The Mercedes was in despair. In the last free practice session of the Mexican GP, the gap from Red Bull had grown compared to the day before and the W12s seemed destined for a “Caporetto” in qualifying. Then something happened that turned the game around, bringing Valtteri Bottas to pole and Lewis Hamilton alongside him in the front row.
Someone claimed that the technicians directed by Andrew Shovlin found the right place by raising the W12 to be able to attack the curbs more and better, especially in the third sector, the one led by the stadium, but it went unnoticed that the Star finally decided to risk with engines.
Lewis Hamilton and Valtteri Bottas were able to count on a nice surprise: the 6-cylinder F1 M12 E Performance was approved for qualifying with a more extreme mapping than usual, such as to allow the seven-time world champion the chance to hit the 350 km / h top speed in Q2 (only Pierre Gasly did better with 351.5 km / h but in the wake of Yuki Tsunoda), and being able to also have more torque at the bottom.
Nyck De Vries and Toto Wolff, Team Principal and CEO, Mercedes AMG, celebrate Valtteri Bottas’ pole in the garage
Photo by: Steve Etherington / Motorsport Images
The indiscretions speak of an availability of 18 more horses, going to risk in the field of reliability: Hywel Thomas, chief of engine engineers of Brixworth, has given the green light to move the safety thresholds that have allowed to raise the engine overboost, taking power that could cost dearly in terms of durability.
The combination of the set-up choices that marry well with the track (finally, it has gummed up, guaranteeing that indispensable grip for the W12 to function properly) and the courage to go and challenge reliability has allowed Mercedes to overturn the the result of a qualifying that seemed destined for an entirely Red Bull front row.
Valtteri Bottas and Lewis Hamilton happy after qualifying in Mexico City: the Mercedes was amazing
Photo by: Mark Sutton / Motorsport Images
To be fair, it should be added that the growth of the black arrows was followed by an indisputable decline of the two RB16Bs, but it is surprising how the Star managed to resume a situation that seemed compromised.
And, then, to better understand what happened, we asked Matteo Bobbi’s team to elaborate the telemetry of Lewis Hamilton’s best lap in the three qualifying sessions. And already in Q1 Valtteri Bottas gave a clear sign of the change by being the fastest in 1’16 “727, while in Q2 it was Lewis Hamilton who soared in 1’16” 474 mounting the yellow medium compound tires that pay at least half second to the soft tire.
The curves clearly show that there was a leap in performance from Q2 (red track) compared to the white one of Q1: the W12, as we said, was able to benefit from more “beer” respecting the constraints of the single engine mapping. Thanks to the more extreme calibrations (there are numerous setting parameters on which it is possible to intervene), Mercedes has maintained monstre performance at the end of the straights, improving the behavior of the car at every restart and at every acceleration.
In Q3 (blue track) we saw increases from 6 to 8 km / h of speed compared to Q1, losing only a bit of effectiveness in the area of the stadium because the tires began to suffer from fatigue and growth was limited at a couple of km / h of travel speed in the slowest corners.
Mercedes responded with a show of strength in qualifying to the provocation of Helmut Marko who was planning an engine replacement for Hamilton at the high-altitude appointment in Mexico City. Toto Wolff had denied that it would have been necessary to unmark Engine 4 for Lewis (although they used it in customer teams Lance Stroll and Lando Norris), hinting that the Englishman could make it to the end of the season without penalty. With how power units are being used this season, we believe the forecast is very optimistic.
Qualifying does not give any points: the important challenge will start in the evening with the race, but Mercedes flexed their muscles on Saturday, to give a tangible sign that the world championship match will end only at the end in Abu Dhabi …
Lewis Hamilton, Mercedes W12
Photo by: Charles Coates / Motorsport Images
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