2018 Austrian Grand Prix, Spielberg, 29 June - 1 July

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dans79
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Re: 2018 Austrian Grand Prix, Spielberg, 29 June - 1 July

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GPR-A wrote:
25 Jun 2018, 14:10
atanatizante wrote:
25 Jun 2018, 13:59
At the press conference after the race in France, Lewis said they should put emphasis on the qualy position here in Austria, cos it`ll be very, very hard to overtake even they will introduce a 3rd DRS zone (that`s my presumption).
In addition, he predicts that RB should be very fast around this circuit. Nothing about Ferrari, though it`s always in his mind, y`know ... so more compromised setup towards qualy it`s the key for victory, isn`t it?
I think the quali Vs race setup is myth I guess. What I really think is, Mercedes has traditionally preferred harder of the available compounds. They seems to now working towards basing the car for the softest compound available, which they did in France. They have done more or less similar for Austria too. They have to aggressively move the balance of the car to US, which should hold them into good stead for the quali. They have not complained about degradation problem in the races this whole season and even if there should be a compromise by favoring US, then it should be worth it.

So, I guess, if they focus on US, then good chances of pole.
The only complaints I can remember so far this season have been about balance on the softest compounds.
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GPR-A duplicate2
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Re: 2018 Austrian Grand Prix, Spielberg, 29 June - 1 July

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dans79 wrote:
25 Jun 2018, 14:14
GPR-A wrote:
25 Jun 2018, 14:10
atanatizante wrote:
25 Jun 2018, 13:59
At the press conference after the race in France, Lewis said they should put emphasis on the qualy position here in Austria, cos it`ll be very, very hard to overtake even they will introduce a 3rd DRS zone (that`s my presumption).
In addition, he predicts that RB should be very fast around this circuit. Nothing about Ferrari, though it`s always in his mind, y`know ... so more compromised setup towards qualy it`s the key for victory, isn`t it?
I think the quali Vs race setup is myth I guess. What I really think is, Mercedes has traditionally preferred harder of the available compounds. They seems to now working towards basing the car for the softest compound available, which they did in France. They have done more or less similar for Austria too. They have to aggressively move the balance of the car to US, which should hold them into good stead for the quali. They have not complained about degradation problem in the races this whole season and even if there should be a compromise by favoring US, then it should be worth it.

So, I guess, if they focus on US, then good chances of pole.
The only complaints I can remember so far this season have been about balance on the softest compounds.
I said this somewhere else too. They came to Winter testing and kept banging in laps on Soft tyres and did least work on US and HS tyres. So, their car is inherently liking the harder compounds as probably a result of vehicle kinematics designed for those tyres, not because they have a degradation issues like in 2012 and 2013 kinds (that is a bygone era). They need to redo a lot of that analysis and baselining work. As this year's tyres are nowhere as fast degrading as they were planned to do, their work on creating a car that work well on Softs, has most probably created problems with working with US and HS. Especially HS as the difference in performance between US and HS is around 1.1 seconds! Which means, there is a sea of difference between the compounds and clearly, Mercedes W09 biased towards Softs, need revolutionary changes to bring to work on HS. I doubt if W09 ever would like HS this season, specially in qualifying.

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SiLo
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Re: 2018 Austrian Grand Prix, Spielberg, 29 June - 1 July

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I'm hoping Hamilton can build a small lead in the Championship because I still think the Ferrari is the better car at more of the remaining tracks. Anything so long as they go into the last race on almost equal points!
Felipe Baby!

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TAG
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Re: 2018 Austrian Grand Prix, Spielberg, 29 June - 1 July

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SiLo wrote:
25 Jun 2018, 14:49
I'm hoping Hamilton can build a small lead in the Championship because I still think the Ferrari is the better car at more of the remaining tracks. Anything so long as they go into the last race on almost equal points!
Ferrari was supremely suited for Singapore last year. Racing has a lot of moving parts. :)

I think this is a Red Bull track and can see both of them on the podium depending on the Max that shows up.
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Vasconia
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Re: 2018 Austrian Grand Prix, Spielberg, 29 June - 1 July

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TAG wrote:
25 Jun 2018, 14:59
SiLo wrote:
25 Jun 2018, 14:49
I'm hoping Hamilton can build a small lead in the Championship because I still think the Ferrari is the better car at more of the remaining tracks. Anything so long as they go into the last race on almost equal points!
Ferrari was supremely suited for Singapore last year. Racing has a lot of moving parts. :)

I think this is a Red Bull track and can see both of them on the podium depending on the Max that shows up.
Ferrari won´t be anymore dominant in Hungary or Singapure. I think RB will be the fastest there but the Italians must end those races in front of Mercedes. Unless they make stupid mistakes ala 2017.

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godlameroso
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Re: 2018 Austrian Grand Prix, Spielberg, 29 June - 1 July

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JonoNic wrote:
25 Jun 2018, 12:37
Will the third DRS zone make it closer or not?
It'll mean that teams can run a little bit more downforce. I still don't think anyone will go more than a second faster than last year.
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dfegan358
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Re: 2018 Austrian Grand Prix, Spielberg, 29 June - 1 July

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This is a big race for Ferrari! Vettel needs to win to bring back points deficit to single figures. Another poor result and he could be over 20 points behind Hamilton which could be trouble with Silverstone ahead.

Definitely think this track suits Ferrari slightly better than Merc. France was more favoured towards Mercedes. Despite Vettels mistake I think the would have had great race pace yesterday.

New Mercedes power unit definitely brought a few tenths for them in qualifying. Ferrari better traction out of slower corners should suit them here. Red bull should be closer too.

