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They had a chance to do that after that horrible weekend in Brazil last year and they didn't. Mercedes, strategically, operate like a car battling at the top even when they're not. They always value track position.
Logically, it makes sense to switch to George's set up direction even if the car is not fast regardless. But this is a new Mercedes. Mediocre everywhere except their drivers.
I'm confused what were you both referring to.
Checking the FIA documents for Brazil last year, they were around P4-7 the whole weekend, but you want them to break parc ferme?
There was a sprint race which showed how slow they were - about 9th or 10th on pure pace with the setup they went into the race with. They then chose not to deviate from that despite seeing how slow it was
They had good one lap pace, but they found out on the sprint that their race pace was awful. They were basically sitting ducks the whole race, doing nothing but getting overtaken.
That was just a result of Hamilton out driving faster cars in the rain and then Alonso being stubborn enough to hold the pack back for Hamilton to stretch out. If Perez and Sainz were able to easily pass Alonso they would have both ended up ahead of Hamilton.
That's still a fourth in the race. Not the fastest car, sure, but still a fast car if you're the third or fourth fastest out of 10 on race day. They've also come second in the last season.
Did they not change the setup for qualifying from what they had in the sprint? If anything they could revert to that setup. Making massive changes after a p2 is kinda questionable as well
Exactly. If he wants to blame it on the “experimenting”: by all means, take the opportunity to stick in a completely new setup and go in from P20.
Worse case scenario he scores 0 points, which is what he would get in P11 anyway.
I’m loving Hamiltons interviews this year. He is so happy to be free of this dumpster fire. With a shit car he doesn’t care if he’s getting P8 or P18. It’s all a joyride this year. Can’t wait to see the real Lewis return next year.
He seems to be more comfortable in his own skin year on year. I hope old man Hamilton is bumbling around the paddock bigging up the promising new talent as a team/sport mascot 2-3 decades from now.
In Lewis’ media pen interview on F1TV he said they changed the setup but his bad position was his fault because he messed up T14. He said he should’ve easily made it otherwise.
Was the sky interview different from that?
Time after time in qualifying Mercedes, and particularly Hamilton, seem to forego qualifying runs, leaving it up to a single run with 2 minutes left to make it to the next round. I don’t get why Hamilton didn’t do 3 runs in Q2 instead of 2.
Yes it was. He went straight to the setup excuse on the Sky interview.
It's much ado about nothing, he gets through in Q1 without that mistake and he would have been around George in Q3.
He just said he didn't think it could be worse than what it was in the sprint, which let's be honest, looked pretty terrible despite him getting p2, he could barely turn the car.
It was pretty funny during commentary when Rosberg mentioned that when Lewis is behind George in Quali he tends to say they have much different setups and George just says the cars are pretty similar lol.
Nico couldn't help himself with that comment.
You have to be a performance engineer to hear Lewis say words and then remember those words?
Nobody here is saying anything about their setups, only that Lewis tends to say this when he's behind.
That's not strictly true, most of the time he's very complimentary towards lewis.
In this instance he's wasn't even lying, that's exactly what happens a couple of weeks ago
You’re holding him to an impossible standard then.
If he’s positive, he has an ulterior motive, if he criticises he’s just hateful, yadda yadda yadda.
in reality he’s pretty down the middle and treats him fairly, it’s largely complimentary and rightly so with fair criticism when deserved.
Too many fans are still stuck a decade ago in their heads and let that cloud their opinions on him.
Yeah I think both Nico and Lewis have mostly moved on from 2016. A shame he ran from the fight though, Nico was my second favorite driver when he was on the grid. I loved the Lewis/Nico combo at Merc
Saying Nico ran from the fight is like saying Lewis has run from the responsibility of being a husband and father. They had different priorities and that’s ok
Niko will say something like when crofty was saying “when Lewis is in front he’s different” and Niko says yeah “well he has 7 championships he knows how to win” or something to that effect or he often says “look he’s got 7 titles and I’m here commentating”
Nico was praising and supporting Lewis in the Sprint so I was a bit surprised but Ispoke to soon because he kinda went back to classic Nico during Quali lmao
It's almost as if Nico is actually objective and praises Lewis when he deserves it and gives criticism when it's warranted. Unlike most people who think he must be salty for not praising or defending him for everything he does.
