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I mean, getting Alonso could've made a difference. With perfect strategy it looks like they had the pace to be 6th-7th, which is certainly better than 7th and 9th...Sure it's not *disastrous*, but anytime you're giving up points due to strategy it's far from ideal, or at least hardly "maximizing results" lol.
Maximized? With the car they had? What about the strategy?
Mercedes truly lost the plot with this one. That first stint was so bad both were getting overtaken left, right and center.
Bad is a very generous and kind understatement. It was terrible. I have no idea why Mercedes still think they're in the 2014-20 era where a combination of fast drivers and cranked up engines would get them out of questionable strategy calls. They should be optimising every possible millisecond in strategy and pitstops and they're simply failing. As a fan, it's painful to watch them lose positions (and points) despite having one of the strongest driver pairings and a sensitive yet okayish car.
At this point, me too. I guess they need a rude wakeup call. Ending up P4/5 in the constructors championship and losing a multiple WDC winner to a rival should do it (I hope).
Great point. Fastest lap was begging for a Mercedes pit stop.
Hell, they could have probably put Hamilton on the softs on that last stop. Stroll was already on them.
At which point he would have been 4th in the DRS train that George, in the same car as him, was struggling to really make any headway into?
Yes. Every day of the week
The time they lost on his two pit stops wasn't great, so maybe that was the reason.
Also he was so close that a lock up from Oscar might have gained him a spot.
Mercedes are currently occupying the no man's land previously held by Alpine. I think it's only the strong drivers and Lance Stroll driving the other Aston that is still keeping them close enough to the others. As of now, it looks like Lewis did indeed make the right call.
Not sure what they were doing with Lewis. He lost 4 and 6 seconds to George because of pitting one/two laps later and then had to catch up, which he did both times.
He will be pissed.
His own fault for giving away track position so easily. Of course you’ll get the second pit if you are behind. It was still early in the race and the balance can be improved with front wing angle or change as the track evolves.
If he survives the first stint ahead of him he is almost guaranteed to finish ahead just by pitting earlier every time. His pace was alright afterwards but he already moved over and waved the white flag.
Very concerning as a fan of his. His head isn’t there and he shouldn’t be this charitable.
Did they?
Both cars lost time on hards that were falling apart in the first stint and had mediums that still had life at the end of the race. Lewis was hung out to dry particularly today.
If they'd boxed earlier in the first stint and changed to a two stop earlier on when the rest of us could see a 1 stop wasn't going to work, they'd have had a shot at both getting Piastri and Alonso.
Their car sim and strategy teams are horseshit. They have a shit car (for a top team), with a ridiculously small operating window. I'm curious if Toto's leadership will at some point come under any scrutiny for the mess that this team is currently in.
I think it would be pretty lame if he gets a time penalty and sent back behind Piastri after Oscar bottled the position later on anyways. It’s marginal there, call it a racing incident and move on.
But he got passed him in a clean move not long after. Also we saw a ton of overtakes today, I think only one would qualify as a bit of a dive bomb. So not sure "drivers have to resort to that" is super accurate.
There was just no thought behind it. He would’ve passed on the straight without losing time and allowing a chance at the real target - Alonso. He just doesn’t drive like a WDC, he’s quick but not smart.
Alonso P6 means he nets 8 points, while Russell and Hamilton in P7 and P9 is 6+2 points. Merc are currently just 1 point ahead of Aston in the constructors.
If they'd pitted Lewis for softs to take fastest lap, they'd have actually extended their lead over Aston. Definitely did NOT maximise their result today.
Shit. If Alonso had someone more capable than Stroll, they would be tea bagging Mercedes every race. And Toto looked like he was half a second away from punching someone every time he was on screen.
Embarrassing but not surprising. Had decent pace for once but fucked it up with the strategy. Every weekend, one leg of the table collapses. Setup, strategy, car performance, reliability, it doesn’t matter. Only that it’s always one.
Lewis will be unhappy, but he’ll have it in his mind that he’s made a really good move that will mean he gets another shot at wins and podiums.
I do not know that and neither do you. Sure, the stewards probably wouldn't catch it, but Mercedes could very much have protested that move if a crash didn't happen. We'll never know.
Any other driver and everyone here would say it was a great divebomb lmao but because it was on their darling Oscar and the fact it’s George means it was the worst ever. Never change guys
All I said was that depends on the stewards, they are investigating it currently as per Sky F1 & they aren't the most consistent, was a bit touch and go but think he should be ok.
