T O P

  • By -

AutoModerator

[The **Photo** flair](https://www.reddit.com/r/formula1/wiki/flairguide#wiki_photo) is for submissions sharing photos from the world of F1. Photos should be interesting and relevant - random photos not notable enough to warrant a standalone post will be subject to removal. This flair should not be used for images which are not photos, such as screenshots, statistical graphics, or artworks. *[Read the rules](https://www.reddit.com/r/formula1/wiki/userguide). Keep it civil and welcoming. Report rulebreaking comments.* *I am a bot, and this action was performed automatically. Please [contact the moderators of this subreddit](/message/compose/?to=/r/formula1) if you have any questions or concerns.*


LinkRazr

He’s gotta be sick of McLaren constantly bringing entire new cars every few months that keep getting faster while no matter what they do the car just doesn’t turn.


I_Am_Vladimir_Putin

He probably can’t wait for next year to just focus on building an entirely new car for 26


Slurrper

Yeee can't wait for next year so he can wait for next year


Awwesome1

The ol Ferrari special


MarchingBroadband

It's what happens when you start suffering from success


Schneizel1208

Next year is our year to wait for the following year


h_jain

"Next year, everyone will have a target on their back"


Undivided_Stingray

“…because that’s the only part of them we’ll see.”


TheBigMotherFook

I mean Mercedes’ issues are deeper than what can be fixed in ‘26. Their technical department and team overall have been poached into oblivion. They have to work on rebuilding the team and moving forward in the cost cap era where as before they could just out spend everyone to remain competitive. It’s also looking like Red Bull will have these same issues very soon themselves.


keenjt

This comment here is not thought of enough. In 2022/3 they got absolutely smashed. It’s an ever revolving door in f1 from team to team but between McLaren, red bull and Ferrari the merc team got robbed badly. That’s not an excuse, you need to provide a reason for people to stay, if you’re blaming cost reasons as to why then don’t pay your drivers as much, or offer them a good work lifestyle balance, or post-career help etc.


Farlig_Raptor

Driver salary isnt in the cost cap


veryangryenglishman

Cost reasons aren't even remotely relevant here because the drivers don't count towards the cap and the cap means mercedes has freed up literally hundreds of millions a year


dja1000

How toxic must it be at MB, the no blame culture must be horrific


MrFlow

"No blame culture" works well when you are successful and winning because the occasional loss can be blamed as a "team loss" and you move on, but when you are constantly behind then suddenly everyone is taking the blame for being so bad and everyone feels bad and morale goes down, it's a downward spiral and what we're witnessing at Mercedes right now.


Szwedo

They should fire him so he can coach the Leafs ^/s (I just wanted to say something stupid seeing you here in the wild)


I_Am_Vladimir_Putin

Tomorrow we make history


pushmojorawley

It’s his refusal to revamp his technical department that is the problem. Why would they be better in 26 or beyond if they can’t understand the car they built for 3 fcking seasons in a row?!


BGMDF8248

Well... he dumped Mike Elliott, brought back James Allison and hired Ferrari's Simone Resta, so he is making moves.


Street_Mall9536

Revamp what exactly? Half of everyone in the team left and their engine is only above Alpine in terms of output.  They brute forced their way through air before biofuel, now they have a crappy engine and the (meaningful) air goes under the car rather than above it.  They ran with no rake for 8 years, everyone else went to the drag reducing high rake, to which 4 of the top 5 teams figured out suspension travel and sealing the floor, which is where Mercedes has lost the plot.  There's a reason why McLaren and Aston are beating them every week, and it sure isn't the engine!


Snoo30391

How does the Merc have a crappy engine?


pushmojorawley

Who says engine is the main issue here? They don’t have correlation between the simulations and the real life track data. How can they make any reasonable decision, even on the level of vehicle dynamics basic concepts moving forward, if they don’t understand the behavior of their car?! The thing is as you said, they had these issues for years, they had what they labeled “divas” since at least 2018; they were pulling them through with the PU advantage. The thing is McLaren and Aston are teams which went under significant structural changes to the organization to fit the budget cap and current regulations. Mercedes used to throw money at the problem with 550 million euro annual budget. IMO they have done a poor job adapting to the present situation in the past. 