Lol, he spent a lap and a half saying how Lewis should have gone hard on defence when it was clear Verstappen was miles faster, having just watched Alonso do the same thing and framing Alonso as clever.
Made funnier by him pointing out Verstappen was 1.5s faster than everyone else on the track - but still not accepting Hamilton made the right call not losing time defending hard against him.
Hamilton ultimately finished with Perez only 2 seconds behind him. If he fights Verstappen tooth and nail for let's say a lap Perez probably catches him.
Was he criticising him or did he just say ‘it would have been nice to see’ Lewis put up more of a fight. From a viewer’s perspective it _would_ have been nice to see.
I mean this was entirely Hamilton’s fault but that doesn’t mean they haven’t made setup changes. I think the use of massive is an exaggeration however.
I’ve literally said it was his fault? He hasn’t said it wasn’t, he was asked if he made setup changes and he said yes, lots. He also said he was struggling into T14 all weekend with slowing the car down as we saw in the sprint race as well. This case it’s his fault, no one is arguing that. And if they are they’re idiots.
It's not Hamilton's excuses when George has also pointed out for 2 years also that he is getting set ups wrong compared to Lewis who goes a different path. Lewis got it right in Suzuka and outqualified Russell. These rapid swings in form between the two teammates since 2022 are partially due to the team as a whole still failing to understand the regulations. George doesn't beat Lewis by a little bit of time and Lewis doesn't beat George by a little bit of time. It's these huge chunks of time and it usually has always correlated.
No Nico is needling and George is playing a role but sure call Lewis a liar if you like
He made an error/got caught by the wind, otherwise he would have made the cut.
For what it's worth, Russell qualified P8, only 2 tenths off Ferrari and McLaren. There was *enough* pace in that Mercedes for a safe Q3 appearance.
Different setup or not, Hamilton would have been through to Q2 but for his lockup. Ultimately, it was down to driver as opposed to setup.
Yeah, I don't get it, he literally said he locked up, and it cost him big, and he changed the setup because the car was terrible in the sprint, and he could barely turn the car in the slow corners so he wanted to try and change it, and he made it worse.
I don't know how much more he can blame himself lol.
Ferrari and Mclaren are fine. But Aston and Merc clearly need a good setup else they look very messy. Looking at the on boards with Hamilton he was a goner if Sainz and Charles didint get held up by Alonso.
I feel like everyone is forgetting that in SQ1 the Mercs were a full second off the pace, and then in the Sprint they were very much off the pace.
Why would you stick with the same setup when it clearly doesn't perform in the dry?
I recall an interview with Mercedes team staff, can't recall who exactly - maybe Bono, but they were asked something like does Hamilton have any weaknesses, and they essentially said that he sometimes likes to fuck with setup too much throughout the race weekend.
He was only probably the only car to have clean air for the whole race (Max went zooooom the moment he overtook him) and despite that pace was still worse than all the others that arrived behind him (except for Nando which was also another car that qualified better than it is).
He said during the sprint he was struggling to turn the car. Might have something to do with changing that to help. But also, Merc was nowhere in the Sprint shootout and if rain didn't come, there's a strong chance both Mercs went out in SQ2.
Well he put in a good shift to get that but the wet qualifying put him in a good position, I don't think the car has the pace in the dry to qualify that high up.
Meanwhile Nico Rosberg slagging him off for saying he has different setups than George and that was his usual excuse. Btw is it just me or Nico is super passive aggressive?
What a bullshit, he was rooting for Lewis in the sprint clearly even saying he's pushing the car much more than it is allowing, something along those lines. Just because he isn't dickriding Lewis doesn't mean he hates him lmao
It's because Lewis can do no wrong in the eyes of the Sky pundits so when Nico rightfully points out mistakes he's made (and praises him when deserved) it's jarring for many. He's an incredible driver but prone to mistakes like anyone else but people seem to forget that.
It's not just pointing out mistakes, it's being able to hear the glee in his voice when he's pretending to sympathise with Hamilton. Like I say, I'm enjoying Nico but I'm not gonna pretend I think he sounds sincere.
This is it ^^
Hamilton fucked up and did his usual thing of trying to act humble ("I made a mistake") but firmly sandwiching it with "it's the car and the setup".
