Yes, they appear to be going for something like a 6-stop strategy! Their pit crew are going to earn their money on race day.
Printable View
Assume they'll run sims on Friday/Sat on the SS and Medium to see how long they're lasting, start on that, switch to...actually...that doesn't work for Sirtokin if they only have 1 set of the Soft and 2 sets of the Medium. Could be one stop to the Medium but that seems awfully risky.
This should be the race where the first major car updates occur. It will be interesting to see if it heralds any order change. I bet Mclaren will be under serious scrutiny to see if they can make any headway. Their problem is all the other teams will be hoping to make some kind of step forwards too.
I was watching FlightRadar24 after the Baku GP, and all the private jets leaving Baku airport.
Hamilton’s jet took off about an hour or so after the race finished, and landed in Nice about 4 hours later, in time to be in bed on the same day with a mug of cocoa.
It’s interesting watching all the private jets and tracking the destinations after a GP.
Thanks for that.
According to the CAA (link), LCDH was de-registered last year and passed over to Austria. Looking at their register (link) it became OE-IXI, operated by Laudamotion Executive GmbH. So yes, it's the same aircraft (Bombardier Inc. Canadair CL 600-2B16 #5904), but no longer 'British'.
.
And the award for the ugliest new nose goes to McLaren.
All is not well at Williams, it would appear. Dismal performances in today's Free Practice sessions (Robert Kubica drove in FP1 and was ultimately faster than both Sirotkin and Stroll), and the departure of their Chief Designer Ed Wood indicates that this will be a long season for anybody connected with the once-dominant team of the late 1980's and early 1990's.
From Kubica's comments, the car lacks basic speed, and their two inexperienced drivers may lack the skills to develop it. The basic lack of speed probably explains the team's heavy bias towards the Supersoft tyre for this race - they're just desperately looking for any advantage that they can get.
Paddy Lowe may already regret his move from Mercedes. He and Rob Smedley have a lot of weight on their shoulders right now.
Mercedes will be happy, but Ferrari and Redbull both showed pace, so it should be a good race tomorrow.
I do however expect a bit of a "coming together" in to 1, 4 and 5. plus with Max right behind Vettel it should make it even more interesting. If Vettel tries to block Kimi, then Max could take them both.
I imagine the teams will be reminding the first 6 drivers that to finish first, first they have to finish:smug:. I am sure this wil not be lost on LH after the 2016 race.
Stroll is becoming a joke, I'm assuming every time he crashes it daddy buys him a new one
Did anyone else watch today's Formula2 race, virtual safety cars, safety cars, yellows, it's getting silly
Grosjean...???
27.3..."Should a car leave the track the driver may re-join, however, this may only be done when it is safe to do so and..."
Edit Those of you with replay should be able to see if he left the track:
"Drivers will be judged to have left the track if no part of the car remains in contact with it and, for the avoidance of doubt, any white lines defining the track edges are considered to be part of the track but the kerbs are not."
Update "Driver and team representative are required to report to the Stewards" at 17h30 local...that's 16h30 BST.
So did this years tyres suit the Ferrari but now they have been adjusted to suit all of the cars
Quote from Grosjean on BBC website..
"I lost the rear end of the car tried to get the position back, but it didn't work. If I had braked, the car would have spun the same way.
"It is quite a normal human reflex (to keep accelerating), once the car went on to the track it was very difficult."
Did you not consider just lifting off ????
You're an F1 seat cheat. Somebody else warrants that bit your @rse occupies.
Don’t know if anyone else spotted this but why was Magnussen shown the blue flags on the pit
straight when Vettel was behind him, it was for position and looked like he let him past.
In his current position guess he can’t afford to be hauled before the stewards for ignoring
blue flags.
Stewards Decision Doc39 - R.Grosjean:
No / Driver 8 - Romain Grosjean Competitor Haas F1 Team Time 15:13 Session Race Fact Car 8 collided with Car 27 and Car 10 Offence Involved in an incident as defined by Art 38.1 as defined by the FIA Formula One Sporting Regulations. Decision 3 grid position penalty at the driver’s next event.
(2 penalty points awarded, 5 points in total for the 12 month period)Reason The Stewards reviewed video evidence and heard from the driver of car 8, Romain Grosjean and the team representative.
