Mercedes-Benz

MERCEDES are inadvertently gifting Red Bull a shot at glory by focusing on the 2022 Formula One season, according to Damon Hill.Next year will see a raft of regulation changes drastically altering the make-up of F1 cars.
Max Verstappen could be benefiting from Mercedes’ long-term strategyCredit: Getty
Teams are facing a dilemma of whether to pour resources into the 2022 shake-up at the hope of long-term success, or attempt to sneak in a successful 2021 campaign while others take their eye off the ball.
Former world champion Hill, 60, has stated his belief that the two title contenders are undertaking differing strategies.
He told F1 Nation Podcast: “It’s incredible looking at the constructors’ championship.
“There is this other team leading the constructors’ championship, some Red Bull team.
“It is such a long time since we have seen that. It does make you have a double-take.
“We’ve talked about how I was worried that Mercedes have moved their resources on a little bit too soon. I wonder that’s why they were struggling a bit – that they were focusing on the new regulations.
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🏁 F1 2021 calendar: practice times, dates and racetrack info
“And I was perusing an old copy of Motorsport magazine, and I found this quote from [Mercedes chief] James Allison.
“He said, ‘The changes are so large, the car is so different, that we are going to have to spend a large part of our technical resources during the 2021 season, in order to make sure we are ready’.
“And that was before the season started.”
Max Verstappen leads the drivers’ standings by four points ahead of the weekend’s French Grand Prix.
Lewis Hamilton has dominated in recent years, as have Mercedes who find themselves second in the constructors’ championship in pursuit of an eighth-consecutive crown.
The Mercs may benefit from looking long-term but Hill reminded listeners that Red Bull are also well set for the years to come.

I think Red Bull would like to slip in there. While the cats are away, the mice can play.Damon Hill

He added: “I am not sure, that’s my point.
“I think Red Bull would like to slip in there. While the cats are away, the mice can play.
“I think they will assume that, if they continue to develop this car, maybe they can overhaul Mercedes this season.
“Honda have put everything in, don’t forget. What they’ve got at the end of this year lasts them for the next five years.”
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LEWIS HAMILTON ran out of magic and apologised to his Mercedes team for bungling a win in Baku.The world champion made a rare mistake by pressing a “magic” button that knocked out his brakes and sent him from first to last place at the first corner.
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Hamilton’s mistake caused him to go straight off the track after the race restartedCredit: Getty

Hamilton apologised for his error after the raceCredit: EPA
The incident in the Azerbaijan GP came after Max Verstappen’s dangerous tyre blow out caused a late restart and a two-lap sprint to the finishing line.
Ironically, Hamilton had just warned his team that it was a “marathon and not a sprint” before stuffing up his chances of replacing Verstappen at the top of the championship.
Hamilton, who said sorry to his team over the radio, pulled up in 15th place as his 54-race run of finishing in the points came to an end.
He then asked: “Did I have the magic on?”, to which his race engineer replied: “Yeah, it looks like it was knocked back on”.
Hamilton replied: “I could have sworn I switched it off.”
Hamilton later added that he knocked the special switch – designed to heat up tyres and brakes on the way to the grid – when battling with race-winner Sergio Perez into turn one.
He said: “It was a humbling experience when we had worked so hard. At the restart when Checo moved over, I clipped the switch and it switched the brakes off and I went straight on.
“It is very hard to take and I am very sorry to the men and women in the team, who worked so hard but we will come back. I had no idea it had touched the button.”

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Mercedes boss Toto Wolff blamed it on Hamilton’s “finger problem” however, the Brit’s brakes were seen smoking BEFORE the restart.
Wolff said that the two would get over their frustration by sinking a few drinks on the flight back from Baku.
When asked how they would get over it, Wolff said: “We have four or five hours on a plane and we will drink!
“He doesn’t make any mistakes and that is what you need to remember. This is a team that is so strong and angry and we have to turn that into a positive.”
Wolff admits Hamilton was left “destroyed” by the error that cost him a potential win as he reflected on a difficult weekend for the team where they scored no points.
He said: “Both of us are destroyed but it is, for him obviously as a driver, you have it so close and then it’s all gone.
“For me as a guy who is running this, we just need to be the best of us, the best that we have and we haven’t given the drivers a competitive package this weekend.
“That is the frustration, it is not only the incident at the end that frustrates, it is overall not meeting our own expectations, all of us together – Lewis, the engineers, myself, everyone in the team.”

🏁 F1 2021 calendar: practice times, dates and racetrack info
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MERCEDES bosses have calmed talk of Lewis Hamilton earning a new contract this summer, according to reports.Motorsport.com’s Italian edition has claimed there is increased tension among the German marque’s senior decision makers following the F1 Monaco Grand Prix.
Lewis Hamilton is in talks over a new Mercedes contractCredit: Getty
Hamilton, 36, voiced his discontent having qualified seventh on the Principality grid.
And he failed to climb any places during the race – despite Charles Leclerc and Valtteri Bottas retiring from in front of him.
The result allowed Max Verstappen to snatch first place in the drivers’ championship with Red Bull also jumping to top spot in the constructors’.
Before the race, Hamilton had been set to sign on the dotted line for another year with Mercedes by the summer.
It had taken the team and driver until the eve of the 2021 season to finally tie him down for the defence of his world title.
But this latest report suggests there is uncertainty within the Merc camp, although the final decision rests with team principal Toto Wolff.
The salary package is said to have already been agreed, leaving only Hamilton’s potential post-F1 role with the car manufacturer up for discussion.
Earlier this month, the driver had insisted that he wants to settle the matter before August’s summer break.
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🏁 F1 2021 calendar: practice times, dates and racetrack info
It’s never a super simple procedure and so hopefully soon we can start, as long as it doesn’t interfere the actual job.Lewis Hamilton

