How's this for some Mercedes crybaby bullshit.

https://www.motorsport.com/f1/...ada/10321239/?nrt=54

Wolff concerned Hamilton’s back pain could put him out of Canadian GP

Mercedes Formula 1 boss Toto Wolff fears Lewis Hamilton’s back pain from porpoising could yet have "consequences" for his participation in next week’s Canadian Grand Prix.

If your shitty car keeps bottoming out because you're too stupid to figure out the problem, raise the ride height or kick the old man out of the car. Everyone else seems to have a handle on this while the only thing Toto has a handle on is Lewie's cock.

Not much talk about yet another outstanding performance by George Russell.
The star of the year so far, quietly out performing expectations.

Bad day for Ferrari & their customer teams.
4 Ferrari PU cars DNF.
Sainz sounded crunchy, gearbox?
Leclerc & KMag both smoky, PU, guessing.
Didn't catch what put Zhou out.

Weekend to forget for Bottas. Just way off pace all weekend. IIRC, they said it was the first time since 2015 that he was out in Q1.
Hoping Canada is a turnaround for him & the Ferrari PU cars.

I hate to see Ferrari having mechanical trouble, leaving no competition for RedBull. Makes for boring racing.

Carmas a bitch Mattia … say the ghost of SV


To finish first, you must first finish… That’s superfast engine sure blows up… Super fast!

Red Bull’s pitwall and strategy team have been far superior than Ferrari. They built a car that will win the race, (but not necessarily pip the pole).

Russel is the only one who scored points in every race so far.

Good for him!

GR is definitely punching the Merc above its weight, compared to his teammate.
MB seems to be dialing the car in, and a few more Ferrari failures/strategy missteps could get Merc into 2nd for the WCC.

Yet no one is concerned with Russell's back since he's had to carry Mercedes this year....

Based on their meek level of reliability, it does appear that Ferrari's F1 cars are these days being built by the road car side of the company. They sure could use the skill and deftness of a Mauro Forghieri right about now.

Definitely seems to be some opposites between Ferrari & RBR.

Ferrari is really fast on 1 lap pace, but distance reliability isn't there.
RBR not quite there on quali pace, but has a great racecar.

I think we'd all take #2 in that case.

The question is, how much does Ferrari need to dial back to get the needed reliability in race pace since most power unit items are now frozen?
I also think Leclerc isn’t quite at the level of Max, Hamilton and now maybe Russell too when it comes to being at maximum performance without making mistakes. Perez is close too and Sainz has the most work to do there as he can’t quite get to the same speed and performance level either, and he still makes unforced errors.
If they can get it figured out, Mercedes may have the best chance to challenge Red Bull but they are in a big hole for points already.

quote:

Originally posted by DanH:
Yet no one is concerned with Russell's back since he's had to carry Mercedes this year....

After the Baku race, Russell looked like he was ready to start another race right now, while Lewis looked like a seventy year old trying to get out of his car.

Looks like they have to change the rules when the show doesn't follow the script.

quote:

Originally posted by .38supersig:
Looks like they have to change the rules when the show doesn't follow the script.

Looks to me like they aren’t really changing any rules, just telling the teams that they are the ones that need to fix it. Going to set limits for how much bouncing is allowed and it’s up to the teams to make it happen. The buzz is that this is very good for Red Bull, since they don’t have to do anything since they don’t have the issue, but bad for Mercedes, since it will likely make them run the car higher. Merc was wanting the FIA to let them use active suspension, or something else not currently allowed. In other words, change the rules. What they got was the FIA saying the teams need to fix the issue on their own, while staying within the current rules. Probably also bad for Ferrari, but Ferrari is pretty much self-destructing on their own.

Seems like they got this one right. The teams with porpoising issues are going to have to figure it out, but it's not going to penalize the teams that already have it under control.

I think the FIA got this one exactly right and Mercedes have shot themselves in the foot.

Mercedes came out with a different design concept they thought would result in an advantage. Fair enough if it had worked. It didn't and to compensate and manage the performance problems they need to lower the ride height to a level that results in very harsh behavior that could harm the drivers.
They were demanding that all teams be required to raise their cars so they wouldn't suffer a further disadvantage.
I don't blame Toto for that, he's looking out for Mercedes best interest like a lawyer would for their client.
The FIA have called his bluff, and rightly so. Let's see how they and other teams react.

F1 is violent. Here's 1990 Senna compared to Lewis 2019 in a much more compliant car. Senna's head looks like a pinball caught up between bumpers.

quote:

Originally posted by .38supersig:
Looks like they have to change the rules when the show doesn't follow the script.

That complaint doesn't make sense. If the FIA makes some team fix the oscillations, it will be by raising the ride height, which will slow the car down. (Think - if raising the ride stopped the porpoising and didn't slow it down, they would do it voluntarily.) So the cars with problems will get slower if they are forced to make changes.

This would probably hurt racing, as it will make some cars even less competitive. I doubt this is something anyone really wants to do. But Mercedes, in particular, made a design error, and may pay even more of a price.

Your complaint would only be valid if the FIA ordered changes to all cars, even the ones not having porpoising problems. They aren't doing that.

Halfway through FP1.

Alfa pace seems to have returned, Bottas outrunning the Mercs
Aston got a nice pace improvement, keeping in the top 1/3 of the grid
Ferrari looking bouncy on the straights

Track seems to be rubbering in really quickly, lap times dropping constantly.

Alonso the shocker to be that high on the M tire.
Aston finish higher than expected
Alfa dropped down the order, hoping that's not a trend for the season & they can keep up with development.

Too bad there wasn’t rain for the race. Another snooze fest