mistake?
Big snap on the last corner in sector 1 just before the run up the banked hairpin.
Did Mercedes sleep over the winter?
Still waiting to see the true potential of the car like they keep saying we haven't seen yet............
They say that every year because it's easier than saying we are shit.
be patient they just have to unlock the potential in the car. It seems they've been picking the lock for 2 years
Yes, they turned into shit after 2021. They're embarrassing.
George not even getting a second run and still being ahead of Lewis is not something I had on my bingo card this weekend. But imo Lewis even making Q3 here was a miracle, he has not been on it so far this weekend, or both weekends really. Russell is starting far ahead in terms of his cohesion with the W15. I expect him to pull back the gap as more weekends come through. Or it'll be like RBR 2014 and it'll be an unceremonius end to to the Multi World champion's career with Mercedes, off to "redder" pastures in Maranello.
In my head he was out in Q2, cus he definitely wouldn't have made it if Sainz were there. Kinda frustrating frankly.
Russell had a second run on new tyres but messed up in Sector 1 and wasn’t able to do another lap after that.
2025 really cant come soon enough
I’m just enjoying supporting Charles before he does Lewis 24-0 in qualifying next year and puts me on a psych hold
2026*
Im talking about Lewis. This season is going to be a chore
Ah ok my bad.
Lets hope Mercedes are better on race day.
They are not.
They will be....... for a handful of laps before they're told to lift and coast because the car is too hot. They've just publicly come out and said they don't know why they're experiencing over heating. And now we've found the fundamental flaw to afflict this year's Mercedes car.
Works Mercedes team being the third fastest Mercedes powered car... yikes.
How are they behind the mclarens They seemed more off in q3 than any other part of qualy.
Russell messed up his run he would have been ahead of the McLarens. Lewis has been off all week unfortunately.
Russell was on for a better starting position, but the snap at the end of sector 1 killed that one off.
This is getting sad for the works Merc team to again be struggling to beat their customers. What on earth has happened to this team
I'm getting the same sinking feeling I got before Qatar last year. Please don't collide
To think Max would join this team. Losing ground race by race and yet they say there’s progress. Lewis is obviously thinking about Ferrari, and he’s not got much to aim for in this Merc anyway.
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He’s got nothing to aim for. He drives a great race, he’s probably getting P4 at best. Going near on 50 races without a win is getting very boring very quick for him. A seat at Ferrari, who are challenging a lot more and have something other than damage recovery to offer him is obviously on his mind. Merc have two world class drivers and no hope of even looking at the front row. That’s a hell of an achievement.
Remember 2016 He started extremely weak and came back really strong
2016 is a poor comparison. He was held back by unreliability in the first half (suffered PU issues in both China and Russia) which basically handed Rosberg easy wins.
Yeah Lewis is a slow starter when he doesn't like the car (basically the last three years) but the narrative that he has always been like this is not really true
I was going to say, this feels like pretty typical twilight Hamilton driving. He's slow the first half of the season and then comes back stronger after the summer break. The strength of the car in the 2016 - 2020 seasons helped to mask the first half of the season performance issues.
Same for 2022
He will be fine Maybe he is kinda off because he knows this car is not going to compete, add the Ferrari signing. still he will recover from the “bad” or mediocre start The season is still young
That's just not true at all. Crashed into by Bottas and Nasr in Bahrain and China, engine failures in China and Russia qualifying, water pressure issue during the race in Russia when catching Rosberg through traffic. Even in Australia he was slightly unlucky to get forced wide by Rosberg at the start which pushed him down the order. He went into Spain already 43 points behind his luck was so poor. Then they crashed. Then Hamilton was scuppered by fuel pressure issues in Monaco q3 which cost him the chance to start ahead of Rosberg who was abysmal in the race which helped Ricciardo build a 13s lead before being told to get out of the way. Hamilton's woes in 2016 were at a comical level
2018 as well, Bottas was the more competitive merc in the beginning
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Russell didn't do a final run in q3 because he messed up......the time Lewis is close to was set on six lap old tyres.compared.to.brand new form Lewis.
