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Post by Wß on Aug 22, 2018 1:06:16 GMT
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Post by Wß on Aug 22, 2018 2:33:07 GMT
Rain all weekend apparently.
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Post by Hammer on Aug 22, 2018 10:19:07 GMT
Rain all weekend apparently. Yes please.
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Post by racechick on Aug 22, 2018 16:01:07 GMT
Difficult choosing pole time when it’s wet. Might just have to chose a dry one.
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Post by RyRy on Aug 24, 2018 9:38:41 GMT
So... start of FP1. Most drivers had set a laptime except for Hamilton (had a steering wheel issue), Ricciardio (engine issue), Vandoorne (brake issue) and Sirotkin.
Hamilton eventually came out and on his first timed lap he matched Raikkonen even with being held up massively by a Haas car, Bottas then on his 3-4th lap went half a second quicker than both of them. Hamilton had a cool down lap and then went a further 3 tenths faster than Bottas.
Seems Mercedes are able to set competitive lap times instantly, which usually is a good sign for them as they've got the setup correct immediately.
Rumour Alert: Stroll to replace Ocon at Force India in Singapore & Kubica to replace Stroll at Williams! :O
Ferrari's power gains could be down to the shell fuel that is produced for them they're supposedly adding a very rare and hard to produce molecular additive to their fuel and that's why it's only being supplied to Ferrari and not the custom teams.
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Post by Wß on Aug 24, 2018 12:27:53 GMT
I'm going to eat a ham and butter sandwich for breakfast this morning in honor of Spa. Do they eat ham and butter sandwiches in Belgium or is that only in France?
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Post by Wß on Aug 24, 2018 12:39:41 GMT
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Post by Hammer on Aug 24, 2018 13:18:28 GMT
I feel sorry for Stoffel. How is he going to be motivated when Norris is pretty much looking set for the 2nd seat already? Lando Norris was already driving in FP1 today and widely rumoured as warming up for the race seat in 2019. Stoffel started of very well last year, this year he's absolutely nowhere. Same pattern of being Fonzis teammate like Trulli and Fisichella, at first kicking his ass and then rapidly fading off for 'some strange reason'.
A real pity.
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Post by dogued on Aug 25, 2018 4:38:39 GMT
Oh glorious days! It's an F1 weekend again!
To Discuss:
Gasly to replace Ricciardo to replace Sainz Jr to replace Alonso. But who else will sit at Torro Rosso and McLaren?
Great to see Sahara Racing Point Force India make the grid. Loved the interview with Lance "So when will you move to Force India?" "Ask my Dad". Everyone seems to think that by doing what he did to "save" the company, Perez is certain to stay... but that 2nd Haas seat has to be one of the most wanted left on the grid given the Ferrari power gains.
Can Lewis continue his run from before the summer break? Raikkonen (4), Hamilton (3), Vettel (2), and Ricciardo (1) have all won here, with Kimi being the last back-to-back winner in 04/05/07 (no race in 06)
Milestones: If Vettel is on the podium, he will overtake Prost and be outright 3rd on Most Podiums. If Kimi is on the podium, it will be his 100th podium in F1 If Lewis leads every lap, he will join Vettel in 2nd place on Most Races led (every lap) If Kimi leaps at least 1 lap, it will be his 80th grand prix with at least 1 lap led. If Alonso is classified as a finisher, it will be his 250th classified finish. If Grosjean is classified as a finisher, it will be his 100th classified finish. If Lewis gets Pole, he will have the most number of poles at the Belgium Grand Prix (5)
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Post by racechick on Aug 25, 2018 14:06:56 GMT
GED in there Lewis! Timed to perfection. Kept cool in difficult circumstances. 5 poles is it now at Spa? RECORD!
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Post by Hammer on Aug 25, 2018 14:11:02 GMT
When the rain started I felt it's like a "Ok everyone pack up and go home Lewis has it" moment....it's just too clear this year already what an insane driver Lewis is in the wet.
If we switch roles and Secrashtian Plaintell was achieving all this we'd be hearing screams of OH MY GOD RAINMASTER! RAINMAESTRO! KING OF RAIN! REGENMEISTER!
But since it's Lewis, it's basically
Man Lewis is pretty damn good in the rain, another great lap!
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Post by RyRy on Aug 25, 2018 14:17:18 GMT
Hamilton: Rainmaster does it again!
Vettel: Should have claimed pole, he had one of the last laps which is super important but he's shit in the wet.
Force India: Get in there! I'm very happy for them!
Raikkonen, wow. I feel sorry for him. He got fucked over by the team again not putting enough fuel in the car for enough laps.
