2024 Japanese Grand Prix - Suzuka, April 05 - 07

[bluechris]

Seems the good vibes of F1 fans in Japan chased the clouds away, most of the websites forecast cloudy Saturday and sunny Sunday

This must be the best news lately if it holds true. As i explained in a previous post, all the rest that hunt RB need all the race time in the world they can have to understand their cars to make them better and rain never helps in this.
Of Course someone will say "but the same exist for RB", yes but the others need that more... RB refines things.. the others do big changes and they need at least corellation with the simulation and other tools they use.

[factory_p]

Very tight at the front early on in FP1



Doesn't mean much but it's always nice to see some running without a dominant team/driver.

[search]

Tires left:

[chrisc90]

Lewis apparently happy with the car.

So wonder how much they change the setup or just leave well alone.

[basti313]

Tires left:

https://i.imgur.com/fX0pLtM.png

Hmmm...so not much to see on strategy side? As last year the front runners will use either two C1 or two C2...while Ferrari and RB are bound to run two sets of C2. All the C3 strategies/attempts did not work last year.

[Cs98]

Mistake to have 6 new softs and 3 medium/hards. The softs degrade like dogwater.RBR/Ferrari/Russell on the right track.

[search]

Tires left:

https://i.imgur.com/fX0pLtM.png

Hmmm...so not much to see on strategy side? As last year the front runners will use either two C1 or two C2...while Ferrari and RB are bound to run two sets of C2.

yeah, looks like. Interesting that Russell didn't make a decision yet while Hamilton already committed on M-H-H, but that's about it.

[venkyhere]

Will be interesting to see what tyres are used in FP3, by McLaren, Aston and Hamilton
Unless all of this discussion is rendered pointless by rain on race day

[basti313]

Tires left:

https://i.imgur.com/fX0pLtM.png

Hmmm...so not much to see on strategy side? As last year the front runners will use either two C1 or two C2...while Ferrari and RB are bound to run two sets of C2.

yeah, looks like. Interesting that Russell didn't make a decision yet while Hamilton already committed on M-H-H, but that's about it.

I think that is just for FP3. Russel will do just like the RedBulls a Medium run in FP3 to prep for the race and then burn one set of Softs as preparation. The others like Ham or McLaren will prep more for Q on the Soft. Assuming that they really have a FP3, might still be cold and damp.
My bet is that after FP3 everyone will have three sets of Hard/Medium for the race.

I think this down to their confidence:
- McLaren is confident that they can handle the tire in the race just like last year. But need to work on the Q.
- Ham is not confident on Q.
- RedBull is not interested in Q and confident they win it if they get the race setup right.

[AR3-GP]

I like what Mclaren have done with their tire selection. There's always the risk of an awkward safety car which leaves too many laps to do on the medium tire. The forecast for Sunday looks increasingly dry.

[AR3-GP]

Hamilton's remaining tire allocation is odd. If he uses any M or H tire tomorrow, he will have to 1 stop on Sunday.

[chrisc90]

Hamilton's remaining tire allocation is odd. If he uses any M or H tire tomorrow, he will have to 1 stop on Sunday.

Same as a good few others it seems aswell.

[scuderiabrandon]

Hamilton's remaining tire allocation is odd. If he uses any M or H tire tomorrow, he will have to 1 stop on Sunday.

He'll have 1 new M for the race start, new and used H for stint 2-3. M-H-H. This would be the same as least season if my recollection is correct.

Red Bull did a M-M-H and it would seem only Ferrari & themselves have committed to it this year.

Edit: Ferrari also did M-M-H last time out.

[AR3-GP]

Hamilton's remaining tire allocation is odd. If he uses any M or H tire tomorrow, he will have to 1 stop on Sunday.

He'll have 1 new M for the race start, new and used H for stint 2-3. M-H-H. This would eb the same as least season if my recollection is correct.

Red Bull did a M-M-H and it would seem only Ferrari & themselves have committed to it this year.

I don't think Merc would take a used Hard tire into the race on Sunday. If the Hard tire is used in FP3, it will probably be for a long run so it would be worthless for another stint on Sunday.

The only thing that makes sense to me now is to do the FP3 long run on the soft tire to salvage it.

[search]

well, it's not unusual to use FP3 for qualifying preparation only. Pretty sure he'll use two sets of Softs and keep the others for the race, ending up in more or less the same tire situation as everyone else.

That means he won't do a proper longrun, of course, but the track conditions will be different anyway on Sunday.