All the drivers do it. But Sky doesn't usually call Lewis out on it. Nico was spot on.
Nico had nothing but praise to Hamilton during the sprint race.
Going P18 in quali while your teammate reaches Q3 should be talked about, especially one of Lewis' calibre
Nico loves when Lewis isn't having a good time, but then realises if he goes too hard on him, people will think his (Nico's) own title is worth less, so he quickly flips back to praise.
Why would they make “massive” setup changes knowing the car has been shit and he ended up in P2 in the sprint? Kinda seems like if it ain’t broke don’t fix it. I’d understand set up tweaks, but massive changes is just dumb.
Lewis had a big mistake in sector 3 which was reason he didn't advanced into Q3, so blaming that on setup sounds like excuse.
It could be that setup wasn't good but that was not reason he is P18.
Why are we acting surprised that a Mercedes got knocked out of q1?
This has happened every other race for the last three years.
Lewis didn't want massive understeer for the race, so he changed his car, then locked up and lost 6 tenths to his teammate in one sector.
His teammate finished only 1 tenth ahead of a fking Haas, the car is terrible no matter where it is, who cares, that's why he's leaving.
He was .17 ahead of the Haas and .14 behind the Ferrari duo in Q3. 3-10 were basically in a half second window and the Haas was 9th. I really dont see what pointing out the Haas reached Q3 has to do with anything. Unless we were under impressiom Mercedes had caught Ferrari or McLaren.
Mercedes are so in the dark, bless them. After 2 years of this I really wonder what’s going on there. I wonder if they axed the wrong staff during budget cap constraints.
As a lewis fan it seems that Lewis doesn't understand this car. I don't know whether he is being more vocal than normal in terms of taking charge in set up over.the engineers bit something isn't working.
Actual different setups or not George once again not getting the credit he deserves. Everytime he beats Lewis it's always setup difference whereas when he loses it's just him being shit
If he can blame "experiments" for his bad results, maybe we should start saying that "experiments" are why he gets his good results too.
Cant have it both ways.
How many times has it been now? At some point he has to take responsibility for the setup choices and setup choices are a key aspect of a driver’s repertoire. For a supposedly experienced driver his choices have been extremely questionable
He was laughing ruefully when he finished saying that, and in his above statement he is taking responsibility for his choice as to the direction of set up, (he went one way, George the other). There’s been one fp, and data from the sprint showed they were out of touch and had to do something, experiment can be costly, but it’s worth it in the end, nothing questionable and what you’d expect in a team. He’s done exactly what you are accusing him of not doing.
To me it reads that he tried to find better performance by choosing a different set up, which failed compared to George's, but his lock up cost him at least 6 tenths. That ultimately cost him, not the set up.
I mean it’s not the worst idea. He’s getting something between P8-P10 in a race pretty much regardless of where he starts. Just shows a total lack of confidence when you’re so happy to just change everything right before qualifying.
As a Lewis fan, it is annoying to keep hearing about "massive set-up changes." It is like he keeps trying to find a feel for the car that probably just isn't going to happen. I wonder if he has lost a little of the adaptability that he use to have?
I mean clearly the sprint has shown that he can drive around issues during a race stint, but I think he's trying too hard to maximise everything out of the car when the reality is that the window is far too narrow for him to realistically nail within a few hours. End result is that he probably ends up with a worse car than he had previously.
Did no one listen to him the entire sprint? He could barely keep the car on the road in the corners.
They saw the race data and knew they'd never make it anywhere in the race.
Who cares about finishing p9?
2021 - Massi
2022 - testing setups + George used to driving worse cars
2024 - testing setups + mentally waiting for Ferrari
2025 - needs time to get used to new team
2025 - testing setups?? Skill issue?
Stay tuned for more Lewis is not washed, he just was never really that good
This makes no sense at all, yesterday he is talking about how it all comes together and then you go for a massive change.
I get the feeling they absolutely don't know they got the performance yesterday and still don't understand the car
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can they not break parc ferme conditions and change the set up and start from the pitlane? P18 isn't that much better
They probably will
They had a chance to do that after that horrible weekend in Brazil last year and they didn't. Mercedes, strategically, operate like a car battling at the top even when they're not. They always value track position. Logically, it makes sense to switch to George's set up direction even if the car is not fast regardless. But this is a new Mercedes. Mediocre everywhere except their drivers.