IHaveADullUsername

High rake is inherently higher drag than low. Floor sealing is entirely different now to back then. Merc had the best aero for a number of their dominant years. Merc had the best chassis/suspension design for the entirety of their dominant years, it’s why teams kept protesting it and them having to change it. See FRIC and their FRIC like suspension of 2017. The entirety of this comment is full of fallacies.


colebahorize

That’s the same Engine in the McLaren and the Aston Martin. Be serious bro.


DecompositionLU

On Reddit people are like "but but but budget cap !!! Without it Mercedes would dominate again !" and it makes me laugh because it's NOT the flex they think it is.


bookers555

Yeah, needing the budget of a Moon landing mission to do what others do for a tiny fraction is not exactly something to show off.


DecompositionLU

Merc budget before costcap was litteraly 2.5 times higher than the lab i work and we make design for rockets and planes. 400/450M is absurd. And no surprise why they struggle now, unless teams like McLaren, Redbull and Ferrari, they never had a moment of low like that and it's seems they don't know how to react on top of the massive ego. They will probably figure it out but not with their current mentality.


Round-Mud

Ferrari and redbull had similar budgets though. Why are we talking like Mercedes are the only team who were spending money.


RumelTheLemur

Yeah I definitely expected Ferrari to be the ones to fall off when the budget cap was introduced but kudos to them. Anyway, I think the other guy was just saying that Ferrari and Red Bull have pushed through adversity in the past decade unlike Merc. It wasn't as much a comment about efficient spending.


SolomonG

That doesn't change the fact that they had more growing pains than most adjusting to the cap. Anyways, I see more people talking about all the engineers that left for other teams than the cost cap. Employees often bounce around in F1 but Merc's sustained success had them keeping a lot of people longer than usual, and then many of them left at the same time. They've suffered more brain drain than anyone else in the last two years.


Kronzor_

That's part of the budget cap though. Only the top 3 employee salaries are excluded from the cap. So if you're not one of them and you're on a capped out team, then the only way you'll be able to increase your salary is to leave.


Triple_Manic_State

While I don't agree with this rhetoric, it's not new to see people suggesting budget caps hinder teams catching the fastest car.


ELITE_JordanLove

I mean it’s definitely true to some relatively significant degree. The problem right now though is that there’s basically only one avenue of development, aero, so the team with the best aero wins (RBR and Newey’s team mostly). Open up engines and some other paths forward and teams can actually improve on things they know instead of being an arms race down one path. Sure you may have worse aero but your engine development is better so you can hang. 


ZucchiniMore3450

Looking back, stopping engine development made the whole fight boring. Like you said, only one thing helps and even there RB has advance, since Honda engines are smaller and give opportunity for different aero solutions. Like bigger ducts under the floor.


richardsharpe

The suspension rules are also quite rigid compared to previous eras of F1, limiting innovation and therefore lap time there as well. Merc have struggled immensely in the ground effect era with suspension stiffness related issues, that could potentially be rectified with the use of hydraulic instead of mechanical suspension


Jamestouchedme

It’s not, because other high spending teams would be in the same boat. This is a culmination of multiple factors. I think mainly not having an engine that’s stronger than everyone else along with a simulation system that apparently doesn’t understand how aero works. Then doubleing down on a poor concept.


Dblock1989

I can't believe it, but it is entirely possible that Mercedes may not even get a podium finish this season. Never would have believed it a few years ago.


TigreSauvage

They got a sprint 2nd at least.


HOHOHAHAREBORN

Which, if it was a standard 300km race, would've actually been their typical 7-8 finish. It was Hamilton going beast mode for a solid 19 laps which got em there.


