Long live The Silver Arrows, the Silver Arrows are dead is the cry of Toto Wolff post Canada. “The speed of Ferrari and Red Bull Racing is pretty much on our level,” proclaimed the Mercedes boss.
Lewis and Nico were both beaten into T1 by a very fast starting Sebastian Vettel at Montreal but the Mercedes Motorsport Director was quick to put some spin on the fact Lewis was able to fight for the win despite Ferrari’s rather rigid race strategy faux pas most likely the reason.
“After Monaco, Canada was another example that good teamwork pays. It could have easily been different. Both drivers lost places at the start and with the same strategy, it would become extremely difficult for Lewis to overtake Sebastian, ”
The 44-year-old Viennese asserts once again that the speed advantage of the far superior Silver Arrows has melted away after more than two years dominance: “The speed of Ferrari and Red Bull pretty much on our level. This is usually the result of stable regulations and that makes the competition tougher than ever”
Wolff cites the late duel between Rosberg and Red Bull Racing prodigy Max Verstappen as a prime example. The German tried in vain over many laps to get past the fast teenager. However, Rosberg had to fuel save at this late stage of the race as he revealed after the race in the television interview.
“It was a tough fight and the biggest problem I had was that I did not have enough fuel more. Thus, I could only attack once, then save fuel again. I was so far in the red that I really worried if I ever make it to the finish. But Max did a great job defending, very aggressive, rather at the limit, and that’s why I did not manage to pass ”
Perhaps Wolff is right and the Mercedes period of utter domination is over, the result of a natural performance convergence commonly experienced at the end period of a regs set. Perhaps we should enjoy it whilst it lasts, 2017 rule changes are around the corner and who wouldn’t bet against the financial might of Mercedes not to do dominate again?
Adrian Newey would
Sandbagging, the show must go on. That’s what my tin foil hat is telling me 😉
More like tea-bagging, he’s been inspired by Seb’s ‘hanging their balls in the pool’ quip from a few years ago…
I agree – Let’s see how the mercedes powered cars perform on the straight in Baku. I reckon 6 of the top ten will have a Merc lump on the back.
sandbagging? it for sure must be a good and effective tin foil hat.
Yep 90% effective but I am 85% sure of the sandbagging. The Mercs have always had problems following other cars so Rosb suffered in Canada,the starts have been tricky for both cars but once in clear air they can dominate,Lewis driving to the end of the Canadian Gp on a very used set of slicks keeps a Ferrari behind who had far fresher tyres and was pushing beyond his limits?. This in my book smells of a MrE and Toto conflab, don’t make the show look bad and we won’t have to change the regulations,its like poker you don’t show your hand unless your pushed, I for one would really like to see what the Mercs could really do given a free hand, I think we have only seen flashes of that cars true potential and this is coming from a Ferrari fan
FERRARI fan?, the tin foil hat you have on right now is the original hamfosi one.
As for my thinking, it is different to yours, I think that Mercedes are at the peak of their performance graph, any higher will be very difficult to go.
As for the difficulty of a car following another, I think it is the same for all.
Lulu keeping the FERRARI behind in Canada? what I had seen was more of the FERRARI keeping Lulu behind, for a car to keep another behind both have to be close to each other.
Salvu, can you enlighten me by saying who it is that you are fan of? I’ve been wondering that for a while now. I think max and red bull.
max and red bullies? you certainly keep surprising me.
Sal is a fan of whoever yours is not 😉
How about just answering the question and stop being a smart ar$e?
Yes max and red bull was my first option. Second was ferrari and kimi
@saluborg, Lewis had the measure of the gap to Seb and inho could pullout a few more seconds if needed,Seb was pushing right to the end but I think fuel had something to do with the sudden halt of progress.. believe me when I say I am no great fan of Lewis but I still have the utmost respect for his driving, to admire someone even if you don’t support them is part and parcel of F1 if we don’t we end up with scenes like the euro 2016 football, as an example,i can sit in the main grandstand at Silverstone,surrounded by a sea of silver while my sole red flag blows in the wind,do I feel threatened?have i had bottles thrown at me?..no ,I have always been welcomed and have always had a good time
In Canada fuel has to be managed more than on some other tracks, and that’s by all on the racing grid, some will have to (fuel manage) more than others, apart from having a less efficient PU (Honda), the more ICE power output the more fuel used.
@salvuborg, I thought the whole point of the Mahle Turbulent Jet Ignition that Ferrari is using is to improve efficiency and therefore extract more power from the same fuel. Presumably Mercedes has something similar from the start and the MGU-H design was partly a red herring to keep the others from figuring how to catch up.
Oddball, I agree. Hamilton’s fastest lap was on lap 68, his tyres were 44 laps old. Granted he was lighter and the track had rubbered in a lot, but still 44 laps old tyres.
We need to remember that those tyres were expected to last that long and longer.
You don’t expect someone to do a 1’15:981 on tires that had already done 44 laps compared to Seb who did a 1’16 on much fresher tires, even if they’re projected to do that many laps.
For sure!
Sometimes I think Toto says all these things just for sound bite and to give Ted and the rest something to get excited over.
And that’s from a true hamfosu.
Yeah, Mercedes dominance is over. We could see that in Baku… :-\