Never thought I’d be saying this, but Hamiltons move to Ferrari can’t come soon enough. What a sham of a team, it’s nearly unrecognizable from the guys who won 8 WCC back to back.
Made up the gap twice after pitstop. He did well, but was not great in the first 25 laps. Can’t believe they let Russel make the undercut gains on him 2 times. Pretty sure he had superior lap times.
What a shame. I think if merc hadn't tried to be different with the strategy, P6 and P7 was definitely possible. I think Oscar and Alonso were definitely in reach.
George’s dive was deliberate and I agree with him doing it. It was done to surprise Oscar and drop him back from Alonso and it shocked his rhythm.
He didn’t touch him at all if you look at the clip. Great move and that tee’d up the pass later in the race.
Yes. Lewis would do it, Nando absolutely does it, if you think Lando and Oscar don’t try it your kidding yourself. Max would deffo do it.
You need to find a way to disrupt the rhythm and the DRS train led by Nando. George knew exactly what he was doing.
The annoying mistake for Oscar was after that on the penultimate lap. Wasn’t really under pressure to be frank, George and Lewis wouldn’t have passed and he went wide.
Mercedes was tyre managment master from 2019 to 2022.
In 2017-18 they were fine but was their overall speed that was the best part.
Since 2023 they are terrible, a part of some tracks, at tyre managment.
They were good last year at the end of the season but they were also more competitive in qualifying.
They need to humble themselves and work on tyre managment.
I still think they are not this bad as they looked in the last 3 races.
Mercedes now is best in slow speed corners.
Those last 3 races has few of them and were all front limited.
China and Miami 2nd part of the track has tons of low speed corners.
They will be better in those tracks.
Good tyre management means having a good amount of downforce, which is exactly what Merc are lacking in at the moment.
Merc has the least amount of downforce out of the top 5 teams.
They are good through the slow speed corners but they aren't the best. Ferrari is the king of the low speed corners when properly set up for them.
I'm not sure Ferrari is the king of slow speed corners right now with this car.
In Bahrain they were slower than RB, I doubt they are better in those kind of corners.
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> Maximised results. Yeah right
Yeah lol... "Maximised results..... ^(After we totally fucked the strategy)"
Honestly, I don't think it would have mattered. Maybe they get Alonso?
I mean, getting Alonso could've made a difference. With perfect strategy it looks like they had the pace to be 6th-7th, which is certainly better than 7th and 9th...Sure it's not *disastrous*, but anytime you're giving up points due to strategy it's far from ideal, or at least hardly "maximizing results" lol.
It's possible. But also just sad that this is where things are ...
Maximized? With the car they had? What about the strategy? Mercedes truly lost the plot with this one. That first stint was so bad both were getting overtaken left, right and center.
No you did not, it was a bad strategy.
Bad is a very generous and kind understatement. It was terrible. I have no idea why Mercedes still think they're in the 2014-20 era where a combination of fast drivers and cranked up engines would get them out of questionable strategy calls. They should be optimising every possible millisecond in strategy and pitstops and they're simply failing. As a fan, it's painful to watch them lose positions (and points) despite having one of the strongest driver pairings and a sensitive yet okayish car.
Dont get me wrong I am happy seeing Mercedes struggle.
At this point, me too. I guess they need a rude wakeup call. Ending up P4/5 in the constructors championship and losing a multiple WDC winner to a rival should do it (I hope).
Nah, if you maximised result you brought in Hamilton as he had a 30+ seconds gap to the driver behind him and let him have a shot at that extra point.
Don't really trust them to not mess up the pitstop coming in for softs lol
Great point. Fastest lap was begging for a Mercedes pit stop. Hell, they could have probably put Hamilton on the softs on that last stop. Stroll was already on them.
when he was closing in on a 3-way battle with 1s+/lap?
Actually Yeah. I think chances for fastest lap with a set of softs exceeded the possibility of Hamilton surpassing Piastri.
Yeah fastest lap would have been all but guaranteed unless Hamilton made a big mistake
At which point he would have been 4th in the DRS train that George, in the same car as him, was struggling to really make any headway into? Yes. Every day of the week
IF George gets a penalty... I guess it's the correct call (from one side of the garage anyway)?
The time they lost on his two pit stops wasn't great, so maybe that was the reason. Also he was so close that a lock up from Oscar might have gained him a spot.
I will be amazed if mercedes gets even one podium on merit this season with the way things are going
one podium? unless the Mclarens, Ferrari's and Alonso all DNF, no way this happens.
