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

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

Author
Discussion

Dr Z

Original Poster:

3,396 posts

170 months

Tuesday 19th April 2016
quotequote all
Date(s): Friday 29 April - Sunday 01 May 2016

UK Broadcast Timings (and local time)

All sessions are live on Sky F1, with a highlights show of Qualifying and Race broadcast on Channel 4.

Session Day Sky F1 Channel 4 Session Start Local Time
Practice 1 Fri 0745 - 0800 1000
Practice 2 Fri 1145 - 1200 1400
Practice 3 Sat 0945 - 1000 1200
Qualifying Sat 1200 1730 1300 1500
Race Sun 1030 1800 1300 1500


Sochi Autodrom



Number of laps 53
Length of a lap 5.848 km
Race distance 309.745 km
Race lap record 1:40.071 (L51; S. Vettel, 2015; Avg speed: 210.379 km/h)



2015 Grand Prix Results

P1 L. Hamilton Mercedes 1:37:11.024
P2 S. Vettel Ferrari +5.953
P3 S. Perez Force India-Mercedes +28.918
P4 F. Massa Williams-Mercedes +38.831
P5 D. Kvyat Red Bull Racing-Renault +47.566
P6 F. Nasr Sauber-Ferrari +56.508
P7 P. Maldonado Lotus-Mercedes +61.088
P8 K. Räikkönen Ferrari +72.358
P9 J. Button McLaren-Honda +79.467
P10 M. Verstappen Torro Rosso-Renault +88.424



Pole time: 1:37.113 (N. Rosberg, Mercedes; Avg Speed: 216.787 km/h)

Fastest Race Lap: 1:40.071 (L51; S. Vettel, Ferrari; Avg Speed: 210.379 km/h)

Live timing for all sessions available here:

http://www.formula1.com/content/fom-website/en/f1-...

Weather forecast:


http://www.accuweather.com/en/ru/sochi/293687/dail...

Day Comment High/Low
Fri Rather cloudy, a little rain 16/12
Sat Clouds and sunshine 16/12
Sun Clouds giving way to some sun 17/13



The tyre choices requested by the teams:






On to the next one, for a street feeling track. Looking at the tyre choices, the medium is a bit of a waste, or atleast that's what the teams are all thinking. Would have been better for the Ultra Softs to be introduced here, but obviously the venue of Monaco trumps this one. Even with the Soft/Super Soft combination, last year almost all cars did a 1-stop race; and adding to the processional feel was the less overtaking opportunities presented in this circuit. Lots of low speed 90-degree corners, so good traction is key. Should be a (traditional) Williams forte then.

It will be interesting to see how the competitive order pans out, as even Button managed to grab a few points last year in the terminally slow MP4-30. I expect the field to be bunched up even more, if it's possible! Due to the low degradation of the tyres, some flat out stints should be possible too. Last year's race was memorable for Räikkönen's uncharacteristic do-or-die move on his compatriot, leading to Perez snatching back the P3 for Force India after another one of his marathon 41 laps on a set of Softs. Actually, more insane was Alonso doing 40 laps on a set of Super Softs with little or no drop off on lap times.

Hopefully due to the midfield being so close, will give us some good racing and not a procession. Watch out for a new lap record too.

Skipppy

1,135 posts

209 months

Wednesday 20th April 2016
quotequote all
Thanks as always for this info.

eps

6,272 posts

268 months

Wednesday 20th April 2016
quotequote all
Cheers Dr Z!

Is this the first time this season that Hamilton and Rosberg have chosen the same number of each tyre? Hmm....

VladD

7,853 posts

264 months

Wednesday 20th April 2016
quotequote all
Are we going to run a sweepstake on who's going to hit Hamilton in the first corner this time? biggrin

suffolk009

5,344 posts

164 months

Wednesday 20th April 2016
quotequote all
Thanks for the info.

Sweepstakes for the Hamilton wipeout: Rosberg!

I see Berbie's been dribbling on again. I guess there must be some endorsements you really don't want.

Vaud

50,287 posts

154 months

Wednesday 20th April 2016
quotequote all
Dr_Z.. Hats off, you have this opening post for GPs nailed! smile

Jasandjules

69,825 posts

228 months

Wednesday 20th April 2016
quotequote all
Annoyingly I am not going to be able to see FP1 and 2 this time. But looking forward to Quali and the race.

The Moose

22,821 posts

208 months

Wednesday 20th April 2016
quotequote all
Red Bull seem to have a rather racey tyre strategy!

MG CHRIS

9,077 posts

166 months

Wednesday 20th April 2016
quotequote all
Rosberg first vettel 2nd Hamilton 5th after contact with a red bull or Williams.

