This is race lap 2 LEC v VER. Brakes are still alright here I think, or at least manageable as LEC dropped a 1.36.86 but VER dropped a 1.36.29.
* This lap difference was T1, a weakness for Ferrari all weekend, and T11-12-13. In 11-12-13 Max is simply much faster while also not using the throttle that much. The difference is big, I think in qualifying LEC can beat MAX in Jeddah, but in the race it will be the same story as here. RBR still has a performance edge in race trim on these corners.
RUS v SAI on lap 40 (RUS is ahead of LEC still and SAI is a bit ahead, both are pushing similar laps).
* I think RUS is going through some derating of the engine at the end of straights, it might be an engine saving thing, but in the 2nd straight RUS accelerates out of T3 way faster than SAI which usually I wouldn't associate with an engine having trouble. Same thing can be said about the other long straights where the Merc accelerates quite fast out of corners. So my guess is they chose a different deployment philosophy.
* One can certainly say that RUS struggles under braking and make that be about lifting before braking to protect the engine, but RUS is also just very slow in lots of medium speed corners.
* Interesting that Merc is faster in the 11-12-13 triplet by quite a margin as well, so whatever RBR has, Merc at least has some of it. Would be wonderful if Ferrari could replicate.
This is lap 13 of the race, SAI put down a 1.37.2 and VER kept his 1.37.0 rhythm going.
Not as much loss of time in T1 here for SAI, Similar other weakness points as against LEC although T11-12-13 are less of a weakness here, but T6-7-8-9 is a bigger one instead.
And to top this all off, this is the average lap from lap 17 to 32 of the race between SAI and VER.
* RBR has better traction out of all corners, particularly up to 200kph RBR just accelerates better, then Ferrari takes over. This likely is a difference in deployment, but RBR seems to be better.
* High speed corner advantage that Ferrari showed in practice is kinda gone, both are equally fast on apex speed.
* T6-7 and T11-12-13 are just big advantages for RBR.
* The DRS for SAI explains the top speed advantage in the 2 main straights.
So yeah, I don't think Jeddah is going to be a lot different.