This forum contains threads to discuss teams themselves. Anything not technical about the cars, including restructuring, performances etc belongs here.
Today was a pretty positive day. We tested quite a few bits on the car, improved throughout the day and in the end I was quite pleased with the balance. There are of course things still to be improved but you can’t complain when you are purple in sectors two and three. I don’t think we can realistically fight Ferrari for pole as they are just too quick on the straights and there are not enough corners to make up the difference but we seem to be in the same speed range on the long runs. Now we just have to focus on the race where our pace looks more competitive and if we can keep our tyres under control then I think it will be a close race.
Every time I look at the speed data Honda seems to be faster than Mercs. And yet everyone is saying Honda is lagging, why is that. Even Horner was hesitating when he was talking about how Honda was "there and there about" with mercedes.
For example, Kvyat had a top speed of 344 in Q1 while Bottas was doing 340 in Q3 when the PU is supposed to be even more turned up.
Downforce/drag shouldn't be a problem because the air is so thin.
Because the Mercedes still has more drag than the Red Bull. You can see this because the Mercedes is faster than the Red Bull in the very high speed corners, but not in the lower or mid speed corners. If the Mercedes had similar drag levels to Red Bull they would be faster in a straight line. Granted the difference is smaller than it's ever been, however Mercedes still has a slight edge.
Regardless, it was a good achievement for RB and Honda today. Tomorrow they have an excellent chance to fight for the win if Verstappen keeps it clean. Ferrari will be extremely fast on the start due to the long straights, the safety car(s) will determine the strategy. If you pit too soon you'll be struggling later on, but if you pit too late you'll lose too much track position.
A two stopper seems imminent particularly since it's 71 laps. The ideal time to pit would be to come out in clean air, so perhaps building up a gap to 7th then pitting and coming out ahead would be ideal. Of course rain could change everything, although I don't think it will rain.
They should only take off the last lap. He was on pole anyway. And the screens were green. Only one flag from one man on the middle of the corner... I think (and hope) he will keep P1
They should only take off the last lap. He was on pole anyway. And the screens were green. Only one flag from one man on the middle of the corner... I think (and hope) he will keep P1
