Why Mercedes Downfall Was Inevitable 

It's a contrast to how McLaren handled their poor performance at the start of the season. Andrea did a stellar job in dealing with the situation.

You can see how Merc dominance vs RB dominance played out. You can tell RB has just sharpened every aspect, from strategy to pitstops, and how Max refuses to phone in or have an off weekend. Meanwhile Merc dominance was filled with occasional pit stop failures, strategy blunders masked by a fast car, and Lewis having weekends where he's not on it, letting Valtteri and Nico take advantage.

I wouldn’t say “fallen from Grace”, they really aren’t THAT bad, we’re just so used to the dominance that it feels like it.

"The uncanny valley of MIDness that is Alpine" 🤣🤣 The pitstop championship thing was something I wasn't aware of, really gives a perspective of how bad they have been in terms of pit stops!

My concern with them is how bad they are at losing. You see toto after these races and he looks like he just came out of a bar he’s been crying in for the past 2 days. You got lewis who doesn’t really seem happy no matter what cus he isn’t winning. Compare that other teams like Aston who when Alonso gets a podium they treat it as if they won. Merc needs to accept they aren’t who they once were and any result that is good they need to relish and be happy that there progress not just say “well we aren’t winning so we still need a lot of work”. 90% of management is motivating your team to be the best they can be, constantly crapping on your car and how bad you are can’t really be good for team moral.

It’s a testament to Redbull that they are at the top of the pitstop and constructors championships, they strive to succeed at every level (overwhelmingly so perhaps, but it gets results)

My opinion is the downfall was inevitable as soon as other teams caught up engine wise. The PU advantage was always Merc's trump card, they were never excelling in the other fields of Formula 1 (race team, strategy, pit stops, aero). Red Bull were consistently excellent in all areas EXCEPT the engine, so as soon as RB got their hands on a competitive power unit (the upgraded Honda engine that is), Merc was doomed. Sooner or later they would be outdeveloped by RB or another of their rivals. Mercedes' demise was sealed with the introduction of ground effect aero, which their design team had no idea how to handle, resulting in the failed concept of the W13

The point when I realized that Mercedes wasn't who I thought they were, was the 2021 Monaco Grand Prix. When the race started, Lewis started P7, but I thought that the strategists at Merc should be able to figure something out. And then they didn't. In fact, he went backwards, since Bottas and Leclerc had to retire, Lewis should have gotten up to P5 at least. But he lost out to both Checo and Vettel. After that race, I stopped thinking that Merc had all the answers.

People don’t seem to realize that Merc is not the same team it was prior to the last reg change. Ross Brawn put that team together. He is a technical genius. Using Merc endless bank roll he put that team together and set the technical direction. If you include What Ross did with BrawnGP, Merc engine in a Honda chassis, this was his 4th timing turning a team into a championship team. Along with having Schumi to guide the development direction of the car, just as they did together at Benetton and Ferrari. Engineers from that time have said Schumi was crucial. His input from dev point of view and also being a team leader. Remember that Schumi did more testing miles while at Ferrari than any driver in history. Toto is a finance guy and has no engineering training. Toto was very new to F1, team management and MercGP when he parachuted in 2013. All the dev work for the 2014 car was done before Toto was in control and pushed Brawn out. Merc also got an unprecedented 8 years before the rules were changed. Previously Red Bull and Ferrari only got 4 and 5 years before the rules were changed to stop their dominance. As it is now RB will only have 4 years with these regs so Merc got a huge gift there. All Toto had to do was manage the massive pace advantage Brawn and teams car had. Last year he even admitted they had to turn down the power at times to not reveal their true pace and have change forced through. They also had 3 years where the other teams were. Severely restricted on changes they could make. Without Brawn and many from the team he assembled Toto’s lack of technical knowledge is evident. He has no idea what to do and is relying on the engineers for direction. Brawn understood it as well as anyone and was able to work with the engineers and direct them. Toto pushed Brawn out and received all the credit, when he had little to do with it. This era is Toto’s team and it has revealed his (in)abilities.

