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

[MitchT]

Well, that in the background looked tidy

[London424]

HustleRussell said:

London424 said:

g4ry13 said:

Hamilton looking rather unhappy.

How on earth can you tell? He's in the car or on the weigh scales with a helmet on?!

Exactly. Normally a pretty clear indicator.

Hamilton distracted and out of sorts today.

That doesn't even make sense.

[ajprice]

Tomorrow is going to be interesting. Mercedes have got other cars as fast or faster than them now, they have to sort strategy against both Ferrari cars, not within the team like with Lewis and Nicole. That didn't work out too well for them in the last race.

[Cold]

Crafty_ said:

If Lewis wants a podium he'll have to pass Bottas on track

Some might suggest that's just a radio call away.

[HustleRussell]

London424 said:

HustleRussell said:

London424 said:

g4ry13 said:

Hamilton looking rather unhappy.

How on earth can you tell? He's in the car or on the weigh scales with a helmet on?!

Exactly. Normally a pretty clear indicator.

Hamilton distracted and out of sorts today.

That doesn't even make sense.

It doesn't make sense to you.

[FourWheelDrift]

Going by the long run graph earlier I wonder if Mercedes have sacrificed qualifying for better race pace, jumping the Ferraris at the pit stops or even doing 1 stop less?

[Smollet]

ELUSIVEJIM said:

Quickmoose said:

I hope tomorrow off the grid we get to see something special.
Mercedes forced to race in dirty air
Bottas a chance to rise
Hamilton to enjoy a REAL challenge.
Raikonnen to re-discover his mojo
Vettel to keep the championship right on the boil.

Don't care who wins, just want to see wheel to wheel goodness...

Exactly

Agreed.

[Otispunkmeyer]

HustleRussell said:

Bloody hell- the fastest Red Bull in 5th 1.7 seconds off pole and 1.1 seconds behind Hamilton in 4th.

And yet the FIA reckon and are happy that Mercedes, Ferrari and Renault engines are now pretty much at parity (all within 0.3 seconds of each other). Not sure how they've worked that out mind, only they have all the data. But either red bull have made a turkey or the FIA got their numbers mixed up.

[London424]

FourWheelDrift said:

Going by the long run graph earlier I wonder if Mercedes have sacrificed qualifying for better race pace, jumping the Ferraris at the pit stops or even doing 1 stop less?

It's only a 1 stop race so the second part won't work. They can try an undercut but the slower compound tyres are at least second slower so will be tough to pull off unless they can work around any traffic.

[Dr Z]

FourWheelDrift said:

Going by the long run graph earlier I wonder if Mercedes have sacrificed qualifying for better race pace, jumping the Ferraris at the pit stops or even doing 1 stop less?

This is why I wasn't confident in predicting a Ferrari to be quicker than the Merc, but there's not a lot options with strategy at this track, so if anything you wouldn't want your car to be too biased at looking after the tyres and trying for better pace over a stint.

It would be easy for a car that can extract a much faster one-lap pace and switch on the tyres that much more quickly, to build a gap in the 1st stint and use that as a buffer against an undercut, and realistically there's only one chance for an undercut here...bearing in mind that the undercut is only effective, if you can actually switch on the tyres quickly and there is a lot of degradation for cars running on old tyres, none of which is true for Merc/this track/Ferrari.

Plus, the tyres seem to just go on for a long while that if you don't have the pace to really push the Ferrari in the 1st stint, the Ferraris could just build that 4-5 second gap and then start to control the pace until Merc try for an undercut or start to get faster. These tyres are good in that, even after pushing so heavily on them for several laps in the long run, Vettel was able to get them back after a slower lap so I think it would be easier to look after them and mirror Merc.

Either way, it appears to me as if Merc have chased their tail somewhat here. Certainly, has made this race very interesting. I think Merc have a better chance if one of their drivers jump the Ferraris at the start.

[sparta6]

Cold said:

Some might suggest that's just a radio call away.

Lewis has No.1 team status ?

He's not even the current WDC

[ZX10R NIN]

I was surprised by this I had this down as a Mercedes track, my prediction looks like a long shot now.

[LDN]

ZX10R NIN said:

I was surprised by this I had this down as a Mercedes track, my prediction looks like a long shot now.

The paddock have all been saying how great the Ferrari looks: Ricciardo said there was no doubt the superior car now.

[Hungrymc]

LDN said:

The paddock have all been saying how great the Ferrari looks: Ricciardo said there was no doubt the superior car now.

There looks to be a stark difference in some of the tighter corners in the last sector. The Ferraris look so much more composed than the Mercs which just look messy (understeering and snapping into oversteer sometimes, oversteering on turn in other times). I know which car I'd rather be in tomorrow.

[Sylvaforever]

London424 said:

FourWheelDrift said:

Going by the long run graph earlier I wonder if Mercedes have sacrificed qualifying for better race pace, jumping the Ferraris at the pit stops or even doing 1 stop less?

It's only a 1 stop race so the second part won't work. They can try an undercut but the slower compound tyres are at least second slower so will be tough to pull off unless they can work around any traffic.

Where does it say it's a one stop race?

[Matt_N]

Hungrymc said:

There looks to be a stark difference in some of the tighter corners in the last sector. The Ferraris look so much more composed than the Mercs which just look messy (understeering and snapping into oversteer sometimes, oversteering on turn in other times). I know which car I'd rather be in tomorrow.

Wheel base of the Merc, some ~20cm longer than the Ferrari having an effect?

Karun seemed to have that opinion.

[suffolk009]

^^^ I'm not sure it's the wheelbase - more likely Merc (and RB) are slower now because they've had to take their trick suspension off the car.

[London424]

Sylvaforever said:

London424 said:

FourWheelDrift said:

Going by the long run graph earlier I wonder if Mercedes have sacrificed qualifying for better race pace, jumping the Ferraris at the pit stops or even doing 1 stop less?

It's only a 1 stop race so the second part won't work. They can try an undercut but the slower compound tyres are at least second slower so will be tough to pull off unless they can work around any traffic.

Where does it say it's a one stop race?

Any car that plans on winning this race is stopping once...it's not like I'm saying anything controversial there.

[Hungrymc]

Matt_N said:

Wheel base of the Merc, some ~20cm longer than the Ferrari having an effect?

Karun seemed to have that opinion.

Could well be, they seemed ok pace wise until the last sector. The wheelbase has to have some effect (better stability but less agile in low speed rapid direction changes?)

Suspension changes were pre season weren't they?

[ZX10R NIN]

London424 said:

Sylvaforever said:

London424 said:

FourWheelDrift said:

Going by the long run graph earlier I wonder if Mercedes have sacrificed qualifying for better race pace, jumping the Ferraris at the pit stops or even doing 1 stop less?

It's only a 1 stop race so the second part won't work. They can try an undercut but the slower compound tyres are at least second slower so will be tough to pull off unless they can work around any traffic.

Where does it say it's a one stop race?

Any car that plans on winning this race is stopping once...it's not like I'm saying anything controversial there.

True everyone is going for a one stop am I right in thinking that Seb is starting on the Supersoft tyres?