2018 Australian Grand Prix - Melbourne, 22 -25 March

[NathanOlder]

As mentioned elsewhere. Hamilton won a couple of races last year due to the VSC and when it comes to the Sky sports team they are so biased towards Hamilton it isn't funny. I had to switch to a free to air channel with ads just to shut their whinging up after the VSC.

What races did that happen last year, My mind has gone totally blank.

Thanks in advance.

[WaikeCU]

I still think Merc have the upper hand with their car (with Lewis behind it). It's because of the nature of this track that an overtake seems pretty impossible with these speeds carrying in and out of corners and with the turbulent air. Why Merc still have the upper hand? Because Lewis was setting fastest lap after fastest lap with tires that were older than Seb's. Even when Lewis made a little mistake, which opened the gap to 2.5sec, Lewis managed to close it back down, but then probably had to give up the hunt because of cooling issues that were mentioned.

To me at the moment, it's just another repeat of last year tbh. I hope I'm wrong.

[Sieper]

I think last year the Ferrari challenge was more real, certainly in the beginning of the season.

[carisi2k]

As mentioned elsewhere. Hamilton won a couple of races last year due to the VSC and when it comes to the Sky sports team they are so biased towards Hamilton it isn't funny. I had to switch to a free to air channel with ads just to shut their whinging up after the VSC.

What races did that happen last year, My mind has gone totally blank.

Thanks in advance.

China was mentioned

[Sieper]

Though I agree that at the same time, everyone knew that a VSC could happen and should have had it in mind when strategizing. So credit to Ferrari for the win. Hamilton could have stayed out longer to avoid the chance of being caught out by a VSC but Mercedes choose the wrong strategy this time. Part luck, part mistake, imo.

Lewis could not have stayed out more than a lap or 2 that Kimi, it wasn't a mistake to pit when he did, Ferrari forced Lewis to pit, and that would only work out good for ferrari if the VSC had been applied which must be very very unlikely at that exact lime in the race.

If Lewis stayed out, how long would you stay out ? remembering his tyres were getting worse and nearing the end of their life while Kimi was out on brand new rubber. So to cover Vettel and a VSC you have to stay out as long as Vettel, and all the time Kimi is 3rd circulating faster, Ferrari can then leave Vettel out and if Merc went with your tactics, they would leave Lewis out.

The VSC coming out in those 6-7 laps after Lewis pits are probably (at a guess) 100/1 chance. 3/1 to happen in a street race at any time, and then to happen in the right 10% of the race takes the chances way out to 100/1 (all guess work)

So if that didnt happen (which is more likely than it is to actually happen like today) Merc had the perfect strategy. Gap the 2nd place car by about 3-5 seconds, maintain the gao, wait for 2nd place to pit, pit the following lap, maintain the lead after all have pitted and win the race while driving as slow as possible. This also goes to some of the people here saying Hamilton couldn't even pull a big gap to Kimi. In todays F1 its very rare for the leader to pull out a massive gap, So why would today have been any different. Plus its not like Kimi was driving slowly, Seb even said after the race he couldn't keep up with the front 2.

As for the Crofty/Brundle comments on being faster to drive through the pit lane, Someone needs to explain that to me, as last I checked the pit lane speed limit is way slower than the VSC average speed ?!

I think they were thinking about the pit lane entry (the few hundreds meters after exitting the track and before entering the pit lane itself) maybe there Vettel could give it Some gas taking the exact second or two extra he needed? Otherwise Yes, they were unlucky with this exact moment of VSC. Max had the same with Fernando, even closer. Point one of a second apparently.

[search]

yeah, I didn't double check the rules, but I guess you can pretty much go full out on pit entrance and still hit the delta as you're slow enough on pit lane anyway

[NathanOlder]

As mentioned elsewhere. Hamilton won a couple of races last year due to the VSC and when it comes to the Sky sports team they are so biased towards Hamilton it isn't funny. I had to switch to a free to air channel with ads just to shut their whinging up after the VSC.

What races did that happen last year, My mind has gone totally blank.

Thanks in advance.

China was mentioned

Hamilton won in China because the VSC ........ Erm..... No.

The guy who stuck it on pole, got away at the front and didnt pit under the VSC won the race due to the VSC.

It started wet, and was drying. Vettel pitted under VSC as a gamble. Giovinazzi smashed it in the wall and the SC came out. Who ever didnt pit before , now was able to pit and Lewis walked away from the rest and won comfortably.

Any your saying Lewis won because of VRS helping him like today with Vettel in Melbourne

[RZS10]

There's just one thing that made me think - both Haas cars had a similar issue ...

One driver, Magnussen, drove it to a place where it could be recovered safely with a simple double yellow (after the second DRS zone, corners 3/4).

The other driver, Grosjean, decided to just park it on the grass so poorly that the marshalls were unable to move the car into what looked like one of those emergency exits (was it a dedicated one though? aren't those marked somehow?) and had to get a crane which resulted in the (V)SC

I personally believe the first 'solution' was clearly the safer one since the cars have the improved/additional safety bolts/retainers on the nuts which are supposed to keep the wheel on the car, the latter way of doing things firstly was more dangerous for the marshalls who struggled to recover the car and secondly it had a major influence on the race ...

What's the exact wording on the rules regarding the unsafe release with a loose nut and what are the drivers supposed to do? Stop immediately? Bring it to a marshall post?