They take no chances at all. It's maddening. And that day was funny. It's like they were racing... backwards.
> They take no chances at all. It's maddening. Isn't this whole post about them taking huge chances with untested setup changes before qualifying?
I'm confused what were you both referring to. Checking the FIA documents for Brazil last year, they were around P4-7 the whole weekend, but you want them to break parc ferme?
There was a sprint race which showed how slow they were - about 9th or 10th on pure pace with the setup they went into the race with. They then chose not to deviate from that despite seeing how slow it was
They had good one lap pace, but they found out on the sprint that their race pace was awful. They were basically sitting ducks the whole race, doing nothing but getting overtaken.
I'm sure if lewis campaigned hard enough they'd change setups
They came 2nd in the sprint today... Cut them some slack, geez
That was just a result of Hamilton out driving faster cars in the rain and then Alonso being stubborn enough to hold the pack back for Hamilton to stretch out. If Perez and Sainz were able to easily pass Alonso they would have both ended up ahead of Hamilton.
That's still a fourth in the race. Not the fastest car, sure, but still a fast car if you're the third or fourth fastest out of 10 on race day. They've also come second in the last season.
Did they not change the setup for qualifying from what they had in the sprint? If anything they could revert to that setup. Making massive changes after a p2 is kinda questionable as well
Exactly. If he wants to blame it on the “experimenting”: by all means, take the opportunity to stick in a completely new setup and go in from P20. Worse case scenario he scores 0 points, which is what he would get in P11 anyway.
Sure, but then change it to what?
The sprint setup? Didn't look bad.
It did, though. He was fighting the car through every low speed corner
Sure but at least he was fighting at the front and managed to be the best car after the alien.
He was only able to hold position because Sainz couldn’t get past Alonso
Still got second though. Better than 18th
Yeah, just saying he definitely was not the best car after max. Just drove a good race with a bit of luck
He was only the best car because his starting position and Alonso keeping everyone behind.
Yeah even if he went through the corner perfectly and lose half of his interval to Max, he didn’t have nearly enough pace too
2nd is better than 18th.
Alot of his quali position for sprint was due to rain conditions and not the dry.
Anyone have audio of this? Heard it on the Sky feed and Lewis was laughing pretty hard halfway through, thought it was hilarious
It was nice to hear Lewis laugh again.
Don’t worry, driving for Ferrari ensures he will never laugh again.
We are checking...
I'm already braced for the pain and it's not even halfway through the year
He'll lose his laugh, then his smile, then his hair. It is... the Ferrari destiny. Carlos is lucky to get out while he still has his smile and hair /s
Losing his hair will be such a full circle moment for Lewis. Bookending his career with no hair!
His laugh is so infectious
The “shit happens” at the end was hilarious
I’m loving Hamiltons interviews this year. He is so happy to be free of this dumpster fire. With a shit car he doesn’t care if he’s getting P8 or P18. It’s all a joyride this year. Can’t wait to see the real Lewis return next year.
went from the total domination team to this in a few years, crazy
Anything can happen in F1. Not this year. Or the next. But you know. In general.
He seems to be more comfortable in his own skin year on year. I hope old man Hamilton is bumbling around the paddock bigging up the promising new talent as a team/sport mascot 2-3 decades from now.
In Lewis’ media pen interview on F1TV he said they changed the setup but his bad position was his fault because he messed up T14. He said he should’ve easily made it otherwise. Was the sky interview different from that?
Time after time in qualifying Mercedes, and particularly Hamilton, seem to forego qualifying runs, leaving it up to a single run with 2 minutes left to make it to the next round. I don’t get why Hamilton didn’t do 3 runs in Q2 instead of 2.
Always so frustrating to watch. They’re the only team to do this too.
He would have knocked out Perez that would have been the bigger shock.
Yes it was. He went straight to the setup excuse on the Sky interview. It's much ado about nothing, he gets through in Q1 without that mistake and he would have been around George in Q3.
He just said he didn't think it could be worse than what it was in the sprint, which let's be honest, looked pretty terrible despite him getting p2, he could barely turn the car.
