2022 Spanish Grand Prix - Catalunya, May 20 - 22

[Shrieker]

So after all that noise, Merc are still some ways off. Disappointing really, but hard to blame them at this point.

They have improved somewhat though.

[epo]

Charles Leclerc. High risk driver.

George Russell is really on it. Full focus. I believe that williams has really taught him how to squeeze out every drop. Lewis is out of it. Hunger lost maybe.

Sainz. I'm sorry Carlos Leclerc is just another level. The Ferrari is so stable I just can't see sainze winning unless there is a wet race.

Checo is close to Max this year but not close enough to stop other cars from splitting them nor to be a threat to Ferrari.

How about Hamilton is 37yo and is past his 100%

Tbh Russell wasn’t special at all in the second half of last year meaning Hamilton would probably loose against Albon.

Sainz was never A+ driver, hence he switched so many teams and got beaten.

[silver]

So after all that noise, Merc are still some ways off. Disappointing really, but hard to blame them at this point.

They have improved somewhat though.

The track characteristics doesn't put a premium on lower drag as much as some other circuits, which could be a reason that the gap is slightly lesser. Look at the cars around and all of them have qualified with lesser margin than they did in previous races.

[elMaestro]

Charles Leclerc. High risk driver.

George Russell is really on it. Full focus. I believe that williams has really taught him how to squeeze out every drop. Lewis is out of it. Hunger lost maybe.

Sainz. I'm sorry Carlos Leclerc is just another level. The Ferrari is so stable I just can't see sainze winning unless there is a wet race.

Checo is close to Max this year but not close enough to stop other cars from splitting them nor to be a threat to Ferrari.

How about Hamilton is 37yo and is past his 100%

Tbh Russell wasn’t special at all in the second half of last year meaning Hamilton would probably loose against Albon.

Sainz was never A+ driver, hence he switched so many teams and got beaten.

Hmm, take a step back and read what u wrote out loud.

[dialtone]

This telemetry makes it very clear to see how Ferrari fixed tyre deg, they added a bunch of downforce overnight.

* LEC was 6kph down on main straight to RUS (318k v 324k), although VER and SAI are just 1kph apart. LEC also great through T1-2 which shows the higher downforce. SAI sadly made a mistake there.
* T5-6-7-8 LEC has monster traction, just a totally different level
* T9 is interesting, both SAI and RUS are really fast while LEC and VER are slow, this is kind of opposite than previews FP sessions, so maybe LEC going slower not to overcook tyres there.
* In S3 you can really see Ferrari stability under braking that allows LEC to get as fast as he can right before the corner and on the finish straight again Ferrari with that 200-280kph acceleration advantage

As I shared earlier race sim in FP3 show that Ferrari bridged the gap in tyre deg, thanks to the added downforce. I don't know what VER could have done here, S3 from RedBull, especially T11 has been a bit slower but VER lap was very solid, no mistakes, despite the lower DF than Ferrari he clearly does better than LEC in T9 but it's just slower in T6-7-8-9 and he would cook the tyres for S3 if he tried to go even faster there.

Merc is very close, slow corners are really where they lose, especially that last chicane, but they are a threat.

Will be an interesting race, Ferrari may have solved big tyre deg, but maybe not enough to keep RB behind, we'll see tomorrow.

[codetower]

Charles Leclerc. High risk driver.

George Russell is really on it. Full focus. I believe that williams has really taught him how to squeeze out every drop. Lewis is out of it. Hunger lost maybe.

Sainz. I'm sorry Carlos Leclerc is just another level. The Ferrari is so stable I just can't see sainze winning unless there is a wet race.

Checo is close to Max this year but not close enough to stop other cars from splitting them nor to be a threat to Ferrari.

How about Hamilton is 37yo and is past his 100%

Tbh Russell wasn’t special at all in the second half of last year meaning Hamilton would probably loose against Albon.

Sainz was never A+ driver, hence he switched so many teams and got beaten.

Sainz might not be an A+ driver, but he's no slouch. He did beat Lando both years he was at McLaren. Charles is just at another lever, especially in Qualifying.

[Hammerfist]

https://i.imgur.com/IWg4a9w.jpeg

This telemetry makes it very clear to see how Ferrari fixed tyre deg, they added a bunch of downforce overnight.

* LEC was 6kph down on main straight to RUS (318k v 324k), although VER and SAI are just 1kph apart. LEC also great through T1-2 which shows the higher downforce. SAI sadly made a mistake there.
* T5-6-7-8 LEC has monster traction, just a totally different level
* T9 is interesting, both SAI and RUS are really fast while LEC and VER are slow, this is kind of opposite than previews FP sessions, so maybe LEC going slower not to overcook tyres there.
* In S3 you can really see Ferrari stability under braking that allows LEC to get as fast as he can right before the corner and on the finish straight again Ferrari with that 200-280kph acceleration advantage

As I shared earlier race sim in FP3 show that Ferrari bridged the gap in tyre deg, thanks to the added downforce. I don't know what VER could have done here, S3 from RedBull, especially T11 has been a bit slower but VER lap was very solid, no mistakes, despite the lower DF than Ferrari he clearly does better than LEC in T9 but it's just slower in T6-7-8-9 and he would cook the tyres for S3 if he tried to go even faster there.

