Sebastian Vettel, Ferrari, Circuit Gilles Villeneuve, 2019

Hamilton: Mercedes “have work to do” to match Ferrari engine performance

RaceFans Round-up

Posted on

| Written by

In the round-up: Lewis Hamilton says Ferrari’s performance on the straights at the Circuit Gilles Villeneuve showed Mercedes “have work to do” to catch their rivals.

What they say

Hamilton was asked what he knows about the extent of Ferrari’s super straight-line performance:

It’s not an assumption. You’ve seen in qualifying they’re three tenths or whatever it is, six tenths a lap on the straights they were able to pull out. And then in the race I know that all of a sudden they pick up a lot of pace in some straights.

But that’s the name of the game. They’ve clearly done a great job with their power unit so it used to be a point where Mercedes were ahead in that area by a good chunk and we’ve got work to do there, they are ahead of us at the moment.

Quotes: Dieter Rencken

Advert | Become a RaceFans supporter and go ad-free

Social media

Notable posts from Twitter, Instagram and more:

Advert | Become a RaceFans supporter and go ad-free

Comment of the day

What has the point for fastest lap done for the racing this year?

Does anyone else think the fastest lap bonus should be stopped? Basically it’s a point for the worse driver in the top three teams: i.e. the last driver in the top six cars has enough time to stop to bolt on some new tyres.
Cookie71 (@Paulcook)

From the forum

Happy birthday!

Happy birthday to Bazza and John Harvey!

If you want a birthday shout-out tell us when yours is via the contact form or adding to the list here.

Author information

Keith Collantine
Lifelong motor sport fan Keith set up RaceFans in 2005 - when it was originally called F1 Fanatic. Having previously worked as a motoring...

Got a potential story, tip or enquiry? Find out more about RaceFans and contact us here.

32 comments on “Hamilton: Mercedes “have work to do” to match Ferrari engine performance”

  1. Re: COTD

    Unless the fastest lap bonus receives the same levels of intense protest that the double-points finale fiasco did, I can’t see it being ditched any time soon.

    1. Yeah I’d like it to stick around til at least the field gets to close up as time passes, then we’ll see how it gets earned without the convenient gaps to the top 5.
      I’m enjoying it’s inclusion so far.

    2. Lets agree that it does indeed mostly go to the slowest driver in the top three teams. Although mostly not as glamorous or hard to earn as the commentators sometimes make it seem, I don’t see it being all negative, it keeps the driver’s points scores closer together and helps keep the championship tighter.

      If we had a dominant team, aka, Mercedes in 2016 and with one absolutely sub par driver (Gasly) that would mean the winner would take 25+1 points, then it would be a much more serious issue. Having the guy in 5th or 6th put on softer tyres at the end of the GP and push to get one more point is not all that negative, if a bit artificial.

  2. Is it that Ferrari’s engine performance is better or that their car makes less downforce, unfortunately for them, and is therefore faster on straights but not so on corners? Just not buying the Ferrari is faster rhetoric. They may be faster at certain times, but one only needs look at the standings to see who has the better cars overall. Faster occasionally but rarely winning is no recipe for Championships. I doubt Mercedes are terribly worried.

    1. @robbie mercedes 2013, very fast car on one lap and in straights, but eats tyres… only good in places where not much hard corners exists

    2. Ferrari was faster, and by a good margin, on sector 1 on Spain.
      Even being almost a second slower at the end of the lap, they were quicker on the fast bits.

      But obviously, engine performance is not nearly as important as it was 4 or 5 years ago. It is something closer to what Red Bull had against Ferrari during their championship years.

      Just take a look at the other teams with Ferrari and Mercedes power. All of them did really poorly on this power track.

    3. I think everyone was expecting Ferrari to be strong here as there isn’t much in the way of medium and high speed corners at Montreal.

      I mean this is what the press have been saying since Bahrain, so it shouldn’t have come as a surprise to Merc or anyone. Yes, Ferrari may have a strong power unit, but their car isn’t great overall, plus they have a poor team, and drivers that tend to crack under pressure.

    4. @robbie, it is worth noting that, when the topic first arose last year, there were other teams and drivers who also commented about the power of Ferrari’s power unit and how their rate of acceleration later on down the straight was noticeably higher.

      Hulkenberg commented about it during the 2018 German Grand Prix, where he was surprised by quite how fast they were, and Auto Motor und Sport posted a snippet of a telemetric trace that showed that, whereas the acceleration of most cars tended to tail off at a reasonably consistent rate about 250kph, the works Ferrari did not drop off as quickly and was faster at the end of the straight.

      Now, having less downforce may be an element, but if so, it does not seem to be having a noticeable impact on Ferrari’s high speed cornering performance. The indication is that Ferrari are a match for Mercedes in high speed corners, and in corners where the cars are drag limited, such as Turn 3 in Barcelona, Ferrari seem to have a slight advantage in those instances.

      The suggestion is that, in qualifying mode, where the MGU-H is used to power the MGU-K directly, Ferrari are able to keep using the hybrid system for longer, which explains their stronger performance towards the end of the straights – but it is also part of the reason why it is not quite as effective in race trim.

    5. F1oSaurus (@)
      11th June 2019, 18:12

      @robbie It’s been visible from the GPS tracks that Ferrari can keep accelerating for much longer than other teams can.

      So they might not have more peak power, but they keep powering for longer. Somethign with the hybrid system is different.

      Which called for investigations over something illegal going on last year.