The Mercedes team faced a significant challenge due to the introduction of the Formula 1 cost cap. This cap changed the way teams introduce upgrades to their cars, forcing them to seek larger gains that justify the cost, rather than making frequent small improvements. Mercedes' Technical Director, James Allison, explained that most of the performance comes from the wind tunnel, and the car follows the developments made there. However, the lag between what the car sees and what the wind tunnel is doing depends on how quickly the wind tunnel geometry can be incorporated into the design office and then manufactured. Before the cost cap, teams could frequently update their cars based on wind tunnel findings. But now, they can only afford to make two or three major upgrades in a season. This means that they have to accumulate several findings in the wind tunnel before deciding that it's worth making a package that they can afford to put on the car. As a result, the car lags behind the wind tunnel by a significant margin. In addition to this, it was reported that some parts used in the wind tunnel (the scale models) were inaccurate and exceeded the necessary parameters. These issues not only affected the development of the W14, causing delays during the winter, but also impacted the correlation between the wind tunnel data and the actual performance of the car. This misalignment could have contributed to the difficulties Mercedes faced in their development campaign. This mistake was mega, somebody had to take a break or get a boot for this. I personally think Mercedes' winning streak combined with the 21 Abhu Dhabi saga, left them slightly fatigued and out of focus.

Toto acting like Mercedes has become the worst team on the grid is still funny as hell

I feel like Mercedes when they were dominant never utilised their car the way Max and Red Bull are doing now. They never got close to winning every race and they always had the possibility of making a strategy error or botching a pitstop. Their car was probably further clear than the Red Bull now during at least 2014-16 and 2020.

It’s a shame their decline has lost us the Hamilton revenge arc after 2021, he’d retire if he won another title and then that’s a top seat open for someone (and then a lower seat open for someone else) Now he’s just stuck waiting on Mercedes to get good, which might not happen again

It's very telling that as soon as Milton-Keynes gets another chance at a title with a competitive package they're immediately on it just as they were in 2009-2013. Even in 2014, if it wasn't for the engine they would have likely been on it as well. And during the rest of the MWL years, RBR were still a well-oiled machine. On the other hand, as soon as Team Brackley loses the safety net that was their engine advantage they immediately get exposed by other teams and drivers.

I think Tommo is right when he says that the car concept is an issue, but I wonder if it goes deeper. What do you think of this? Mercedes' dominance was partly rooted in their mastery of front wing aero. At a time when front wing aero was king, they consistently had the longest cars (which maximises the impact of the front wing) and these were typically very flat as opposed to the steeply-raked RB concepts. As a way of getting the floor working, Mercedes' flat cars relied on length and front wing aero whereas RB used rake to create downforce that was less reliant on front wing. Now the ground effect cars reduce the importance of front wing aero (though not enough) and RB are there with experience of steeply raked designs. This is still new territory for Mercedes. The other issue is that Mercedes were so dominant that we know (they said so) that they built their cars to run at the front in clean air. The long flat Mercedes never did run well in dirty air. Whereas RB spent years running in the wake of the Mercedes with all its dirty downforce deliberately creating extra turbulence and developed a better understanding of how to work with reduced or less efficient downforce. What do you think? This is really a guess based on what I've seen and heard since 2014.

It was inevitable from the moment James allision Left. The fact that even in 2021 he was needed to be called in back to fix the 2021 car. ( First car TD Mike ) Some people are just that good that they can't be replaced by a single person

Horner is right in some ways, Toto didnt build the mercedes team, he just sustained it, that makes it a challenge for him to rebuild it, if he even can

I think there are two things that I don't see in the comments: 1: Adrian Newey having previous experience with Ground Effect *and knowing about the skeletons in the closet* - this isn't a Merc issue per-se, but I think it cannot be overstated - All the teams, except RB had to learn things from 'scratch' - whereas Adrian Newey had experience. 2: Ferrari's disastrous 2020 season allowing them so much extra Aero development time - again, this isn't a Merc issue - but it's important - start of the new Regs we saw that Ferrari was rapid right out of the gate and we nearly had a title fight before Ferrari dropped it. So - the two teams who (from a resource/backing/money point of view) were best placed to provide a challenge to Merc had significant factors in their favor, whereas Merc didn't have those advantages that their rivals had. Now, internally - Merc had a number of key people getting poached - I suspect Merc sat on their laurels and the 'We are Winners' mentality and not considering that a new challenge (and big fat pay-rise) would have tempted some of their staff.