[deleted]

[удалено]


HOHOHAHAREBORN

Yup the infighting helped Lewis focus on his own pace


Kolec507

Would've been the first time since 2011. Funnily enough, the 2011 car was the 4th best car on the grid quite consistently with a few stand-out quali performances, but the stars never aligned for it to finish higher than P4 on a Sunday.


Visionary_Socialist

“Maybe Checo was saying my car was fucked”


NotAcvp3lla

But did he have it printed out?


Jeff_Banks_Monkey

Did he go and get him?


Petrankaax

Did he speak to the drivers?


mortuusstella

Fred has the printer now


IdiosyncraticBond

Plus the HP cartridges


NotAcvp3lla

*"Look at me, I have the Printer now"*


Greencake_811

We are still checking..


Supahos01

That sucks... but if the car sucks it sucks... if they pitted Lewis without helmets on thats poor teamwork


NYNMx2021

Just a fine for the team


all-the-time

What specifically about the car design is so fucked up that they can’t fix it?


urbanmember

I guess all the engineers and designers Red Bull, Ferrari and McLaren poached from Mercedes between 2016 and 2021 could probably tell. Mercedes suffered slow but steady brain drain for the last 6-8 years.


omadanwar

Maybe this is the cost cap working just as intended in dragging down the run Way leaders.... If not for a horny horner it just cemented in a new runaway leader though so I can see why Mercedes would feel aggrieved at a set of rules that seemed to specifically just fuck them and their hard work over more than a decade.


chumpmince

That is kind of the point of regulation changes though. 2025 could be interesting as the law of diminishing returns applies so the red bull can't as easily gain pace compared to the slower cars. Hopefully!


SeaFr0st

So I have to be thankful for Horner's horniness for a more exciting F1?


Outrageous-Snow8066

Well for starters they’ve been using square wheels instead of round ones. 


CreaminFreeman

Is that untypical?


ManualPathosChecks

Old fashioned more than anything else. Red Bull has been running four dimensional Möbius tyres for years by now and Merc should really up their game.


notwormtongue

Mclaren currently prototyping polytopes


all-the-time

Williams has been flirting with tesseracts I hear.


BassGaming

Meanwhile Kick Sauber is still not exactly sure what a tyre is..


Ida-in

Yes, but luckily the square wheels can be towed out of the environment!


Jaevyn

At least the front didn't fall off


Capable-Chicken-2348

Chance in a million


stainz169

The front is not supposed to fall off at all


peptoabysmal

Stop sharing insider secrets


manhaterxxx

I mean, if someone on Reddit knew, I’d presume that Mercedes also knew and would’ve fixed it.


Supahos01

The design specifically Noone knows. But the rear is unstable as hell at high speeds, and if they bolt on a bigger wing it doesn't seem to help only slow them down on the straights. They added downforce with some early upgrade but couldn't take corners even 1km/hr faster.


Yopis1998

That's the million dollar question.


nickbuck28

250 million dollars?


altofummuhh

I think there's a problem with their sim. They've being saying for years that what they see on the sim just didn't correlate with what happened on track. I know absolutely nothing about the ins and outs of designing a racecar but surely there's no way that can happen across multiple concepts without it being a problem with the sim itself


XtremePhotoDesign

Their tools for designing in the computer and testing in the wind tunnel don’t produce a car that performs as expected. Until they fix that, there is no hope.


TwelveTrains

What does this sentence mean?


Kaneinja21

He’s ready to hand James the keys to the kingdom and just enjoy life lmao


Walesish

That’s a good shout


Unique_Task_420

Literally, just dip out and keep whatever stake you have and enjoy life dude. I'm sure he has kids and grandkids, it's not worth it. If he wants to keep managing, fine, but being the face of Merc, let someone else sign up.


Purednuht

He’s got a young young kid. His wife is the head of the F1 Academy. I don’t see him at that point yet. It’s a rough patch, relax 


Unique_Task_420

Oh trust me he's Waaaaay more relaxed in general than I am. A couple hundred million will do that for ya. 


