Mercedes' recent straight line speed. How? Legal?

[gt_12345]

Must say, if they're doing everything legal- wow!

However, it does feel very reminiscent of Ferrari's engine in 2019.

Anyone here any ideas what they've done exactly? I assume this is in addition to the dynamic suspension.

Christian Horner said Max's touch experiment told them the Merc wing part felt "significantly different" from the RBR equivalent.

[majordad]

I wonder too, time to look more carefully at Lewis’s engine. He breezed by the whole field with questionable ease.

[85Carrera]

Welcome to the salty max thread

Fancy starting another thread about (a) how driving standards don’t apply to Mad Max and/or (b) why Red Bull are able to run different set ups in qualifying and racing and switch them in parc ferme?

[anonymous-user]

Have some of that.

[anonymous-user]

On a more serious note. They chose the wrong option for Max on downforce level if they wanted to match Mercedes straight line speed. Max was very slow on top speed, Lewis was not even the fastest in the race. Dont swallow the Red Bull Bullst, look at the stats.

SPEED TRAP KM/H
1 55 C. SAINZ 336.7
2 7 K. RAIKKONEN 335.6
3 10 P. GASLY 335.5
4 14 F. ALONSO 333.9
5 44 L. HAMILTON 333.2
6 31 E. OCON 332.6
7 18 L. STROLL 331.3
8 63 G. RUSSELL 330.1
9 4 L. NORRIS 328.2
10 16 C. LECLERC 327.9
11 11 S. PEREZ 327.6
12 3 D. RICCIARDO 327.3
13 99 A. GIOVINAZZI 325.2
14 6 N. LATIFI 323.2
15 77 V. BOTTAS 321.7
16 22 Y. TSUNODA 319.2
17 33 M. VERSTAPPEN 318.0
18 47 M. SCHUMACHER 317.0
19 5 S. VETTEL 316.2
20 9 N. MAZEPIN 314.4

FINISH LINE KM/H
10 P. GASLY 344.6
22 Y. TSUNODA 339.4
4 L. NORRIS 337.5
99 A. GIOVINAZZI 336.6
7 K. RAIKKONEN 334.9
3 D. RICCIARDO 334.5
31 E. OCON 333.1
55 C. SAINZ 332.6
14 F. ALONSO 332.6
6 N. LATIFI 331.7
11 S. PEREZ 331.3
16 C. LECLERC 331.3
44 L. HAMILTON 330.3
63 G. RUSSELL 330.2
18 L. STROLL 329.8
5 S. VETTEL 329.0
77 V. BOTTAS 328.0
47 M. SCHUMACHER 325.3
9 N. MAZEPIN 325.3
33 M. VERSTAPPEN 321.7

INTERMEDIATE 1 KM/H
10 P. GASLY 333.8
31 E. OCON 333.8
7 K. RAIKKONEN 332.9
44 L. HAMILTON 332.9
99 A. GIOVINAZZI 332.0
18 L. STROLL 331.3
63 G. RUSSELL 331.2
3 D. RICCIARDO 331.1
14 F. ALONSO 330.8
4 L. NORRIS 330.7
5 S. VETTEL 330.3
22 Y. TSUNODA 330.0
16 C. LECLERC 329.6
47 M. SCHUMACHER 328.4
77 V. BOTTAS 327.4
55 C. SAINZ 325.3
11 S. PEREZ 325.2
9 N. MAZEPIN 324.2
6 N. LATIFI 322.5
33 M. VERSTAPPEN 315.6

INTERMEDIATE 2 KM/H
11 S. PEREZ 262.9
16 C. LECLERC 262.6
44 L. HAMILTON 261.1
4 L. NORRIS 261.1
55 C. SAINZ 260.6
7 K. RAIKKONEN 260.1
77 V. BOTTAS 259.7
5 S. VETTEL 259.3
33 M. VERSTAPPEN 258.9
10 P. GASLY 257.8
6 N. LATIFI 257.2
99 A. GIOVINAZZI 255.8
14 F. ALONSO 255.5
47 M. SCHUMACHER 255.0
3 D. RICCIARDO 254.9
31 E. OCON 254.3
9 N. MAZEPIN 251.9
63 G. RUSSELL 251.5
22 Y. TSUNODA 251.2
18 L. STROLL 249.3

[gt_12345]

85Carrera said:

Welcome to the salty max thread

Fancy starting another thread about (a) how driving standards don’t apply to Mad Max and/or (b) why Red Bull are able to run different set ups in qualifying and racing and switch them in parc ferme?

