2022 Australian Grand Prix - Melbourne, April 08 - 10

[Scorpaguy]

Back when LMP1 was relevant/significant...I do not recall the various teams having such extreme "switch-on/out-of-temp window" issues on their Michelins (sure maybe short lived pit-out temps). Those cars had a bit of aero...

...dare I say maybe 1 good (well known) compound would be sufficient. Oh...and ditch the blankets.

[CRazyLemon]

In qualifying Lando did his lap in a normal manner, out lap, fast lap and in lap. Other teams needed a preperation lap. So that's then also car dependent. The ask was for pirelli to make tyres the teams can race hard lap on lap. To make a tyres that do this regardless of track surface, track layout, car fuel loads, car suspension geometry, car downforce loads for all cars at all times is asking a bit much.

For some cars it worked for some cars it didn't, the teams are able to play with their setups, admittedly for some teams they don't have the setup options to find the right spot for certain tyres at certain tracks but that's a car deficiency not a tyre one.

[dialtone]

In qualifying Lando did his lap in a normal manner, out lap, fast lap and in lap. Other teams needed a preperation lap. So that's then also car dependent. The ask was for pirelli to make tyres the teams can race hard lap on lap. To make a tyres that do this regardless of track surface, track layout, car fuel loads, car suspension geometry, car downforce loads for all cars at all times is asking a bit much.

For some cars it worked for some cars it didn't, the teams are able to play with their setups, admittedly for some teams they don't have the setup options to find the right spot for certain tyres at certain tracks but that's a car deficiency not a tyre one.

Very good example, Sainz with no prep lap wouldn't have been caught by the red flag and instead would have set his time properly, maybe wouldn't be on pole (although was very fast all weekend) but certainly wouldn't have been 9th.

[Jolle]

In qualifying Lando did his lap in a normal manner, out lap, fast lap and in lap. Other teams needed a preperation lap. So that's then also car dependent. The ask was for pirelli to make tyres the teams can race hard lap on lap. To make a tyres that do this regardless of track surface, track layout, car fuel loads, car suspension geometry, car downforce loads for all cars at all times is asking a bit much.

For some cars it worked for some cars it didn't, the teams are able to play with their setups, admittedly for some teams they don't have the setup options to find the right spot for certain tyres at certain tracks but that's a car deficiency not a tyre one.

Very good example, Sainz with no prep lap wouldn't have been caught by the red flag and instead would have set his time properly, maybe wouldn't be on pole (although was very fast all weekend) but certainly wouldn't have been 9th.

Good chance Sainz would have come out of the pit 2 minutes later if he didn’t need a prep lap and stil be caught out by the red flag?

[dialtone]

In qualifying Lando did his lap in a normal manner, out lap, fast lap and in lap. Other teams needed a preperation lap. So that's then also car dependent. The ask was for pirelli to make tyres the teams can race hard lap on lap. To make a tyres that do this regardless of track surface, track layout, car fuel loads, car suspension geometry, car downforce loads for all cars at all times is asking a bit much.

For some cars it worked for some cars it didn't, the teams are able to play with their setups, admittedly for some teams they don't have the setup options to find the right spot for certain tyres at certain tracks but that's a car deficiency not a tyre one.

Very good example, Sainz with no prep lap wouldn't have been caught by the red flag and instead would have set his time properly, maybe wouldn't be on pole (although was very fast all weekend) but certainly wouldn't have been 9th.

Good chance Sainz would have come out of the pit 2 minutes later if he didn’t need a prep lap and stil be caught out by the red flag?

Assuming that's even realistic (usually top teams are the first out in q3), in that case he wouldn't have needed the prep lap in the second attempt, for which he didn't have enough time because his car took 2 more minutes to start, and without the prep lap need, his tyres would have been up to temperature immediately instead of sliding around like they did.

[basti313]

Here's what you can do: add more downforce to the front wing like Ferrari did on Saturday.

I do not have an F1 car, sorry.
The graining was introduced by a bit higher track temp and got everyone by surprise. I do not think Ferrari was planning for this, they just did not have to push.

I think the solution would rather be a good tire. This stupid graining once the temps change a bit is nothing you see on any other good racing tire.