Like Damon Hill said Mercedes domination was built on a Engine advantage that carried them for years. Nikki Lauda stated that Merc had hybrid technology back in 2007. If you look at 2017 and 2021 everytime the aero regs were tweaked Mercedes lost there advantage but the engine was always there to pull them through, but now the engines are all pretty much on par and they cant spend there way out of trouble they are kind of getting exposed. I dont even think we should be that suprised because before 2014 they were pretty much where they are now, good at a couple of tracks and top 3 or 4 everywhere else it was always the hybrid engine and the fact they would out spend everyone that kept them ahead.

This season has shown how dependent Mercedes was on their unlimited budget when they where dominating, and grew too complacent given how used they are to just removing ballast to gain speed

For me the biggest problem with Merc is that they don't know when to prioritise which driver. There are weekend where George is faster but he gets a worse strategy, like Brazil recently, and others where Lewis is faster but they don't swap them. It feels like now Merc is doing what they can to please a certain driver in the moment and make the strategy suit them but that comes at the cost of the other driver. Also, doesn't matter how many times Lewis says "Oh I'm so grateful for the guys and the team", if every weekend he comes on and complains about the car being bad, TO THE POINT THAT TOTO HAD TO TELL HIM TO STFU AND DRIVE IT, it has to be demoralising for those working on the car. Yes tough love is sometimes important but you need to maintain morale too.

In 2014 at the beginning of the turbo-hybrid era, Mercedes nailed the regulation changes so well that no one else came close and we ended up with three consecutive seasons where the drivers championship was fought between Lewis Hamilton and Nico Rosberg, with Hamilton winning the battle 2-1 before Rosberg retired from the sport. In 2017 and 2018 Sebastian Vettel challenged Hamilton but couldn't sustain the challenge over the entire season in both years and Hamilton won comfortably enough. Then in 2019 and 2020 Hamilton was effectively unchallenged for the driver's titles, before finally in 2021 a team in the form of Red Bull and their #1 driver Max Verstappen were able to match and beat this team, albeit highly controversially in the final race of the season. 2022 brought in new regulations designed to reduce the "dirty air" behind the cars and allow closer racing, by reintroducing ground effect aero to the sport. This time around it was Red Bull who nailed the regulations and they have utterly dominated the sport since, especially this year where they are going to inevitably match the feat of the 1988 McLaren team who won all but one race that year. Mercedes tried and failed to use the zero sidepod design and I think they're struggling to come to terms with the fact they are not the dominant team in the sport at this point in time, after seven consecutive drivers title's and eight consecutive constructors to start the turbo-hybrid era. That's reflective in the staff who have moved on and their subsequent strategy struggles during races.

When Lauda passed away, I asked myself how long it would be before Mercedes started falling behind, not long, I see.

A lot of Mercedes weakness was masked by their engine performance. They could pile on the downforce without caring about the downside.

I do think its their time for a struggle, Kind of like Mclaren, Every team around them is improving and understanding their cars, crazy how Most the merc powered cars are faster than the merc in the race.

The good thing for Mercedes is that their costumer teams are doing really well with the cars in the area where Mercedes is the weekest,they can study their upgrades and parts and have a good chance to make a stong and competitive car for 24

Can we just appreciate how diverse the podiums this season are? The regulations are really working. Imagine in 2017, 18, 19.... a team challenging the top 3 by pace. And this year Aston Martin, McLaren, Alpine Podiums by pace

Mercedes’ biggest problem is that they are now not only competing with world teams but also with their own customers in McLaren and AM; two teams they comfortably beat for years. The “floor” if you like is no longer third behind RB and Ferrari like it was from 2014-2022. It’s now fifth and that makes it much harder. They need a spark from either a new sporting director or other key personnel because new blood brings new ideas. And clearly the current team is lacking in the ideas dept.

I don't think it can be underestimated how the cost cap and limits on CFD/windtunnel time has had on Merc. Previously, if they made a mistake at the start of the season, they could throw resources at the problem and develop their way out of it. They can't do that anymore. Reminds me of how the limit on testing was introduced really affected Ferrari in mid-00s. Ferrari could no longer use the testing miles and resources to develop their cars in the same way as they had relied upon.

