2017 Russian Grand Prix - Sochi Autodrom, April 28-30

[motobaleno]

You can't be serious, my dear designated F1T troll. Need I remind you that the top 3 qualified within less than 1 tenth off each other? Bottas has been quicker than Hamilton all weekend so far. Also one race does not a championship make. Ferrari need to maximize their opportunities while they can, because it looks like they may take grid penalties at some point while Mercedes has rock solid reliability at the moment.

It seems that things are evolving fast these days:
few weeks ago ferrari was hardly considered the third force way behind RB...
few days ago the "mercedes outright power will prove too much to handle by ferrari"
now mercedes boys have to rely on Ferrari reliability problems...

that sounds really good.

[Chuckjr]

Hats off to Ferrari. They have truly caught and surpassed the Merc. I don't think anyone would have believed that possible in pre season. Their race pace is superb, so if they can start strong tomorrow, they should be able to make it a 1-2. I was shocked to see HAM almost a half second back. Wow. Very unusual for him. Wonder what the issue is? Will be great to see him having to make places in arguably a slower car--esp race pace comp to Ferrari. Should be an exciting race tomorrow.

You gotta believe Fred wishes he was still in that red car.

[Jerrycobra]

nice to see Ferrari edge out Mercedes. I was rooting for Kimi to nab pole, but last sector hurt is overall time. Seeing that Red bull/Renault is around 2 seconds adrift they have a bit to catch up, I wonder how much is due to engine and aero. Now Honda 3.5 seconds behind... welp, lol

[godlameroso]

You can't be serious, my dear designated F1T troll. Need I remind you that the top 3 qualified within less than 1 tenth off each other? Bottas has been quicker than Hamilton all weekend so far. Also one race does not a championship make. Ferrari need to maximize their opportunities while they can, because it looks like they may take grid penalties at some point while Mercedes has rock solid reliability at the moment.

It seems that things are evolving fast these days:
few weeks ago ferrari was hardly considered the third force way behind RB...
few days ago the "mercedes outright power will prove too much to handle by ferrari"
now mercedes boys have to rely on Ferrari reliability problems...

that sounds really good.

Not from me, I've been saying for a while that the Mercedes is too complex for it's own good, but what do I know .

[digitalrurouni]

I must say I didn't see this coming from Ferrari though the FP sessions were quite telling indeed. Hamilton was right! Mercedes was not sandbagging at all! Quite a step up from the Scuderia team which is great to see! Can't wait for the race tomorrow. I predict Vettel wins the race Raikonnen 2nd (barring any mishaps) and Bottas 3rd and Hamilton 4th.

[Juzh]

Ferrari vs merc
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FN71jru5Tyo

[CriXus]

Ferrari vs merc
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FN71jru5Tyo

Vettel went too deep in turn 14 and compromise the entrance into turn 15, that's why he lost around .150 in sector 3.

[Manoah2u]

No more massive power advantage to mask chassis / aero mediocracy.

lol.

[PlatinumZealot]

So true. Sadly i think mecedes will regress back to 2013... They were never really great at a completely rounded chassis there was always a few deficiencies.

[Racer X]

This tracks potential 1 stop strategy could totally be thrown out the window by 1 safety car for some one who just pitted or come at the perfect time. It's so 50/50.


I'm looking forward to THAT alone.

I'm sooo happy for this race. This is going to be so cool. Tire strategies please Racer X.

[George-Jung]

Ferrari vs merc
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FN71jru5Tyo

Vettel went too deep in turn 14 and compromise the entrance into turn 15, that's why he lost around .150 in sector 3.

Correct my friend

[evered7]

Although I want to believe that Ferrari have turned the tables on Mercedes, part of me has the doubt that Mercedes have tuned the car for the race.

Hoping Ferrari have their usual race pace to handle the Mercedes attack.

[ripper]

Bottas was faster than Ferrari in long runs, I remember about 0.3 sec/laps while Hamilton didn't have good pace, so it's possible that Mercedes setup is more race oriented... Of course we don't know fuel loads and mapping.

Kimi was some km/h faster than vettel in every sector in qualify, so it's possible that the two Ferrari have a different setup too.

[ChrisDanger]

[zibby43]

Well, after 4 races Ferrari is the better car officially. Merc seems very confused and if they don't find the way to bounce back it's gonna be over before it starts.
Hamilton's putting one of his worst performance in Q and you can't blame solely the car.Even if it's good tomorrow, it won't be as good as Ferrari.

I really want to congratulate Ferrari.Great work and effort and to see them coming at the top after all this pressure, it surprises me in a good sense.

16 races to go after Russia and 1 new turbocharger left for both Vettel and Raikkonen. That's not ideal.

And no "stockpiling" of power unit elements this year, either.