Actually, Norris passed RIC during the race based on pace... And he matched Hulk’s pace for his last stint.mwillems wrote:Yes but max would then be sitting behind sainz so hed be likely getting those same DRS zones for a back and forth tussle between the two.diffuser wrote: ↑01 Apr 2019, 05:46If DRS was enabled, you sure it wouldn't have gone to sainz? Pretty sure there are 2 zones for one detection there.mwillems wrote: ↑31 Mar 2019, 21:19DRS was also enabled and likely Max would be right on Sainz tail so I'm not convinced at all by this talk of a possible podium, I think he would have been fighting for 5th at best.
That said, that does highlight how well Lando did to get back into 6th position, although it helped that Hulk dropped out and Ric had damage to his front wing by that point.
I have a feeling we might struggle more at china (Despite the straight and our top speeds) and need to push hard to ensure a Q3.
Not sure the word "Struggled" accurately describes McLaren's pace at Bahrain.
I have no idea how we're going to do in China but nothing I saw in Bahrain suggests to me we'll struggle.
We struggled to get close to the Renaults until they ran over each other and subsequently exploded. Lando kept Kimi behind, but the Alfa was right there with us, so I do t think there is much clear air in performance terms around McLaren. I know we had used tyres but this is a forgiving track with 3 DRS zones. It won't be like this elsewhere.
If we drop a few tenths in China we could easily be 13th or 14th on the grid with less of a chance to regain position.
In regards to the fight with Kimi, Lando simply struggled more in the used set of Softs and his last stint wasn’t as good as the other too... But, to keep a car behind you that has the advantage of DRS for as long as Norris did it, is a very good sign for the team... I believe Kimi mentioned in the interview that the Mclaren simply had better traction coming out of the corners... We also don’t know what Norris had to do in terms of fuel saving by the end of the race, he definitely had to run harder at the beginning to get through the field, so it would be expected for him to have to coast during the end of the race.
I agree that in China or any other race at this point, it only takes a couple tenths to not make it into Q3... Probably the only “hope” some fans can have before the race is the fact that Mclaren put one car in Q3 at Melbourne, which in theory is a track doesn’t suit very well this package and had both in Bahrain, which even with the 3 DRS Zones, on paper isn’t a track that should suit the car as good as a proper high speed track.
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