For me, the most problematic issue in current Mercs is their whiny nature. Like they shout so much left, right and center, force FIA to change the rules instead of just getting some data, analyze and wait till the next upgrade package. I was so sick of listening to Toto after every single race, when he was apologizing to Lewis, that he finished on like idk P5 or P6. That's not a bad result, that's just trying to hex the reality. They exploited better half of a decade with their car, putting billions into the development, they forgot that people and times just change. They were on top so long, Toto got a main character complex. It's not their downfall in sense of performance - it's their loss of good will and becoming hateful. And that hurts way more than some mid-performance races. Why all that rage and pity, when you are in a god damn P2 constructors xD

I think given how Mercedes have been running in the midfield in Red Bull dominance vs how Red Bull ran in the Mercedes dominance era, (this is gonna be somewhat controversial) but Red Bull had adapted better to the midfield from previous regs to how Merc is, Mercedes seem to be stuck in a winning mentality rather than front or just midfield mentality that cost them dearly, if they don't see value in pitstops due to their mentality, they will faulter harder than other midfield teams. Red Bull on the other hand, from what I remember joining as a F1 fan from 2014, were always trying to maximise what they could given they focused on strategy and aren't scared to do what's needed for the best of progress. Of course being one of the big three before the cost cap era, they were ale to splash money around like no one's business and always tried to chip the gap to Mercedes and would make the most when Mercedes blunder. (Hell even Ferrari did this back in 2017 and 2018 when it was a battle between Lewis and Seb) If the roles would have been reversed per say... (hot take incoming) I honestly don't think Mercedes would have did as well as Red Bull to try claw their way back as leader of the pack and probably lead to Red Bull leading after the 2022 regs even if it was to be a massive change, Mercedes might not had even a slither of hope to catch, and probably would have a bigger case of it from Mercedes dominating post 2007 to 2013. What I do find intriguing though is if Mercedes would be able to catch back in the coming years or would it be a similar issue to Ferrari in a way that they try what worked previously even thought the car isn't able to do it like in the past in the post Schumi era and get stuck in the front of midfield where they are there but can't seem to push forward, and weirdly given the less concrete idea of a 1-2 in the team, it feels like Ferrari in a way, are scared for team orders since both of the drivers are quite similar. Of course this is just my opinion of what I observed and could be a whole different picture in another's mind but think would be interesting to have a say in the matter given I seen Mercedes dominate from 2014 to 2021 basically 1st hand given the races I watched over that time. Still boggles the mind that Mercedes are having this many issues with the car given what I experienced over the years.

I don’t think Mercedes will have a serious shot at the title until 2026. That’s not to say they won’t win any races between now and then, I just don’t think the team is ready. Some will say they’re P2 and while that’s true, they still got a long way to go to catch Red Bull. It took Max starting P6 and having a brake issue for Hamilton to be within 2 seconds. And let’s say Mercedes does win that race. Congratulations, that’s 1 win vs Red Bulls 16 (up to that point in the season).

They don't understand the new regulations. It happened to James Key, McLaren nipped it in the bud & look at them now. Sometimes you have to accept your limitations to succeed.

WHy didn't you mention that the P2 in Austin was done with an illegal setup on the car, that has to be a minus for the team, doesn't it?

It's simple. They went the wrong direction in 2022, didn't bother to try something new for 2023 and have been trying to change a car inside the season, which with budget caps is impossible. Depending on the base they start with next year will depend on how well they go. I think it might take at least two more seasons to stand any chance to get anywhere near Red Bull, as that car is inanely quick and it crushes everyone, not just Mercedes.

George Russell at Mercedes now is going to be exactly like danny Ric at RB in 2014 Mark my words

the problem is that mercedes' dominance has made that the team doesn't have a humble mentality. if they truly want to be better, they need to go for a mclaren-honda period of time

The past two seasons clearly amplified Merc's power unit advantage during their dominance. While other teams during that period were squeezing every last bit of the aero to catch up, Merc remained complacent in that department, and rightly so then, but that complacency has come back to bite them now.