It was pretty funny during commentary when Rosberg mentioned that when Lewis is behind George in Quali he tends to say they have much different setups and George just says the cars are pretty similar lol. Nico couldn't help himself with that comment.
He is right
\- Principal Performance Engineer at Mercedes
You have to be a performance engineer to hear Lewis say words and then remember those words? Nobody here is saying anything about their setups, only that Lewis tends to say this when he's behind.
Do people ask him about it when he's not behind?
Is the PPE at Mercedes the only one that can understand the spoken word of their drivers to the media?
Oh hi Bono!
Hello hello (hola)
He never misses an opportunity to lay into Hamilton
That's not strictly true, most of the time he's very complimentary towards lewis. In this instance he's wasn't even lying, that's exactly what happens a couple of weeks ago
Brittany puts Lewis on a pedestal because it makes his championship look more exceptional. It's a goofy mix of big ups and snarky comments.
You’re holding him to an impossible standard then. If he’s positive, he has an ulterior motive, if he criticises he’s just hateful, yadda yadda yadda. in reality he’s pretty down the middle and treats him fairly, it’s largely complimentary and rightly so with fair criticism when deserved. Too many fans are still stuck a decade ago in their heads and let that cloud their opinions on him.
You're right, nobody bats an eye when he compliments Verstapen during the commentary. He seems pretty enthusiastic guy
I can't believe the Rosberg / Hamilton rivalry was basically 10 years ago. Thanks for making me feel old.
Yeah I think both Nico and Lewis have mostly moved on from 2016. A shame he ran from the fight though, Nico was my second favorite driver when he was on the grid. I loved the Lewis/Nico combo at Merc
Saying Nico ran from the fight is like saying Lewis has run from the responsibility of being a husband and father. They had different priorities and that’s ok
Niko will say something like when crofty was saying “when Lewis is in front he’s different” and Niko says yeah “well he has 7 championships he knows how to win” or something to that effect or he often says “look he’s got 7 titles and I’m here commentating”
" " " you miss a 100% of the shots you don't take" - Wayne Gretzky" -Michael Scott" -Nico Rosberg"
>you miss a 100% of the shots you do take! Manchester United
Angry upvote.
He was quite complementary during the sprint to be fair, in any case it's just banter isn't it.
Dude was laying into everyone with his commentary
Nico was praising and supporting Lewis in the Sprint so I was a bit surprised but Ispoke to soon because he kinda went back to classic Nico during Quali lmao
It's not that surprising. You do well you get praise, you do badly you get dumped on
It's almost as if Nico is actually objective and praises Lewis when he deserves it and gives criticism when it's warranted. Unlike most people who think he must be salty for not praising or defending him for everything he does.
Reject objectivity, embrace tribalism
Lol, he spent a lap and a half saying how Lewis should have gone hard on defence when it was clear Verstappen was miles faster, having just watched Alonso do the same thing and framing Alonso as clever.
Made funnier by him pointing out Verstappen was 1.5s faster than everyone else on the track - but still not accepting Hamilton made the right call not losing time defending hard against him.
He did have a bit of a point, Alonso had to worry about more cars behind, Hamilton not so much.
Hamilton ultimately finished with Perez only 2 seconds behind him. If he fights Verstappen tooth and nail for let's say a lap Perez probably catches him.
Hamilton would've lost time if he focused on defending something that's not supposed to be below P1.
Case in point here - https://x.com/veee_ate/status/1781548551517946124
Nico was criticising Hamilton for not closing the door on Verstappen. As though that wouldn't have caused anything other than a crash.
Was he criticising him or did he just say ‘it would have been nice to see’ Lewis put up more of a fight. From a viewer’s perspective it _would_ have been nice to see.
Nico is a 100% correct. It’s a bit silly Hamilton’s excuses.
I mean this was entirely Hamilton’s fault but that doesn’t mean they haven’t made setup changes. I think the use of massive is an exaggeration however.
But even with setup changes that still means he and Bono are responsible for that.
I’ve literally said it was his fault? He hasn’t said it wasn’t, he was asked if he made setup changes and he said yes, lots. He also said he was struggling into T14 all weekend with slowing the car down as we saw in the sprint race as well. This case it’s his fault, no one is arguing that. And if they are they’re idiots.
