Motorsports Thread

[Deleted member 26715]

True, but we do know that Zhou went into the back of Ricciardo and pushed him into one of the Alpines, which then cannoned into the other Alpine and retired both of them. This moved Ricciardo to last on the Grid and with potential damage to the car. We also know that Ricciardo finished 13th carrying damage to the car having moved up 5 places, whilst Tsnoda finished 15th having moved up two places. In order to overtake Tsunoda he had to have been going faster than Tsunoda.

You have not taken any pitstops into account here, hence why I believe we can't really make the judgement, we don't know what damage (if any) was caused in the accident to either car. But it does look like Ricciardo had a better 2nd half of the race, maybe he adapted to issues, but again without seeing the lap times that is just a feeling

 

[icowden]

Quite liked the Sky F1 juniors. Especially after this

So even the F1 juniors think Rosberg is a bit of a tit,

 

[icowden]

You have not taken any pitstops into account here, hence why I believe we can't really make the judgement, we don't know what damage (if any) was caused in the accident to either car. But it does look like Ricciardo had a better 2nd half of the race, maybe he adapted to issues, but again without seeing the lap times that is just a feeling

Riccardo was behind Tsunoda significantly and finished in front of him. Are you really suggesting that Tsunoda had the better drive but somehow put his feet up in the pitstops? He did have one slow pitstop, but presumably not *that* slow.

Claudio Balestri (Chief Engineer – Vehicle Performance)

“For today’s race, we decided to split the cars in terms of starting compounds. As for Yuki, we decided to go aggressive and use the softest compound, while for Daniel we opted for the medium tyre. At the start, Yuki gained many positions and got close to the top ten, but Daniel was hit by Zhou, finding himself in P18 at the end of lap one, after the two Alpines retired. After ten laps, the cars that had started on the soft tyres pitted, so we did the same with Yuki, fitting the hard tyres to go long for the second stint. Unfortunately, the pitstop was longer than normal, and we lost some positions, ending up behind Albon, who was on the same compound. Daniel was on a different strategy, completing a longer first stint, after which we decided to fit a set of hard tyres on lap 18, the best compound to be flexible for the remainder of the race.
In the second part of the race, with both drivers on the hard compound, we decided to extend Yuki’s stint, while cutting Daniel’s short, to have free air for the last stint on medium tyres. This paid off because Daniel was able to be fast and consistent, and this was enough to regain the positions lost in the first lap, finishing the race in P13. Yuki was fitted with medium tyres in his last stint, but this wasn’t sufficient to move him up, and he finished in P15, just two tenths behind Hulkenberg. We’ll focus on the next race, where we believe we’ll be in the position to fight for points.”

So Tsunoda had faster laps as he started on softs whilst Ricciardo was punted to the back. Tsunoda had a bad pit stop but was still in front of Ricciardo. They then gave Ricciardo mediums which he made count. Tsunoda was given mediums later on but couldn't make them count.

 

[derrick]

Another boring race,

 

[icowden]

Another boring race,

Oh I don't know. For me it has it's moments. The major problem is that the start is exciting, the end can be exciting but there are about 50 laps in the middle where all the drivers are doing tyre management.

 

[Deleted member 26715]

Riccardo was behind Tsunoda significantly and finished in front of him. Are you really suggesting that Tsunoda had the better drive but somehow put his feet up in the pitstops?

Calm down, take a chill pill or something, I'm not suggesting anything, I'm saying from the information I have seen, I only watched the highlights on Sky yesterday evening that there is not enough data to make any meaningful decision. Did Ricciardo overtake Tsunoda on the track? Even that can mean nothing if they are on different tyre strategies

 

[Jody]

Another boring race,

It's getting that way. At least when Merc were dominating you had some sparks with Ham and Britney.

I'm not knocking the job RB have done but I'm considering not watching the second half of the season.

 

[Deleted member 26715]

I'm not knocking the job RB have done but I'm considering not watching the second half of the season.

I've already pulled back, only watched both British & Hungary highlights, problem is the RB in Verstappen's hands is on a different level, 30 seconds in front yesterday & I suspect he was cruising (relatively) for most of it. Spa is going to be even worse

 

[Deleted member 1258]

Another boring race,

There was enough going on down the order to keep us entertained.

 

[Jody]

I've already pulled back, only watched both British & Hungary highlights, problem is the RB in Verstappen's hands is on a different level, 30 seconds in front yesterday & I suspect he was cruising (relatively) for most of it. Spa is going to be even worse

That glimmer of hope with HAM getting the pole with an ultra close grid only to realise RB just sets up a car for race day and glides past/away from everyone.

No denying it's a weapon of a car

 

[13 rider]

Can anyone explain why the Mercs were so quick on the last stint , when early Hamilton complained the car was so slow .
Does it suddenly start to perform when the fuel is at a low level like qualifing but slow with the extra weight

 

[icowden]

Can anyone explain why the Mercs were so quick on the last stint , when early Hamilton complained the car was so slow .
Does it suddenly start to perform when the fuel is at a low level like qualifing but slow with the extra weight

Seems like when it gets low on weight the aero and downforce suddenly starts working better.

 

[Grant Fondo]

Can anyone explain why the Mercs were so quick on the last stint , when early Hamilton complained the car was so slow .
Does it suddenly start to perform when the fuel is at a low level like qualifing but slow with the extra weight

It is odd and Lewis got mauled at the start? Merc are slowly getting there even with current balance issues. Still, the RB over a minute quicker than both Fezzas /AM's and a Merc and eight cars lapped!

 

[Reynard]

Can anyone explain why the Mercs were so quick on the last stint , when early Hamilton complained the car was so slow .
Does it suddenly start to perform when the fuel is at a low level like qualifing but slow with the extra weight

Yes, pretty well much. Racing cars are largely optimised for performing with low fuel and sticky tyres. On full fuel loads and on harder tyres, they can be a bit, well, of a barge. And as the fuel load burns off, the handling sharpens up. Although how cars change throughout a race also depends on suspension and aero set-up, air and track temperature and environmental conditions.

A good example of this would be looking at the BTCC in the era of success ballast. The only time we'd see all the cars at their full performance potential was the opening race of the season, where no one had any weight to carry. The teams (and drivers) that did the best were the ones who gave up outright performance and set their cars up to carry weight. And you could see how performance varied on a car according to the additional weight carried.

You experience the same thing even with a standard road car. It's at its liveliest with one person and low fuel, but throw four people in and a boot load of luggage, and you don't half feel it. Although of course, road cars have their suspension geometry set up to be both progressive and predictable.

 

[icowden]

Yes, pretty well much. Racing cars are largely optimised for performing with low fuel and sticky tyres. On full fuel loads and on harder tyres, they can be a bit, well, of a barge.

I think Horner made that point as well. Rather than optimising the RB for Qualifying, they had optimised for the race. The Merc was optimised for qualifying and was able to take pole thanks to a perfect lap by Hamilton, but then wasn't great for a good part of the race (the bit where Verstappen eked out a 30 second lead).