Car 8 was following Car 20 at the exit of Turn 2 when Car 20 had a momentary loss of control. Car 8 avoided Car 20 which caused him to loose control of the car to the left of the track at the entry to Turn 3. The driver explained to the Stewards that he felt that his momentum was going to carry him to the center of the track, and therefore made the decision to apply power in an attempt to cross to the right side of the track and get out of the way of the cars behind. However, while crossing he moved into the line of Cars 27 and Car 10, and all three cars were involved in a collision that took them out of the race.
The driver stated to the Stewards that he made the decision to cross the track, trying to avoid the other cars and that he felt this was his best option. The Stewards found that while it is speculation as to where the driver’s car would have ended up had he chosen other alternatives, it is certain that while crossing the track in front of the following pack of cars, which he chose to do, that a collision occurred. Further, in reviewing the video, the Stewards found that the car was following the line on the left side of the track and was almost fully off the track, when he made the decision to cross it.
The Stewards therefore chose to penalise the driver.
Watching the replay, I don't think they were for Magnussen (or Vettel) but for the car (Bottas I think) exiting the pits. As per:
37.1 During the race, drivers leaving the pit lane may only do so when the light at the end of the pit lane is green and on their own responsibility. A marshal with a blue flag and/or a flashing blue light, will also warn the driver if cars are approaching on the track.
Most excellent (said in the style of Bill and Ted with a bit of air guitar)
In other News, Romain crashes, Kimi gets bugger all luck and Max hits another car - so no real change.
Monaco next, so a proper snooze fest, but qualifying should be fun.
yep.....and more stuff for Grosjean to aim for ....just stay out of the harbour !
Some thoughts:
Good GP for Merc. The opening by Lewis were sublime and the sfatey care restart was pretty much perfect. Nice to see Bottas properly competitive too.
Ferrari: Odd tactics and a car failure.
Williams - oh dear, oh dear. Clearly the car isn't great but neither driver is covering themselves in glory.
Romain - total idiot. As multiple commentators said he could have released the clutch to avoid blinding everyone with smoke. Ruined Hulk and Gasly's GP and robbed us of a potentially interesting 'best of the rest' scrap. Not sure the penalty fits the action given Sirotkin got the same for a racing incident rather than acting like a total bellend an endangering other drivers.
Also looking at this I didn't realise Danny has already used 2 of every engine element 5 GPs in: https://www.fia.com/file/68088/download?token=i5hdBSOO
After a coupple of exciting races, I found the Spainish GP to be as dull as dishwater. It a shame that F1 has the capacity to be so dull on occasions.
Race report and myth debunking from Mark Hughes:
https://www.motorsportmagazine.com/r...378YTL,112BI,1
Moving on, and next weekend sees the Formula 1 circus descend on the tiny Principality of Monaco, which, in today's safety-obsessed world, has no reason whatsoever to host a Grand Prix.
No reason whatsoever other than the fact that the place reeks of money, and the sponsors love it, so the future of the race is pretty much secured.
Tyre choices, and it appears that Pirelli's entire production run of the new-for-2018 Hypersoft has been snapped up:
https://pbs.twimg.com/media/DdPiMAlVwAMxoEr.jpg:large
The other tyres are the "normal" versions, i.e. Pirelli have not supplied tyres with reduced contact patch depth for this race. Ferrari managed their tyres better than anybody else at the corresponding race last year, largely due to the Mercedes only apparent weakness of not being able to get their tyres into their operating window at both ends of the car simultaneously being exposed, and with the 2018 Ferrari and Mercedes showing similar, though less pronounced tendencies to their predecessors, this year's race could be a repeat, with the Red Bull also in the mix.
As always, the weather will be critical to tyre performance, so Monaco could spring a surprise, especially if it's wet. And Romain Grosjean has been awarded a three-place grid penalty following the events of Barcelona.
More later.
Been a bit quiet on this thread recently, my apologies. I missed the last race completely and still haven't seen it, I'm not entirely sure that I'll be able to watch Monaco on Sunday either. If I have to wait until Monday afternoon as I expect then avoiding all forms of media until then probably isn't going to happen. Oh well.
I also need to catch up on the latest bits of gossip, rumour and fact/fiction from my usual F1 web sources, time just hasn't been on my side this last week or so.
