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Post by RyRy on Apr 10, 2015 3:34:41 GMT
Too early but Merc probably cranked up the engine again, hope to see destroyed Ferrari faces this weekend. That looked comfortable to Mercedes, look at how light Vettels car appeared on that last lap and yet he's still 1.1 second slower. I have a strong feeling Ferrari will be destroyed. |
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Post by RyRy on Apr 10, 2015 6:22:32 GMT
McLaren at the moment are P6 and P7 with Button leading the way, we're 20mins in and based on those laptimes at this stage McLaren are a mid-field team for this race... that is if of course they aren't in qualli mode running lowest fuel, max settings...
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Post by racechick on Apr 10, 2015 7:00:42 GMT
I can't get it here. Grrr. I'm on some very slow wifi, don't even now how I got on it. So thanks for those updates. I'm liking what I'm hearing  |
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Post by RyRy on Apr 10, 2015 7:22:41 GMT
I can't get it here. Grrr. I'm on some very slow wifi, don't even now how I got on it. So thanks for those updates. I'm liking what I'm hearing By the looks of their long run paces... Ferrari look good on the tyres but Mercedes look much quicker in qualifying trim. Mercedes seem to be able to go out and instantly throw in fast laps yet the other teams have to keep doing laps. Mercedes need to relax and just focus on themselves and it will be fine. McLaren look like they'll be fighting with Lotus, Force India and Toro Rosso. |
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Post by Hammer on Apr 10, 2015 8:21:31 GMT
Ferrari looks strong again on the medium tyres. Lewis saying he doesn't like the medium tyres much, but it seems the soft tyre is the race tyre for this weekend due to high left front deg.
Hope that's the case, Mercedes are home safe if the mediums are only used for 1 stint!
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Post by Hammer on Apr 10, 2015 9:44:58 GMT
Did anyone see this dick move by Raikkonen in FP2? F**king wanker.
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Post by CookinFlat6 on Apr 10, 2015 10:32:16 GMT
Kimi must have had a cheeky half of stella in between practice
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Post by Wß on Apr 10, 2015 11:45:38 GMT
That was great, I'm excited to have the opportunity of beating the "mighty" Ferrari. There wasn't much mightiness going on last year, but this year they're in fighting shape.
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Post by the2ndcoming on Apr 10, 2015 12:29:51 GMT
Most are showing signs of optimism. I still have a few concerns about race pace. Lewis really loved whatever the harder offering was last year and if Mercedes AMG have gone a bit more aggressive on the rear geometry, causing more tyre deg circa 2013, it could cause trouble late in stints. I don't mind the racing between Lewis and rivals but I do want him to have tyres on which to battle. All things equal, I'm confident he'll come out on top. Lets hope he and his engineer can do some of their overnight wizardry on the setup adjustments to curb his hard tyre issues. Roll on China quali.
Such fun...
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Post by CookinFlat6 on Apr 10, 2015 13:21:12 GMT
I think the strengths of the Merc is across all circuits and configurations - but it has to therefore have a much much bigger set up range than others. And I think this year Merc have sacrificed a little performance all round for reliability
So as long as they have the time to set the car up - no more missing practice etc, then we wont see limitations from the tyres after a few more races and they have got all the data on the 2015 tyres - which are obviously very different from last years
Also Ferraris strength now is likely to also be the same Allinson Lotus weakness we saw a couple of years ago - very good in only one profile - making options last, but weak in getting them to work after pit stops, restarts, and in normal 'temp' range
Also its likely that the Frics absence is a bit more pronounced with Merc now like it was with Lotus before
I stand to be corrected on most of the above tho
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Post by RyRy on Apr 11, 2015 5:02:58 GMT
1:37.615 from Hamilton and that was with a slow last sector, he lost 0.4 in the last sector. 0.7 between Ham & Vettel in third, 0.5 between Ros and Vet in third. Think we just found who wasn't complying with the fuel reg last race |
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Post by racechick on Apr 11, 2015 5:51:50 GMT
A little fact about the Chinese GP lewis has won 3 times, Ferrari have won 4. Is he going to even the score tomorrow?
Not sure if i'll get to see quali, got to go to Wales to get cottage ready for workman. Can't decide whether to listen on radio as I go, or wait , keep off the ipad , and watch BBC when I get there. What a dilema!
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Post by RyRy on Apr 11, 2015 7:25:08 GMT
What the hell is wrong with Demon Hill... McLaren have made huge gains and hes saying they haven't made any, they were fractionally missing out today, nearly out of the bottom 4 cars.