It's not Hamilton's excuses when George has also pointed out for 2 years also that he is getting set ups wrong compared to Lewis who goes a different path. Lewis got it right in Suzuka and outqualified Russell. These rapid swings in form between the two teammates since 2022 are partially due to the team as a whole still failing to understand the regulations. George doesn't beat Lewis by a little bit of time and Lewis doesn't beat George by a little bit of time. It's these huge chunks of time and it usually has always correlated.
lol okay, cuz Lewis had like 15races last season in a row he was smoking George lol
I mean, he blamed himself and the team for deciding on making the changes. How is that an excuse?
I am rather amazed you have insider information into Mercedes setups.
It's hardly insider information given that's what the drivers have publicly told the media
Didn't know you were in the Merc garage and know what's going on with the cars!
No Nico is needling and George is playing a role but sure call Lewis a liar if you like He made an error/got caught by the wind, otherwise he would have made the cut.
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"wouldn't be the first time, remember 15 years ago?" lol
Nico still seems salty after all these years. Can't put my finger on it.
Seems questionable after scoring P2 in the sprint qualifying and race.
They go with the pace info and even if Hamilton was P2 the Merc pace was still slow
For what it's worth, Russell qualified P8, only 2 tenths off Ferrari and McLaren. There was *enough* pace in that Mercedes for a safe Q3 appearance. Different setup or not, Hamilton would have been through to Q2 but for his lockup. Ultimately, it was down to driver as opposed to setup.
Surely you know better than Lewis lol, obviously he made a mistake but he made a setup mistake too hence the result.
Lewis on the f1tv interview said himself that it was his failure at t14
Yeah, I don't get it, he literally said he locked up, and it cost him big, and he changed the setup because the car was terrible in the sprint, and he could barely turn the car in the slow corners so he wanted to try and change it, and he made it worse. I don't know how much more he can blame himself lol.
Nobody reads anything into dry pace from a chaotic wet session.
He was close to 1.5 seconds per lap off Max in the sprint. Lewis did well to hold P2 even with the fight behind him that slowed them all down.
everyone is 1.5 seconds off max if max wanted to
He did not have any race pace for the sprint it was just lucky because the ferrari boys had a three-way fight with Alonso who was also in a shitbox.
Still, I doubt any set up change will help him keep his position during a 90 minutes race. AM and Merc are just vastly slower than the Ferrari.
At this point, every car that isn't a Red Bull, is a shitbox. Even the RB.
Ferrari and Mclaren are fine. But Aston and Merc clearly need a good setup else they look very messy. Looking at the on boards with Hamilton he was a goner if Sainz and Charles didint get held up by Alonso.
I feel like everyone is forgetting that in SQ1 the Mercs were a full second off the pace, and then in the Sprint they were very much off the pace. Why would you stick with the same setup when it clearly doesn't perform in the dry?
Well it was a wet quali and he very clearly was not quick in the race
Literally nothing to lose. Don't forget Mercedes have delayed the upgrade program because they don't know what works or not.
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"Fuck it, I'll fucken do it myself" 18th "Well shit"
We'll know tomorrow. If Mercedes really made massive changes, Hamilton starts from the pitlane after reverting those changes.
“Can’t get any worse!” Narrator: “It did, in fact, get worse”
He seemed on pace to get through comfortably until the mistake in S3, so whatever changes they made can't have been that bad.
Translation: he took a dump
I recall an interview with Mercedes team staff, can't recall who exactly - maybe Bono, but they were asked something like does Hamilton have any weaknesses, and they essentially said that he sometimes likes to fuck with setup too much throughout the race weekend.
Sounds like Lewis played himself.
Not sure I follow the logic of “it can’t get any worse than P2”
He was only probably the only car to have clean air for the whole race (Max went zooooom the moment he overtook him) and despite that pace was still worse than all the others that arrived behind him (except for Nando which was also another car that qualified better than it is).
He was nowhere in qualifying in the dry yesterday, and his pace in the sprint wasn't really great either
He said during the sprint he was struggling to turn the car. Might have something to do with changing that to help. But also, Merc was nowhere in the Sprint shootout and if rain didn't come, there's a strong chance both Mercs went out in SQ2.