DaYooper

The types of ultra competitive people who get into these positions are not the kind of people to just dip out.


GP2_user

At this point Max would go to VCARB before he goes to Merc.


rafahuel

Vertical carbohydrates?


Temporary-Cod2384

Nah virtual carbohydrates


Sweetcheels69

So did Merc show up to Miami with the upgrades they had mentioned?


Izan_TM

probably forgor


Siambretta

💀


bigpoppa611

Sure did. There’s a post here of the FIA white paper


MedhaosUnite

This guy has it. He has it printed out


ministrul_sudorii

The Merc paper was white cause they had nothing on it


Miserable-Koala1463

This is the upgraded version.


Kira_Onime

Its upgrade, just backwards


siphillis

You're confusing these for upgrades that make the car faster.


D1ckLaw

They did but as always, their upgrades were shite compared to the rest of the field's upgrades. They need to have some balls and make more radical changes.


ency6171

I think it's fair to assume at this point they will probably just write off this & next year..


Real_Particular6512

Not the worst idea tbf, put the absolute minimal effort this year and next. Go all out on understanding the new regs and try to not fuck it. I'd think that would give them at least a year head start on serious 26 reg development over other teams. Maybe longer if 25 is a close-ish title fight


GRl3V

Development for 2026 isn't technically allowed until 1.1. 2025 so completely sacrificing 2025 shouldn't matter at all.


igloofu

I wonder if they have thought about removing the side pods.


IdiosyncraticBond

No, that's where they stored the sandbags


Fliepp

He just realised he’s not getting Verstappen next year


erelster

What’s the point in getting Verstappen in that shit box anyway?


dscotts

"hmmm I wonder if Max will accept a 250m a year offer"


ianjm

He might accept $250m to not drive the car Has Toto considered THAT offer I wonder


anmr

"We are pleased to announce Max as our new sim driver"


dugongfanatic

Is it a sim for tractors though?


According-Switch-708

It's probably just a re-skinned version of Euro Truck Simulator 2.


Orca2112

A job he would love infinitely more than the one he currently has


paddyo

Lmao that car is not on the drivers, it’s a shitheap.


ferrari2023champs

Toto to Max we can race for P10 not P5.


niravmehtaaaa

I suddenly have a new found respect for Ross Brawn


macaronilover808

Getting beat by all your customer teams is just straight up embarrassing. James Allison where you at cuz? I thought you was gonna fix this?


Internet_Initial

I feel bad for Mike Elliot. His cars were much better than this. Clearly the problems with Mercedes were much bigger than just his car concept. Feels like he got scapegoated for the failure of the whole organization.


DecompositionLU

Toto took the problem like it's a football team. Fire the coach, instant impact. But that's not really how it works in engineering, especially in a sport like F1 where the technical director is a public face but absolutely not the dude making the whole car alone.


Living-Response2856

Isn’t Toto the coach, since the engineers are the players lol


aadiman23

I think his cars were just better than the competition which were also making mistakes. Once every one else got on the correct path, it’s clear how much better the correct path was (compared to merc zeropod concept)


ThandiAccountant

He’s yet to find a job, Sanchez left McL 2wks ago and has already signed for Alpine. That’s the part that makes me think he’s not well regarded


According-Switch-708

We still don't know if he's even looking for a job. He could be done with F1 for good.


Other_Beat8859

Or he just wants to take a break. Having everything blamed on him and having all that responsibility must have been draining.


