The Official 2017 Austrian Grand Prix Thread **Spoilers**

[ZX10R NIN]

This is a track that really suits the Mercedes & now we all know how much Mercedes can turn their engines up in qualifying expect a Mercedes 1-2 Seb 3rd with Max 4th in qualifying, same for the race (retirements/crashes excluded) with maybe Kimi taking 4th due to Ferrari's race pace.

[Dr Z]

ZX10R NIN said:

This is a track that really suits the Mercedes & now we all know how much Mercedes can turn their engines up in qualifying expect a Mercedes 1-2 Seb 3rd with Max 4th in qualifying, same for the race (retirements/crashes excluded) with maybe Kimi taking 4th due to Ferrari's race pace.

I'll stick my neck out and put some predictions for the top 3 teams in a dry qualifying;

A Mercedes on pole, between 1:03.9xx - 1:04.1xx

Ferrari anywhere between 1.04.2xx - 1.04.5xx

RBR should be around 1:04.6xx - 1:04.9xx

Almost certain that the V10 era lap record will be broken this year, as fastest race lap of last year was only a tenth off.

glazbagun said:

ash73 said:

Honda have an engine upgrade for this race according to SkySports.

I can hardly wait.

Is this the point where Alonso said he wanted victories or he was going to walk? It better be an absolute monster three years in the making!

I believe it was after the summer break, by Spa? McLaren with the PU upgrade, best case scenario is 1.5s off pole here in Austria, if I've done my sums right!

I hope all teams (especially McLaren) beat the above numbers.

Hoping that McLaren make the jump to regular Q3 contenders and more importantly get a healthy increase in race pace.

[thainy77]

This afternoons press conference could be interesting. I hope they don't stick to a script!

[cuprabob]

thainy77 said:

This afternoons press conference could be interesting. I hope they don't stick to a script!

It will be an anticlimax...

[thainy77]

cuprabob said:

It will be an anticlimax...

With a bit of luck the chairs will be on wheels and they can re-enact the hospital scene from Days of Thunder.

[ZX10R NIN]

thainy77 said:

cuprabob said:

It will be an anticlimax...

With a bit of luck the chairs will be on wheels and they can re-enact the hospital scene from Days of Thunder.

now that would be properly funny & much more interesting than what it'll actually be.

[cuprabob]

thainy77 said:

cuprabob said:

It will be an anticlimax...

With a bit of luck the chairs will be on wheels and they can re-enact the hospital scene from Days of Thunder.

Brilliant

[thegreenhell]

Dr Z said:

glazbagun said:

ash73 said:

Honda have an engine upgrade for this race according to SkySports.

I can hardly wait.

Is this the point where Alonso said he wanted victories or he was going to walk? It better be an absolute monster three years in the making!

I believe it was after the summer break, by Spa? McLaren with the PU upgrade, best case scenario is 1.5s off pole here in Austria, if I've done my sums right!

I hope all teams (especially McLaren) beat the above numbers.

Hoping that McLaren make the jump to regular Q3 contenders and more importantly get a healthy increase in race pace.

"I am looking forward to seeing our performance," said Honda F1 boss Yusuke Hasegawa.

But Spaniard Alonso is not optimistic.

At an FIA event in Vienna, he is quoted by EFE news agency: "I think the engine is good for the team to do a press release, but it is practically the same.

"Any upgrade is welcome, but there is no change with the new engine. We already tried it in Baku practice, but we were last and second to last," Alonso added.

So asked what is expecting from the 'spec 3' Honda in Austria, he answered bluntly: "Nothing."

http://www.grandprix.com/ns/ns36831.html

[suffolk009]

Kimi to win it. I'm goimng to predict that all season long. Hopefully at least once I'll be correct.

What I want to know is where will Alonso be next year?
Where will Palmer be next race?
Will the new Honda get McLaren up the field?
What's happening to Sainz's career?

[ZX10R NIN]

I think there's a good shout for Mclaren going for the Alfa engine option after Baku, because Mercedes showed how much they're holding in hand over the customer teams, now I'm not saying Ferrari will give Mclaren all the goodies but they will be closer than the customer Mercedes units, or they could be bold & go for the Cosworth unit with their own hybrid mated to it.

Back to this weekend I don't see them getting out of Q2.

[thegreenhell]

ZX10R NIN said:

or they could be bold & go for the Cosworth unit with their own hybrid mated to it.

What Cosworth unit is that?

[Crafty_]

McLaren will stay with Honda I reckon.

Saw Cosworth mentioned above - in 2013/2014 they presented a plan for an F1 engine that was compliant with the rules (MGU-K & H, V6, 1.6 litre blah blah blah) but it wasn't a finished engine, basically they had a concept/plan/design that could be taken further, pending funding. I would be very surprised if they could get an engine together for next year.

Alfa don't have an engine, yes they could re-badge the Ferrari as Alfa but it won't make it in to the back of the car this year. I can't see Ferrari giving their engine away either.


Anyway, component use thus far:

[Vaud]

suffolk009 said:

Kimi to win it. I'm goimng to predict that all season long. Hopefully at least once I'll be correct.

What I want to know is where will Alonso be next year?
Where will Palmer be next race?
Will the new Honda get McLaren up the field?
What's happening to Sainz's career?

I suspect your points 1,2 and 5 are closely linked.

[Crafty_]

Ref Sainz - he says he wants a RBR seat or he will go elsewhere http://www.autosport.com/news/report.php/id/130581

Renault is a good option for him IMHO.

Ferrari & engine chief split: https://www.motorsport.com/f1/news/f1-ferrari-part...
Sauber hire ex Merc man and ex Manor designer: https://www.motorsport.com/f1/news/f1-news-sauber-...
Williams have a big update in Austria: https://www.motorsport.com/f1/news/f1-williams-upd...
FIA decide to add a corner to the circuit: https://www.motorsport.com/f1/news/f1-austria-corn...

Edited by Crafty_ on Thursday 6th July 20:28

[Dr Z]

FP1:



That's some crazy pace from Hamilton. He did that time on the Softs, I think?!

Still on course to do a 1:03.9 in Q3. Or may be more?

[geeks]

Whats the pace difference between the tyres here like?

[thegreenhell]

Decent performance from McLaren there, but it looks like they only used the Ultrasoft, where others around them used Soft and Supersoft to set their times.

[Dr Z]

geeks said:

Whats the pace difference between the tyres here like?

It varies with different teams but generally it's a bigger step from Soft to Super Soft than Super Soft to Ultra Soft; I reckon S->SS is about 1-1.2s and SS->US about 0.5-0.8s in qualifying pace.

Edited by Dr Z on Friday 7th July 12:37

[suffolk009]

I missed the session. Is there some reason for McLaren's high placing? Is it squidgy soft tyres or perhaps (whisper it) the new engine upgrade works?

[Byker28i]

Red Bulls look good, caught Ferrari? Now is that with the removal of the extra oil tank, the firing of the engine boss...