Merc is very close, slow corners are really where they lose, especially that last chicane, but they are a threat.

Will be an interesting race, Ferrari may have solved big tyre deg, but maybe not enough to keep RB behind, we'll see tomorrow.

The bad news for Merc is that their concept is supposed to excel in the slow corners but they are clearly the worst car in S3, hence in slow corners.

Good analysis.

[Polarit]

It’s the first weekend Merc haven’t had a car that was bouncing all over the place.

So they’ve got a platform to build from but they’re 6 races behind everyone else in terms of understanding their car.

Their top speed was positive though and once they start to optimise it they could catch up pretty quickly when you consider how far they are behind in terms of understand the package.

Monster lap from Leclrec though.

[McMika98]

Haas with no upgrades showing everyone how it's done.

Exactly MSC needs to get points. Car is very competitive.

[GrizzleBoy]

Very interesting to see mercs leading on the straights line performance though.

Their car isn't exactly setup to be low drag wing wise.

Wonder if their new floor actually shed some downforce as opposed to gaining them some?

Or maybe RB and Ferrari are just more capable of bolting on more downforce than Mercedes for this race?

[silver]

Very interesting to see mercs leading on the straights line performance though.

Their car isn't exactly setup to be low drag wing wise.

Wonder if their new floor actually shed some downforce as opposed to gaining them some?

Or maybe RB and Ferrari are just more capable of bolting on more downforce than Mercedes for this race?

Mercedes is running new PU elements on both cars while RB and Ferraris are on 1st. Toto said there is also a reliability upgrade to the PU giving a bit more performance.

[Polarit]

Very interesting to see mercs leading on the straights line performance though.

Their car isn't exactly setup to be low drag wing wise.

Wonder if their new floor actually shed some downforce as opposed to gaining them some?

Or maybe RB and Ferrari are just more capable of bolting on more downforce than Mercedes for this race?

Mercedes is running new PU elements on both cars while RB and Ferraris are on 1st. Toto said there is also a reliability upgrade to the PU giving a bit more performance.

Are they? I could’ve sworn I saw on the bird they’re all on their second now and Merc were late to upgrade there’s.

[silver]

Very interesting to see mercs leading on the straights line performance though.

Their car isn't exactly setup to be low drag wing wise.

Wonder if their new floor actually shed some downforce as opposed to gaining them some?

Or maybe RB and Ferrari are just more capable of bolting on more downforce than Mercedes for this race?

Mercedes is running new PU elements on both cars while RB and Ferraris are on 1st. Toto said there is also a reliability upgrade to the PU giving a bit more performance.

Are they? I could’ve sworn I saw on the bird they’re all on their second now and Merc were late to upgrade there’s.

Ferrari are on 2nd set of PUs, but no idea which one is being used by their drivers.

[PlatinumZealot]

https://i.imgur.com/IWg4a9w.jpeg

This telemetry makes it very clear to see how Ferrari fixed tyre deg, they added a bunch of downforce overnight.

* LEC was 6kph down on main straight to RUS (318k v 324k), although VER and SAI are just 1kph apart. LEC also great through T1-2 which shows the higher downforce. SAI sadly made a mistake there.
* T5-6-7-8 LEC has monster traction, just a totally different level
* T9 is interesting, both SAI and RUS are really fast while LEC and VER are slow, this is kind of opposite than previews FP sessions, so maybe LEC going slower not to overcook tyres there.
* In S3 you can really see Ferrari stability under braking that allows LEC to get as fast as he can right before the corner and on the finish straight again Ferrari with that 200-280kph acceleration advantage

As I shared earlier race sim in FP3 show that Ferrari bridged the gap in tyre deg, thanks to the added downforce. I don't know what VER could have done here, S3 from RedBull, especially T11 has been a bit slower but VER lap was very solid, no mistakes, despite the lower DF than Ferrari he clearly does better than LEC in T9 but it's just slower in T6-7-8-9 and he would cook the tyres for S3 if he tried to go even faster there.

Merc is very close, slow corners are really where they lose, especially that last chicane, but they are a threat.

Will be an interesting race, Ferrari may have solved big tyre deg, but maybe not enough to keep RB behind, we'll see tomorrow.

The bad news for Merc is that their concept is supposed to excel in the slow corners but they are clearly the worst car in S3, hence in slow corners.

Good analysis.

Barcelona is harsh on tyres over a lap so the slower corner prowess could be a bit muddled. Monaco is next week.

[PlatinumZealot]

Very interesting to see mercs leading on the straights line performance though.

Their car isn't exactly setup to be low drag wing wise.

Wonder if their new floor actually shed some downforce as opposed to gaining them some?

Or maybe RB and Ferrari are just more capable of bolting on more downforce than Mercedes for this race?

They had massive drag before because they couldnt run the floor properly so that's also to be facotred into it.