Mercedes

Hamilton admits Red Bull are ‘too quick’ after Friday practice

Kevin Peterson03 mins

Mercedes team secured a one-two in the first practice session at the Mexican Grand Prix on Friday, but that glory was short-lived as Red Bull’s Max Verstappen outperformed both Lewis Hamilton and Valtteri Bottas in FP2. The defending world champion got candid about the situation and admitted that his championship rival may simply be too quick this weekend. The Autodromo Hermanos Rodriguez has always seen strong performances from the Red Bull, and this weekend may not be any different. Hamilton knows that he needs to step up his game, with even his teammate Bottas trumping him in both the practice sessions so far. More significantly, Verstappen was half a second quicker in FP2. “They’re definitely too quick for us at the moment,” Lewis Hamilton said after the session, before adding that he still feels like they have a strong chance to keep pace with the Red Bulls. “The car has been feeling OK. I’ve not really had any major issues,” he said. Lewis Hamilton is always one to stay positive, but his honest assessment reveals that the Red Bulls currently have an advantage. “We’re giving it absolutely everything we’ve got, and I think they are just quicker than us at the moment,” he said, before pointing to their lack of downforce as a possible culprit. He then assured that the Mercedes team will be busy finding a solution to the pace disadvantage. Bottas also spoke up and complained about low grip on his car. He said that it was a dusty track and that made things more difficult for him and his teammate. Nevertheless, practice pace is often not necessarily reflective of race pace. The Mercedes drivers have always been strong for the long haul on Sunday, and the tight results of the practice sessions make it impossible to predict which team will be dominant on Saturday qualifying and on the main race on Sunday.

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Mexican GP FP1: Bottas tops Mercedes 1-2 as Hamilton is under investigation for track limits breach

Kevin Peterson05 mins

Valtteri Bottas kicked off the Mexican Grand Prix weekend by setting the fastest time in opening practice, ahead of Mercedes Formula 1 teammate Lewis Hamilton. Dusty conditions and a green track made for challenging, low grip conditions for the drivers, but Bottas appeared unfazed as he lit up the timesheets with a 1m18.341s to finish 0.076s clear of Hamilton. Hamilton, who heads into the weekend trialing Max Verstappen in the world championship by 12 points, has been summoned to see the stewards in Mexico City between practice sessions for a track limits incident. The seven-time world champion ran wide at Turn 1 before rejoining at Turn 3 in a moment early on during the first practice session at the Autodromo Hermanos Rodriguez. Hamilton reported over team radio that he “couldn’t slow down there” but he will be investigated after FP1 for failing to follow race director Michael Masi’s notes which state that drivers must return to the track by going around the left hand side of the Turn 3 bollard, which Hamilton did not do. However, it is unlikely Hamilton will be given anything more than a reprimand for the transgression. Hamilton’s title rival Verstappen was just 0.123s off the pace as he took third, ahead of Red Bull teammate Sergio Perez, who finished 0.269s down. Home hero Perez recovered from an early setback to his weekend when he missed track running after hitting the Turn 16 barriers following a spin early in the session. He was able to return to the action for the final 20 minutes. AlphaTauri’s Pierre Gasly was fifth-fastest and the final driver to get within a second of Bottas’ benchmark time. Behind Gasly was Ferrari’s Carlos Sainz, Fernando Alonso and Charles Leclerc, who like Perez suffered rear wing damage with an off at Turn 16. Esteban Ocon ensured both Alpine cars finished inside the top 10, which was completed by Sebastian Vettel’s Aston Martin. During the session it was confirmed that both Yuki Tsunoda (11th) and Lance Stroll (13th) will start this weekend’s race from the back of the grid after taking new power unit elements. 2021 F1 MEXICO CITY GRAND PRIX – FREE PRACTICE RESULTS (1) POS DRIVER NAT. TEAM TIME 1 Valtteri Bottas FIN Mercedes AMG Petronas Formula One Team 1m18.341s 2 Lewis Hamilton GBR Mercedes AMG Petronas Formula One Team 1m18.417s 3 Max Verstappen NED Red Bull Racing 1m18.464s 4 Sergio Perez MEX Red Bull Racing 1m18.610s 5 Pierre Gasly FRA Scuderia AlphaTauri Honda 1m18.985s 6 Carlos Sainz ESP Scuderia Ferrari Mission Winnow 1m19.463s 7 Fernando Alonso CHI Alpine F1 Team 1m19.656s 8 Charles Leclerc MON Scuderia Ferrari Mission Winnow 1m19.667s 9 Esteban Ocon FRA Alpine F1 Team 1m19.795s 10 Sebastian Vettel GER Aston Martin Cognizant Formula One Team 1m19.858s 11 Yuki Tsunoda JPN Scuderia AlphaTauri Honda 1m20.011s 12 Kimi Raikkonen FIN Alfa Romeo Racing Orlen 1m20.026s 13 Lance Stroll CAN Aston Martin Cognizant Formula One Team 1m20.030s 14 Daniel Ricciardo AUS McLaren F1 Team 1m20.273s 15 Lando Norris GBR McLaren F1 Team 1m20.301s 16 Antonio Giovinazzi GBR Alfa Romeo Racing Orlen 1m20.344s 17 George Russell ISR Williams Racing 1m20.517s 18 Nicholas Latifi CAN Williams Racing 1m21.580s 19 Mick Schumacher GER Uralkali Haas F1 Team 1m22.144s 20 Nikita Mazepin RUS Uralkali Haas F1 Team 1m22.819s

