"Almost impossible" for Mercedes signing to beat Lewis Hamilton

  • Published on 04 Jan 2017 10:10
  • comments 0
  • By: Dominik Wilde

Former Formula One driver Roberto Merhi believes that whoever Mercedes sign to replace Nico Rosberg will face a hard task.

Valtteri Bottas is now thought to be the sole candidate to replace the world champion, who walked away from the sport days after winning the world championship.

Merhi, who wants to continue racing single seaters despite moving into LMP2 with Manor last year, said that he would have loved the chance to move to Mercedes, even if it was a highly unlikely proposition.

"Of course," he told Spain's sports daily AS. "Among other reasons, because the only thing you would need to do to win the title would be to beat Hamilton.

"It's as if you tell me there's a place at McLaren and all I have to do is beat Alonso! I'd be delighted to be there, but beating those guys would be another story," Merhi added.

"Anyone at Mercedes just has to beat Hamilton and that's almost impossible," he said.

"Rosberg did it on his third try so he needed time to make everything perfect and more reliable. (Jenson) Button beat Hamilton in a very bad year for Lewis, but I think of the current grid only Alonso could beat him.

"Nico did it, and I'm not saying it was by chance but it's true that he had things in his favour," Merhi added.

Replies (0)

Login to reply

BE Grand Prix of Belgium

Local time 

BEGrand Prix of Belgium

Local time 

World Championship standings 2023

Show full world champion standings

Test calendar

See full test schedule

Related news

Give your opinion!

Will Bottas challenge Hamilton for the world championship in 2020?

Formula 1 Calendar - 2024

Date
Grand Prix
Circuit
-
Bahrain
29 - Mar 2 2024
Bahrain
7 - Mar 9 2024
Saudi Arabia
22 - Mar 24 2024
Australia
5 - Apr 7 2024
Japan
19 - Apr 21 2024
China
3 - May 5 2024
United States of America
17 - May 19 2024
Italy
24 - May 26 2024
Monaco
7 - Jun 9 2024
Canada
21 - Jun 23 2024
Spain
28 - Jun 30 2024
Austria
5 - Jul 7 2024
United Kingdom
19 - Jul 21 2024
Hungary
26 - Jul 28 2024
Belgium
23 - Aug 25 2024
Netherlands
30 - Sep 1 2024
Italy
13 - Sep 15 2024
Azerbaijan
20 - Sep 22 2024
Singapore
18 - Oct 20 2024
United States of America
25 - Oct 27 2024
Mexico
1 - Nov 3 2024
Brazil
22 - Nov 24 2024
United States of America
29 - Dec 1 2024
Qatar
6 - Dec 8 2024
United Arab Emirates
See full schedule

Formula 1 Calendar - 2024

Date
Grand Prix & Circuit
29 - Mar 2 2024
7 - Mar 9 2024
Saudi Arabia Jeddah Street Circuit
22 - Mar 24 2024
Australia Albert Park
5 - Apr 7 2024
19 - Apr 21 2024
3 - May 5 2024
United States of America Miami International Autodrome
17 - May 19 2024
24 - May 26 2024
Monaco Monte Carlo
7 - Jun 9 2024
21 - Jun 23 2024
28 - Jun 30 2024
Austria Red Bull Ring
5 - Jul 7 2024
United Kingdom Silverstone
19 - Jul 21 2024
Hungary Hungaroring
26 - Jul 28 2024
23 - Aug 25 2024
Netherlands Circuit Zandvoort
30 - Sep 1 2024
Italy Monza
13 - Sep 15 2024
Azerbaijan Baku City Circuit
20 - Sep 22 2024
18 - Oct 20 2024
United States of America Circuit of the Americas
25 - Oct 27 2024
1 - Nov 3 2024
Brazil Interlagos
22 - Nov 24 2024
United States of America Las Vegas Street Circuit
29 - Dec 1 2024
6 - Dec 8 2024
United Arab Emirates Yas Marina Circuit
See full schedule

Driver profile

  • Country Spain
  • Date of b. Jul 29 1981 (44)
  • Place of b. Oviedo, Spain
  • Weight 68 kg
  • Length 1.71 m
Show full profile

