godlameroso wrote: ↑11 Oct 2020, 23:06
Verstappen lost the race in the second stint, on the first stint he was pretty level with Hamilton, looks like the Red Bull was better on the soft tire than it was on the medium. Verstappen pitted on lap 17, and at the start of the stint he was hanging with Hamilton, however about halfway into the stint, perhaps it was lapped traffic, or tire graining, or a balance issue, Verstappen's pace became erratic. The overall pace may have been there, but Hamilton was metronomic, absolutely consistent laps with out any hint of degradation. Perhaps the rears started wearing faster than the fronts creating a shift in balance? Then on the restart, DAS and Hamilton managed to use the engine power and warmer tires to get away, and from there it was race over.
Take aways from the race, the RB16 chassis has improved, but DAS was a big help on the restart, will be interesting to see Mercedes have to do without it next year. To a certain extent, I feel that some of the pace drop off was the power unit running out of ERS. The Mercedes power unit has incredible ERS stamina and can work their chassis can still work the tires better. Those two details make the difference vs the RB16 which is now on the verge of being the premier chassis on the grid. I really hope Honda can deliver next year, compared to this year, I expect a very decent step forward from them because they've had an entire year to develop with their brand new cylinder plating.
No point in worrying about 2022 yet when 2021 hasn't even started. There's a lot of data to go over, lots of details to iron out this year which will be critical from a chassis point next year. They are actually a little closer than they were at this point last year. I hope that the aero work from now until the end of the season will be on what can carry over to next year. We already know Hamilton won, he'd have to DNF 3 times in a row, and it's unlikely as it hasn't even happened once this year. Verstappen can still beat Bottas, so there's still something to play for.
Next race is Portimao, completely unknown track to F1, not even testing has happened here, and it's a recent track that most of the grid hasn't had much experience with. The simulator will be used heavily to prepare as best as possible. I've never been to this track either, my knowledge of it is from laser scanned tracks. I don't know how accurate the scans are as I never had the real thing to compare it to. From what I can see, the corners that matter are the ones that Red Bull is now particularly strong in, and should be stronger once they dial in the new package. It seems that the nature of the track puts the acceleration zones either downhill or uphill, and the end of the main straight is a sharp downhill, so maybe engine power while important is less relevant than in Nürburgring. This track is also shorter, I expect lap times similar to Mugello.
Dreadful race from Albon, retiring the car after destroying Kvyat's front wing in the worst possible place probably doesn't feel very nice.
