F1 - 2017
Posted by: Tony2011 on 06 January 2017
The championship has not yet started and it seems the poor Manor Racing is about to go into receivership and be the first casualty of 2017. I wish them well and hope they can find a buyer and be able to compete this season.
I did say they're not a match in 'some' areas, obvious is the Mercedes tyre attrition on the rears especially. The Mercs are fastest in the speed traps by 3 or 4 kph, only KR's car made the top 10 in the race, but Ferrari do have advantages over the whole lap as even without outright speed they match Merc lap times, then with better 'effective' tyre life they can do it for longer. I'm sure Merc have some changes in the hopper & it would be nice to see something for Sochi. RB showed promise in Bahrain, would be good to see something from them for the whole race, a three or more competitive team championship fight is badly needed.
Indeed. The prancing horse is lighter on its loafers than the Mercs...How do they do that then?
G
Mike-B posted:I did say they're not a match in 'some' areas, obvious is the Mercedes tyre attrition on the rears especially. The Mercs are fastest in the speed traps by 3 or 4 kph, only KR's car made the top 10 in the race, but Ferrari do have advantages over the whole lap as even without outright speed they match Merc lap times, then with better 'effective' tyre life they can do it for longer. I'm sure Merc have some changes in the hopper & it would be nice to see something for Sochi. RB showed promise in Bahrain, would be good to see something from them for the whole race, a three or more competitive team championship fight is badly needed.
Not sure tyre life is such an issue ... now its also part of the tactics ... but remember Ferrari came in first. The big comparison will be next time we have Ultra-Soft in the rotation...
Tyre life between these two is probably the one thing that has separated them so far this season. Merc admit they have higher rear deg. than Ferrari, VB was clearly suffering at the time of the first stop & LH was beginning to lose his. Ferrari looked in good shape at the time but they know what they can/cannot do & they went early to get the advantage with new tyre laps before Merc & deny Merc any chance of an undercut. Yes Ultrasofts will be interesting & these are spec'd for Sochi along with Supersoft & Softs. Will it be a 1 stop race as last year & as its known to be an easy tyre circuit will the tyres - maybe 1 or 2 stop - end up playing a key role in the result.
I hear that Lewis Hamilton has been saying that Moto GP is "cool", and that he fancies having a go at it. He had better nip down to his nearest Armani retailer and get a nice pair of brown kecks and a pair of matching bicycle clips!
Ferrari have dominated both FP sessions today at Sochi. Vettel & Raikkonen are 1 & 2, then comes Bottas & Hamilton & neither of the Mercedes could get within half a second of Vettel. Red Bull are 5 & 6 & as far behind Mercedes as Merc are from Ferrari. It seems the UltraSofts suit Ferrari & they've got there act together straight out of the box. Whereas Hamilton especially, & Mercedes generally, looked to have struggled in a number of areas, it's not according to expectations as Sochi is a 'Mercedes' track, I expect a bit of midnight oil will get burnt tonight & we should see a change tomorrow.
Oh dear, no change with FP3, much the same as yesterday, same order for top four. Qualifying in 2 hours.
Ferrari front row lock out !!!!! SV - KR - VB - LH .............. game on !!!!
That 20cm wheelbase difference...hmmm.
G
Congratulations Valtteri, first F1 win !!! And what a finish !!! the tightest for a long long time. Ferrari certainly have proven to be a force to be reckoned with this year & based on that race there is not much to choose between them. Ferrari are faster on the wiggly bits & Mercs have the flat out speed. Hard to tell who had the tyre advantage as this track is so easy on them. It was a shame Lewis could not get into the race, overheating & off the ultimate pace, plus (maybe) a bit of 'off the pace' Lewis.
I wonder what (or why) Bernie was there, licking boots ?? but looking like a fish out of water.
Do you think Massa deliberately 'helped' Bottas?
G
Only one person can really answer that one
Mike-B posted:I wonder what (or why) Bernie was there, licking boots ?? but looking like a fish out of water.
Presumably carrying out his role as "chairman emeritus" of the Formula One Group. :-)
But yes, congratulations Valtteri. Lewis appeared a bit out of salts all weekend.
Great race.
The Strat (Fender) posted:Great race.
I must disagree.
Apart from the first couple of corners, did anybody actually overtake somebody else, apart from cars that were limping to the pits.
It does not need any overtaking to make an exciting race , there was tension all the way. Result was not certain 'til the last.
Not F1 related but perhaps still worth mentioning here:
Timo Makinen, one of the original flying Finns of world rallying, has died. He was 79.
The history books will reflect on the hat-tricks the Helsinki-born driver scored on his native 1000 Lakes Rally and on the UK's RAC Rally.
Flying Finns have dominated rallying down the years, but that success started with Makinen. He made the mould, cut the cloth and on May 4, the lights went down on a true legend of our sport.
Osprey
A great one indeed.
Can't think of a better way to start the day than to the sound of a V12 and a double espresso. Life's good!
Oh yeas!!!! That was the sound!!! Funnily enough an even louder noise was a gear change - something that the TV fails to transmit.
It looks like the upgrades Mercedes have bought in for Barcelona have really hit the mark. The reported changes are all airflow related with a new front end including scoop-shaped turning vanes. The rear end has new bargeboards with vertical fins, a revised rear wing & re-profiled floor around the rear tyres.
FP1 has only a fag paper between them & nearly a second clear of Raikkonen in 3rd, Vettel was 4th after loosing time with a technical issue.
FP2 had the same fag paper between the Mercs but closed up the times to Ferrari: Hamilton, Bottas +0.09 , Raikkonen +0.31 & Vettel +0.118
FP3 has reversed the Mercedes & Ferrari positions, its now Raikkonen, Vettel, Hamilton & Bottas, but only 0.65 secs between them all. Bottas has a bunch of technical problems, & only managed a few laps. It seems like Mercedes & Ferrari have upgraded to a similar level & maybe no significant gain one over the other, nice to see Red Bull have improved. But its all wait & see for Qualifying.
Great qualifying, but 'nuff said as I mustn't spoil it for the TV Ch4 viewers at 5pm. But I will say it was great to see Alonso make it to Q3 & then didn't he do good !!!! (for a McLaren)
Yeah great quali. Good to see some smiles at McLaren again.
Well done Lewis. That was a bit more like it.
steve