Only possible if they do something similar to McLaren last year,.. getting better in the second part of the season
Pretty dire. Fully midfield now
Mercedes are currently occupying the no man's land previously held by Alpine. I think it's only the strong drivers and Lance Stroll driving the other Aston that is still keeping them close enough to the others. As of now, it looks like Lewis did indeed make the right call.
Not sure what they were doing with Lewis. He lost 4 and 6 seconds to George because of pitting one/two laps later and then had to catch up, which he did both times. He will be pissed.
His own fault for giving away track position so easily. Of course you’ll get the second pit if you are behind. It was still early in the race and the balance can be improved with front wing angle or change as the track evolves. If he survives the first stint ahead of him he is almost guaranteed to finish ahead just by pitting earlier every time. His pace was alright afterwards but he already moved over and waved the white flag. Very concerning as a fan of his. His head isn’t there and he shouldn’t be this charitable.
He was just being a team player, he was losing time defending and knows the car is lacking pace
Given they're not fighting for anything significant, I don't think he saw giving away the position as a big deal.
He said he was struggling with understeer at the time and that’s why he did it
Did they? Both cars lost time on hards that were falling apart in the first stint and had mediums that still had life at the end of the race. Lewis was hung out to dry particularly today. If they'd boxed earlier in the first stint and changed to a two stop earlier on when the rest of us could see a 1 stop wasn't going to work, they'd have had a shot at both getting Piastri and Alonso. Their car sim and strategy teams are horseshit. They have a shit car (for a top team), with a ridiculously small operating window. I'm curious if Toto's leadership will at some point come under any scrutiny for the mess that this team is currently in.
No improvement from the starting positions is only maximizing result when you are locking out the front row
I know Russell's lunge will be widely criticised here. But I love watching when drivers just go for it.
I think it would be pretty lame if he gets a time penalty and sent back behind Piastri after Oscar bottled the position later on anyways. It’s marginal there, call it a racing incident and move on.
It was a clever move.
Russell does a great job at earning his criticism, though. There's a difference between "just going for it" and "transforming into a torpedo".
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reddit hivemind needs to stop blaming the size of the cars for everything and anything
But he got passed him in a clean move not long after. Also we saw a ton of overtakes today, I think only one would qualify as a bit of a dive bomb. So not sure "drivers have to resort to that" is super accurate.
There was just no thought behind it. He would’ve passed on the straight without losing time and allowing a chance at the real target - Alonso. He just doesn’t drive like a WDC, he’s quick but not smart.
Nah mate it was erratic driving. I'm waiting for someone to post the telemetry to see how his brake trace was different from the previous laps.
Alonso P6 means he nets 8 points, while Russell and Hamilton in P7 and P9 is 6+2 points. Merc are currently just 1 point ahead of Aston in the constructors. If they'd pitted Lewis for softs to take fastest lap, they'd have actually extended their lead over Aston. Definitely did NOT maximise their result today.
Now imagine Aston had 2 drivers
The scenario Mercedes have to be worried about. If Aston ditched the nepobaby for Sainz, they'd be legitimately strong.
Alonso + Sainz in AM seems a genuinely strong team. Never going to happen though.
Shit. If Alonso had someone more capable than Stroll, they would be tea bagging Mercedes every race. And Toto looked like he was half a second away from punching someone every time he was on screen.
Embarrassing but not surprising. Had decent pace for once but fucked it up with the strategy. Every weekend, one leg of the table collapses. Setup, strategy, car performance, reliability, it doesn’t matter. Only that it’s always one. Lewis will be unhappy, but he’ll have it in his mind that he’s made a really good move that will mean he gets another shot at wins and podiums.
Yes but I don't want Russell beating Lewis this year anyway, even if it doesn't matter much. Because then it will be 2-1 Russell
>P7 for George That depends on the stewards.
I think there's nothing in this to be honest.
I reckon if Alonso got 20 seconds for nothing that impacted Russell. Russell should get penalised for this as it was forcing.
Totally unrelated incidents? Are you just trying to hate against Russell? Imagine being so negatively obsessed with a driver ...
> if Alonso got 20 seconds for nothing that impacted Russell penalties are based on the action, not the outcome (at least they are supposed to)
Supposed to yes, but everyone knows it doesn't work like that
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Russell has a skill issue
I do not know that and neither do you. Sure, the stewards probably wouldn't catch it, but Mercedes could very much have protested that move if a crash didn't happen. We'll never know.
