On 2021-09-06 5:04 p.m., ~misfit~ wrote:

On 7/09/2021 7:52 am, XYXPDQ wrote:

Russel is getting the seat, but does he really want to play second
fiddle for an indefinite number of years?  Guess the pay/ endorsement
check increase makes up for it.

Who says he's going to play second fiddle? I think that Mercedes is a meritocracy (and Lewis wouldn't have it any other way). Maybe until he
proves himself and gets in the points race he'll be 'second driver' but
I think he'll prove himself pretty quickly.

LOL!

No: Mercedes is NOT a meritocracy, and I believe you will quickly learn
that next year.

And they're far from alone in this. It has always been extremely rare
for any team to have two truly first-rate drivers at any one time

Russell will be told very firmly to mind his place...

...and Hamilton wouldn't have that any other way.

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On 2021-09-07 7:03 a.m., Darryl Johnson wrote:

On 2021-09-07 5:09 AM, Matt Larkin wrote:
<snip>

The lure of Merc is pretty clear for any driver and any driver worth
their salt believes either a) it would
be a fantastic learning opportunity to drive against Lewis in a high
performing car or b) that they
are simply better than Lewis anyway and will be able to demonstrate
that once in the car.

My wonder about it is whether Merc (meritocracy or not) can stomach
two drivers fighting each other
for 2nd /3rd places regularly.  If (theoretically) the 1st, 2nd and
3rd places next year are being fought
over by Max in a RBR and the Mercs, and if (hypothetically) there's a
50:50 split across the season
as to which car is fastest, then Max walks away with the championship,
even if Merc wins the
constructors.

Of course, Merc could come flying out of the blocks with the clearly
fastest car and win the vast
majority of all the races, and in that case Merc get to "allow" either
driver to win the WDC.  But for them
at least, any other scenario with two equally fast drivers in their
cars means they split their spoils and
lose out in a fight with a one-man team like Max at RBR.

I have heard, more than once, that the teams have winning the
constructor's championship as their first priority. Which, if true,
would mean that Mercedes would *prefer* to have the driver's
championship, but don't care quite as much.

The teams that have no chance of winning the WDC want to make sure they maximize their positions in the constructors championship...

...because there's money on the line.

The very top teams know that if they have driver's who can finish 1-2 on
a regular basis, then they are going to win the constructors championship.

But not backing one driver and splitting the points between two can
compromise their ability to win the WDC

Also, I don't see "two drivers fighting each other" as necessarily
meaning "for 2nd/3rd places". They could be fighting for 1st and 2nd.
Even a driver consistently finishing 1st or 2nd is going to get more
points than one who consistently finishes 3rd or worse.

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