This is one of your best videos ever, the depth of knowledge, the analysis, the music, the vibe is all quality Well done 👍

I wouldn't say fallen from grace, more like being exposed without a OP powerunit. Slow pitstops, dropping a Ferrari strategy occasionally and not being aero superior (while still being great) were all saved by the superior PU. As the great Enzo has stated: "Aerodynamics are for people who can't build engines." I feel like Mercedes are still operating under the believe that they have the best team, the best driver and the best race operations while they clearly haven't. Such a contrast to Red Bull which have been in the position where Mercedes is now. Red Bull during the Mercedes dominance knew they aren't going to beat them on the basis of the PU, some might say that if Red Bull weren't hold back by the Renault PU, Mercedes wouldn't have dominated that long. So they optimised everything else until Honda gave them the PU they needed. And the rest history. Even if Mercedes produce a championship contending car next year, they will still be outclassed by Red Bull on the operational side. A Lewis/George line-up is better than Max/Checo on paper, but Mercedes isn't utilising that even now. Once they can fight for a driver's championship, this pairing is the first that will explode.

Wish background music was a bit lower, hard to hear what Tommo is saying sometimes

Not to mention, Max is legit like an unstoppable war machine that Redbull has firing off endlessly.

There's plenty of arrogance in F1, but Mercedes takes it to another level. That arrogance blinded them from seeing that the zero side pod concept was not worth pursuing, and they wasted more than a year of development because of it. I don't think they'll be challenging for the title next season, or possibly even the season after. RB has been on cruise control the past few months and has already turned their attention to next year, while Mercedes will still be figuring out how ground effects with side pods works for the first time. That's something they haven't truly been able to do yet, because their current car is a zero side pod design with side pods slapped on it.

The same thing will happen to RB at some point, but I’ve certainly gained a new appreciation for the fact that RB have remained competitive for all these years!! (Essentially since 2009)

Merc became complacent. the very thing they kept saying to the media they weren't and it finally has bit them on the rear. they won't fall far back but they won't be vying for a championship anytime soon. All dominant eras come to an end and I feel many staff members in merc saw the writing on the wall in 2021.

I think the easiest explanation is that George is just cursed. When he was at Williams, they had their worst 3 years in their recent history. When George left, it took a year to lift the curse. Now Williams is P7. Now that George is in Mercedes, the once mighty giants have fallen. Coincidence? I think not

Mercedes got it wrong from the beginning of these ground effect cars, then made it even worse by demanding altering minimal ride height to prevent the "dangerous" porpoising! They had to listen to Christian Horner, who said to fix their own car, instead the new rule was imposed and Mercedes became worse because of that. A lot of self inflicted pain because of their own arrogance.

Mercedes’ pit stops have been hot garbage for ages but they got away with it for ages because the car was so good

Signs were there in 2016 not being able to manage rosberg/hamilton

i think Merc deserves a little credit for at no point being the 2nd fastest car but still second in the constructors at this point. After basically redesigning the car since the no sidepods was a terrible car. Loved the video and it made so many good points. I just simple think starting with a terrible design and being stuck with it due to budget cap as well as losing all those brains to other teams put them in a bad spot. Imagine RBR starting with the no pod design instead of nailing most things first go, they would be in a similar position. RBR is for sure the better oiled machine but there isnt enough oil in the world to make up for the blunder of fundamentally missing the new regs in the budget cap era.

I think the budget cap has been an equally damaging force. When you're a team that's gotten so used to just being able to throw seemingly infinite cash at a car to make it better, when you're suddenly forced into having to budget, it throws your game off massively and the budget game seems to be one Adrian Newey works in massively well.

They've also recently started Accelerate 25. It's possible that there were some teething issues and that they are adapting and working on getting the new recruits on par and beyond previous levels.

I'm so early the only video quality is 360p lmao

Ross Brawn and Niki Lauda put that team together, along with a super powerful engine developed from an unlimited budget. Since the death of Lauda the team has lost all direction. Since then solely under Toto's leadership the team has not improved at all only gone downhill. Mercedes need the right leadership at the top if they really care about winning but whatever they do winning on merit is not happening any time soon.

great calming sum up. I love it!

6:25 - W14. But since it's derived from the W13's zero-pod approach, it makes sense still

Mercedes downfall started when Bottas left, coincidence?

