Mercedes not as fast as they seemed in Singapore

18 comments on “Mercedes not as fast as they seemed in Singapore”

1. 

   SpeBea
   22nd September 2014, 8:51

   “But as lap five showed, a Mercedes W05 with no fourth or sixth gear, no hybrid power boosts, broken DRS and other glitches is still faster than a Marussia or a Caterham”.

   Let’s not put ideas in Bernie’s head “to spice up the show”!
   1. 

      Neil (@neilosjames)
      22nd September 2014, 9:04

      Reminded me of this, about1 minute in.

      Could well imagine Bernie buzzing round in a helicopter doing firing those.
   2. 

      Patrickl (@patrickl)
      22nd September 2014, 18:46

      Rosberg did say things came back now and then. Perhaps that was one of the laps where it did work?
      1. 

         manu
         23rd September 2014, 13:23

         He was referring to the time when drove to the grid, before the race started.
         1. 

            Patrickl (@patrickl)
            23rd September 2014, 19:05

            No he wasn’t. He was talking about the laps just before he was told to retire.

            Then it all sort of came back for a few laps, only to disband again. It was hopeless. And in the end there was nothing I nor the team could do. For security reasons they called me in.

            Why not simply look up simple facts like this before you needlessly claim someone is incorrect?
2. 

   Nin13 (@nin13)
   22nd September 2014, 9:33

   After passing Vettel he was taking it very easy. You seriously think Hamilton on new soft will be just few tenths quicker than Vettel on 30 lap old soft tires. Real pace could be seen at start about 0.8 s per lap. There too I think he was not going full out.

   Look at Vergne on new soft he was 5 sec per lap quicker on lap 2 laps than Bottas and Kimi. That is real difference between old and new tires. That too Toro Rosso is not that quick car
   1. 

      Nin13 (@nin13)
      22nd September 2014, 9:39

      I mean last 2 laps
   2. 

      JCost (@jcost)
      22nd September 2014, 9:51

      Well said.

      Different tyres did not show the true picture. Ferrari did show impressive pace. Fernando Alonso’s in and out laps to undercut Seb were terrific.
   3. 

      DaveW (@dmw)
      22nd September 2014, 15:56

      Also note how little fuel Hamilton was using, relative to RBR and others. If this was a true MB duel, I think they would have buried the field a la Bahrain.
   4. 

      mystic one (@mysticus)
      22nd September 2014, 21:00

      Not only that, he probably was nursing his engine as well being an engine down than Nico. if we could see his fuel usage at those laps, we could picture better… Suggesting his performance was not as expected is a bit dull as he wasnt being challenged, why would he push limits and risk a mistake?
   5. 

      @HoHum (@hohum)
      23rd September 2014, 0:43

      Absolutely correct, crap tyres spoil races.
3. 

   dragoll (@dragoll)
   22nd September 2014, 10:30

   I saw Sky were pressing Toto every session after FP1 asking if Merc were worried about their pace for the race and he kept saying that they were looking good. While Hamilton was dominant, if the Merc package was half as impressive as it had been throughout the previous races, then we would have seen Hamilton come out in front of Seb by some margin on that last pit stop. To only be 1 sec per lap faster than Seb over the course of that stint sounds impressive, but factor in that Hamilton was pushing like a mad man, and then you think back to races like Bahrain where Hamilton and Rosberg were cutting each other up but still 40 odd seconds ahead of the rest of the field, might put into prespective what it is that I’m trying to say.
   1. 

      Eric
      22nd September 2014, 21:05

      dragoll … you’ve overlooked a couple important facts. LW lost all his lead gap from the safety car. He then had to make back all that lead gap before he could pit, and he did that on old tires.
      I think he had twenty some odd seconds lead before the safety car; then after the SC he quickly had to make up a lead before he could pit, which he did, making up a new 26 second lead. So add the before and after SC leads, and there’s the 40+ seconds lead.
4. 

   JerseyF1 (@jerseyf1)
   22nd September 2014, 12:05

   It’s also worth noting on Hamilton’s pace in the last few laps that Mercedes would surely have known that if he had gone any faster the race would have been one lap longer (he only just passed the flag 4.8s after the time limit, had he been faster over those last 5 laps he could comfortably have got onto the 61st lap). Presumably Mercedes would have been quite happy to have one lap less for a problem to develop hence the relatively slow pace on the soft tyres.
   1. 

      Patrickl (@patrickl)
      22nd September 2014, 18:47

      Yeah, it really looked like he paced himself to go over the line just as the time was up. Or it could have been a big coincidence of course :)
5. 

   mystic one (@mysticus)
   22nd September 2014, 21:04

   At the time he passed Vettel, he was well aware of Nico’s retirement, and being an engine down, he probably just cruised around while short shifting and saving a ton of fuel as well :) Do we have the fuel telemetry?
   1. 

      Eric
      22nd September 2014, 21:07

      There was a radio message where he specifically asked about turning down the engine, a few laps after passing Vettle.
6. 

   Max Jacobson (@vettel1)
   23rd September 2014, 12:10

   The fuel efficiency of the Mercedes is quite incredible when contrasted with the Renault and the Ferrari – by which I mean managing to keep similar or better pace whilst consuming less fuel. Slightly ironic I feel, as Renault tout themselves far more than Mercedes do as a “green” engine manufacturer.

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