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Big things were expected of Mercedes this weekend at the 2022 F1 French GP. The German team has been making consistent progress and has scored a podium in each of the last four races. The smooth track surface and high-speed nature of Circuit Paul Ricard were supposed to suit the car this weekend. As it turns out, the team is still quite a few tenths behind the frontrunners.
As a result, F1 fans took to social media to take shots at Mercedes over how monumentally disappointing this was from the team. Here are some of the tweets from the fans making fun of the team:
“Mercedes in the mud”
Trending
“Every Merc fan even though the cars passed inspection.”
“Finished team and drivers”
“Assmilton lucky podium merchant”
“Let’s be real, if all cars finish Merc will be 5-6. It’s not much of a strategy, more so they take advantage of other’s misfortune”
“mercedes fans are allowed to use the Ferrari statement: “Next year is our year””
“Because Mercedes think they can get away with bullying the FIA, yet again. Shameless cheats”
“I was in biology class and we were learning biology. My teacher said FASTINGS then all of a sudden FRAUDmilton burst into the room! He thought we were talking about fastest cars so he came looking for some because he’s a finished car merchant! Shame on you Lewis!”
“Isn’t this what we hear every week? British media is hyping up mercedes and then it doesn’t work out”
“We have seen already this year Saturday can be quite different. Max struggled in FP2 alot as well. 5 tenths off the Ferraris. I don't expect that tomorrow. I bet Merc are much much closer in Qualyfying and FP3.”
“Oh cause everyone believed that “huge upgrade” hopium”
Mercedes is not spectacular here: Lewis Hamilton
Lewis Hamilton admitted that his car lacked overall downforce and was losing time everywhere compared to the frontrunners. Speaking to the media after the practice sessions, Hamilton said:
“Today we’re in fourth and fifth, so that’s kind of the region that we’ll be fighting for. I don’t mean that we can’t be on the podium, I think we can still be up there. We’re just still not as quick as those front guys – we’re a little bit further back than we were in the last race.”
“The car’s not spectacular here; we don’t know why, but hopefully overnight, we can make a bit of a step. It’s just every corner. I’m going to have to dig deep into the data, but it just feels like we’re lacking downforce today. But otherwise it’s okay, I can only have empathy for the guys even further back.”
There is, however, still a silver lining here as the Brackley-based outfit did have an impressive long-run pace. It will be interesting to see how it fares across the weekend.
