[ 2020 ] Aston Martin RedBull Racing F1 Team - Honda

[Wouter]

Understeer is bad to have around here, it compromises you too much into 2 and 10, Bottas was faster, maybe he's banking on a more balanced car, while Hamilton never got to dial in the setup. You can tell because he's understeering on the entry to the chicanes, the downforce of the car masks this to an extent. You have to have very good throttle control with a balanced car as 1 12 and 15 stress the rears a fair bit.

Verstappen always takes turn 15 closer to the apex signifying his car is more neutrally balanced, I think his driving technique here will help him preserve the rears because he's not leaning on rear slip like Mercedes has to in order to clear the apex.

This circuit plays well into the RB 16's strengths. The speed range of the corners and downforce levels needed means the car spends little time in that area where the rear stalls. However this is also due to RB improving the chassis all the time.

I believe what you are saying Godlameroso , but tomorrow Max ending the race again on the 3th place.

[mem]

thats what i said on Tuesday

if RBR nailed the setup any thing more than 2 tenths off pole sitter in qualy will be bad result imo.
i can see Bottas making some errors in race and Max closing the gap to Hamilton much closer than the previous races.
so my prediction will be Hamilton - Max - Bottas and everyone else get lapped , ofcourse in a normal race.

pretty sure thats it.

[lio007]

Behind the scenes...I'm lovin' it

[etusch]

I predict second at least if not a win

[Juzh]

Verstappen's q3 lap (open in yt)

[ispano6]

Verstappen's q3 lap (open in yt)

Would you happen to have the Q2 onboard of 1m15.471 synced against his Q3 time of 1m15.509? I also looked for best sector times and was wondering what his ideal lap would have been but his Q2 time to Ham's Q3 is 0.327. Alex said he was hindered by the yellow flag so he could potentially been faster as well. A set up change from P3 to quali has given Alex confidence to push.

Max and Alex will have a nice tow behind the two Mercs so let's see what Turn 1 and Sector 3 of the first lap brings.

Max
“As a Team I think we did a very good job the whole weekend and from the start the car was in a good window which meant it was more about fine tuning. We are the closest we have been to Mercedes in qualifying so we can be happy about that and also the gap to the competition behind us is bigger. I have good hopes for the race and it is always difficult to predict whether we can fight for the win but I feel a bit more confident than some other weekends.

"We have quite decent top speed which I think is good around here and although it won’t be easy to pass at least the last few corners are quite wide and long so you can take a few different lines if you have the pace to follow. Strategy wise as it is a new track we will find out a lot during the race, especially about the tyres as track temperatures are going to be quite high tomorrow. A Mercedes is never easy to overtake but we will give it all we have and I love this track so I’m really looking forward to the race.”

Alex
“It was a good, strong qualifying and driving these cars around this circuit on low fuel is just incredible. It’s crazy and it takes your breath away so I hope we continue with tracks like this in the future. Qualifying fourth is my career best so I’m happy as we are making constant progress. Spa was good, Monza was better and here so far has been another step forward. Obviously, there’s still some time to find but we’re consistently getting better and I think without the yellow flags in the last Q3 run we would have gone even quicker.

"During the Free Practice sessions, I was lacking a bit of confidence but after we made some changes, the car became more connected and I could start pushing it. Tomorrow, we’ll need to get a good, clean launch as it’s a long run to Turn One and then hopefully we can have a simple, boring race without any dramas.”

Christian Horner
"It’s great to have both drivers up on the second row in qualifying with Max third and Alex fourth and we extracted the most out of the car today. We were just a couple of tenths shy of Mercedes but it was one of the closest sessions this year and hopefully we can race well from there. Alex has had a strong weekend with his best F1 qualifying result to date which will provide him with confidence ahead of the race.

"We’ve been quick in sector three all weekend so our first opportunity will be on the run down to Turn One and then we will see what we can do from there. It’s going to be interesting to see what affect the warm weather has on strategies and of course there’s no historic data here so you’ve got to be prepared to be reactive. The drivers are really enjoying this circuit, it’s a fast old school track so let’s hope it produces a great race tomorrow.”

[Tiakumosan]

Alex seems to be happy with being fourth and far away from Max on the race? I don't understand why he wants a boring race as he's not starting from pole. At least say you're gonna try fighting Mercedes together with Max.

[godlameroso]

I'm hoping for a win, although fp1 showed Mercedes is still a bit too far ahead.

[KelsO]

Red Bull loses to Mercedes in almost all corners, being closer to Ferrari, but faster on the straights. Max is only slightly faster than Ferrari in corners. Leclerc drove a very fast circle.. It's hard to judge when Daniel is no longer in the team, you never know you could go faster or not.

[godlameroso]

Mercedes is probably using a lot of exhaust valve duration to overscavange the cylinder charge. This helps maintain HP past the power peak.

[KelsO]

Mercedes is probably using a lot of exhaust valve duration to overscavange the cylinder charge. This helps maintain HP past the power peak.

I assume that they found another gray area in the regulation, as was the case with engine oil (although I think this is illegal and the interpretation of the regulation in favor of Mercedes). As practice shows, no one was able to achieve a large advantage in legal ways, and last year, when everyone acted the same, Mercedes did not have a significant advantage in the engine (except for Ferrari and we know why).

[Big Tea]

Mercedes is probably using a lot of exhaust valve duration to overscavange the cylinder charge. This helps maintain HP past the power peak.

Would this work well as there would be quite high pressure in the manifold? Would it not just be the same as not opening the valve fully? ( I know EGR is helpful, but not allowed)

[Juzh]

Seriously, honda needs to get on top of these constant engine gremlins. Another race ruined by the engine having a tantrum.

[Sayeman]

love Honda but they make it so difficult to support them sometimes. Awful.

[mem]

good old Honda strikes again.