  3. Is drawing attention to the stewards twitter account really a good idea? The post seems to have the opposite effect with twits doubling down…

  4. I got the feeling that Mercedes’ engine upgrade didn’t quite go as planned over the weekend. I’m wondering if they actually didn’t ramp it up to full beans in order to play it safe – they have a lot more to lose with a DNF that their competitors.

    1. @dbradock I wondered the exact same thing a couple of times during the race.

      1. Particularly when Bottas couldn’t blast past the Renaults. they may have improved their PU’s but I didn’t think it was even close to Merc yet.

        1. Baffling indeed, I also suspected they were perhaps lying.

        2. F1oSaurus (@)
          11th June 2019, 18:10

          @dbradock, @spoutnik Bottas had issues with overheating. Plus Ricciardo totally blocked Bottas when he was flying past.

          Bottas had to cool down his car for a lap and then he could attack for the next. Apparently they set the cooling to low. Temperarture was 2 degrees higher than expected and he also wasn’t expected to be fighting with cars close ahead. But then he messed up in Q3 and ended up behind some.

    2. Never expect Mercedes upgrade to be miraculous, level-up on par with Ferrari’s. It took Mercedes years of effort prior 2014 for the killer hybrid PU. Ferrari took 4 years of R&D till year 2018 for the next challenger PU. So I would expect similar amount of effort required from Mercedes if they were to catch-up with Ferrari.

  5. Happy Birthday Jackie. JS was the driver that forced F1 to take safety seriously, without him Bernie would have just kept dragging the chain until the legal implications became a danger to him, so Bernie gets credit for doing a good job, but the real hero is JS who organised a driver boycott to force Bernie (the only person with the authority needed) to do something. Without JS there would be fewer ex F1 drivers to be heard from.

    1. Indeed @hohum, he did a lot for the sport, persistently standing up for what he knew was right; I hope he has a happy day today, and can enjoy that we worry about penalties, rather than mourning another loss. Great champion in driving and beyond that.

    2. Jackie’s contribution to the sport is immense. I am thankful and grateful for hime every race that I watch.

  6. Harassing this steward is just sad. He has to police the rules that are in place. Sure the penalty is ridiculous (imho) but if the rules say it’s so, it’s so.

    Now move on to France

  7. Vettel is looking very prone to mistakes this year. I assume it’s because he is pushing the limits of the car harder due to its handling characteristics . I also assume the pressure he is under is great due to the unrelenting Tiffosi fans in Italy. Could Fred or even the middling driver Button have done a better job with the same equipment ?

  8. Adam (@rocketpanda)
    11th June 2019, 12:22

    Mercedes have work to match… Ferrari…

    So, they didn’t win all seven races done so far, and only looked slightly troubled in two of them? I understand the push for perfection but let’s not act like they’re struggling… because they’re really not.

    1. So you are saying Mercedes Power Unit team should be satisfied and sitting, waiting and giving chance for Honda and Renault to overtake them on straights next?

  9. I couldn’t agree more with Palmer. He basically argues for precisely the same as I have, which is that Seb should’ve used a different route to rejoin the track rather than do it by running across the full width of the track straight onto the racing line, which is how he managed to maintain a position he would’ve otherwise have lost due to the speed difference at the exit of T4, which is why LH had to take an avoiding action through no fault of his own. The Autosport-article pretty much sums everything up to the final detail, and, therefore, justifies the penalty even more.

    I disagree with the COTD. I don’t see any problem with the bonus point for FL even if it’s effectively only achievable for the lowest-running driver of the top-three teams.

    BTW, I wasn’t aware before at all that Kvyat has apparently become a parent very recently, which is very surprising given that he’s only a year older than me. This means that there are now five fathers on the current field with the other four being Kimi, Seb, Checo, and Grosjean although all of them became parents either closer to 30, or in Kimi’s case, above it.

  10. I didn’t like the fastest lap point when they announced it & I like it even less than I did then.

    For me pitting for fresh tyres with 3-4 laps to go & setting fast lap by default to me simply isn’t deserving of an extra point because it doesn’t really mean anything, It’s not an indication of who was fastest on the day, Who had the fastest car or who drove a better race. It’s essentially turning into a point for the slower of the top driver/team (Team also gets a point don’t forget) who has a gap behind them allowing them to pit for fresh tyres & does that really deserve an extra point that may well help decide the championships?

    I don’t think it does.

    1. @stefmeister – Agree with your points, all of them. And while it will still mess with points totals over time, I think we are probably way beyond FL points becoming a decisive factor this year. Unless Bottas reawakens to challenge Hamilton, this won’t be a close one.

    2. Plain and simple, the fastest lap is a gimmick. Totally agree with @stefmeister that it is even worse now than when first announced and I didn’t like it then either. Who can honestly say that the FL is providing them with some unforgettable Formula 1 excitement?

  11. Guys Guys
    I’ve been away a few days

    What the hell happened? Mercedes won, Vettel made a mistake?
    Was there any news? Why are you all so mad at each other?

    (don’t take me serious)

    1. We get mad when people go away for a few days then come back and say they aren’t serious!!!!

      ;P

  12. F1oSaurus (@)
    11th June 2019, 18:08

    Yes Magnussen’s whining was beyond embarrassing. He destroys the car, the mechanics have been working all night to put the thing back together and then the ungrateful runt keeps complaining it’s not like the brand spanking new car it was before.

    The slap down from Steiner was savage and hilarious.

    1. The slap sown from Steiner shows that he’s actually got the makings of a good team principal. Don’t know whether some of the others would have been so quick to stand on one of their drivers behaving like a Prima Donna

Comments are closed.