It didn’t look good for Mercedes during pre-season testing. Since they won a host of titles, this year saw the FIA make most significant changes to the car design. Whilst the team completed the most laps, their best lap time was even slower than Mick Schumacher’s.
In Bahrain before the season opener Mercedes super star driver, Lewis Hamilton was asked whether he thought the team were incapable of providing him with a car fit to win an 8th drivers’ championship.
“Why would I feel that way? Why would I ever think that? We’ve won eight in a row. Why would I ever feel that way?”
When challenged by a paddock pundit who suggested the team could have made a mistake with the car design, Lewis retorted: “My team don’t make mistakes. Of course there is always a risk. We don’t make mistakes. We’ve got a lot of intelligent people back in the factory, I trust them 100%. And whatever we start with today, good or bad, we’ll work through it. We’ve always had a great development plan to work towards.”
Lewis must feel a little foolish right now.
In the words of Julia Roberts – and no it’s not “Edward George? My favourite name in the whole world” – rather Mercedes have in fact made a “Big mistake. Big. Huge.”
Of course it’s not unreasonable for Lewis to demand of Toto “I want the fairy tale” from an F1 car to claim an 8th drivers’ F1 title.
The he again, others believe he could pull his finger out and at least match his team mate’s performance; then the ex-world champion Mercedes’ driver may just ‘rescue them right back’.
As a Hamilton fan it has been painful this season, the MB car is dreadful and Hamilton seems to be somewhere else. It makes me think that when he disappeared for a while he should have stayed there until he was 100%. It pains me to see him like this but in my mind he is still seven times WTC but right now he needs help and until he gets it he should stay away from a racing car.
Anyone who thinks Mercedes’ engine department is lying back and doing nothing is deranged. I hope other engines are absolutely legal.
Yes, Mercedes Engines are masterclass. The engines in the last four races of 2021 are proof enough.
And the best part of their art is that they never got caught for illegality.
The FIA inspectors would not dare declare them illegal. The Wolf will see to it.
This year has shown how deserved the knighthood was for BallsTerrier!
Some nuance here… That engine was indeed extremely good in the last races of ’21 but… it only kept that level for a few races. The degradation in performance per race was much higher than the Honda. They found that out by using Bottas as guinee pig replacing engines almost every race in the 2nd half of the season. With that knowledge they could arm LH for the seasons finale.
You do realise that other than ‘reliability’ updates, these engines are frozen till the end of 2025?
If they’re not lying back, they might as well be because the only thing they can work is the 2026 design