The merc's are crusing to be fair, their advantage is well over a second, would be interesting to see the difference if they actually had to push.
why not? most of it is clearly coming from the engine which was rumoured to be significantly more powerful as soon as info started coming out, as well as seemingly being just as economical as the other engines at the same time. I wouldn't be surprised to see the gap get larger during the next couple of races and them to start sandbagging through embarrassment from then on.
If anything, I feel cheated over the last few years, simply because we have had one of the finest crops of drivers in quite some time. We just haven't always had the competition to go with it. We've had a couple of close years.... but not the ding-dong battles to really do them justice.
Mercedes have a big advantage at the moment and it'll soon get boring. That said we are literally years away from matching the red bull dominance. The others will eventually catch up. Look how close the red bull's kinda are with a rubbish engine.....
I fully expect RBR to be on it by Silverstone. They have the Newey factor and likely a mile more development potential than Merc. I'm amazed RBR fans aren't buoyed by their improvement since pre-season. If they can make those leaps so soon after pre-season at fly away races... Imagine what it will be like once we hit Europe.
While that might be so if you watched Hamilton today (more so than Rosberg) he looked like he was cruising yet putting in very quick laps. He hand movement was minimal and the car was sticking to the track...and as I said he was still putting in quick laps. And I am just wondering if mercedes has really shown their true hand yet. They just seem to have more than we are seeing right now. Maybe I am wrong but it seems that way. I haven't seen Hamilton having to grab that car by the scruff of the neck like he has had to do in the Mclaren in previous years. He seems to be a lot more smoother and I think that is a lot to do with how well the car is handling the track and the driver seems to be at one with the car. I believe the lack of grip is what is catching Rosberg out, as I think Hamilton is like the rear end a bit loose, while Rosberg is a bit of a Jenson button.
Only a few weeks back, we didn't expect them to make full race distance, when technically they've hit two podiums.
You are right... Red bull made an awesome recover from testing. I think they went a bit to aggressive and were catching afire... So tis is a very good recovery and I am happy for them and I hope they are much closer soon... But to be honest I think we are yet to see mercedes put down the hammer
Merc certainly have something in hand right now, but their success depends on being able to stay ahead of RBR eroding that advantage... which I just don't see them doing in the long term. RBR will catch, but maybe not pass Merc this season. Newey is a genius... and this car isn't quite the dud that it seemed.
But I don't see Lauda and company easing up...not after the big bucks they paid out...they going to fight it out. Which will be exciting once the teams come a bit closer together. I wish Ferrari and lotus could get into the battle too. That would be awesome. Also Williams and I know Hulk will be pushing like crazy too.
They can have all the money and power in the world, but that's no match for somebody like Newey, who's just a genius at out-thinking the opposition. Which is why every team on the grid would pay through their nose to have him. Macca and Williams were lunatics for letting him slip through their fingers.
it really all depends on Renault getting their **** together. I seem to remember Renault having the best engine after homologation last time out, only for Ferrari and Merc to overtake them, despite there also being an engine freeze, it's what you can get away with using 'efficiency' as an excuse, or payoff caterham to blow up engines so they can make improvments for 'reliability' (although Lotus could probably do with th cash), but in all honesty I can't see anyone catching up enough, the only hope is tyre wear tbh, bu that doesn't look bad enough to cost them too many times, it's so much easier on the tyres when you have a clear track.
We must have a different memory on this, Miggs. I'm pretty sure engine development was opened up to Renault who were down in comparison to the rest. Edit: Just had to go check I wasn't going mad. And I'm not.
Miggins...is it just the Renault engine? Isn't it also the aggressive design of the Red Bull in combination with the engine?
I seem to recall renault winning pretty much everything for the first half of the year, while Mercedes & Ferrari made lots of adjustments for 'reliability' and 'efficiency' Renault repsected the spirit of the rules (I know, I know, we are talking Briatore, but), and stayed with their homogenised engine, then they had to open up engine development so Renaut could catch back up. Basically Ferrari & Mercedes loop-holed it
It was from the '08 to '09 season, which really saw the Renault be able to compete again... even if still a hair off the Mercedes. I guess we're at different reference points.
And I wouldn't be surprised to see some catchup allowed with these V6T's. It makes perfect sense if there's a gulf between them.
