[ 2020 ] Aston Martin RedBull Racing F1 Team - Honda

[hasika]

Not bad qualifying.
Ricciardo's P4 was due to the tow i think,he started his lap just behind Albon in Q3's first run.

Renault Pu must be as good as Cyril had said, I think.

Yeah,both 4 Reanult powered car got in Q3,so the engine looks pretty strong in qualifying.RBR was 1.9s faster than last year,Reanult was 2.2s faster than last year.Its good to see AT(STR) was 3.7s faster than what they did last year.Its a bit off topic but I think Kvyt could beat a Mclaren and got P3 if he didnt make that mistake in Q2.

[lio007]

It seems they habe made a decent step without any visible updates. Even the supposed updated FW looks like the old one.

[mem]

and suddenly no more gigantic gaps over a second to Mercedes just after the FIA investigation , coincident ?
i think its very clear after the Belgian GP qualifications that the FIA investigation about ERS take away power from Mercedes.
tomorrow should be good race for RBR , Max should be much closer and no more cruise to win for the mercs

[Juzh]

beauty q3 lap 1.41.778
https://streamable.com/4subh3

[McMika98]

Max pulled a lap at the end but this does not bode well. After the quali mode ban, the Renault cars will be a handful in quali. They seem to run the engine at high modes in practice as well so have a good base reliability. Add low downforce package and they might just be dark horses in the upcoming races especially Monza.

[101FlyingDutchman]

That lap was mega clean. Wow

[godlameroso]

The gap over the longest lap on the calendar is the smallest it has been in every q session thus far.

If Mercedes was .4 seconds faster in the race on average with a .7 sec gap in Q then it seems Verstappen is .2 closer to Merc in race trim around here.

[etusch]

and suddenly no more gigantic gaps over a second to Mercedes just after the FIA investigation , coincident ?
i think its very clear after the Belgian GP qualifications that the FIA investigation about ERS take away power from Mercedes.
tomorrow should be good race for RBR , Max should be much closer and no more cruise to win for the mercs

If there is not any other thing affected Merc's speed, Redbull is much closer when we think about how long this track. And when we compare Q to race pace difference, if it is still same proportion redbull must be faster than them in race.

[Sieper]

We don’t know that. That depends on who has the set-up. But they are certainly coming closer! Really positive.

[Marti_EF3]

It looks for a decent race tomorrow! Also Albon had a good result at least. Maybe the rain will turn unpredictable results... I don't know for sure, but maybe Albon was helping Max with a tow during the 2nd run on Q3?

[etusch]

[mem]

The gap over the longest lap on the calendar is the smallest it has been in every q session thus far.

If Mercedes was .4 seconds faster in the race on average with a .7 sec gap in Q then it seems Verstappen is .2 closer to Merc in race trim around here.

after Mercedes uploaded their ERS draws and structures @ 21 august they can't cheat any more
i wounder where Bottas lose 5 tenths to Hamilton

If there is not any other thing affected Merc's speed, Redbull is much closer when we think about how long this track. And when we compare Q to race pace difference, if it is still same proportion redbull must be faster than them in race.

nope mercs still so strong but they won't be able to cruise away any more they still have an edge hence small one i think godlameroso estimation is reasonable about 2 tenths in race trim.

It looks for a decent race tomorrow! Also Albon had a good result at least. Maybe the rain will turn unpredictable results... I don't know for sure, but maybe Albon was helping Max with a tow during the 2nd run on Q3?

tow should give 3 or 4 tenths , Max only gained 1 tenth in his final lap.

[godlameroso]

Starting 3rd, Verstappen has a chance to slip stream Bottas as Bottas slip streams Hamilton. With the drag of these cars and the long run from La Source, Verstappen has a chance to jump at least one Mercedes if he makes it through turn 1. Does he start on the left or right side of the grid?

[Sieper]

Right hand side. So he is on the inside of turn 1. Not happy with that. Plus Ricciardo is on red and the Renault and mercs can use their party mode at the start. I think the Renault party mode is more potent than Honda’s part mode.

In any case, start will be tense and hectic!

[zibby43]

We don’t know that. That depends on who has the set-up. But they are certainly coming closer! Really positive.

This is accurate.

Plus, as Mark Hughes points out:

"Spa and Monza always narrow the gap between fastest and slowest – because low drag acquires more importance than at more conventional tracks, raw downforce for less. So aerodynamically mediocre cars are not punished as badly."

A perfect example of this is the Italian GP last year, where Merc were less than a tenth off of Ferrari in qualifying, despite Ferrari's huge power advantage. The W10 wasn't aerodynamically "mediocre" - but it was a drag monster.

Length of the lap doesn't really come into play at Spa when evaluating the gap, as the downforce levels are much different compared to other venues on the calendar thus far.

All that said, the Red Bull in Verstappen's hands did look pretty good this weekend. Which is great news for their development.