No, i'm genuinely curious what anyone might be able to add regarding the topic.

[simonw67]

gt_12345 said:

No, i'm genuinely curious what anyone might be able to add regarding the topic.

Does the data above help?

[rsbmw]

As the data shows, the straight line speed is a red bull red herring. He wasn’t fastest in sprint qualifying either.

What he did consistently was get out of t12 in prime position to use the slipstream and DRS perfectly to get past people.

Clearly nothing wrong with that engine

[Sandpit Steve]

jsf said:

On a more serious note. They chose the wrong option for Max on downforce level if they wanted to match Mercedes straight line speed. Max was very slow on top speed, Lewis was not even the fastest in the race. Dont swallow the Red Bull Bullst, look at the stats.

…

Stop bringing facts to a st-flinging contest!

[Civpilot]

Those speed stats actually show how good a performance Max put in this weekend (that corner not withstanding ). He was seriously hampered with his overall straight line pace all race yet still came a strong second.

[LostM135idriver]

Civpilot said:

Those speed stats actually show how good a performance Max put in this weekend (that corner not withstanding ). He was seriously hampered with his overall straight line pace all race yet still came a strong second.

Isn't that because the track isn’t a straight line?

[Schermerhorn]

Mercedes have had a lot of component changes and penalties lately so their engine may be degrading and losing performance over a few races quicker than other engines. The Hondas aren't experiencing the same drop off race to race.

I would imagine if the previous trend continues the Mercedes might not be as fast as people imagine at Abu Dhabi.

Didnt Ricciardo also retire yesterday with a PU issue?

[RobGT81]

Red Bull were certainly intrigued by the Merc rear wing from the start of the weekend, with good reason in qualy as it turns out! Hamiltons car in particular, seem to get a second wind down the straight relative to the other cars. I'm guessing it was a combo of the new engine benefits and energy deployment but we will never know.

[Hazmat1]

Except what they think was happening had nothing to do with the 0.2mm gap on one side of the wing…
And no action was taken on the topic they wanted investigated oops..

[Schermerhorn]

Hazmat1 said:

Except what they think was happening had nothing to do with the 0.2mm gap on one side of the wing…
And no action was taken on the topic they wanted investigated oops..

Hamilton was disqualified from Friday's qualifying because his car was in violation of a technical rule. Action was taken.

[northerner]

Hazmat1 said:

Except what they think was happening had nothing to do with the 0.2mm gap on one side of the wing…
And no action was taken on the topic they wanted investigated oops..

Was it really 0.2mm? Or was is this a number mentioned by Mercedes which the press have run with....

[Hazmat1]

Number from the stewards, specific to one side of the wing

[rscott]

Schermerhorn said:

Hazmat1 said:

Except what they think was happening had nothing to do with the 0.2mm gap on one side of the wing…
And no action was taken on the topic they wanted investigated oops..

Hamilton was disqualified from Friday's qualifying because his car was in violation of a technical rule. Action was taken.

The Red Bull 'discussions' with the stewards were not around the slot gap, but other aspects of the rear wing. The Hamilton DQ was for a failure of the wing to meet the regs in an unrelated area.

[Hazmat1]

Schermerhorn said:

Hamilton was disqualified from Friday's qualifying because his car was in violation of a technical rule. Action was taken.

Not for what Red Bull think is happening hence still being pissy post race about the Merc rear wing.

[simonw67]

Schermerhorn said:

Hamilton was disqualified from Friday's qualifying because his car was in violation of a technical rule. Action was taken.

And then drove the race of his life. Hero.