The Official 2016 Russian Grand Prix Thread **Spoilers**

[Speed_Demon]

Sooooo

1. Rosberg
2. Hamilton
3. Vettel
4. Raikkonen

Tomorrow?

[ClockworkCupcake]

Love that slo-mo of Rosbergs's car and the vortices coming off the rear wing.

[glazbagun]

Speed_Demon said:

Sooooo

1. Rosberg
2. Hamilton
3. Vettel
4. Raikkonen

Tomorrow?

Looks like it. Unless it's impossible to overtake around here the Mercs are going to eat everyone alive. Wonder what Rosberg will do in race- One stop with a small margin in case of safety car?

[VolvoT5]

I don't understand why Rosberg would risk circulating here........ he has nearly a second advantage and no competition from his team mate. Why bother doing another lap and risk putting it in the wall or even just getting a penalty for blocking or something.

[Dr Z]

ClockworkCupcake said:

Love that slo-mo of Rosbergs's car and the vortices coming off the rear wing.

Yeah that was good.

Rosberg will be on pole. Tough luck for Hamilton. It will be a tough drive tomorrow.

[Speed_Demon]

glazbagun said:

Looks like it. Unless it's impossible to overtake around here the Mercs are going to eat everyone alive. Wonder what Rosberg will do in race- One stop with a small margin in case of safety car?

I would think so, the differential in lap times across the grid seems bigger than ever, and overtaking is difficult round here which I think is a recipe for crashes.

I expect Hamilton to come out all guns blazing, and we know what happened last time. ..

[hairyben]

F.S.

Better happening in qually than the race though I guess, but sort it out merc it's getting tiring.

[Mark-C]

Perez has done a very good job

[deadslow]

hairyben said:

F.S.

Better happening in qually than the race though I guess, but sort it out merc it's getting tiring.

makes for a good race though ...

[Jasandjules]

Yup tomorrow Lewis is going to have some fun trying to carve his way back up the grid. And with a one stopped it will have to be done on the brakes...

Lewis is not having much reliability currently. But it is possible Nico will have issues later in the season. It isn't over until it is mathematically impossible.

I doubt Nico will be in the lead by turn 3.....

Should be fun all round really, Vettel will also have some overtakes to contend with.

[glazbagun]

The Ferrari's seemed to be needing an extra warm up lap in qualifying, so they might not be much of a threat to Nico in Lap 1 and certainly won't be afterwards. Bottas could be if he gets a start like Bahrain, but over the course of the race I don't think the Williams will see which way Nico went. Hamilton on a soft two stop strategy may be the only thing that can stop Nico, barring mechanical failures.

[Dr Z]

Jasandjules said:

I doubt Nico will be in the lead by turn 3.....

This is what I'm hoping for tomorrow. I'm going for Bottas leading the race by turn 3. It's the best chance of an interesting race I think, as his race sims have been the closest to Mercedes in the practice sessions.

[VolvoT5]

The Ferrari engine upgrade hasn't done much good has it? Still a long way behind Merc.

I'm disappointed with Raikkonen..... his first 3 qualifyings this year were pretty decent but he never should have been beaten by Bottas today. Half a second+ down on Vettel.

It should be interesting to see how quickly Hamilton and Vettel can get through the pack tomorrow.... but assuming no reliability issues Rosberg should just cruise to victory again.

[deadslow]

VolvoT5 said:

The Ferrari engine upgrade hasn't done much good has it? Still a long way behind Merc.

I get the feeling the Mercs haven't yet really run flat out, so are able to be turned up to cope with others' improvements.

[VolvoT5]

deadslow said:

I get the feeling the Mercs haven't yet really run flat out, so are able to be turned up to cope with others' improvements.

I agree. Certainly Rosberg could have gone even faster today as well, but he made an error on his final run. I wouldn't be surprised if their true pace advantage here is over a second a lap.

The best hope of a race is if Bottas and Raikkonen can leapfrog Rosberg at the start. But even then I think it is delaying the inevitable.

[Mastodon2]

This is a right damp squib on the calendar, the track if dull and Sochi looks like a right dump - people go on holiday there?

[57powell]

https://twitter.com/adamcooperF1/status/7264504364...

Just going from bad to worse for Hamilton! Also he'll be getting penalties towards the end of the year if he keeps going through engines at this rate... What a crying shame...

[rscott]

Thought the McLarens did a pretty good job today - 12 and 14, only a few 10ths off Q1.
And at a circuit which seems to favour those with plenty of grunt too, given the relative pace of the Force India and Red Bulls.

[Otispunkmeyer]

Just watching Ted and his note book. Christ on a bike what a buffoon.

[jbudgie]

Mastodon2 said:

This is a right damp squib on the calendar, the track if dull and Sochi looks like a right dump - people go on holiday there?

Russian gangsters ?