Can Anyone Catch Mercedes?

[Paul Jeffrey]

Day One in Australia is complete, and the question on everyone’s lips remains – can anyone catch Mercedes?

Having dominated the hybrid turbo era since 2014, many expected that a low key pre-season testing could spell the end of the formidable performance from the Mercedes team. However, once the cars hit the Albert Park street circuit in anger on Friday, Lewis Hamilton laid down a significant signal of intent in FP2, topping the times by over eight tenths of a second from the nearest none Mercedes driver.

With the Brackley squad having seemingly carried over their advantage into the 2019 season, and with Ferrari not meeting expectations down under, is 2019 set to be yet another Mercedes show once again?

Do you thing the Silver Arrows have it in the bag already, or do you believe the others can catch up before the season concludes in December?

Let us know your thoughts in the comments section below!


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[Xero]

Far too early to judge. Even beyond this weekend, as Albert Park isn't your typical F1 circuit. I don't think there's much between them on raw pace, but as far as set up is concerned, Mercedes appear to be more dialled in thus far.

 

[muzikant]

Yess we can.. too early to make that conclusion . Maybe only the rocketship motor power from the mercedes. but the season is long... tire management... updates.... and at last mother nature...rain races can make the different.

 

[Terry Rock]

The car looks fast but always on a knife edge.
Look at the steering inputs versus the Ferrari.
It is taking quite a bit more steering and countersteering to get it where they want it to go.
Way too early for any predictions.

 

[John-Eric Saxén]

If you watch Leclerc onboards, he was fighting the car as well quite a bit on exits and spun once as well. The difference is probably small and might come down to the drivers, so if Hamilton does one of those mega laps like he did last year in Australia and Singapore, I'm afraid others will have no answer.

 

[Zoltan76]

OK, so Formula 1 is dead for me.
I knew that Mercedes is playing with the others...again.
I hate them.

 

[Deleted member 113561]

Many people here are truly stupid. Wait for Q3, then we will know. It is obvious that Ferrari was sandbagging in FP2. Until then wait with your opinion, that is also true for many political *topics, inform yourself properly and if necessary wait for sufficient data.

Anyways the season is long, some tracks will suit Mercedes better, some Ferrari, some Red Bull, maybe one of them has reliability issues, maybe one of them is super tire hungry, all to be determined! But noooooooo these "fans" they know it all from some testing and FP1 and FP2 ....

 

[Boby Kim]

Many people here are truly stupid.

Well then,.you must be the stupid leader
Stupid and ignorant..great combination

 

[pcraenme]

Let’s wait a few races before we can conclude anything about another Mercedes dominance. Last year a lot of people thought Ferrrari had the best package and would win the WC and look what happened!
The only conclusion from FP1/2 we can draw is that Williams is in a league of their own. Maybe they should ask for a transfer to Formula 2? Very sad to see this happen to such a great team from history.

 

[Juan Emilio]

If mercedes dominates again i would like to see at least a bottas-hamilton fight for the wdc

 

[UMC 22]

I'll never understand why we hear things like this before every race, based on nothing more than practice sessions. Anyone that has watched F1 for more than one season knows that practice data is notoriously unreliable, with the teams using different parts and setups, and perhaps even deliberately sand-bagging in an attempt to fool their rivals. I'll be honest, it gets boring.

When the race starts, we'll know for sure who is running well in Melbourne and who isn't. When race 21 starts in the Winter, we'll know who is likely to win the championship.

 

[Vic Flange]

Who is the fastest ? We don’t know yet.
What we do know is that the Williams is shockingly slow. We are talking Forti levels of crapness here. What a waste of a Mercedes power plant.
I like Claire Williams but the team has gone backwards under her stewardship.

 

[farjam]

Only Mercedes is bad enough to play with others and sandbag, not ferrari , they are the saint in F1
I don't usually watch f1 , i watch f1.5 and only care about the midfield and i'm sure it will be great this season , Haas , Renault , McLaren , Toro Rosso and the mighty Alfa are the teams that i care and it seems they are in the mix together (my only sadness is williams...), but hell the alfa will kick all of them
VIVA F1.5

 

[apex11]

Only Mercedes is bad enough to play with others and sandbag, not ferrari , they are the saint in F1
I don't usually watch f1 , i watch f1.5 and only care about the midfield and i'm sure it will be great this season , Haas , Renault , McLaren , Toro Rosso and the mighty Alfa are the teams that i care and it seems they are in the mix together (my only sadness is williams...), but hell the alfa will kick all of them
VIVA F1.5

It would be F0.5, NOT f1.5....
Williams is E8

 

[farjam]

It would be F0.5, NOT f1.5....
Williams is E8

Well , i know 1.5 not make sense mathematically but it's the name that some of f1 drivers have called and recognized it over and over during the last few seasons, so the fanbase have chosen that f1.5 name.
What? i thought williams is competing in GT class to produce more overtakes this season

 

[Juan Emilio]

Well , i know 1.5 not make sense mathematically but it's the name that some of f1 drivers have called and recognized it over and over during the last few seasons, so the fanbase have chosen that f1.5 name.
What? i thought williams is competing in GT class to produce more overtakes this season

You are right my man. Otherwise f2 and f3 should be called f 0.3 and f 0.4 or something like that. Its a mere convention start at 1 and name inferior categories with higher numbers

 

[aduo]

nooooooo wayyyyyyy ..... Ferrari simply can't catch'em . Since the beginning of the Hybrid era Mercedes is playing another sport .