They really had nowhere else to go but down, but I had no idea the amount of poaching happening! That's HUGE to lose that much staff???

The way Red Bull managed their huge set-back at Singapore: They understood what they had done wrong and the next race in Japan, they were already back on top! I miss that at Mercedes this year.

Outside the aero/setups, everything here can tighten up massively at Merc with relatively little effort (from a business standpoint) in the offseason. Getting the pit crews additional fitness and reflex training to get those numbers down and nailing strategies is all just a matter of focused study, which will have to come from the top down. At the very least putting their best foot forward on race weekends will take away a lot of frustrations from having a 2nd tier car and let Lewis and George focus on hitting their corners, as well as open up opportunities for the rare weekend RedBull isn't 100% on (like Ferrari did with Singapore this year). As someone with experience in the operations side of business, that should be the focus for 24 to at least maximize what they have.

The zero pods were a brave idea being a number of teams had tried the concept in the past and all had failed to make it work, but what I am really surprised at is Mercedes didn't appear to have a plan b that could be implemented once it became obvious it just wasn't going to work. It would be interesting to see the simulation data they had on the zero pods concept and why Mercedes was so convinced it would see them back at the top of the field. I am sure Toto is very worried they wont keep 2nd in the constructors and could end up as low as 4th if they have another bad weekend.

The media are still acting like it’s an anomaly Mercedes is not dominating anymore. It’s 100% a cycle change and they are 100% in denial. 2024? I see at least 3 teams ahead of them.

Great video , well put together, thanks mate!

EXCELLENT analysis Tommo 👍👍🏁 Something about James, he's an great communicator, clear, concise. Great addition for Williams.

Mercedes strategy has been the thing that I always complain about, we all know the car isn't the fastest or 2nd fastest. However Mercedes don't respond to anything on strategy, its all super passive and no bold decisions are made. Leaving both out in at a raining Zandvoort when they had an ability to split strategy since they had cars at opposite ends of the field stands out to me. Make a decision and stand by it; sometimes you get it right sometimes you will get it wrong, but I believe they mostly get it wrong by doing nothing. The downfall was also inevitable because they had nowhere to go but down after years of dominance. They aren't magically back markers, they are still a Top 5 car on most weekends and there are plenty of the other teams would kill to have that "base" level.

1:19 Leclerc has had his bad luck as well to say the least

On the sprint topic, if F1 aren’t going to change anything. At least move sprint quali to Friday, and set parc ferme for sprint race after the normal quali session. You can take it further by having sprint race in the earlier time slot and normal quali later. Then introduce parc ferme

Excellent video. Love the pacing, your accent :) and the background music 👍🏻

Yes finally, Mercedes downfall should hopefully bring Williams back on top.

What I find ridiculous is the Hamilton fans who are supposedly mad at Mercedes for "destroying Hamilton's career" and "not giving him what he deserves." If anything, credit has to go to Mercedes for providing Lewis with a car for 8 years that allowed Hamilton to break all the records. Credit also has to go to Lewis for his driving as well as working well with his team, but the entitlement from one particular fanbase is crazy. Surely it's straightforward to realise that no era of dominance lasts forever, and this was always going to come to an end. The W13 and W14 aren't even terrible cars, they're just not as competitive as the previous 8 cars.

Really appreciate how informative this video was with data and graphics!

Small shoutout to your choice of background music being Gran Turismo OST. Creares a really relaxed viewing experience

2024 RB20 is going to wreck the field again. They stopped developing the RB19 early with full focus on 2024. The other teams are going to have to step it up big time.

Downfall yes, inevitable yes. Entitled to success, no one is! I do hope they get 'occasional' wins soon though.

Really great video Tommy and it's really refreshing to have the blatant failures of the team be put forward, we spend way too long saying they will be back without really understanding just how much they have let themselves go

Gran Turismo menu music during the sprint segment was blissful. Cheers Tommo.

Too much self pity and shitting on their own product won't ever bring them a title again. If they don't change their approach and acting generally they won't ever win anything besides some wins every now and then.

