Associate
Lots of noise coming out the camp, hot air or genuine chance next season
Unless they've discovered a fundamental new design philosophy or rules loophole that nobody else has spotted so far, it's hard to imagine anyone else on the grid doing much beyond closing the gap to RBR a bit.
James Allison seems pretty confident on explaining why the car acted the way it did.How many times did Hamilton confess that they didn’t understand why the 2023 car did/didn’t work as well as they expected at various tracks?
3? 4?
If they don’t fully understand why the old car behaved they way it did, you can’t really expect them to sudden rock up in March with an RBR beating car.
They’re going to go with a more ‘traditional’ concept though, and they have the funding so no reason they won’t be competitive. Ferrari, McLaren and RB will all be building on their existing foundations though so will be hard for Merc. Alpha Tauri is also going to be more of a ‘B team’ to RB than having their own concept so they might improve too.How many times did Hamilton confess that they didn’t understand why the 2023 car did/didn’t work as well as they expected at various tracks?
3? 4?
If they don’t fully understand why the old car behaved they way it did, you can’t really expect them to sudden rock up in March with an RBR beating car.
James Allison seems pretty confident on explaining why the car acted the way it did.
True, but that was always Toto talking and he was trying to pacify his drivers. The zero side pods were a disaster and jobs and reputations were on the line. When they finally got shot of the pods they still had a heavy gearbox causing drag.Merc seemed fairly confident throughout 2022 that they had cracked understanding the car at various points and got nowhere
Had Hamilton walked away with the trophy in 2021 I’d imagine a lot of British fans would have been quite happy with him moving into an Alonso type position. Mid table ambassador of the sport type thing. As it stands there’s no way round it, he deserves - and is owed his eight title and currently it still seems like Mercedes is best placed to give him that.Don't get me wrong I want to see closer battles at the top but would rather see Williams, McLaren, Ferrari to challenge RB.
But they had an absolute dog of a car in 2022 and partly this year. Yet still came second in the constructors and almost second in the WDC. They’re still doing some things better than the other teams, clearly.I think they will drop behind Ferrari, McLaren and AM to be honest. Seem to have lost the technical edge they had (possibly brain drain related, who knows).
Thats the point of their job right when in front of camera's, explain it like your not far off even if your miles behind as you dont want your drivers or fans to lose confidence in your team.James Allison seems pretty confident on explaining why the car acted the way it did.