NM62

952 posts

149 months

Thursday 21st April 2016
quotequote all
Vaud said:
Dr_Z.. Hats off, you have this opening post for GPs nailed! smile
+1 Please keep it up Dr_Z.

eps

6,272 posts

268 months

Thursday 21st April 2016
quotequote all
The Moose said:
Red Bull seem to have a rather racey tyre strategy!
I see it the other way.... They've chosen the same tyres as Haas - either both teams know they are light on their tyres or they both feel they are going to struggle for pace so are looking to the tyres to deliver some quicker lap times... Think they'll struggle.

Rugbyman

1,625 posts

202 months

Thursday 21st April 2016
quotequote all
NM62 said:
Vaud said:
Dr_Z.. Hats off, you have this opening post for GPs nailed! smile
+1 Please keep it up Dr_Z.
Can we keep him as the 'Official next GP OP' ........ ?

Dr Z

Original Poster:

3,396 posts

170 months

Thursday 21st April 2016
quotequote all
Rugbyman said:
NM62 said:
Vaud said:
Dr_Z.. Hats off, you have this opening post for GPs nailed! smile
+1 Please keep it up Dr_Z.
Can we keep him as the 'Official next GP OP' ........ ?
Thank you. smile




Interesting the point about Red Bull being so biased towards the Super Soft. They were doing quite well during last year's race on them, so I suspect their struggles on the Super Soft at China were circuit specific. With no worries with tyre degradation, what you get is what you've got in terms of race pace.

Full throttle is only at 57% of a lap but due to lots of acceleration from low speed, fuel consumption tends towards the higher end (~1.9kg/lap).

Dr Z

Original Poster:

3,396 posts

170 months

Thursday 21st April 2016
quotequote all
I went back to the race pace data from last year. Mercedes won their WCC at this race, and Hamilton's first stint on the super soft was on average ~1s per lap quicker than Vettel, who in turn was another second a lap quicker than Kvyat. The race was pretty much won from there.

VladD

7,853 posts

264 months

Friday 22nd April 2016
quotequote all
It'll be interesting to see Lewis' mentality this weekend. He needs a win for two reasons, to close the gap to Nico and to try and break Nico's run of victories. I wonder if the pressure will make him push harder in Quali and lead to a few errors or if he's still calm.

I thought Nico's interview at the end of the last race was very telling. They told him something along the lines of "every driver that has won the first three races of the season has gone on to be WDC". He simply replied "those people didn't have Lewis Hamilton as a team mate".

Mr_Thyroid

1,995 posts

226 months

Friday 22nd April 2016
quotequote all
Yes, an interesting line that one. The pundits will come back to it at the end of the season with 20:20 hindsight and say either:

-Nico never really had the self belief to win the championship and even with a large margin felt pressure from his team mate.
-this candid comment reveals Nico's self belief and supremely relaxed attitude.

oyster

12,577 posts

247 months

Monday 25th April 2016
quotequote all
VladD said:
It'll be interesting to see Lewis' mentality this weekend. He needs a win for two reasons, to close the gap to Nico and to try and break Nico's run of victories. I wonder if the pressure will make him push harder in Quali and lead to a few errors or if he's still calm.

I thought Nico's interview at the end of the last race was very telling. They told him something along the lines of "every driver that has won the first three races of the season has gone on to be WDC". He simply replied "those people didn't have Lewis Hamilton as a team mate".
Telling in what way?

I heard that line and thought that it was both very respectful and apt. If you look at many of those drivers to win the first 3 races then their team mate was regarded as the much less able driver.

deadslow

7,960 posts

222 months

Monday 25th April 2016
quotequote all
VladD said:
He simply replied "those people didn't have Lewis Hamilton as a team mate".
a good comment, I thought. Refreshingly honest assessment of the task in hand. LH will be hard to beat over a season. If NR pulls it off, it will be a major achievement.

Adam Ansel

695 posts

105 months

Monday 25th April 2016
quotequote all
This is 4/21.
If Lewis does not outscore Rosberg here surely he will begin to think that it is not to be?

Dr Z

Original Poster:

3,396 posts

170 months

Monday 25th April 2016
quotequote all
Adam Ansel said:
This is 4/21.
If Lewis does not outscore Rosberg here surely he will begin to think that it is not to be?
Whilst a racer never truly gives up this early, the next few races are all happy hunting grounds for Rosberg. He's very strong in Barcelona and won very convincingly last year. The race after that is Monaco, which he was gifted last year but he's a 3-time winner now. At the Sochi race last year, he comfortably out-qualified Hamilton and was leading the race when his throttle pedal got stuck and retired after the safety car. He's coming in on a high this year. I think it will take a pretty special performance from Hamilton to turn it around. If Rosberg can win this one and the next two, then he'll put himself in a very strong position.

All depends on how much of a challenge Ferrari are in these races. Ferrari are talking about bringing forward a PU upgrade for this race, as they'd really like to get their championship challenge off the ground. It will be an interesting one this race.