European GP 2010 - Valencia

[PNSD]

I dont think them running their f-duct will make much of a difference tbh. It hasnt been too helpful for Ferrari imo.

Race again should be very close between Mclaren, Ferrari and RedBull! With Renault and Mercedes maybe joining in too. Valencia has all the ingredients to be good but the track doesnt lend itself to an exciting race but we will see.

I predict a 3rd Lewis win in a row with 2nd/3rd/4th/5th/6th being anyones guess.

[gibells]

Well it's all about the tyres really. Canada became an interesting race because the tyres made such a huge difference.

IIRC wasn't Canada the first race Bridgestone said they could bring the softer tyres as requested by the teams/FOM (not sure)? Reason being they had manufactured all the tyres up to Canada.

If correct it will hopefully be the beginning of more crazy tyre strategies.

As I said last year when we were debating the merits of no refueling, we want crappy tyres. Crappy means happy. It improves the spectacle and turns more attention towards tyre management and massively opens up variance in strategies.

[JohnsonsEvilTwin]

A few things:

Firstly Red Bull dont anticipate to be as competitive here as at other tracks due to the twisty nature of Valencia. There are no "high" or "medium-high" speed corners for the RB6 to stretch its legs.

Secondly, Ferrari are due to unveil a massive upgrade for this circuit. Its well rumoured to be a low exhaust that exits near the diffuser. The engineers at Maranello are apprently "stunned" at the performance jump. 0.5 seconds is the estimated improvement!
However the problem for Ferrari is the same as that for Red Bull, the improvement is designed to work in high and medium speed corners. So Alonso has admitted they dont expect to be front runners due to this specific upgrade, but are hopeful of another podium.

This leaves Mclaren, who I feel will have the best package to win due to their high top speed and decent Mechanical grip.

Mercedes will be slightly more competitive as they have very good mechanical grip but will need to resolve their tyre wear problems if they to challenge in the dry.

[Donuts]

"For sure" Canada was an interesting race beacuse of the changing tarmac. I don't think you can judge the standings from this race. Strategy was the key factor and I was very surpised that it did'nt play in the hands of Renault and Red Bull. If Renault and Red Bull would have choosen the option tyres for qualifying the situation would have been different. Renault has much more to show for itself in the last two races, then the result has shown. RK had fourth fastest time on option tyres in Q2. For Valencia and Silverstone there will be two significant upgrades. I think that P3-P5 is realistic, even P1-P2 on some circuits. I really hope that they can start challenging now, at the middle of the season... for Robert Kubica deserves it after beeing let down by BMW-Sauber F1 in 2008!

[Blackout]

Renault has much more to show for itself in the last two races, then the result has shown.

+1

[richard_leeds]

Well it's all about the tyres really. Canada became an interesting race because the tyres made such a huge difference.

IIRC wasn't Canada the first race Bridgestone said they could bring the softer tyres as requested by the teams/FOM (not sure)? Reason being they had manufactured all the tyres up to Canada.

If correct it will hopefully be the beginning of more crazy tyre strategies.

The BBC post race coverage had a discussion with one of the technical people from Bridgestone. he named three tracks as being very hard to predict for tyre wear with variable performance. They were Montreal, Hockenheim... and err... sorry!

He mentioned Hockenheim a lot, looks like we'll see a repeat of Montreal there. The third track was only mentioned once as an aside.

He did admit that racing is better with a shorter lifespan for the tyres, but the Bridgestone image is based on high performance over a long life. I hope the deal with the new supplier specifies a performance drop off that leads to an optimum 2 or 3 stop strategy.

[JohnsonsEvilTwin]

Renault has much more to show for itself in the last two races, then the result has shown.

+1

Still slower than Mercedes.

[Blackout]

In Istanbul and Montreal it wasn't slower... same thing in Melbourne and Bahrain.

In Barcelona, Kubica was as fast as Schumacher despite Sutil being in front of him and a broken front wing...) In Montreal, after 3 stops and 2 very damaged endplates, Kubica ended at 1 second behind rosberg (who stopped only 2 times)

The only gp where the Wo1 was really faster than the R30, is Shanghai.

Only the better qulifiying speed and the luck helped Mercedes to keep Renault 'behind'.

[JohnsonsEvilTwin]

Look at the points table, odd exceptions dont make for the medium average.

Mercedes were quicker than Ferrari at Turkey, doesnt make them quicker overall does it.
Renault are still behine Mercedes and Rosberg proved it.

[JohnsonsEvilTwin]

[-X

In Istanbul and Montreal it wasn't slower... same thing in Melbourne and Bahrain.

In Barcelona, Kubica was as fast as Schumacher despite Sutil being in front of him and a broken front wing...) In Montreal, after 3 stops and 2 very damaged endplates, Kubica ended at 1 second behind rosberg (who stopped only 2 times)

The only gp where the Wo1 was really faster than the R30, is Shanghai.

Only the better qulifiying speed and the luck helped Mercedes to keep Renault 'behind'.

Seriously, you need to really look at things in a more balanced fashion than to say Mercedes outpacing Renault is all down to "luck".
I had to laugh at it

[Donuts]

[-X

In Istanbul and Montreal it wasn't slower... same thing in Melbourne and Bahrain.

In Barcelona, Kubica was as fast as Schumacher despite Sutil being in front of him and a broken front wing...) In Montreal, after 3 stops and 2 very damaged endplates, Kubica ended at 1 second behind rosberg (who stopped only 2 times)

The only gp where the Wo1 was really faster than the R30, is Shanghai.

Only the better qulifiying speed and the luck helped Mercedes to keep Renault 'behind'.

Seriously, you need to really look at things in a more balanced fashion than to say Mercedes outpacing Renault is all down to "luck".
I had to laugh at it

Really? It's not down to luck, but they sure benefited from Renault's gamble in Montreal. If you look at Turkey, RK was stuck behind NR, he was the only one that had the same pace as the frontrunners. I think Renault has focused to much on race pace(in Turkey and even in Monaco, which I completely don't understand) and now they've realised it. RK had the fourth best time on options in Q2 in Canada. In Q3 he qualified better on the primes than NR did on the options. They are clearly behind Renault and I don't think they'll cause any more trouble(you never know with Ross Brawn) for Renault, especially in Valencia and Budapest.

[JohnsonsEvilTwin]

The standings dont lie and nor does Renaults qualifying. race pace is dixctated as much by tyre wear as abything else nowdays, and Mercedes are very bad at tyre wear. renault are not, this is the difference.

[Blackout]

Mercedes outpacing Renault... only in two laps stints

Normally, I look at things in a balanced way, but when I read fans like you always whining about Mercedes and sometimes belittling the others, I can change my speech...

Luck ? yes Mercedes had luck (in Sepang, Barcelona and Montreal)

Points table ? lol Kubica alone was often ahead of both Mercedes drivers, in the table... Now, he has as much points as Rosbeg and more points than Schumi.
If Renault had Heidfeld or Sutil as a second driver instead of a rookie like Petrov...

[JohnsonsEvilTwin]

Thats right Blame Petrov.

Whining of Mercedes???? Oohhhhhh You mean on Mercedes threads where you post about Renault?
Renault are behind Mercedes get over it.

[Donuts]

Thats right Blame Petrov.

Whining of Mercedes???? Oohhhhhh You mean on Mercedes threads where you post about Renault?
Renault are behind Mercedes get over it.

Sorry, you're just dead wrong! Have'nt you watched any of the races?. Not provoking anyone and this is the Valencia tread. We won't have any more of these discussions, beacuse RK is going to leave NR and MS in the dust!