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Post by Hammer on Aug 25, 2018 14:24:29 GMT
So tomorrow we have a Mercedes Spa-special recipe 'sandwich' on the grid.
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Post by LewEngBridewell on Aug 25, 2018 15:32:41 GMT
Ferrari must be fricking fuming. It seems to me that they have a speed advantage over Mercedes in dry conditions, but on the last three races, rain has had an impact at crucial moments, and played right into Mercedes' hands.
This isn't a criticism of Lewis Hamilton at all, he's an absolute star in the rain, more so clearly than Sebastian Vettel, who only has himself to blame for screwing up so needlessly at Hockenheim.
But Ferrari really have not been able to live up to their potential recently, which has been very damaging for them in the championship. And whatever the f!ck happened with Raikkonen, whether it be fuel related or not, is ridiculous, as he's been on amazing form all weekend.
Some real work to do for the Scuderia tomorrow. As for McLaren, don't get me started...
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Post by Hammer on Aug 25, 2018 15:50:52 GMT
Scary to think if Lewis took the 'safe' route all those years back and not made that call to Twitmarsh to say byebye and remained 'loyal' since loyalty always pays........, he'd still be a single time WDC qualifying 3rd last in Spa today while Rosberg would have more titles, and Vettel would be cruising to a 6x WDC this season.
Scary.
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Post by Wß on Aug 26, 2018 3:13:15 GMT
Ferrari has the superior car this year, Hamilton has been the difference. By every measure it should be Ferrari ahead but it's not. 9 more races, let's see how it ends but pole today was due to the rain, otherwise I think it would have likely been a Ferrari lockout.
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Post by racechick on Aug 26, 2018 9:56:32 GMT
I heard Vettel in an interview afterwards talking about pole and potential pole etc. And he said something like ....mmm Lewis had the better track position. 😱 Well he didn’t. Vettel went last and the track was getting faster. Hence the Force India’s getting up. Vettel had the best track position but he can’t hack the rain. This was on Channel4 UK tv.
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Post by Hammer on Aug 26, 2018 10:20:03 GMT
I heard Vettel in an interview afterwards talking about pole and potential pole etc. And he said something like ....mmm Lewis had the better track position. 😱 Well he didn’t. Vettel went last and the track was getting faster. Hence the Force India’s getting up. Vettel had the best track position but he can’t hack the rain. This was on Channel4 UK tv. Is he stupid enough to say that? I doubt it, was there any dubbing on the audio? Lol Vettel is a bit of a d!ck and a hot headed clown, but is he a dumbass as well?
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Post by RyRy on Aug 26, 2018 10:59:57 GMT
So... after more analysis by lots of people we know how Hamilton got pole with a bit more certainty.
1. Hamilton was doing hot lap, recharge lap, hot lap, recharge lap where as Vettel was trying hot lap after hotlap which hurts Ferrari more than any other car. We've seen many times throughout this year that Ferrari can somehow get way more energy deployment on the first lap on the start of a race, start of a qualli run and safety car restarts.
2. Hamilton was the only driver in the dry to take Pouhon (double left hander) flat out (just like last year where he was the only driver to take it flat out) and this confidence and what appears to be more downforce on the Mercedes is what got them pole because they were able to dominate sector 2, even in the dry Hamilton was 3 tenths faster than Ferrari in sector 2.
If Hamilton has got that much more downforce we could see him struggle in the race especially on first long straight however if it turns wet then Hamilton should be easy favourite for the win. (There is only a 10% chance of rain, so looks like it'll be dry)
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Race Notes:
- Most teams seem to be nearly matching Ferrari in S1 and S3 but they are all losing 1 second to Ferrari in sector 2 and 1.5 seconds to Mercedes in sector 2. This should allow Bottas to get right onto the back of cars through this sector and use slipstream / DRS to pass them along the back straight. He should be able to easily pass everyone up until he reaches the Haas car of Magnussen in 9th. - The Honda engine appears to be matching the Renault engine comfortably on performance which is more evidence that next year Red Bull should be even more comfortable at staying ahead of Renault and maybe even challenging at more races for wins. - Sainz will be starting from the back of the grid after he changed PU today.
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Post by LewEngBridewell on Aug 26, 2018 11:40:07 GMT
Ferrari has the superior car this year, Hamilton has been the difference. By every measure it should be Ferrari ahead but it's not. 9 more races, let's see how it ends but pole today was due to the rain, otherwise I think it would have likely been a Ferrari lockout. What Seb needs to do for the rest of the season is keep a damn cool head, and be comforted by the speed of the Ferrari. If we see repeats of Azerbaijan last year, Singapore last year and Hockenheim this year, then Hamilton will take the title in a slower car, which will look very bad on the Scuderia.
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