Dry but not overly scorchio?
http://aquantumoftime.org/images/scorchio_600px.jpg
Nothing of note except that Mercedes have asked a few questions regarding oil consumption and what constitutes the engine - specifically the Turbos.
Looks as if these questions have been raised because of the smoke screen produced by Ferrari evertime they fire up and whether they have been stretching the rules. More here https://www.autosport.com/f1/news/13...il-rules-twist
Also the FIA have amended the rules regarding wing mirrors on the halo after it was decided that Ferrari design actually was adding down force.
Surprised that no one else mentioned these. 😀
Ferrari haven't taken the mirrors off, just removed the little winglets, Merc have requested clarification regarding oil burning, which must mean they think Ferrari are cheating. why isn't anyone jumping up and down about the Ferrari's smoking like old diesels when they start?
Pitpass has helpfully provided details of power unit component usage prior to Monaco:
https://www.pitpass.com/61824/Monaco...-Unit-elements
At this point in the season, teams have started to understand their cars, and their competitiveness or otherwise, and there has been much noise from Williams in this regard, as they appear to be staring down the barrel of a poor Championship result which will reduce their income for next year.
The problem would appear to be a flaw with the design of the rear diffuser, which causes it to stall and lose effectiveness (and therefore downforce) upon sudden changes of direction, such as turning into a fast corner, which is exactly what their inexperienced drivers don't want - a sudden loss of downforce when they need it most. Having parted company with their Chief Designer only recently, it's hard to see how they can turn the situation around before it's too late. The diffuser produces at least 30% of the total downforce, and tends to be the starting point for the overall aerodynamic design, so the problem implies that a full redesign is needed, from the front wing backwards.
Moving to other teams, and Toto Wolff is getting Mercedes' excuses for the weekend in early, given that the car is basically suffering from the same issues at tight low-speed circuits as last year's, and refusing to get all four tyres into their operating window at the same time. Qualifying will therefore be critical, as always at Monaco, which these days is a one-stop race, and overtaking around the narrow circuit usually requires the co-operation of the overtakee. Daniel Ricciardo's MO of "licking the stamp and sending it" may not prove as effective at Monaco as it did at China.
Ferrari have changed their mirror fittings by removing the curved winglets which were used as locating points, although the mirrors remain in the same position. Contrary to the simplistic view expressed earlier, the mirrors do not generate downforce, but the winglets would have guided air towards the rear wing. The smoke generated on start-up continues to cause intrigue, and it's possible that Ferrari use oil under pressure to cool the turbocharger when the engine isn't running, and some of this oil remains in the turbo casing when the cooling process is complete. I'm only guessing here, but with only three turbocharger units for the season, it makes sense to look after them. The rules concerning oil usage specify the limit to which oil can be burned as fuel, i.e. ignited within the internal combustion engine.
First and second practice take place tomorrow (Thursday) as is customary at Monaco.
Tyre choice looks interesting. The new Hypersoft, being used for the first time, is dominating the choice. Red Bull, Williams and Renault have taken 11 sets leaving only a single set of each of the Supersoft and Ultrasoft. So they literally only have the latter two as the race change set.
Has anyone been to Monza? Im thinking of either it or Spa for a trip this year.
No real surprises from today's sessions - in FP2 everybody set their fastest time on the Hypersoft tyre, which seems to grain quickly on a full fuel load, the left front suffering particularly badly.
To put F1 2018 into perspective, according to David Croft on Sky McLaren were showing Ayrton Senna's mystical "out of body experience" qualifying lap, from the days when McLaren Honda were the dominant force on every circuit. That lap was some twelve seconds slower than Daniel Ricciardo's best lap in FP2 today, and although certain corners have been reprofiled some (swimming pool out, Nouvelle Chicane) are slower now.
The Red Bull looks to be the car to have this weekend.
Another rich father buys a lump of an F1 team and then says he's not buying his son a ride, how long before Latifi is in the number two Maclaren seat
It hasn't helped Williams, two pay drivers who cannot provide the set up information and feedback required to produce a competitive car, result........look where they are.
On the criteria for the license I know several people who could qualify if the had the cash, but because they haven't they are racing in anything they can.