Team profile

Show full profile
show sidebar

Total queries: 4
Total time: 0.17253017425537
timesincestartcallerannotatebtdesc
0.000530
instantiate query log (0Q - total module time: 0.00064611s)
""
0.001183
boot (0Q - total module time: 0.00011110s)
""
0.001297
translation-init (1Q - total module time: 0.00114202s)
""
0.000298020.002126/var/www/dev-priyantha.gptoday.net/public_html/index.php/var/www/dev-priyantha.gptoday.net/public_html/vendor/doctrine/dbal/lib/Doctrine/DBAL/Statement.php:189(stopQuery)
/var/www/dev-priyantha.gptoday.net/public_html/app/Repository/Redirect.php:105(execute)
/var/www/dev-priyantha.gptoday.net/public_html/app/Entities/Redirect.php:112(findByOrigin)
/var/www/dev-priyantha.gptoday.net/public_html/app/Services/Redirects.php:108(getRedirectOrFalse)
/var/www/dev-priyantha.gptoday.net/public_html/app/Router.php:115(checkForDBRedirects)
/var/www/dev-priyantha.gptoday.net/public_html/app/website.php:260(execute)
/var/www/dev-priyantha.gptoday.net/public_html/index.php:11(require_once)
SELECT redirects.id, redirects.origin, redirects.referer FROM redirects WHERE redirects.origin = :origin ORDER BY id
{"origin":"\/en\/news\/f1\/221002\/almost-impossible-for-mercedes-signing-to-beat-lewis-hamilton"}
0.002443
controller::news/f1/221002/almost-impossible-for-mercedes-signing-to-beat-lewis-hamilton (2Q - total module time: 0.15910888s)
""
0.006975890.003317/var/www/dev-priyantha.gptoday.net/public_html/app/Controllers/News.php/var/www/dev-priyantha.gptoday.net/public_html/vendor/doctrine/dbal/lib/Doctrine/DBAL/Statement.php:189(stopQuery)
/var/www/dev-priyantha.gptoday.net/public_html/app/Repository/Article.php:389(execute)
/var/www/dev-priyantha.gptoday.net/public_html/app/Controllers/News.php:127(findNextArticle)
{"function":"F1T\\Controllers\\{closure}","class":"F1T\\Controllers\\News","object":{"current_page":"news"},"type":"->","args":[]}
/var/www/dev-priyantha.gptoday.net/public_html/app/Services/Cache.php:144(call_user_func)
/var/www/dev-priyantha.gptoday.net/public_html/app/Controllers/News.php:158(lazyFetch)
/var/www/dev-priyantha.gptoday.net/public_html/app/Controllers/News.php:47(action_Index)
/var/www/dev-priyantha.gptoday.net/public_html/app/Router.php:269(dispatch)
/var/www/dev-priyantha.gptoday.net/public_html/app/Router.php:195(_load)
/var/www/dev-priyantha.gptoday.net/public_html/app/website.php:260(execute)
/var/www/dev-priyantha.gptoday.net/public_html/index.php:11(require_once)
SELECT Articles.ArticleId AS ArticleId, Articles.RewriteUrl AS RewriteUrl, Articles.ArticleType as ArticleType, Articles.Category as Category, Articles.cntnlang AS cntnlang, RacingSeries.RewriteUrl AS RacingSeriesRewriteUrl FROM Articles INNER JOIN RacingSeries ON Articles.RacingSerieId = RacingSeries.RacingSerieId WHERE Articles.cntnlang = :siteLang AND Articles.SiteId = :siteId AND Articles.Activated = 1 AND Articles.PublishDate < :publishDate AND Articles.ArticleType IN (:param0, :param1, :param2) AND Articles.ArticleId > :articleId ORDER BY Articles.ArticleId ASC LIMIT 1
{"siteLang":"en","siteId":"1","publishDate":"2026-02-04 07:30:00","articleId":221002,":param0":"Nieuws",":param1":"LiveRaceReport",":param2":"Liveblog"}
0.123028990.010372/var/www/dev-priyantha.gptoday.net/public_html/app/Controllers/News.php/var/www/dev-priyantha.gptoday.net/public_html/vendor/doctrine/dbal/lib/Doctrine/DBAL/Statement.php:189(stopQuery)
/var/www/dev-priyantha.gptoday.net/public_html/app/Repository/Article.php:318(execute)
/var/www/dev-priyantha.gptoday.net/public_html/app/Controllers/News.php:128(findPrevArticle)
{"function":"F1T\\Controllers\\{closure}","class":"F1T\\Controllers\\News","object":{"current_page":"news"},"type":"->","args":[]}
/var/www/dev-priyantha.gptoday.net/public_html/app/Services/Cache.php:144(call_user_func)
/var/www/dev-priyantha.gptoday.net/public_html/app/Controllers/News.php:158(lazyFetch)
/var/www/dev-priyantha.gptoday.net/public_html/app/Controllers/News.php:47(action_Index)