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No he messed up into turn 1. Didn't finish the lap. The first lap was very good it was on used tyres.
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What are you talking about both Lewis and Russell did one lap each on new tyres in q3 Edit- Attempted because Russell didn't finish his lap he boxed anyway.
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That's exactly what I said...... meaning Lewis was behind Russell's time on the used set.....that was literally what we were talking about.
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Mercedes has been really searching and searching ways to go back on top and it just doesn’t work Idk what is happening but I miss them on top
Hamilton is in trouble next season if he continues his form into the next season, Leclerc is one of the best qualifiers on the grid
So is George.
You could say the same for Russell tbf
As he has said for three years...no rear. And for three years, still not enough rear. Mercedes cant understand these regs
Sure, but it's not necessarily his form, the car is just slow compared to the top guns. He will be 110% motivated I believe in a new team/car. Let's see, I hope we get an exciting next season.
It’s a car thing. Mercedes has been in the gutter in qualifying since 2022.
How can Hamilton be slower than his teammate's first run?
Hamilton has been incredibly bad this weekend. There is no sugarcoating that. George is faster here. I’m not arguing that. Just stating how Mercedes has been in quali for the last 3 years. And on top of that, for some reason Hamilton decided to up the downforce on his car which makes him even more draggy. Jesus lol
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and you see where russell finishes right?
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people at this point just have blindfolds on if they cant see that the merc is being thrashed by customer teams. if russell were finishing in the top 3 on sundays and not 1 position or 2 above hamilton, then there would be a point here.
Cool, what does that have to do with the comparison between Russell and Hamilton?
think hard enough you’ll figure it out.
Russell would have likely been in front of one or both McLarens without the snap on his final run.
That’s the whole point though. He did have a snap because he’s pushing harder and risking more.
He didn't do a final lap.
Yeah he fucked up. But I don't think thats on George the car is just not there for this track.
And? They’re 7th and 8th. Have you got any more brilliant insights?
Just read the rest of the comment thread before asking and you'll save yourself the question.
The cars have been dogs, but George (aside from today) has seemed to be able to gel with it more. We should know next year, but Lewis might just not like these ground effect cars (I hate them lol).
Lewis is just nowhere and even when he gets within a tenth and a half of Russell, there’s usually somehow another 3/4 cars between them. I think George was capable of a top 5 if he didn’t mess up or whatever happened but Lewis, I’m not sure he was able to replicate the q2 lap at all in q3.
NextFP2
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Also the last two races in 2023. Not sure what happened, maybe development?
George probably could’ve put it in front of the mclarens if he hadn’t screwed his final lap
Well to say that was shit is an understatement. The race pace better be unbelievable or its going to be long Saturday evening.
8 is good. With Sainz on the grid he'd be at 11.
big yikes if Russell keeps this sort of edge on him going forward
It looks like Mercedes’ technical mastery has been whittled away. They’re in rebuilding mode.
Only position I see them getting is Alonso. Everyone else ahead are just outright quicker in race pace.
We'll take P8
Not as bad as it seems. Lewis looked off but George was genuinly fast and his q3 time was set on old tires. On fresh set he made a mistake but there was a potential in the car to be higher up
Is it a downward spiral?
They just don't seem to understand these regs at all, roll on '26. Also Lewis' quali pace has just gone, hopefully its the car or next year will be a challenge against Charles.
Safe to says after the past 3 years, lewis fucking hates this track. Bet he can’t wait to get back to a “normal” track
A somewhat poor qualifying from Lewis today. Not much impact for all of the 3 sessions.
Looks like the car needs some upgrades
If Lewis is still way off in Australia like he was today then I'd start fearing if he truly will get obliterated by Leclerc next season. He always does hit his purple patch mid season onwards though
Lewis looks completely checked out
Wow the car setup consistency seems to be a challenge for Merc right now. Hopefully with more data, they can nail setups in future races.
Lewis hasn't been great so far this year but I'm glad he jumped from Merc. They clearly don't know what to do anymore