F1 Thread

Vettel was a hot favourite as well when he went to Ferrari

 

Im not disagreeing with you, but i get the impression Hamilton is more driven. Vettel had a ridiculously brilliant start to his career and took a chance by going to the most famous team of all...probably hoping it would pay off a year or two down the line. It hasnt so far......but i dont see Hamilton leaving the current top team myself.

 

I don't see him leaving but if it was me I would after that team orders farce last weekend.

I'll make a bold statement, Mercedes will struggle to get third next year. Their whole formula is based on a powerful straight line speed engine, they were nowhere before the switch to turbo/hybrid engines.

 

I agree about Hamilton, but disagree about Mercedes next year. I think they wil still be there....but if not, i will revisit your post to congratulate you on your foresight.

 

Don't worry I'll bump my post next November

 

They only bought out Brawn in 2010. Before that they won quite a bit in the 50's when they last competed......

They have won 3 WDC's and 3 WCC's in 6 years. Not many teams can boast that. And their engines in the back of Brawn's and McLaren's have been winning races, WDC's and WCC's before then. Since 1997 actually. Hardly 'nowhere'.

 

I don't think their form in the 50's has any bearing on what they've done since coming back into F1.

I was talking about the Mercedes team, who before the switch to turbo/hybrid engines weren't challenging for anything. It's fairly obvious it's their engine which has been the factor of their dominance, *, it's only mentioned about 100 times every race F1 regulations over the last few years have put more emphasis on power and less on aerodynamics, in 2017 it's going completely the opposite way.

To answer the Brawn and McLaren argument, yes they had Mercedes engines but the Brawn GP won races because of its early season double diffuser advantage, it struggled after other teams caught up and had their own. McLaren have always had a peak downforce philosophy in building their cars since Adrian Newey was there in 1997, it's always been an aerodynamics based car. So yes they can take credit from having their engines in winning cars but they didn't build the whole package.

 

As a constructor they finished 2nd to Red Bull/Vettel in 2013 (before Hybrids) in the Drivers and Constructors. It was coming. They were building momentum. They had the best engine before the Hybrids and the best after. It's just that their Hybrid is so good in comparison to the other teams rather * efforts the gap got massively wider. Red Bull and Ferrari although having slightly weaker engines could negate this with drivers and Aero. But with the gap now so big thanks to the Hybrid the other teams are relying on freak results and now, rule changes.
They have had the best engines in F1 for a decade and only Renault (1994-1996), BMW (2001-2005) and Ferrari (2002-2006) have out done them in reliability, power and performance since they came back to F1 in the mid-90's with Sauber and then McLaren.

I agree with what your saying mate but i don't think it's fair to say they are having some sort of purple patch do to a freak rule. It's way more than that.
I hope Honda can get the engine how they know it should be and Ferrari and Red Bull can close the gap next year to a * paper. I don't particularly like Mercedes as a team but they are to be respected for the last 20 years and not like some flash in the pan.

 

Bye bye Bernie.

http://www.stuff.co.nz/sport/motors...a-over-as-chase-carey-takes-the-reins--report

 

https://www.theguardian.com/sport/blog/2017/feb/09/f1-rule-changes-mercedes-mark-webber-patrick-head

 

Sauber 2017 car

 

Williams 2017 car

 

Renault 2017 car

 

Looks like a DeWalt.

 

Force India 2017 car

#

 

Mercedes 2017 car

 

Meet the new car!
Same as the old car!

 

I dunno...looks pretty hot to me!