Most certainly not accurate again...
https://www.formu1a.uno/ferrari-ha-alza ... e-a-imola/

Ferrari started with a setup that was going to protect primarily the rear tyres, then long runs in FP2 showed a possibility for graining in the front, more apparent on the mediums. To handle this, between friday and saturday they decided 2 fundamental things. The first: increase front downforce to limit graining. They chose the higher load front wing of the 2 they brought in Australia, the one with the top flap straight rather than slightly cut. Albert park didn't just change layout but also tarmac; Pirelli itself, via Mario Isola, warned since friday that sliding, even with increase in grip, was possibly going to continue during the race since the track wasn't treated with high pressure wash to eliminate excess bitumen. [...] The second a 5 HP increase in the engine to counter the added drag compared to RedBull.

So everyone knew, they bet they could get away with it like in Jeddah, but they did not get away with it.

On top of it worth mentioning that RedBull spent the first 20 minutes of FP2 in box trying to fix their setup after FP1 showed significant balance problems, ultimately it meant that Ferrari was able to do 18 laps on Mediums in FP2, while RedBull did only 14 and maybe this was enough to discover the graining on the Ferrari side.

RedBull has a general issue on the front with understeer.
What you post here does not contradict to what I said and even if Ferrari would have gone with the other wing, they would have won the race in the end.
The issue is simply, that the best car can now handle the tire. A bit of a different situation to the time where Merc was dominant where even the tire was developed to help them once they could not handle it constantly.

We wanted to have close racing. Now we have one team that can handle a delicate tire. Especially on the Medium we could have at least a little bit of pressure on the Ferrari without the graining. On the hard they were untouchable, no blame here. We have a setup where the rules would give us a very low split in the field, now a little bit of too much understeer and you a 7 tenth away per lap...this is bull$hit.

Back when LMP1 was relevant/significant...I do not recall the various teams having such extreme "switch-on/out-of-temp window" issues on their Michelins (sure maybe short lived pit-out temps). Those cars had a bit of aero...

...dare I say maybe 1 good (well known) compound would be sufficient. Oh...and ditch the blankets.

Yes, I do not see that either. You can also take the usual GP3 series, they go with one tire over 10 different cars with different concepts from freezing cold to burning hot track temps combined with no blankets.
I think this is a quality issue and from "no blankets" Pirelli is soooo far away...

I think the point of having 4 usable compounds is nothing good as well, it is a sign that the tire is too fragile in the usage.

[atanatizante]

So let's do the math ... after the restart RUS finished the race in 25.5 sec. behind LEC, thus in just 31 laps, he was some 0.8 sec. slower per lap and maybe 0,65 to VER ... therefore we could see some progress or it's just track related?

This sort of math is senseless. The leader as in most of the times, would be cruising without showing full potential of the car. When Verstappen retired, it became so easy for Leclerc to simply manage the race. So the difference between Leclerc and others cars in terms of where they finished, is not a clear indication of the gap.

Ok, let`s do a recap: until the second SC there were 16 laps and HAM was 16.7 sec away from LEC and that`s it 1.1 sec/lap ... then until the 3rd SC phase there were only 13 laps with HAM at 17.3 sec behind LEC, so just 1.33 sec/lap deficit to Ferrari ...

On another note, is it me or in the slow turns 14 and particularly 13 the W13 seems to have better traction out of the corner than RB18 as we could clearly see when HAM chased PER on lap 20&21 ... The latter went through a graining/wearing down phase or was just down to W13 having a higher DF setup?

[Big Tea]

The teams have to set up for more than one compound and find a balance.
If it was just the one compound I'm sure they could hit the nail on the head quite quickly, but they practice in one temp and quali in another and with an evolved track, and have to match 2 compounds to quali and race.

[sosic2121]

Disappointing performance from Sainz. If Leclerc was in his place, he would have probably finished 2nd. I always rating Sainz highly, but after 3 races in the best car, he has less points than Russell in jumpcedes and is in front of bulls only because Honda...
I consider Leclerc to be the best driver on the grid, but is he so much better than sainz?? Maybe sainz needs more time to understand new cars? Is leclerc making ferrari better than it really is?

