GrizzleBoy wrote: ↑23 Sep 2024, 09:45
mendis wrote: ↑23 Sep 2024, 04:55
Wynters wrote: ↑22 Sep 2024, 20:38
As an aside, comparing the pace of both Mercedes cars on the Hards is an interesting errand. I'm just guessing, but perhaps one of them had to overtake some cars? But it's interesting that 'George fans' apparently expect their driver to be slower in clean air than the washed up pensioner is in dirty. Otherwise, it wouldn't be worthy of comment.
Russell spent most of his first stint behind Ham, but also ran a good long stint by keeping those mediums alive when Ham pitted. Ham complained of tyres after a bunch of laps on hards, whereas Russell managed to keep a charging Leclerc behind, who had far better pace. That's the standout race pace difference between the two Merc drivers. Ham's pace on a few laps old hards was just about the same as Russell who was on mediums in his first stint.
People are discounting Russell's ability to manage his race pace. He has vastly improved on that front, while keeping his qualifying speed.
Is there no reason you could see why a driver who knows hes pitted way too early onto a tyre expecred to go to the end of the race would maybe have an overall lower lap delta vs a driver who goes onto those tyres 11 laps later and therefore has 11 laps less wear to manage till the end of the race?
Isnt it obvious?
Data to ponder upon who was pushing and who wasn't.
Russell was managing his tyres in his second stint and that's why his times were very consistent till the end.
Ham started easy on his second stint, then started pushing. Then his tyres fell away.
Russell's fastest lap was on 30th lap (3rd lap of second stint).
Ham's came on 43rd lap (26th lap of second stint).
Going by that, if Russell would have pushed in his second stint, he would have lost the ability to hold up Leclerc to the end. But if he did push, then the delta to Ham would have been bigger in the beginning of his stint. It just shows how well Russell managed his stint. Remember, just like Ham had cars in front of him in second stint, Russell had Ham in front of him in the first stint and yet, managed a consistent stint throughout.