/var/www/dev-priyantha.gptoday.net/public_html/app/Router.php:269(dispatch)
/var/www/dev-priyantha.gptoday.net/public_html/app/Router.php:195(_load)
/var/www/dev-priyantha.gptoday.net/public_html/app/website.php:260(execute)
/var/www/dev-priyantha.gptoday.net/public_html/index.php:11(require_once)
SELECT Articles.ArticleId AS ArticleId, Articles.RewriteUrl AS RewriteUrl, Articles.ArticleType as ArticleType, Articles.Category as Category, Articles.cntnlang AS cntnlang, RacingSeries.RewriteUrl AS RacingSeriesRewriteUrl FROM Articles INNER JOIN RacingSeries ON Articles.RacingSerieId = RacingSeries.RacingSerieId WHERE Articles.cntnlang = :siteLang AND Articles.SiteId = :siteId AND Articles.Activated = 1 AND Articles.PublishDate < :publishDate AND Articles.ArticleType IN (:param0, :param1, :param2) AND Articles.ArticleId < :articleId ORDER BY Articles.ArticleId DESC LIMIT 1
{"siteLang":"en","siteId":"1","publishDate":"2026-02-04 07:30:00","articleId":221002,":param0":"Nieuws",":param1":"LiveRaceReport",":param2":"Liveblog"}
0.161557 cacheAble: yes
module:News\Result (0Q - total module time: 0.00012684s)
""
0.161687 cacheAble: yes
module:News\Photos (0Q - total module time: 0.00016403s)
""
0.161854 cacheAble: yes
module:News\Trending (0Q - total module time: 0.00011110s)
""
0.161967 cacheAble: yes
module:News\Reply (1Q - total module time: 0.00503993s)
""
0.000459910.162362/var/www/dev-priyantha.gptoday.net/public_html/app/Repository/CommentVotes.php/var/www/dev-priyantha.gptoday.net/public_html/vendor/doctrine/dbal/lib/Doctrine/DBAL/Connection.php:1323(stopQuery)
/var/www/dev-priyantha.gptoday.net/public_html/vendor/doctrine/orm/lib/Doctrine/ORM/Query/Exec/SingleSelectExecutor.php:31(executeQuery)
/var/www/dev-priyantha.gptoday.net/public_html/vendor/doctrine/orm/lib/Doctrine/ORM/Query.php:325(execute)
/var/www/dev-priyantha.gptoday.net/public_html/vendor/doctrine/orm/lib/Doctrine/ORM/AbstractQuery.php:1212(_doExecute)
/var/www/dev-priyantha.gptoday.net/public_html/vendor/doctrine/orm/lib/Doctrine/ORM/AbstractQuery.php:1166(executeIgnoreQueryCache)
/var/www/dev-priyantha.gptoday.net/public_html/vendor/doctrine/orm/lib/Doctrine/ORM/AbstractQuery.php:901(execute)
/var/www/dev-priyantha.gptoday.net/public_html/app/Repository/CommentVotes.php:192(getResult)
/var/www/dev-priyantha.gptoday.net/public_html/app/Services/CommentVotesManager.php:46(getCommentVotesByVoteIp)
/var/www/dev-priyantha.gptoday.net/public_html/app/Modules/News/Reply.php:101(getCommentVotesByIP)
/var/www/dev-priyantha.gptoday.net/public_html/app/ModuleBase.php:115(internalRender)
/var/www/dev-priyantha.gptoday.net/public_html/app/ModuleBase.php:89(captureOutput)
{"function":"F1T\\{closure}","class":"F1T\\ModuleBase","object":{"_amp":false},"type":"->","args":[]}
/var/www/dev-priyantha.gptoday.net/public_html/app/Services/Cache.php:144(call_user_func)
/var/www/dev-priyantha.gptoday.net/public_html/app/ModuleBase.php:92(lazyFetch)
/var/www/dev-priyantha.gptoday.net/public_html/app/Services/ViewRenderer/TwigExtensions/ModuleRenderer.php:35(fetch)
/var/www/dev-priyantha.gptoday.net/public_html/vendor/twig/twig/src/Environment.php(418) : eval()'d code:549(renderModule)
/var/www/dev-priyantha.gptoday.net/public_html/vendor/twig/twig/src/Template.php:182(block_mainContent)
/var/www/dev-priyantha.gptoday.net/public_html/vendor/twig/twig/src/Environment.php(418) : eval()'d code:62(displayBlock)
/var/www/dev-priyantha.gptoday.net/public_html/vendor/twig/twig/src/Template.php:182(block_content)
/var/www/dev-priyantha.gptoday.net/public_html/vendor/twig/twig/src/Environment.php(418) : eval()'d code:715(displayBlock)
/var/www/dev-priyantha.gptoday.net/public_html/vendor/twig/twig/src/Template.php:405(doDisplay)
/var/www/dev-priyantha.gptoday.net/public_html/vendor/twig/twig/src/Template.php:378(displayWithErrorHandling)
/var/www/dev-priyantha.gptoday.net/public_html/vendor/twig/twig/src/Environment.php(418) : eval()'d code:45(display)