Or asking a different question: who acted correctly, Magnussen or Grosjean?

[bonjon1979]

Crazy to think this was deliberate today, safety cars, virtual and otherwise have gifted wins loads over for the years. That’s racing. Merc clearly was the quickest but that’s the way it goes sometimes.

[Brenton]

In Post Race on Sky, Toto was saying that it was a software glitch. But in the interview, I'm still not understanding what the problem was. What does the pit window estimation error have to do with the fact that he lost the lead? I don't understand how knowing that they were going to lose the lead vs not knowing they were going to lose the lead was relevant ???

Is he saying that Hamilton drove slower than he could have, because he thought he was safe in the pit window? That doesn't make sense because why would LH drive slower than he's allowed to under a VSC when it's going to cost him time even if he keeps the lead?

Is he saying that their software miscalculation caused them to pit earlier than they should have, because they pitted thinking that they had enough of a gap to still get the lead back if Vettel pitted under a VSC?

Thank you to anyone who can answer this. ***Edit:*** Watching Sky Post-Race, Toto said that LH could have gone faster in the racing laps after pitting, but didn't because they thought he was safe from the VSC pitting window with Vettel. So instead LH drove slower, to conserve the tires for later in the race. Ted seemed to be looking at the VSC laps and thought that LH could have alternatively found the necessary 2 seconds to beat Vettel during the VSC period, but I'm not certain if that's what he was saying.

Or asking a different question: who acted correctly, Magnussen or Grosjean?

Interesting post. It seems like there is no incentive for drivers to park their car in a location that is safe and convenient for both the marshalls and the competition. I believe Austria 2017 qualy was messed up because of a driver unnecessarily parking in an unsafe place due to a mechanical. I wish that there was an automatic penalty for causing a safety car or VSC or a double yellow, to the team. Like a fine... first offense is X euros, second offense 2*X euros, for example. Nothing enormous to add salt into wound for a poor team struggling with reliability, but enough of a penalty to get their drivers into behaving in a safe manner.

They also have no incentive to act in a manner that is safe for themselves. He got out of the car, just stood there while F1 cars are going by at high speed. He should be running behind the fencing.

[DiogoBrand]

I read this on youtube and had to share it:

How ironic it is that the american team had an issue with their gun?

[Dazed1]

I read this on youtube and had to share it:

How ironic it is that the american team had an issue with their gun?

Mixed emoti(c)ons

[johnny comelately]

I read this on youtube and had to share it:

How ironic it is that the american team had an issue with their gun?

that is so funny

[Brenton]

What did you all think about Ricciardo having the fastest lap, even with LH and SV battling near the end of the race putting in fast times? Great sign for Red Bull or not significant?

johnny come lately, if something is going to happen twice, you'd expect it most likely to happen to the same team twice in short succession. It's common for the same issue to impact both cars on an F1 team when an issue happens. And this would have been such a huge result for Haas. I'd be more inclined to consider conspiracy if they were running outside the top 15. But there was so much to lose by trying to sabotage themselves on hopes of getting Vettel a 14 point swing. I'm more skeptical of the fact that Haas had the third row than anything... where did they get such a fast car, on their budget??? Incredible.

The VSC coming out in those 6-7 laps after Lewis pits are probably (at a guess) 100/1 chance. 3/1 to happen in a street race at any time, and then to happen in the right 10% of the race takes the chances way out to 100/1 (all guess work)

Good points, though isn't the chance of a SC / VSC significantly higher than 50% for the race distance? On average one per race in recent years I thought, at least for street courses like Melbourne. If that's the case then there's a 10% chance of it happening during a 6 lap window, rather than 1%. I tried searching a few F1 statistics sites but haven't found a summary on SC /VSCs. I think the risk was small but significant.

Question about the tires. Was new tires significantly advantageous in laptime? Is there a website that has data on the laptime for each lap for each driver ?

[johnny comelately]

What did you all think about Ricciardo having the fastest lap, even with LH and SV battling near the end of the race putting in fast times? Great sign for Red Bull or not significant?

johnny come lately, if something is going to happen twice, you'd expect it most likely to happen to the same team twice in short succession. It's common for the same issue to impact both cars on an F1 team when an issue happens. And this would have been such a huge result for Haas. I'd be more inclined to consider conspiracy if they were running outside the top 15. But there was so much to lose by trying to sabotage themselves on hopes of getting Vettel a 14 point swing. I'm more skeptical of the fact that Haas had the third row than anything... where did they get such a fast car, on their budget??? Incredible.

The VSC coming out in those 6-7 laps after Lewis pits are probably (at a guess) 100/1 chance. 3/1 to happen in a street race at any time, and then to happen in the right 10% of the race takes the chances way out to 100/1 (all guess work)

Good points, though isn't the chance of a SC / VSC significantly higher than 50% for the race distance? On average one per race in recent years I thought, at least for street courses like Melbourne. If that's the case then there's a 10% chance of it happening during a 6 lap window, rather than 1%. I tried searching a few F1 statistics sites but haven't found a summary on SC /VSCs. I think the risk was small but significant.

Question about the tires. Was new tires significantly advantageous in laptime? Is there a website that has data on the laptime for each lap for each driver ?

Gday Brenton,
your first line in the reply to me saying " if something is going to happen twice," is the critical point, with the systems checking of those teams, virtually impossible. anyway i am a believer in mark twain "lies, damn lies and statistics"