[PlatinumZealot]

We wanted to have close racing. Now we have one team that can handle a delicate tire. Especially on the Medium we could have at least a little bit of pressure on the Ferrari without the graining. On the hard they were untouchable, no blame here. We have a setup where the rules would give us a very low split in the field, now a little bit of too much understeer and you a 7 tenth away per lap...this is bull$hit.

You mean the delicate tyres that did 57 laps?

[deadhead]

Disappointing performance from Sainz. If Leclerc was in his place, he would have probably finished 2nd. I always rating Sainz highly, but after 3 races in the best car, he has less points than Russell in jumpcedes and is in front of bulls only because Honda...
I consider Leclerc to be the best driver on the grid, but is he so much better than sainz?? Maybe sainz needs more time to understand new cars? Is leclerc making ferrari better than it really is?

No way to know for sure.

From interviews I've see Sainz seems convinced that he is on par with LEC and its only a matter of getting used to the car.

[silver]

Disappointing performance from Sainz. If Leclerc was in his place, he would have probably finished 2nd. I always rating Sainz highly, but after 3 races in the best car, he has less points than Russell in jumpcedes and is in front of bulls only because Honda...
I consider Leclerc to be the best driver on the grid, but is he so much better than sainz?? Maybe sainz needs more time to understand new cars? Is leclerc making ferrari better than it really is?

No way to know for sure.

From interviews I've see Sainz seems convinced that he is on par with LEC and its only a matter of getting used to the car.

TBH that in itself is a problem. He has driven millions of miles in that car throughout testing and it's one of the most stable, reliable and consistent car on the grid. If he isn't used to it yet while his team mate has already taken 2 wins and leading the championship with a comfortable margin, then he has a mountain to climb while his team is sprinting ahead.

[basti313]

We wanted to have close racing. Now we have one team that can handle a delicate tire. Especially on the Medium we could have at least a little bit of pressure on the Ferrari without the graining. On the hard they were untouchable, no blame here. We have a setup where the rules would give us a very low split in the field, now a little bit of too much understeer and you a 7 tenth away per lap...this is bull$hit.

You mean the delicate tyres that did 57 laps?

First of all I mean with delicate the Medium. The Hard was not really delicate, but the 57laps on the Williams are a strange benchmark without any deg, which is also not really the target. I am a bit puzzled about low overtaking on the Hard. For example Ocon was stuck with a blisteringly fast car on the straight with this tire.

To be honest once I look at the pace: What did Williams do? Did they rally just set up for the hard? They had several laps to switch to the Soft in the end and go for the fastest lap. With the track evolution a 1:19 should have been easy.

[dialtone]

Disappointing performance from Sainz. If Leclerc was in his place, he would have probably finished 2nd. I always rating Sainz highly, but after 3 races in the best car, he has less points than Russell in jumpcedes and is in front of bulls only because Honda...
I consider Leclerc to be the best driver on the grid, but is he so much better than sainz?? Maybe sainz needs more time to understand new cars? Is leclerc making ferrari better than it really is?

No way to know for sure.

From interviews I've see Sainz seems convinced that he is on par with LEC and its only a matter of getting used to the car.

TBH that in itself is a problem. He has driven millions of miles in that car throughout testing and it's one of the most stable, reliable and consistent car on the grid. If he isn't used to it yet while his team mate has already taken 2 wins and leading the championship with a comfortable margin, then he has a mountain to climb while his team is sprinting ahead.

I think Sainz was pretty fast all weekend, certainly faster than Leclerc, without the red flag stuff there's a decent chance he would have been on pole, and IMHO this could be a good reason why he was further stressed, because he saw the redeeming chance so close.

[Jambier]

Sainz is a very decent driver, not Verstappen, Hamilton or Leclerc level.
But better than Bottas. Probably than Perez too, even if I'm impressed with 2022 Perez for now.

It is a very solid line up that Ferrari have. But I think Mercedes with Russell is also a very very strong line up now.

And in conclusion, I am very happy that the three top team now have three top line up, not a clear number 1 with a slow man, but an excellent driver and another very good driver