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Post by RyRy on Apr 11, 2015 8:03:29 GMT
My pole suggestion was 1:35.996, I wasn't too far off  Mercedes shouldn't have gone out, after seeing both the Ferrari's 1st sectors the Mercs should have bailed and cruised back to the pits. Either way, Mercedes absolutely smashed the hell out of Ferrari and Williams showed they were sandbagging the entire race. Lewis dominating this weekend, has been 1-5 tenths faster than Rosberg all weekend. |
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Post by Hammer on Apr 11, 2015 8:14:36 GMT
Mercedes wouldn't want to go out but Rosberg would want to! Which would've made Hamilton want to, so there you go.
Raikkonen driving like a drunk as usual, Vettel must be so happy at Ferrari compared to his 'dire' time at Redbull last season.
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Post by Wß on Apr 11, 2015 12:31:00 GMT
Yeah the Ferrari look like they're "missing" something in Q today. The additional fuel advantage may have been small but it was clearly very useable in Q sessions indeed.
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Post by racechick on Apr 11, 2015 14:30:15 GMT
I may have to take myself a little stroll over to the mea culpa thread...to call out all those knowledgeable F1 experts who said last year that Lewis had lost his one lap speed. Wouldn't accept that maybe he was sacrificing it for race set up, nope, he'd clean lost it. Well........ Fangio.....Senna........Schumacher........Hamilton..... The lads in good company. The only drivers ever to have had five poles at the same circuit. So if he does it again next year, this lad who can't qualify and can't execute a race strategy, he'll be in a league of his own. The only six timer!!  Ok ok I should probably have put that in the Lewis thread! The williams look a bit more racey today, and the Saubers looked good. Mclaren flattered to deceive, but I guess they have a lot of work to get where they want to be, it was marginally better. Have to say Vettel got the job done and Kimi looked all over the show. I expect the Ferraris to be better during the race than quali, so we could be in for some fun. Oh, and a shout out for Grosjean! Good lad! |
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Post by CookinFlat6 on Apr 11, 2015 14:38:46 GMT
Its funny how everyone expects Ferrari to somehow be as competitive as they were in Malaysia, and forgetting all about Mercs mysterious power deficit. Now we can see nearly a second difference in quali it means the power advantage that has allowed merc to literally ride roughshod over anything like poorer tyre management or strategy and it doesnt really matter if Ferrari can make a tyre last 3 laps more when Merc will be lapping half a sec quicker on the each of the other laps
Really happy for Lotus and fatjohn, they and Williams will be keeping Ferrari real honest this season
McLaren are moving forward, Alonso would have entered Q2 despite no running in practice if he hadnt pushed too hard, even then he matched Buttons time set within the cars limits. Thats encouraging, if it was 2 Buttons we would think the car hasnt evolved because Button has never maxed a car out and has never pushed hard enough in quali or even practice- at least Alonso is clearly finding the limits of the car which creates a moving target for the ngineers
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Post by CookinFlat6 on Apr 11, 2015 15:45:24 GMT
Or, put another way, in Malaysia the power deficit was such that Ferrari were close in quali and matched or bettered the Mercs in race pace. And the heat etc made it possible for them to make their tyres last longer at the same speeds than Merc - at the end of the race the cars were pretty much seperated by the time lost under the SC
So with Merc suddenly showing the same power advantage as Aus it really doesnt matter about Ferrari been good on tyres EVEN if they do a stop less - as the speed advantage is king again
Even if Mercs tyres go off 3 laps before Ferraris, they will have a, say 5 sec advantage over the 10 laps (with 0.9 sec one lap quali advantage the race advantage will be at least 0.5 without factoring tyres), and will be gaining the undercut and gaining even more from fresh tyres whislt Seb does another 3 laps slower than ever, so lets say another 3 seconds lost, making 8 second advantage for Merc over ten laps. Over a 30 lap race Merc therefore gain a theoretical free extra stop of 24 secs.
0.9 sec 1 lap advantage = checkmate in the race no matter if Merc start in the pit lane or change tyres twice extra
lots of wet smeared painted red faces tomorrow methinks
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Post by Hammer on Apr 11, 2015 15:48:58 GMT
I'm looking forward to Bottas doing some good for Mercedes tomorrow and frustrate Kimi even more, maybe even force him into another drunken first lap error.
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