Originally Posted by
SS454
In the world of motorsports, anytime a team dominates, speculation arises that said team could be cheating. My thoughts in this thread are simply speculation and assumption, as obviously to date Mercedes has not been caught cheating. What I do know about how brutally and unbelievably corrupt the world is, it would be naive to think that there can't be corruption in Formula 1 and/or the FIA. Throughout F1 history there have been examples of strange decisions or rulings that seemed to benefit the dominant team of that era. A tire change in 2013 that made the Red Bull unbeatable, another tire change in 2018 because specifically Mercedes were blistering their tires. Of course the witch hunt against Ferrari's engine in late 2019. What we do know, is Mercedes has held a dominance over the entire hybrid era, with the only competition coming from Ferrari whilst they were found to be cheating.
Average Laptimes in Qualifying:
2014 - Mercedes was 0.688s faster than Williams-Mercedes who was the next best team, 1.099s faster than Ferrari
2015 - 0.630s faster (Ferrari 2nd best)
2016 - 0.734s faster (RBR 2nd best)
2017 - 0.165s faster (Ferrari 2nd best)
2018 - 0.110s faster (Ferrari 2nd best)
2019 - 0.111s faster (Ferrari 2nd best), 0.317s faster before Ferrari's updates in Belgium.
2017-2019 look to be good competitive years. Unfortunately Ferrari's party mode was apparently not legal, and a technical analysis showed Ferrari has dropped upwards of 80 horsepower from their 2019 power unit. I am certain Ferrari didn't gain 80 horsepower after Hungary 2019, I believe they have been tricking the fuel flow since 2017. This doesn't suggest Mercedes has an 80 hp advantage in 2020, as Ferrari had a clear power advantage in 2019, perhaps upwards of 20-30 hp. Also Ferrari is showing to be the worst engine in 2020, it is reasonable to assume that Renault and Honda are down somewhere between 20 and 40 horsepower to Mercedes.
I don't question how a team like Mercedes can be monstrously dominant, it even makes sense 2014-2015. What I question is how they are able to maintain their gap over the competition year after year.
In 7 years Honda, Renault, and Ferrari can't find a legal way to close the power gap down to Mercedes?
In 7 years Red Bull and Ferrari, who have developed dominant chassis' in the past, can't close the gap to Mercedes?
In 7 years, despite having the best chassis and engine, Mercedes have found enormous gains each and every year.
Check out Mercedes' performance around Silverstone, which as we know is Lewis Hamilton's home grand prix.
2014 - 1:35.766
2015 - 1:32.248 (-3.518s)
2016 - 1:29.287 (-2.961s)
2017 - 1:26.600 (-2.687s)*aero changes
2018 - 1:25.892 (-0.708s)
2019 - 1:25.093 (-0.799s)
2020 - 1:24.303 (-0.790s)
With teams in factory lock down, how does Mercedes gain 30ish horsepower on their already dominant and impossibly efficient engine, and how do they find nearly 8 tenths with virtually no development between March and July?
It is possible Mercedes simply is that good. They don't make the same mistakes other teams do. However it's easy not to make mistakes when you're pushing only 90% while the other teams are pushing 101%.
Thoughts?
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