[Team] Mercedes: Will they ever dominate again?

[chillibowl]

As their new Hamilton or new Lauda?

[Richard C]

Originally Posted by chillibowl

As their new Hamilton or new Lauda?

Exactly. I just don't see him coming back to drive in F1 and even if he did, I also don't see one of the top three teams picking him up. I can see Vettel in some type of F1 team role (ala Lauda, Marko). I think he might excel at that.

As to driving, it seems like Vettel is trying to decide if he wants to give prototypes a go or not. He recently was testing the Porsche 963 WEC hypercar. I have to wonder if he is deciding to step on any merry-go-round at all be it as driver or in any other capacity. Or... just to continue to live the retired life.

Richard

[GTRMagic]

So…. If Andrea Kimi Antonelli is picked up as Mr Hamilton’s replacement.. will the team be strong from an experience and technical development standpoint moving forward?

[E.B]

Originally Posted by Richard C

As to driving, it seems like Vettel is trying to decide if he wants to give prototypes a go or not. He recently was testing the Porsche 963 WEC hypercar. I have to wonder if he is deciding to step on any merry-go-round at all be it as driver or in any other capacity. Or... just to continue to live the retired life.

Richard

Worth considering also is that F1 wont have anything close to fully sustainable fuel until at least 2026, and even then I suspect it might not end up being 100%. Seb can jump into a prototype now, without fear of hyprocrisy labels, given his own eco agenda of which sustainable fuel in right up at or near the top of his list, and the fact that WEC already use 100% sustainable fuel as I understand it. (His own personal F1 cars that he demos are all converted to run on 100% sustainable fuel)

Also the full WEC Calendar is just 8 events, and he can fit in to a part time programme that would cover just the 3 driver longer races, thus not impacting on a 2 driver team in the shorter enduros.

Of course the fewer events of WEC, even full time, gives him the extended family time he and his family yearn for, something which a 24 race promo heavy F1 schedule wont give him.

I cannot see Seb returning to a full time F1 schedule. It flies in the face of too many reasons of why he chose to retire. Reasons that have strengthened not mellowed since his F1 retirement.

[chillibowl]

Originally Posted by GTRMagic

So…. If Andrea Kimi Antonelli is picked up as Mr Hamilton’s replacement.. will the team be strong from an experience and technical development standpoint moving forward?

over the last few seasons, Hamilton has been fairly vocal about how the team haven't really listened to him when it comes to the development of their car.

for sure translating that advice into something the engineers can turn into workable solutions and where that balance should be is a topic all unto itself but it seems, based solely on Ham's comments, that Merc dont really rely on their drivers for technical development?

so just my opinion, and this is no knock on GR (yet), but a rookie plus an incumbent who has never had a chance to fight for an F1 title is a lineup light on experience and inferring from Ham's comments, their development input wont be much valued either. so imo no, not a strong standpoint going forward unfortunately.

[peebee2]

Russell and Antonelli would for sure likely be one of the weakest 2025 line ups if it came to pass, which I doubt.

[Skam85]

Originally Posted by peebee2

Russell and Antonelli would for sure likely be one of the weakest 2025 line ups if it came to pass, which I doubt.

Agreed, it's more of a lineup you'd expect of a Haas or Williams. A decent driver with question marks over whether he has the capability to be a true front runner, and the most raw of promising rookies.

[V8 Fireworks]

Originally Posted by peebee2

Russell and Antonelli would for sure likely be one of the weakest 2025 line ups if it came to pass, which I doubt.

What nonsense...

Russell is likely at least a Button or Rosberg level driver while Antonelli is a karting superstar and doing OK in Formula 2 compared to the more experienced Bearman.

Without the Pirelli knowledge from Formula 3 that other Formula 2 rookies have, it would be unwise to rush to conclusions about Antonelli in Formula 2 just yet -- Pirellis are obviously very particular tyres.

[GTRMagic]

Originally Posted by steve_r

Taking no action would be much worse. I was horrified watching it from the footage onboard Russell's car, with the audio between him and pits.

I would not call this a normal racing incident.

Will the new car regulation developments have an alarm for when the car in front is closer and/or stopped, so the driver needs to take immediate action?