3 races in 3 weeks can’t beat it!!

foxmulder_ms
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Re: 2018 Austrian Grand Prix, Spielberg, 29 June - 1 July

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SiLo wrote:
25 Jun 2018, 14:49
I'm hoping Hamilton can build a small lead in the Championship because I still think the Ferrari is the better car at more of the remaining tracks. Anything so long as they go into the last race on almost equal points!
I think remaining races mostly favor Merc. Silverstone, Susuka, USA, Monza, Spa are for Merc. I can point only Russia, Singapore and Abu Dhabi for Ferrari. Remaining 50-50. Will be fun.

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dans79
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Re: 2018 Austrian Grand Prix, Spielberg, 29 June - 1 July

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foxmulder_ms wrote:
25 Jun 2018, 17:36
I think remaining races mostly favor Merc. Silverstone, Susuka, USA, Monza, Spa are for Merc. I can point only Russia, Singapore and Abu Dhabi for Ferrari. Remaining 50-50. Will be fun.
Abu Dhabi for Ferrari? last year Vettel was 0.546 off pole, and finished a distant 3rd in the race.
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Zynerji
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Re: 2018 Austrian Grand Prix, Spielberg, 29 June - 1 July

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That was last year?

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dans79
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Re: 2018 Austrian Grand Prix, Spielberg, 29 June - 1 July

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Zynerji wrote:
25 Jun 2018, 18:34
That was last year?
Yep!
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/2017_Abu_Dhabi_Grand_Prix
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atanatizante
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Re: 2018 Austrian Grand Prix, Spielberg, 29 June - 1 July

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GPR-A wrote:
25 Jun 2018, 14:46
dans79 wrote:
25 Jun 2018, 14:14
GPR-A wrote:
25 Jun 2018, 14:10
I think the quali Vs race setup is myth I guess. What I really think is, Mercedes has traditionally preferred harder of the available compounds. They seems to now working towards basing the car for the softest compound available, which they did in France. They have done more or less similar for Austria too. They have to aggressively move the balance of the car to US, which should hold them into good stead for the quali. They have not complained about degradation problem in the races this whole season and even if there should be a compromise by favoring US, then it should be worth it.

So, I guess, if they focus on US, then good chances of pole.
The only complaints I can remember so far this season have been about balance on the softest compounds.
I said this somewhere else too. They came to Winter testing and kept banging in laps on Soft tyres and did least work on US and HS tyres. So, their car is inherently liking the harder compounds as probably a result of vehicle kinematics designed for those tyres, not because they have a degradation issues like in 2012 and 2013 kinds (that is a bygone era). They need to redo a lot of that analysis and baselining work. As this year's tyres are nowhere as fast degrading as they were planned to do, their work on creating a car that work well on Softs, has most probably created problems with working with US and HS. Especially HS as the difference in performance between US and HS is around 1.1 seconds! Which means, there is a sea of difference between the compounds and clearly, Mercedes W09 biased towards Softs, need revolutionary changes to bring to work on HS. I doubt if W09 ever would like HS this season, specially in qualifying.
My understanding is that their always root of philosophy is to have a car with efficient downforce. Hence, in order to have an efficient downforce they need a stable platform, so they need a low rake car. But this comes with at least 2 drawbacks. One is that they have less option on rear suspension setup choices and the second one is that car `s suspension must be setup quit stiff in order to have a stable car. That means they must run harder their tyres which wears them up, hence if they need to do the optimal one-stop strategy they must relay on the harder tyre compounds available at that particular race. Now, when they are forced to run the HS and US tyres they don`t have enough setup suspension choices and they end up either wearing them to soo or just overheating them, hence sliding in the corners so losing race pace and finally also increase deg on them ...
"I don`t have all the answers. Try Google!"
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godlameroso
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Re: 2018 Austrian Grand Prix, Spielberg, 29 June - 1 July

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dfegan358 wrote:
25 Jun 2018, 16:39
This is a big race for Ferrari! Vettel needs to win to bring back points deficit to single figures. Another poor result and he could be over 20 points behind Hamilton which could be trouble with Silverstone ahead.

Definitely think this track suits Ferrari slightly better than Merc. France was more favoured towards Mercedes. Despite Vettels mistake I think the would have had great race pace yesterday.

New Mercedes power unit definitely brought a few tenths for them in qualifying. Ferrari better traction out of slower corners should suit them here. Red bull should be closer too.

3 races in 3 weeks can’t beat it!!
The mechanics must be hating life, they gotta do this 2 more times in a row.
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Just_a_fan
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Joined: 31 Jan 2010, 20:37

Re: 2018 Austrian Grand Prix, Spielberg, 29 June - 1 July

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godlameroso wrote:
25 Jun 2018, 22:13

The mechanics must be hating life, they gotta do this 2 more times in a row.
As a mate of mine who has "been there, done that" said recently - they've got it easy these days with parc ferme and limited components available/allowed to be changed. Gone are the days of all-nighters for three days in a row. Unless someone does something silly with a wall at speed, of course.
If you are more fortunate than others, build a larger table not a taller fence.

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godlameroso
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Re: 2018 Austrian Grand Prix, Spielberg, 29 June - 1 July

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They really don't get the credit they deserve, true they get plenty of practice at the factory, but these guys and gals are top wrenches. Installing the power units and putting the cars together is a complex task and the work has to be meticulous. I respect the mechanics a lot, not just because I do a fair bit of wrenching but because I know how frustrating it is to work with tight deadlines. It can get very stressful to say the least. You pull your shoulder doing work for another customer, and then you're pulling an all nighter with a sore shoulder while fitting your hand in a tiny crevice to fit some bolts, or a coolant hose. You have to get this done because this customer paid you in advance and has an event that weekend, so you push on and get er done.
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