Listening to Hammys comments after the race has left me really concerned for the remainder of the year and more importantly next! He states with the new changes with Ferrari & Red Bull Mercedes are currently miles behind.
Frankly/ Racer, have you guys any idea what the problem is?
Something I've thought about quite a lot recently. Since Hungary it's fair to say that Mercedes have only really been outright the fastest car in Italy. From what I recall even in Belgium, when Lewis beat Seb in a straight fight, the Ferrari was arguably the fastest on race day. And yet in that space of time Lewis has opened up a very handy lead in the championship - that says quite a lot about Lewis!
As for Malaysia - there were far more legitimate questions to be asked given the high expectations set for them on that circuit. Mercedes screwed up a bit on the Friday of the Malaysian GP with a set of aero updates that didn't work. That pretty much lost them the whole of Friday. On top of that it's been said that the Mercs struggle to make their tyres work in hot conditions and given Malaysia's extreme conditions that might also have been a reason.
Mercedes and Hamilton are probably playing up their problems a bit in order to not allow complacency to seep in and are right to do so. That said it is remarkable just how diva like the Merc car is! When all things are right it's peak is higher than the rest by far (as shown by the performances at Silverstone and Italy) but it's capable of putting some stinkers in as shown in Malaysia and Bottas's struggles. The Ferrari by comparison seems a more consistent car across all circuits.
What Lewis has to do is just keep scoring good podiums. Time to start playing the percentages. Thanks to the maximum engine mode, the car is still an absolute beast over one lap so that'll surely help in giving grid position at the start. Aside from that take a leaf out of Nico's book from last year when he stayed out of trouble and only had to finish second to Lewis in the last few races of the season...and did with ease.
Edit: credit to Bottas for pursuing with the faulty aero updates in Malaysia. The extra data brought in with him running themcould only have helped the team in getting to understand them a bit better. Great team work by Valtarri.
« Last Edit: Oct 05, 2017 07:27:27 pm by Frankly, Mr Shankly »
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