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Mercedes rear suspension is not ‘illegal’- Mattia Binotto

Kevin Peterson04 mins

Ferrari team boss Mattia Binotto says there is nothing “wrong or illegal” with the rear suspension of Mercedes’ W12. Mercedes’ suspension made headlines last month when Red Bull were said to have questioned it. According to Auto Motor und Sport, Red Bull “made the FIA take a closer look at the rear suspension of the Silver Arrows” in regard to its legality. The FIA investigation was “inconclusive” with seven other teams having the same suspension, some “apparently even more radically than Mercedes”. One of those teams being Ferrari. As such it is no wonder that Binotto says there is nothing wrong with the Mercedes design. “Honestly I’m not too interested in this discussion,” the Italian said when asked about Red Bull’s queries. “I’m not really following them, I heard about it. “I do not see anything wrong or illegal in that. I mean I’m even not somehow surprised the way the car behaves.” McLaren team boss Andreas Seidl also isn’t concerned that Mercedes are running an illegal design. “To be honest, I only saw, I think the Sky video when the analysis was done,” he said as per Autosport, “but we didn’t spend any energy yet on on this topic. “We have enough to do just focusing on ourselves and executing a good race weekend. “So let’s chat a bit about it again in a week’s time, once we have looked into this as a team. And if there’s actually something behind it or it is just a ghost which is going through the paddock at the moment.” Speaking after the Turkish Grand Prix, Red Bull team boss Christian Horner voiced his suspicious about the Mercedes suspension. But, he added, while he fears it will give Mercedes an advantage, he does not believe it is illegal. “It will have more effect on one straight than the other,” he told Sky Sports. “On a circuit like Jeddah, I think it will bring them a lot. “Based on what we’ve seen now, I don’t believe it’s illegal and I see no reason to make a protest.” As for Mercedes, Toto Wolff called Red Bull’s complaints “noise”. “I think we recognise absolutely this is a sport where competitors will always try to find out if there is some kind of silver bullet,” said Wolff. “My experience is there is no such thing, it’s all the small gains, marginal gains that have been added and bring performance. “We are trying to really comprehend our car better and add performance in lap time without listening too much to the noise.”

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Red Bull will not protest Mercedes rear suspension trick

Kevin Peterson04 mins

Red Bull boss Christian Horner says Red Bull have no plans to protest against Mercedes’ rear suspension ‘trick’, which came to light at the United States Grand Prix. TV footage emerged over the weekend of the rear of the Mercedes, a high-rake concept car, dropping to the ground as the car increases in speed. This essentially stalls the airflow under the car and would contribute to a higher top speed. Red Bull team boss Horner and advisor Helmut Marko both noted Mercedes’ apparent straight-line speed gains following the Turkish GP, with Horner then making reference to a “system” during practice in Austin. Despite the initial furore, Horner ruled out the possibility of Red Bull lodging a protest. “We’ve never said we don’t think it’s legal, so therefore there’d be absolutely no reason to protest,” Horner told the media. Horner did note, however, that the system could play a key role at certain tracks during the title run-in. After the “extreme version” seen in Turkey, the system was limited by the high-speed, bumpy nature of the Circuit of the Americas, but Horner reckons the Jeddah Street Circuit is one venue where it could shine. “It’s something that has been used historically. We’ve seen it with them in the past, but obviously what we saw in Turkey was quite an extreme version of it, which that circuit seemed to allow,” He added.“It will have a greater influence at some tracks than others. It was a reduced effect here [in Austin]. At somewhere like Jeddah, for example, it could be quite powerful.” Mercedes boss Toto Wolff had already dismissed the “noise” from Red Bull earlier in the US GP weekend. “We recognise absolutely that this is a sport where competitors will always try to find out whether there is some kind of silver bullet,” he told the press. “My experience is there is no such thing. It’s always small gains, marginal gains, that have been added and then bring performance. And we’re trying to really comprehend our car better and add performance and lap time without listening too much to the noise.”