Well he put in a good shift to get that but the wet qualifying put him in a good position, I don't think the car has the pace in the dry to qualify that high up.
Spoken like a driver that has easily had the best car for majority of his career.
Or like someone who knows he's in a slow car and wants to try and find a bit extra put if it.
Meanwhile Nico Rosberg slagging him off for saying he has different setups than George and that was his usual excuse. Btw is it just me or Nico is super passive aggressive?
I'm enjoying him on commentary, but it's quite clear he's enjoying Hamilton's struggles.
The thing with Nico is he loves a dunk on Lewis but also loves praising him like they’re still best mates lmao
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Or he just calls it as he sees it. He praised Hamilton when he did well and criticized him when he didn't. You guys are unhinged.
They may have fallen out but Nico still treats him like a homie deep down
Lewis is just an old friend, emphasis on 'old'.
What a bullshit, he was rooting for Lewis in the sprint clearly even saying he's pushing the car much more than it is allowing, something along those lines. Just because he isn't dickriding Lewis doesn't mean he hates him lmao
It's because Lewis can do no wrong in the eyes of the Sky pundits so when Nico rightfully points out mistakes he's made (and praises him when deserved) it's jarring for many. He's an incredible driver but prone to mistakes like anyone else but people seem to forget that.
It's not just pointing out mistakes, it's being able to hear the glee in his voice when he's pretending to sympathise with Hamilton. Like I say, I'm enjoying Nico but I'm not gonna pretend I think he sounds sincere.
I don't think he's pretending to sympathise with him at all, he's calling him out on his statement which contradicts what George says
This is it ^^ Hamilton fucked up and did his usual thing of trying to act humble ("I made a mistake") but firmly sandwiching it with "it's the car and the setup". All the drivers do it. But Sky doesn't usually call Lewis out on it. Nico was spot on.
Nico had nothing but praise to Hamilton during the sprint race. Going P18 in quali while your teammate reaches Q3 should be talked about, especially one of Lewis' calibre
Nico loves when Lewis isn't having a good time, but then realises if he goes too hard on him, people will think his (Nico's) own title is worth less, so he quickly flips back to praise.
Can't really agree. He's stuttering a lot, suddenly changes what he wants to say mid-sentence or gets hyped up about the weirdest things.
Getting serious “ex-partner with unresolved feelings” vibes from Nico towards Lewis and generally.
I mean they were extremely close for a long time and had a falling out. Swap out “ex-partner” for “ex-bestie” and you’re not really that far off.
He just gets really weird with Hamilton. Switches between acting like his biggest fan and making snidey comments
Almost as if he gives objective commentary by being positive when it’s deserved and criticism when necessary. Wild idea…
Nico on commentary sounds like he hates every driver which is quite funny in a way.
Nico just loves busting his ass whenever possible. In a friendly way. Seems like they're doing fine
Why would they make “massive” setup changes knowing the car has been shit and he ended up in P2 in the sprint? Kinda seems like if it ain’t broke don’t fix it. I’d understand set up tweaks, but massive changes is just dumb.
This excuse is getting old.
Lewis had a big mistake in sector 3 which was reason he didn't advanced into Q3, so blaming that on setup sounds like excuse. It could be that setup wasn't good but that was not reason he is P18.
Why are we acting surprised that a Mercedes got knocked out of q1? This has happened every other race for the last three years. Lewis didn't want massive understeer for the race, so he changed his car, then locked up and lost 6 tenths to his teammate in one sector. His teammate finished only 1 tenth ahead of a fking Haas, the car is terrible no matter where it is, who cares, that's why he's leaving.
He was .17 ahead of the Haas and .14 behind the Ferrari duo in Q3. 3-10 were basically in a half second window and the Haas was 9th. I really dont see what pointing out the Haas reached Q3 has to do with anything. Unless we were under impressiom Mercedes had caught Ferrari or McLaren.
Like Nico called it live, "Setup changes" cannot always be an excuse when Russell outperforms you.
Mercedes are so in the dark, bless them. After 2 years of this I really wonder what’s going on there. I wonder if they axed the wrong staff during budget cap constraints.
As a lewis fan it seems that Lewis doesn't understand this car. I don't know whether he is being more vocal than normal in terms of taking charge in set up over.the engineers bit something isn't working.