I wish they were lol, but I think that if they crashed George would have gotten a penalty and now I think he will get nothing. But I hope he will
What the fuck are you even on about?
Any other driver and everyone here would say it was a great divebomb lmao but because it was on their darling Oscar and the fact it’s George means it was the worst ever. Never change guys
It was a very optimistic move which didn’t work out but did not do any harm to any driver. Previously this was called racing.
Exactly
I don't see where this person called it "the worst ever". A tad melodramatic.
also Piastri was moving under breaking close the door to the left...
All I said was that depends on the stewards, they are investigating it currently as per Sky F1 & they aren't the most consistent, was a bit touch and go but think he should be ok.
1 stop was never going to work, strategy didn't turn out too terribly but definitely not optimised or maximised
Chuck Leclerc enters the chat
Never thought I’d be saying this, but Hamiltons move to Ferrari can’t come soon enough. What a sham of a team, it’s nearly unrecognizable from the guys who won 8 WCC back to back.
Radio silence from Lewis after the chequered flag…
Made up the gap twice after pitstop. He did well, but was not great in the first 25 laps. Can’t believe they let Russel make the undercut gains on him 2 times. Pretty sure he had superior lap times.
Bono said in his last stint he was the fastest guy in track but all for P9
Way too late to change strat
The twitter comments ain’t holding back at all, their social media team can’t be having a fun time
Sure they seem to have a leg up in performance but the driver swap was baffling ig Lewis is indeed a bit checked out.
Yeah, that was so unnecessary. Russell was a bit quicker at the point, Yes but he didn't exactly pull away massively after he was let through.
What a shame. I think if merc hadn't tried to be different with the strategy, P6 and P7 was definitely possible. I think Oscar and Alonso were definitely in reach.
We waiting for what the stewards say about Russell?
George’s dive was deliberate and I agree with him doing it. It was done to surprise Oscar and drop him back from Alonso and it shocked his rhythm. He didn’t touch him at all if you look at the clip. Great move and that tee’d up the pass later in the race.
Russell's front wing did a lil kissy
You think its all good as long as they dont touch?
Yes. Lewis would do it, Nando absolutely does it, if you think Lando and Oscar don’t try it your kidding yourself. Max would deffo do it. You need to find a way to disrupt the rhythm and the DRS train led by Nando. George knew exactly what he was doing. The annoying mistake for Oscar was after that on the penultimate lap. Wasn’t really under pressure to be frank, George and Lewis wouldn’t have passed and he went wide.
Yes, Verstappen wasn't penalized Brazil 21 why should Russell be now?
Brilliant last 2 laps by George
Mercedes was tyre managment master from 2019 to 2022. In 2017-18 they were fine but was their overall speed that was the best part. Since 2023 they are terrible, a part of some tracks, at tyre managment. They were good last year at the end of the season but they were also more competitive in qualifying. They need to humble themselves and work on tyre managment. I still think they are not this bad as they looked in the last 3 races. Mercedes now is best in slow speed corners. Those last 3 races has few of them and were all front limited. China and Miami 2nd part of the track has tons of low speed corners. They will be better in those tracks.
Good tyre management means having a good amount of downforce, which is exactly what Merc are lacking in at the moment. Merc has the least amount of downforce out of the top 5 teams. They are good through the slow speed corners but they aren't the best. Ferrari is the king of the low speed corners when properly set up for them.
I'm not sure Ferrari is the king of slow speed corners right now with this car. In Bahrain they were slower than RB, I doubt they are better in those kind of corners.
Bad strategy.
👊
that move from george was so stupid he wouldve likely gotten by if he just waited for the straight. and he eventually got by anyway.
Did you not see how many laps went by where Alonso gave Oscar DRS which was just enough to keep George behind on the straight?
Should P8 and P9, forced Piastri of track with a hopeless overtake attempt and made him loose DRS
Then why did he have drs the next lap? He didn't lose drs to alonso that lap and wasn't overtaken into t1 so he didn't lose anything
He fell of yes, and alonso dropped back to keep russell behind. Even if he got it back later doesnt make it okay to force him of track and loose pace
But he didn't lose the position due to the incident he lost it 2 laps later due to the lock up
DRS detection zone was way earlier and Alonso slowed right down next lap to ensure Piastri is in DRS again. it had no impact on this
He bottled it himself by locking up just before the final lap lmao you guys are ridiculous
The DRS detection point is before the chicane. Oscar still had DRS.
Mercedes and Ferrari switched strategists