14-05-2019, 08:45 AM
Mercedes racing dominance, in terms of percentage wins are down to two factors, and one of them people possibly won't like hearing:
1) Reliability. How many times in previous eras did drivers "lose" gears, or have other issues forcing them to slow. Even during the Ferrari years the gremlins struck a fair few times.
2) The Drivers. Love him or hate him Lewis stands head and shoulders above most of his peers in terms of talent (Alonso aside in my opinion), and Rosberg is as good as the likes of Vettel, and I'd say beardy Bottas is relatively good too. Certainly better than Webber.
One of the reasons RBR didn't utterly dominate for me is that we had the two best drivers, Alonso and Hamilton in other cars, and were able to drag performances out of them and best RBR. Looking back at that era, and really assessing it I think it was clear from it that Seb, 4 WDC's that he has aside, was never on the level of Lewis and Fernando.
As to stopping Mercedes? God only knows. By all account Mercedes has offered technical details to both Ferrari, Renault and Honda with their engines. That was during 2016 and 2017, which is totally unprecedented in the sport. Ferrari were clearly able to capitalise, Honda are showing signs of getting there too, it's really only Renault who are in the wilderness engine wise.
Mercedes cornering speeds are so much higher than everyone else's, including RBR right now that it's clearly down to the Chassis, aero and mechanical grip the car produces. This is the first 100% Allison car Mercedes have produced, the 2018 car having legacy components, and we are really seeing the results. Obviously the donkey in the back of their car has plenty on grunt to force the car through the air at speed with all those wings and widgets, but, those wings and widgets work. I actually think their speed in the slow corners is more due to there suspension and mechanical grip, obviously aero is less important at slower speeds, and Mercedes have worked on their mechanical aspects far more than other teams over the last three years... coincidentally since Allison has been there.
How do the others stop them? Git Gud I guess, but part of me suspects it'll take a major rule change and Mercedes messing up... which doesn't seem likely.
1) Reliability. How many times in previous eras did drivers "lose" gears, or have other issues forcing them to slow. Even during the Ferrari years the gremlins struck a fair few times.
2) The Drivers. Love him or hate him Lewis stands head and shoulders above most of his peers in terms of talent (Alonso aside in my opinion), and Rosberg is as good as the likes of Vettel, and I'd say beardy Bottas is relatively good too. Certainly better than Webber.
One of the reasons RBR didn't utterly dominate for me is that we had the two best drivers, Alonso and Hamilton in other cars, and were able to drag performances out of them and best RBR. Looking back at that era, and really assessing it I think it was clear from it that Seb, 4 WDC's that he has aside, was never on the level of Lewis and Fernando.
As to stopping Mercedes? God only knows. By all account Mercedes has offered technical details to both Ferrari, Renault and Honda with their engines. That was during 2016 and 2017, which is totally unprecedented in the sport. Ferrari were clearly able to capitalise, Honda are showing signs of getting there too, it's really only Renault who are in the wilderness engine wise.
Mercedes cornering speeds are so much higher than everyone else's, including RBR right now that it's clearly down to the Chassis, aero and mechanical grip the car produces. This is the first 100% Allison car Mercedes have produced, the 2018 car having legacy components, and we are really seeing the results. Obviously the donkey in the back of their car has plenty on grunt to force the car through the air at speed with all those wings and widgets, but, those wings and widgets work. I actually think their speed in the slow corners is more due to there suspension and mechanical grip, obviously aero is less important at slower speeds, and Mercedes have worked on their mechanical aspects far more than other teams over the last three years... coincidentally since Allison has been there.
How do the others stop them? Git Gud I guess, but part of me suspects it'll take a major rule change and Mercedes messing up... which doesn't seem likely.
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