/var/www/dev-priyantha.gptoday.net/public_html/vendor/twig/twig/src/Template.php:405(doDisplay)
/var/www/dev-priyantha.gptoday.net/public_html/vendor/twig/twig/src/Template.php:378(displayWithErrorHandling)
/var/www/dev-priyantha.gptoday.net/public_html/vendor/twig/twig/src/Environment.php(418) : eval()'d code:46(display)
/var/www/dev-priyantha.gptoday.net/public_html/vendor/twig/twig/src/Template.php:405(doDisplay)
/var/www/dev-priyantha.gptoday.net/public_html/vendor/twig/twig/src/Template.php:378(displayWithErrorHandling)
/var/www/dev-priyantha.gptoday.net/public_html/vendor/twig/twig/src/Template.php:390(display)
/var/www/dev-priyantha.gptoday.net/public_html/vendor/twig/twig/src/TemplateWrapper.php:45(render)
/var/www/dev-priyantha.gptoday.net/public_html/vendor/twig/twig/src/Environment.php:318(render)
/var/www/dev-priyantha.gptoday.net/public_html/app/Services/ViewRenderer/TwigRenderer.php:115(render)
/var/www/dev-priyantha.gptoday.net/public_html/app/ViewTrait.php:98(render)
/var/www/dev-priyantha.gptoday.net/public_html/app/ViewTrait.php:79(renderViewFile)
/var/www/dev-priyantha.gptoday.net/public_html/app/website.php:261(render)
/var/www/dev-priyantha.gptoday.net/public_html/index.php:11(require_once)
SELECT c0_.CommentId AS CommentId_0, c1_.Vote AS Vote_1 FROM Comments c0_ INNER JOIN CommentVotes c1_ ON (c1_.CommentId = c0_.CommentId) WHERE c0_.ArticleId = ? AND c1_.VoteIp = ?
[221002,"216.73.216.130"]
0.167009 cacheAble: no
module:Sidebar (0Q - total module time: 0.00029707s)
""
0.167309
sidebar:sidebar-news-read::ads (0Q - total module time: 0.00001097s)
""
0.167321
sidebar:sidebar-news-read::gpschedule (0Q - total module time: 0.00000215s)
""
0.167324 cacheAble: yes
module:GpSchedule (0Q - total module time: 0.00010991s)
""
0.167436
sidebar:sidebar-news-read::results (0Q - total module time: 0.00000405s)
""
0.167441 cacheAble: yes
module:Results (0Q - total module time: 0.00008893s)
""
0.167532
sidebar:sidebar-news-read::testcalendar (0Q - total module time: 0.00000215s)
""
0.167535 cacheAble: yes
module:TestCalendar (0Q - total module time: 0.00008392s)
""
0.167621
sidebar:sidebar-news-read::ads (0Q - total module time: 0.00000286s)
""
0.167625
sidebar:sidebar-news-read::ads (0Q - total module time: 0.00000119s)
""
0.167627
sidebar:sidebar-news-read::relatednews (0Q - total module time: 0.00000191s)
""
0.167629 cacheAble: yes
module:RelatedNews (0Q - total module time: 0.00008512s)
""
0.167715
sidebar:sidebar-news-read::whoischatting (0Q - total module time: 0.00000405s)
""
0.167720
sidebar:sidebar-news-read::ads (0Q - total module time: 0.00000191s)
""
0.167722
sidebar:sidebar-news-read::poll (0Q - total module time: 0.00000095s)
""
0.167724 cacheAble: no
module:Poll (0Q - total module time: 0.00162983s)
""
0.169356
sidebar:sidebar-news-read::ads (0Q - total module time: 0.00000501s)
""
0.169362
sidebar:sidebar-news-read::ads (0Q - total module time: 0.00000095s)
""
0.169365
sidebar:sidebar-news-read::gpcalendar (0Q - total module time: 0.00000095s)
""
0.169367 cacheAble: yes
module:GpCalendar (0Q - total module time: 0.00144410s)
""
0.170813
sidebar:sidebar-news-read::driver_Info (0Q - total module time: 0.00000405s)
""
0.170818 cacheAble: yes
module:Driver\Info (0Q - total module time: 0.00061893s)
""
0.171439
sidebar:sidebar-news-read::team_Info (0Q - total module time: 0.00000381s)
""
0.171444 cacheAble: yes
module:Team\Info (0Q - total module time: 0.00009894s)
""
0.171545
sidebar:sidebar-news-read::linkedKeywords (0Q - total module time: 0.00000501s)
""
0.171550
sidebar:sidebar-news-read::gpsidebarnavigation (0Q - total module time: 0.00000215s)
""
0.171553 cacheAble: no
module:GpSidebarNavigation (0Q - total module time: 0.00042486s)
""
0.171980 cacheAble: yes
module:Layout\Footer (0Q - total module time: 0.00009990s)
""
0.172082 cacheAble: yes
module:News\Breaking (0Q - total module time: 0.00044322s)
""
0.172528
done
""