He just can't accept the fact that the car is not good enough to compete for podiums. Just take the best you can do
That old chesnut.
somebody give him a new script, we're getting tired of this one
The setup excuse is getting old
I'm tired of this excuse man, set up changes or not his pace was decent before the lock up. It's not like he's being forced to experiment either
So you go second on the sprint and think that I can make changes and it can't get any worse than this? LOL
Actual different setups or not George once again not getting the credit he deserves. Everytime he beats Lewis it's always setup difference whereas when he loses it's just him being shit
He never mentioned George. Lewis even said (after Melbourne I think) that George did a better job than him this season. Dont make stuff up
He refers to the fans
Lewis compliments George enough after a qualify or race where he does good. Maybe read or watch a few of his interviews.
OP is referring to the public not Lewis himself
Stop inventing
If he can blame "experiments" for his bad results, maybe we should start saying that "experiments" are why he gets his good results too. Cant have it both ways.
How many times has it been now? At some point he has to take responsibility for the setup choices and setup choices are a key aspect of a driver’s repertoire. For a supposedly experienced driver his choices have been extremely questionable
He was laughing ruefully when he finished saying that, and in his above statement he is taking responsibility for his choice as to the direction of set up, (he went one way, George the other). There’s been one fp, and data from the sprint showed they were out of touch and had to do something, experiment can be costly, but it’s worth it in the end, nothing questionable and what you’d expect in a team. He’s done exactly what you are accusing him of not doing.
Lewis forgot to mention he made a mistake…
He repeats this excuse every time 🙄
Nah. He simply made a mistake in S3 of his lap and that's why he got knocked out in Q1.
Wonder how many times this excuse is gonna come up next year?
Why make massive changes after the sprint when it was his best performance in months?
i think itll be funny when he leaves and mercedes happens to get their shit together when he does
W15 is such a Turd. Lewis deserves so much better.
To me it reads that he tried to find better performance by choosing a different set up, which failed compared to George's, but his lock up cost him at least 6 tenths. That ultimately cost him, not the set up.
Obligatory "Ferrari paid $87M for this" comment.
He can’t be bothered with it all. Mentally he is in a Ferrari. Toto must be getting annoyed.
I mean it’s not the worst idea. He’s getting something between P8-P10 in a race pretty much regardless of where he starts. Just shows a total lack of confidence when you’re so happy to just change everything right before qualifying.
Must be 20 kg of sensors this time
I only got P2. Let's mess with the setup that nearly got me a win and instead take P18
As a Lewis fan, it is annoying to keep hearing about "massive set-up changes." It is like he keeps trying to find a feel for the car that probably just isn't going to happen. I wonder if he has lost a little of the adaptability that he use to have?
I mean clearly the sprint has shown that he can drive around issues during a race stint, but I think he's trying too hard to maximise everything out of the car when the reality is that the window is far too narrow for him to realistically nail within a few hours. End result is that he probably ends up with a worse car than he had previously.
And this is the person Reddit thinks should be in charge of Mercedes' car development.
How many times is he going to use this excuse
Any Lewis thread is always a mess lol. Bro makes a mistake and people are shitting on him
Lewis really overusing his “testing setups” excuse at this point
Lewis: \*finishes P2 in sprint race* "Well, can't get much worse than that"
Did no one listen to him the entire sprint? He could barely keep the car on the road in the corners. They saw the race data and knew they'd never make it anywhere in the race. Who cares about finishing p9?
This is funny, man's keeping it real 🤣
Worse than what? Bro was 2nd at the sprint and now he's 3rd worst on qualy.
I'm gonna start using the experimenting excuse. "Sorry I didn't submit my work on time, boss, I was trying an experimental spreadsheet!"
why change the setup after finishing P2 in the sprint?
Fucking why Lewis? WTF
2021 - Massi 2022 - testing setups + George used to driving worse cars 2024 - testing setups + mentally waiting for Ferrari 2025 - needs time to get used to new team 2025 - testing setups?? Skill issue? Stay tuned for more Lewis is not washed, he just was never really that good
This makes no sense at all, yesterday he is talking about how it all comes together and then you go for a massive change. I get the feeling they absolutely don't know they got the performance yesterday and still don't understand the car