At least when they went down they are still challenging for podiums and still 2nd in the Championship. Hopefully next year they come strong because we can't have a season like this when one team is dominating

Nice music! Had to keep checking I didn’t have my ridge racer album playing by mistake 😂

Great video tommo! 2021 was Mercs "last dance"

It's a cock up and a poor design direction choice but not in the same league a McLaren who spent most of the turbo hybrid era in the wilderness up until recently. It all depends on what Mercedes have designed for 2024 and whether they understand why they have done it that way. Otherwise it's 2026 with the regulation changes. which incidently is where Verstappen's winning streak will cease.

I'll ride or die with Mercedes. With James Allison back I will continue to have faith the W15 will be a far better car !

love the Gran Turismo Music, try the FZeroX Staff Roll/credits song, it is kind of in the ballpark, for a closing video at the end of a season it would fit perfectly imo.

its mainly the personal changes sometimes people don’t understand that the „fight for the best car“ is just as human as that for the drivers cars don’t have bad seasons, their builders do

You know for as bad as this seems for MERC you also have to consider they will be the only team with a big change during this area of the regs (pre-2026) so they are positioned to potentially have the biggest growth and probably the only team that could adjust enough to catch Red Bull (before 2026)... Although that is purely on potential and there's no guarantee they could stay or go backwards but they are probably the only team who can take that chance on a big change to their design. They will probably be the only one that stands a chance to beat Red Bull (pre-2026)

I don’t think Mercedes has fallen off, just struggled to make a car competitive enough. They failed in 2022/2023, but 2023’s car has been a mix of W15 parts & zero pods.

Great explanation and presentation. But I have to say the background music was very distracting for me..

Great video, thx for taking the time to put it together. I'd love to see albon get another crack in the 2nd RB car. I think he'd give max a better race for a championship, than Danny Ricc.

Few more diversity & representation hires back at the factory will solve their problems

The biggest problem is Mercedes are hostage to a weird Toto/Lewis obsessive relationship. That is hampering a fresh culture and forward progress. Yes I know Toto owns the team. If he didn't he would be gone by now. That's the problem.

As Bane said to Batman, victory has defeated you. All these holes are now exposed, really want next year to be a 4 team race for the championship

I was honestly shocked when I first heard Toto say that they never focused on being the best at pitstops, that that isn't something that interested them much in the past. That's is the wrong philosophy to have. Indeed, their car was so strong that they didn't need to maximize other areas to win both championships, but to outright know that there are departments where you can vastly improve and you don't strive to do it is baffling. In a sport like F1, in a tight season like we had in 2021, one botched pitstop could decide a title. One wrong strategy call. One off weekend. The only way you're going to beat RB and Verstappen is if you are 100% on it every single racing weekend because you can bet your house that they'll be 100% on it from top to bottom. That's why even if by some miracle the W15 is on par with the RB20 next year (which is a long shot), I still don't see them winning the championship, not vs the current RB apparatus, not when you have certain areas that are lacking that aren't even car related.

You're delusional if you think Norris could beat Max in a RB. Max would spank him just like he spanked Albon. Norris barely beat Albon in F2.

They were not graceful winners by the way they treated Bottas and one year contracts. We can see RB being more considerate to Perez despite him having an off season. Toto simply doesn’t value people and they leave where they are more appreciated

Wow, i knew their pit stops haven't been great but 7th?!!!! That is shockingly abysmal.

Given Red Bull current dominance, I think the earliest championship battle we can expect is 2025. By then the regulation would've been mature enough for teams knowledge to converge. I still think that Red Bull will be the fastest car, but coupled with Max Verstappen factor, I can still see them winning at least the WDC.

Great to see emphasis on other members of these teams, that are just as important but don't get the limelight that the drivers get, despite being even more important. Great video Tommo.

Mercedes back in 2022 with this new car in BAKU tried to do the same stuff they did when they were winning with the FIA always allowing Mercedes to get the approval mid-season to change parts of the car that are illegal to change mid-season. At BAKU 2022 we got to see the OSCAR winning performance by Lewis Hamilton and Toto as they tried to get their suspension changed and to correct a bad car design give them speed. It was not for driver safety it was for speed and competition.

Should be “Toto Wolff post-2021”

I noticed the Gran Turismo soundtrack in this video 😃