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Red Bull wants FIA to inspect Mercedes rear suspension

Kevin Peterson05 mins

Red Bull are reported to have asked the FIA to examine the Mercedes rear suspension, which Christian Horner discussed in Austin. Horner, the Red Bull team principal, made reference to a “straight-line device” that lowers the rear of the car, increasing the top speed of the W12 and which he believed had helped Mercedes considerably at the Turkish Grand Prix won by Valtteri Bottas. Now, Auto Motor und Sport are reporting Red Bull “made the FIA take a closer look at the rear suspension of the Silver Arrows” in regard to its legality – but that the “investigation was inconclusive”. However, rather than being an innovation, the report says seven other teams do the same thing, some “apparently even more radically than Mercedes” – and that Ferrari have admitted it has been a “normal set-up tool” of theirs for years. Also, that Mercedes “have had this system on board for years”, with the rear axle unchanged since the start of the 2020 season. An engineer is quoted as saying: “It was one of the homologated parts for us. We couldn’t change it at all. So the effects have always remained the same.” Auto Motor und Sport quote Horner as saying the effect of the ‘device’ was reduced at Austin, venue for the US Grand Prix, compared to the previous circuits of Sochi and Istanbul Park where Lewis Hamilton and Bottas respectively were the winners. “The advantage varies from track to track,” said Horner. “Here [Austin] it is less because there are enough fast corners where you can’t lower the rear too far without losing downforce. So they can’t benefit that much on the straights either. “At Sochi and Istanbul it was possible. Mercedes took seven tenths off us on the straights.” Toto Wolff said on the opening day of action in Austin that talk about the ‘device’ was just “noise” – and the Mercedes team principal appeared amused that the World Championship rivals were bothering themselves with a matter he clearly considered to be somewhat trivial. “As long as they want to waste their energies on something like that, it can only be fine with us,” Wolff is quoted as saying. But the report concludes by saying that even if nothing untoward was found on the Mercedes, Red Bull did at least succeed in taking up the valuable time of some of their rivals’ personnel that could have otherwise been spent elsewhere. Mercedes did change the floor of their cars after Friday’s practices but that, it is said, was more to do with the height than a reaction to Red Bull’s request. Wolff conceded at the time that it cost Mercedes pace, with Max Verstappen taking both pole position and the United States GP win.

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Title fight is taking a toll on Mercedes – Marko

Kevin Peterson03 mins

Red Bull’s advisor Dr Helmut Marko claims Mercedes is suffering from engine problems as a direct result of the fight for the 2021 championship title with Red Bull. There are reports that Mercedes driver Lewis Hamilton will be starting the Turkish GP at the back of the grid this weekend because of an unscheduled engine change. However, according to reliable resources from a Mercedes insider, the engine change for Hamilton this weekend at Istanbul will not be happening. It is likely to happen during United States or Mexican Grand Prix. “It probably won’t happen in Turkey unless Lewis has a problem there, we expect a close race against Red Bull,” the source said. “But then it (the engine change) has to be done. We’re trying to do it on a track where we are either particularly strong or weak or when it rains.” “Mexico will be a Red Bull circuit because of the altitude, and maybe also Interlagos.” According to Marko, Mercedes has been plagued by the engine issues as a result of the close and intense battle for the championship with Red Bull. “Mercedes used to have an easy time,” the 78-year-old said. “They accelerated in the first few laps and then turned the engines down. That is no longer possible.” “Now they have to drive more often and for longer in a higher mode. And then the problems come,” he added. Through Red Bull sources, Mercedes’ engine problem comes from the crankshaft and the valve seats which affect the horsepower when the engine mileage continues counting. Mercedes boss Toto Wolf said there is a high possibility that Hamilton’s engine will be changed. “It’s small things but unfortunately they’re always different. There is no clearly recognisable pattern.”

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