He said: “We never want to be in the position in January, February.
“It ruined my whole winter and I’m sure it wasn’t helpful for Toto’s, in terms of being off and relaxed, so it felt like we didn’t really have much of a break.
“I think we have to be sensible. Naturally we don’t have to rush anything but I think we have to be sensible and start conversations.
“They’re very complex. It’s never a super simple procedure and so hopefully soon we can start, as long as it doesn’t interfere the actual job.
“It would be great to get something in place before the break so then we could be in that break and have a clear picture of the future.”
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MERCEDES are preparing to drop Valtteri Bottas for George Russell, according to reports.Alexey Popov, a renowned Formula One commentator, has asserted that a move is afoot after the Finn’s tough start to the season.
Valtteri Bottas is under pressure to keep his Mercedes seatCredit: Splash
Three third-place finishes have seen him labour behind Max Verstappen and Lewis Hamilton while his two retirements have underlined his poor luck of late.
Last weekend’s bid to win the Monaco Grand Prix ended early due to a botched pit stop from second place and he tangled with Williams ace Russell in a nasty crash at Imola.
Russian pundit Popov told Match TV, via GPBlog: “I will not disclose the source, but there is always a lot of talk in the paddock in Monaco.
“They told me that Russell’s move to Mercedes for at least two years, and not in Hamilton’s place, is already practically done.”
Lewis Hamilton sits four points behind championship leader Verstappen after coming home seventh in Monaco.
Merc academy talent Russell matched his best finish of 14th and is yet to score a point despite his impressive qualifying form.

🏁 F1 2021 calendar: practice times, dates and racetrack info
Popov also reported on the potential for Bottas to take his old seat at Williams in a straight swap with the Brit.
He described: “That’s just my guess, but the fact that Russell will be in the Mercedes is almost certain.
“[Bottas] is hopelessly behind both Hamilton and Verstappen already. He’s out of the title fight completely. Even [Lando] Norris is ahead of him now.”
The man with the decision to make is Mercedes team principal Toto Wolff, who has praised Bottas’ spirit during the early weeks of the season.
He stated: “Valtteri led our fight all weekend.
“He was set for a strong podium finish if it wasn’t for the wheel nut problem which forced him to DNF.
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Sometimes, you just wonder when he will catch a break but Valtteri always comes back stronger and more determined.Toto Wolff

“I’ve never seen something like that before in my years in racing, and it must have felt awful in the cockpit as his rivals went by.
“Sometimes, you just wonder when he will catch a break but Valtteri always comes back stronger and more determined. I admire his Finnish resilience so much.
“I know we will emerge stronger as a team, to give him the results he deserves.”
The 31-year-old’s next shot at a pushback against Hamilton and Verstappen will come on June 6 and the Azerbaijan Grand Prix – which he won in 2019.
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MERCEDES have admitted they messed up Lewis Hamilton’s race strategy at the Monaco Grand Prix.The defending F1 champ finished in a disappointing seventh and would have probably placed two places higher if the team made the right call.
Lewis Hamilton, 36, is now behind Max Verstappen, 23, in the Drivers’ ChampionshipCredit: Getty
It is difficult to overtake at the Monaco GPCredit: Getty
Hamilton made a nightmare start to his race weekend in Monaco, qualifying in a below-par seventh.
Overtaking is notoriously difficult at the Circuit de Monaco, placing extra emphasis on starting positions.
The 36-year-old was handed a reprieve when Charles Leclerc, who had qualified on pole, was forced to retire due to a gearbox issue and team-mate Valtteri Bottas quit the race after a faulty pit stop.
But Hamilton dropped two places back when Mercedes called him in for a tactical pit, allowing Sergio Perez and Sebastian Vettel to jump ahead.
And with title rival Max Verstappen winning the GP, the Brit now finds himself four points behind the 23-year-old in the Drivers’ Championship.
The seven-time world champion demanded answers from his team after the disappointing race and technical director James Allison has responded, admitting fault.
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According to GP Fans, Allison said: “I can understand why he is unhappy because effectively we lost a chunk of places with the strategy call we made.
“You come up to the stop, your options are undercut to try and get ahead of the person who is blocking you, or go longer than the person and overcut them.
“It’s always a finely balanced call and we picked the wrong one of those two options.
“Lewis still had some rubber left on the tyre for what would have been a few decent laps but the chances are Gasly probably wouldn’t have stopped any time soon and our fear was that he was simply going to just stay out there as a road blocker forever.

“We had a window behind where we could do an attempted undercut and unfortunately we weren’t able to get enough lap time in our out lap to get past Gasly on the track when he subsequently made his stop to protect against it.
“Then Gasly’s pace after the stop was so slow that that effectively allowed Vettel, and in turn Perez, to leapfrog the pair of us.”
Hamilton’s Monaco result shouldn’t cause him too much worry at this early stage in the campaign, winning three of the first five races.
But Mercedes will need to ensure poor race weekends are few and far between, with Verstappen’s team Red Bull now leading the Constructors’ Championship.
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