The news stories quoting Mr Russell suggesting he was twiddling with a switch then looked up and noticed the Aston Martin was irretrievably closer than his driving capacity could handle is scary..!

Like texting while you are driving…

[Tourer]

Originally Posted by GTRMagic

Will the new car regulation developments have an alarm for when the car in front is closer and/or stopped, so the driver needs to take immediate action?

The news stories quoting Mr Russell suggesting he was twiddling with a switch then looked up and noticed the Aston Martin was irretrievably closer than his driving capacity could handle is scary..!

Like texting while you are driving…

Thought the same thing - according to the stewards report, Alonso slowed 100m earlier than normal, very slight brush of the brakes and then needed to re-accelerate prior to the corner - quite extraordinary that Russell missed all that whilst making adjustments on the steering wheel. Not being overly critical of Russell, just really scary that something that would normally be really obvious to the driver behind was missed completely.

[Skam85]

Originally Posted by V8 Fireworks

What nonsense...

Russell is likely at least a Button or Rosberg level driver while Antonelli is a karting superstar and doing OK in Formula 2 compared to the more experienced Bearman.

Without the Pirelli knowledge from Formula 3 that other Formula 2 rookies have, it would be unwise to rush to conclusions about Antonelli in Formula 2 just yet -- Pirellis are obviously very particular tyres.

Not saying that Kimi isn't going to be a star, but plenty of 'karting superstars' had underwhelming F1 careers. He's totally unproven.

Hope he does succeed though and it does look promising.

[peebee2]

Originally Posted by V8 Fireworks

What nonsense...

Russell is likely at least a Button or Rosberg level driver while Antonelli is a karting superstar and doing OK in Formula 2 compared to the more experienced Bearman.

Without the Pirelli knowledge from Formula 3 that other Formula 2 rookies have, it would be unwise to rush to conclusions about Antonelli in Formula 2 just yet -- Pirellis are obviously very particular tyres.

Your “likely” is no certainty at all though. And even so it would still be a weak line up for the team for 2025…

And while Antonelli could be a total superstar, 2025 would be very, very early for him. Which, to be fair, I think the Merc boys know. He’s more likely to replace Sergeant or repeat F2 IMO, although being used to drive down the fee they pay to whoever, unless it’s Verstappen.

There is not much similarity between the F3 tyres and the F2 tyres anyway.

[Mike Harte]

Originally Posted by GTRMagic

Will the new car regulation developments have an alarm for when the car in front is closer and/or stopped, so the driver needs to take immediate action?

The news stories quoting Mr Russell suggesting he was twiddling with a switch then looked up and noticed the Aston Martin was irretrievably closer than his driving capacity could handle is scary..!

Like texting while you are driving…

I am not aware that any news/media reports about Russell twiddling with his switch at the time; media has a proven track record of reporting things that have no basis in truth, though.

The fact that that is not mentioned in the Stewards' report, I would have thought more important. Unless, of course, it a fully corroborated direct quote from Russell.

[Mike Harte]

The main reason that Vettel is in the media presently is because he is promoting an energy drink in which he has invested. So, he is doing the rounds of news outlets, one of which I heard earlier, where he was being economical with the truth by not mentioning that he has a financial interest in the product, which is a bit naughty having told the interviewer how good it was with no side effects for him.

[steve_r]

Originally Posted by Mike Harte

I am not aware that any news/media reports about Russell twiddling with his switch at the time; media has a proven track record of reporting things that have no basis in truth, though.

The fact that that is not mentioned in the Stewards' report, I would have thought more important. Unless, of course, it a fully corroborated direct quote from Russell.

He mentioned it in an interview in the build up to the Japanese GP>

https://www.crash.net/f1/news/104634...ning-can-worms

[bathurst77]

I think Russell and Antonelli in the cars and vettel signed on as driving advisor/coach/mentor (call it what you will) would be a good long term strategy for Merc. Might take half a season or so to bear fruit, but as a multi year line up, if they can get a decent car under their bums might be very tasty. And it would give That German Chap plenty of free time to play in WEC, and his side hustles if he wishes.
(Tho the 3 pointed star factory might not look kindly on him in another brand car in a different category.)