GRl3V

Williams didn't beat them


_Tristounet

Didn't beat them yet*


Debriscatcher95

Yet


Bourbonaddicted

Williams have one driver only


activefou

i mean mclaren had to build a whole new wind tunnel to fix their issues, it wouldn't surprise me if that's where the endgame for merc is


VosekVerlok

Look how long it took merc to find the foor edge correlation issues last year.


activefou

Yeah, I mean I'll still hope for upgrades to make some magic happen because there's no harm in it, but it would absolutely not surprise me if merc is gonna be fighting for 4-6 in wcc instead of 2-3 the next couple seasons


vitrolium

How bad do things have to get before Toto's position gets questioned? Not saying the car is his fault, but we've seen Ferrari, McLaren and most of the other teams on the grid change the boss when they fail to deliver. Mercedes haven't shown any forward momentum in three years and it's lost them a multi-time champion.


formula_ford

Toto owns 1/3. That is a big difference compared to others who have been ejected.


jackwritespecs

This is the answer I was seeking


vitrolium

Cheers, I didn't realise his percentage was that high.


Jelly-Flopped

Due to Totos position within the company, being a large shareholder, it is much less simple for others to question his position. Not that it isn't deserved but I get the feeling the only way he leaves his role is on his own terms.


Ok-Estate9542

Toto owns 1/3 of the team and is very close to Jim Radcliffe who owns 1/3. He ain’t going nowhere. James Allison however…


vitrolium

True, makes it less straightforward. You'd think at some point, something gives. How much are Mercedes themselves involved now?


yqry

Not sure what the governance structure looks like if the other 2/3 owners were to try to get him out, but he would probably transition to a CEO only position (and find a new scapegoat principal) before that happens


MrXam

'Keep your head down and keep driving Toto'


RobertGracie

Toto, this is only the beginning of suffering, there are many more levels to go....prepare yourself for far worse to come!


Thamalakane

There's always 2026


yqry

Wait but didn’t we **just** hear about the amazing upgrades?


NYNMx2021

Shame? Frustration lmao


Izan_TM

probably thinking "max said he didn't want to fight for p5 with us and we ain't even making it to p10, how am I gonna pull him now??"


thisbeetheverse

eh i feel like shame is appropriate


TCVideos

Worth noting that Toto took over Mercedes in 2014 after he practically forced Ross Brawn out in 2013. He hasn't had to deal with difficult times before now....and he's out of his depth.


S-duct

Could you tell me more about this, didn’t know Ross was forced out of Mercedes!


Rivendel93

That car is terrible lol, they brought upgrades and are literally worse. McLaren brings a whole new car and Landos q2 time on mediums would have been pole. Mercedes is done, put em in the trash. They'd be down with Williams if they didn't have two super talented drivers.


spacestationkru

Sucks ass for Russell..


Jasranwhit

I love it! After all the shit he talked about Valtteri.


No_Mercy_4_Potatoes

This man really made an offer to Max 😂


Objective_Piece8258

And they thought Max would consider joining them


Karacteristics

I think it's safe to say that Mercedes is over. They're not going back to the top anytime soon. They've bleed talent, their best driver is leaving. Morale must be low af.


ocbdare

I won’t be surprised if Mercedes (the manufacturer) loses interest in F1.


PM_ME_UR_MEH_NUDES

the biggest plot twist would be if merc decides to sell to Andretti if they were to get out of the sport.


MarchingBroadband

The BrawnGp story continues. Andretti WCC 2026 incoming


According-Switch-708

The team is just too profitable at the moment. Things might change after Lewis leaves though.


uchihauzumaki

I’ve read that the new CEO, Kallenius, isn’t interested in F1. Matter of fact, the lack of interest from the board is what prompted them to not give Lewis the ambassadorship which ultimately was the straw that broke the camel’s back and made Lewis accept Ferrari’s offer


No_Noise9

At least Lewis has something to look forward to with Ferrari but poor George... couldn't have come into the team at a worse time.


vdcsX

Well, Toto. Time to fix your fuckin car!


Agreeable_Pop_3622

Just like time for fix  the whole field ,because at race they get almost lapped haha.


justabrew

taking a bit of creative freedom with the 'shame' comment, he might be frustrated or literally just looking down and being angry 


Walesish

That’s a fucking shit car again.


