Being bi in SDV must be a dream

QUOTES (for reference, i'll be using it in my analysis section)

Simone Resta, Deputy Technical Director in the Race Debrief video:

When talking about the pace difference, "There was a bit of a difference on Friday. It's something that the engineers have been working on with the drivers to make sure that we were on the same profile, and ultimately it got resolved between Saturday and Sunday. And the two cars were in a very, very similar place."

Torger quotes from the F1 article:

“He somehow doesn't gel with the car. We had a straight line speed problem yesterday [Saturday] and the day before [Friday]. “And, you know, a driver sometimes needs to feel comfortable in the car, and he doesn't. And then scoring a P2 today in Silverstone, that's something that I'm really happy for him.” [...] “I think he's holding on, you know,” Wolff added when asked about Russell’s role in the developing title battle. “They have both had the luck and the unluck of the year – Kimi now twice, George once. “And the season is long. He just needs to continue to believe that he can do it. Finding, you know, those little gremlins in the car that cause him troubles at the moment.”

He also had this to say to media on george's radio: (source)

"It's not quite the earful we usually give, but he had speed issues on the straights throughout the whole weekend, but not in the race. And I believe that, for the driver's mindset, it's important to really focus and try to improve what he himself can improve."

ANALYSIS

as i will be addressing many things, each main part will be separated with ///

all the underlined parts are links to sources of the quotes

Looking at the bolded parts, mercedes need to genuinely get their story straight (get it? lols). when did they actually solve this straight line speed issue? was it even solved though? george in the radio post sunday race said they have to "try and get on top of this straight line speed stuff" implying that it is nowhere close to being solved. (creds to russelliv for pointing this out!)

Also, is the straight line speed issue a "he" issue or "we" issue? Many thoughts...

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“I think he's holding on, you know,” -> The phrase "holding on" implies survival mode. yet i don't think that you should be talking about your drivers that way?? Both of your drivers are p1/p2 in the wdc standings, maybe sound more confident about George??

"They have both had the luck and the unluck of the year – Kimi now twice, George once" -> Even if i discount the fact that George being unlucky once this year is just wrong, this is directly contradicted by what George has said (this was after the Monaco race), "I don't believe in good or bad luck, but when I look at the season as a whole, I was leading the race in Canada and broke down. I could have been on the podium [in Monaco], and zero points, I was leading in Japan, and the safety car came out 10 seconds after a pit-stop." This is just another series in a pattern of Torger undermining George.

"Finding, you know, those little gremlins in the car that cause him troubles at the moment" -> Another "he" moment and he has to do everything himself am i right?

Very interesting as well that Torger said this after Monaco, "He has not felt fully confident in the car this weekend and that is on us as a team. We win and lose together, and this is something we will learn from and help him recover from." Are you sure you can back that up?

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Another thought....

Similar to what i have mentioned in my previous post but good to bring up again now that we have more races where things haven't gone perfect

If it is George here's what he says:

"It is a very long season, and we are only at the start of the year." - Post race Canada review

"There are still many races to go, and while it’s been a positive start overall, we’ll take it step-by- step and see where we stand as the season develops." - Torger after Monaco

"And the season is long." - Torger after Silverstone specifically when talking about George

When Kimi does not do well:

"It is disappointing that we’ve suffered another reliability issue that has cost us a lot of points today. We know that we will need to improve this if we are to fight for both World Championships." - Torger after Barcelona

"We are in a strong position in both championships but know we can’t afford to continue suffering from these reliability issues" - Torger after Silverstone

i promise you if it's about Kimi's race, there is ZERO mention of it being a long season (at least in the Mercedes' Race Report). the reason why these words are even significant is that with Kimi they identify the issue and they are working on it but with George's struggles, it sounds almost as if it can be shrugged away with the implication that "there's still a lot of time left, it'll be okay for him, he'll survive."

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George emphasises on the straight line speed issue at the end of the race and the first thing Torger says to him is that "George, I think straight line speed was okay in the race." Immediately rebutting what George said (and maybe even cutting him off...) and he describes it as giving George an "earful" which is definitely an extreme choice of words. Torger does say congrats but before the race is over (how odd...).

On the other hand, let's look at Torger's reaction to Kimi's radio. in case you need to refresh your memory, this was what was said:

12: “That was very naughty,” 12: “That should be a penalty. I was alongside the mirror.” Bono: Let's just keep it cool. Let's just get it back under control, Kimi. Focus on Norris. 12: Yeah I don't care! He pushed me off! Torger: “Kimi, concentrate on the driving, please, not on the radio moaning.”

These were Torger's own words commenting on Kimi's radio: "So having the message once is okay, a second time I can kind of get but if you come a third and fourth time [complaining over the radio] that's not good to have that out there." (source)

In Silverstone during the race itself, George only commented on the straight line speed issue at the start and end of the race (source - timestamp is 1:43 and 15:05). Yet, that was too much for Torger. The fact that he felt it was necessary to give an "earful" directly contradicts his own "beliefs" on complaints on the radio. (Nuance: Granted, George had been talking about this issue the entire race weekend. Yet, during the race itself he didn't talk about it much.) The way he talked about the straight line speed issue was as if he was personally offended by it, as if he was the one working in the circuit till late to try and rectify the issues.

Then, in the post race interview George said this, “There’s been a lot of things this weekend we don’t really understand,” Russell said. “Straight line speed issues yesterday and on Friday, I think it was better today but the performance wasn’t good enough and if I’m being brutally honest, I’m not going to fight for a championship if the performances continue like that.”

Only after the race weekend was over, Torger actually came out to say this to media,

"He had a straight-line issue all weekend," Wolff explained. "We couldn't see anything on engine power. It must have been down to some kind of mechanical situation, whether it was a tow or something else. But definitely the data confirmed that he was down, but very difficult to identify.

"That was much better [during the race]. We didn't see that anymore. But nevertheless, it's something we need to understand." (source)

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Controversial part coming below because i am going to discuss what happened with Kimi in Silverstone which has not been 100% confirmed. Slight opinionated language as well.

The way that torger treats what happened with kimi and what happened with george.

After the race in Silverstone,

"We're definitely looking at a situation where we can avoid that penalty for track limits." - Torger to sky sports

Of course, Torger realised it was not going to be possible to appeal Kimi's penalty because they eventually didn't. Similar things happened to Charles in Miami and (Torger's second favourite driver) Lewis in Singapore last year. What is most appalling is the fact he immediately jumps to say that Kimi's penalty will be appealed. Yet, after Monaco, there wasn't a single word on appealing George's penalty that in my opinion, had a better chance of succeeding because it was a peculiar issue that many other teams were facing as well. At least Torger admitted that Mercedes caused George a better result in Monaco.

"Yes, we've asked for a right of review because we just simply want to sit at the table when decisions are being made," ... "No, I still think it's a long shot." - Torger to media (This was not even directly after Monaco, this was in Barcelona)

Then even after actually filing the right of review (ROR), he shows zero confidence as he describes it as a "long shot", which is an idiom that means low probability of success which is crazy considering one team had already successfully appealed it. (have to add nuance here that Pierre and George have different circumstances regarding the monaco penalty but would it hurt to show a bit more confidence?) Then we all remember what happens next right? Mercedes WITHDREW the ROR, releasing a statement so bad they deleted it. It just shows they weren't even sincere about trying to give George a better result.

Also, the irony of Torger saying this "we just simply want to sit at the table when decisions are being made" when they did not show up for the Alpine review hearing (only one of two teams not to go btw - source).