dans79 wrote: ↑05 Sep 2021, 03:13
I think the only real issue was Merc was losing a boat load of time from turn 2 exit through turn 3 exit, and then as a consequence a little more through the rest of sector 1. If I had to guess it's because of how stiffly they have the car sprung, and it's longer wheelbase. I think a good deal of that will get negated in the race, because of the higher fuel load, harder tires used for most of the race, and less ES deployment!
It's maybe more to do with the raw downforce on the redbull car. Watching the RB16B trough the corners is mesmerizing. The change of direction without any kind of upset or twitch its an amazing machine.
Hamilton's Q3 lap was actually very clean, while Max made a few errors. I don't think mercedes can do much to correct the car to be any smoother to improve the lap time. I do think however, that the car is a good race car in terms of tyre degradation, and consistency across the harder compounds.
I do wonder about Bottas status with the team, but he is very focused on performing and cooperating with the team. He has done well this weekend to be at the front end and if he gets away well tomorrow he can prevent Max from winning with strategy. If the team continue to use two cars against one successfully, it's a really tough choice to drop Bottas.
I do think that Bottas may volunteer to leave and try another path to become world champion.