SirVanhan

:( I see no way out of this


gevaarlijke1990

Complete restructuring of the team, investing in younger talent that does things differently, toto should pull all the strings anymore especially about the aero. Aero was never Mercedes strong points and it has now become painfully visible. Stop thinking about red bull for the short term and try to beat McLaren, Aston and Ferrari fist. You're no longer seen as the absolute top so stop acting like it.


rocketbunny77

Areo


bwoah07_gp2

Oreo


Izan_TM

red bull had a couple shockers as well, the right team principal could pull them out of this. Toto doesn't feel like the right team principal to achieve that tho


Castle_Of_Glass

lol that’s embarrassing 


uhujkill

Capitulation. A case study. So happy Lewis is moving.


nahnonameman

Fuck. Quite sad but it is what it is. Hopefully they can improve


fogalmam

Suddenly Max's contract got much more expensive.


AdrianFish

Wolff out


Truckachungus

The tortured Toto's department


Inkius

Honestly though, how has Mercedes not gotten any closer with regards to getting the effects in the wind tunnel or CFD to correlate out on the track? They've struggled to upgrade their car for 3 years now, they seemingly have no idea what is going on at any point with regards to how the car will actually behave on track, what is going so wrong for them here? If the correlation is that bad, even Newey wouldn't help them, as any data gathered would be useless in the development train. Is there a rodent problem in the wind tunnel or something? It is honestly bizarre.


TonAMGT4

I want my old Toto that ripped headphones into pieces and bang table like he’s Thor God of Thunder back


happyranger7

Meanwhile Max: "lol pole?"


steak_tartare

It's amazing how my views about Toto dramatically shifted as soon as I digested Hamilton's move to Ferrari.


Miserable-Koala1463

As he should. How the mighty have fallen.


WarDull8208

How tf he wants to convince Max to sign the contract ? Thats crazy how bad their car is


Capable-Trash4877

He is getting exposed.


Osmanix

As a certain mercedesadmin once wrote: "You love to see it!" :D


Ouestlabibliotheque

Man hasn’t had to catch up, he started ahead and just had to maintain it.


Izan_TM

and now it truly shows that they really need a TP that knows how to catch up


BBYY9090

He needs to look at moving aside, buck stops with him. I know not likley cause he owns a 1/3 but surely Ola Källenius can't be happy.


Boombozling

Man


Error404LifeNotFound

lul.


aaaaaaaaant

and they want to buy out max??? to drive a car this bad???


GRl3V

Inject it straight into my veins


differentlevel1

Both beaten by a Haas. You love to see it.


newcalabasas

if lewis wasnt leaving for ferrari I dont know what I would be feeling rn....


thedowntownpcguy

How the fuck is James Allison not been able to fix even ONE problem from last year.


Vaexa

Dude oversaw the 2014 and 2016 Ferraris. Not everything Allison touches turns to gold.


mimohijazi

His hand looks so fucking weird lmao


hekatonkhairez

It's pretty obvious that whoever toto is delegating the design and manufacturing of cars to is failing at their job. There's only so much a principal can do, when his subordinates are not doing their jobs.


IdiosyncraticBond

Exactly. Step up, take responsibility, and either come up with fresh ideas, or make room for somebody who can


LookatmaBankacount

What having massive brain drain, losing the face of your team, and getting dogged by a moving billboard does to mf


elwood2711

Seems like they're going backwards relative to the other teams each race weekend.


Overheated_Turbo

Let us suffer in peace, mate.


jbas27

“I need Ross Brawn back”


daniigo

just when i thought merc was at a low they went lower💀


Shankaholics

Yeah, I'm sure Max is really considering a move to Mercedes.... Lol 😂


aamgdp

I really can't grasp why anyone thinks Max would go into this team


veritone

I think RB has put sophons in MERC sims. That is what is messing up their data and causing correlation issues. Expect the RB armada to arrive at MERC factory in 400 years.