2018 Mexico Grand Prix - Autódromo Hermanos Rodríguez, 26-28 October

For ease of use, there is one thread per grand prix where you can discuss everything during that specific GP weekend. You can find these threads here.
Locked
marmer
1
Joined: 21 Apr 2017, 06:48

Re: 2018 Mexico Grand Prix - Autódromo Hermanos Rodríguez, 26-28 October

Post

NathanOlder wrote:
25 Oct 2018, 20:47
Horner was saying the reason they are strong in Mexico is down to the reduced power and the renault loses less power as it has less power.
But I tend to ignore what Horner says everytime he opens his mouth.
He flirts with the truth to suit his agenda

But generally he speaks some truth.

For years the FIA and Renault didn't want to admit how far behind they are.

Proof in results after years of red bull trash talk

Renault now have a car designed for their motor and it's still poor. The switch didn't help McLaren apart from more reliable as it now seems honda has suppassed Renault in pure power

Meanwhile red bull remain the only team other than a works team to win a race in the V6 era

User avatar
Sieper
73
Joined: 14 Mar 2017, 15:19

Re: 2018 Mexico Grand Prix - Autódromo Hermanos Rodríguez, 26-28 October

Post

But you do pay attention when he says something without opening his mouth.

User avatar
Morteza
2308
Joined: 10 Feb 2010, 18:23
Location: Bushehr, Iran

Re: 2018 Mexico Grand Prix - Autódromo Hermanos Rodríguez, 26-28 October

Post

"A fool thinks himself to be wise, but a wise man knows himself to be a fool."~William Shakespeare

zibby43
613
Joined: 04 Mar 2017, 12:16

Re: 2018 Mexico Grand Prix - Autódromo Hermanos Rodríguez, 26-28 October

Post

Outstanding news for Merc.

So, in Austin, Merc had to run a compromised rear wheel design (just in case Ferrari wanted to rain on the potential parade with a protest) and they had to completely tear down and rebuild both cars before the race with the last-minute water pump replacements (resulting in the cross-weight imbalance fiasco).

It's actually pretty impressive that Hamilton still had the pace to bring his car home P3 in Austin.

drunkf1fan
28
Joined: 20 Apr 2015, 03:34

Re: 2018 Mexico Grand Prix - Autódromo Hermanos Rodríguez, 26-28 October

Post

Several things happened with Renault last year, mostly the screw up with lack of engines parts happened because they had so many failures in Mexico. The primary reason given was everyone calculates how much to turn down engine power due to lack of cooling and Renault screwed that up, turned their engines down less and everyone was basically stressing the engine all weekend.

Remember them telling Verstappen to slow down and he said along the lines of "I really can't go much slower". So one part is Renault had more comparative engine power because they screwed up and didn't turn power down as much as the other teams. Another major factor is... Verstappen was right on his game in terms of performance. Don't forget that he qualified well in Singapore, he pulled a lead on Hamilton in Malaysia with a pretty huge gap to Ricciardo. He had a iirc ~16 second to Ricciardo before Hams tires started to go in Japan which was clearly holding up Verstappen while Ricciardo in clean air only closed the gap to 10 seconds behind him. So Verstappen just had a huge amount of pace. Also iirc Renault bought their 2018 engine upgrades somewhere around Singapore, so they had a bump in engine power while Merc/Ferrari didn't bring as big a bump end of season so another kinda temporary closing of engine power helped Verstappen be that fast at that point of the season. Even in Cota don't forget Verstappen from 16th was fighting with Vettel and Kimi at the end of the race while Ricciardo, I can't quite recall, I think he had passed Bottas but wasn't keeping pace with the Ferrari's before his failure so again just Verstappen had pace that really no one but Hamilton could match.

I think people need to start to realise that Max is the real deal and is making a big difference in pushing the RBR forwards 10-15 seconds further up the track than Ricciardo can.

On the engines, turbo's don't really matter in terms of lost power, thinner air means the compressor has to work harder to get the same boost, meaning it can harvest less, which doesn't really work due to fuel efficiency and needing to finish the race so in reality, they drop engine power to maximise harvesting and reduce boost requirements. Also lack of actual cooling from thinner air also requires the engine to run less hard to achieve the same temps.


As for the track itself, does anyone see the track being a disaster in the rain? It's a track without a lot of grip and last year these cars had huge trouble just warming up the tires for a full lap with only Vettel and Verstappen managing to get good laps. Both Mercs, Ricciardo and Kimi without enough tire temp did comparably awful laps. A track that struggles to get heat into tires is going to be terrible in the wet is it not? I can see the narrow exit into the main straight catching so many people out in the wet, loads of people spun there in the dry already. If it's truly wet I can see a terrible race full of safety cars/red flags as people fly off it constantly.

User avatar
Vasconia
6
Joined: 30 Aug 2012, 10:45
Location: Basque Country

Re: 2018 Mexico Grand Prix - Autódromo Hermanos Rodríguez, 26-28 October

Post

godlameroso wrote:
25 Oct 2018, 12:23
Going to be a damp weekend. Hopefully it holds off during the sessions, but it may be changing conditions on race day.
I hope this time Ferrari can find a good set-up for those conditions. Same with RB.

User avatar
Vasconia
6
Joined: 30 Aug 2012, 10:45
Location: Basque Country

Re: 2018 Mexico Grand Prix - Autódromo Hermanos Rodríguez, 26-28 October

Post

GrandAxe wrote:
25 Oct 2018, 13:28
Vasconia wrote:
25 Oct 2018, 10:10
PlatinumZealot wrote:
24 Oct 2018, 11:47
Just hoping that the hyper-softs makes some difference this year. Two stops are sorely needed for this race.
Top drivers have contact also helps. :mrgreen:

Now more seriously, I do hope we can have the VET-VER-HAM battle we lost last year.


Championship wise it would be interesting to have a DNF by Lewis, just to extend the "emotion". Though I know that Lewis will win the championship, and well-deserved I must admit.
The championship can only be extended beyond Mexico if Lewis DNF's and Vettel wins.
After Mexico, there'll be only 50 points to play for and if the above happens, a 45 point gap. In other words, lightning needs to strike Lewis for Vettel to win the WDC.
If Lewis is 8th or worse and Vettel wins the race the championship will be extended to the next race.

Anyway, its a done deal, unless some catastrophic back luck afects Mercedes.

f1316
78
Joined: 22 Feb 2012, 18:36

Re: 2018 Mexico Grand Prix - Autódromo Hermanos Rodríguez, 26-28 October

Post

There’s an outside chance that the constructors could at least go to the last race - if Ferrari reduce the arrears from 66 to 43 points by Abu Dhabi, it’ll at least be theoretically available; if they somehow get it a fair bit lower (say a DNF for one of the Mercedes) it could actually still be quite interesting.

Still, 66 points, even for two cars, is a lot at this stage.

User avatar
gandharva
252
Joined: 06 Feb 2012, 15:19
Location: Munich

Re: 2018 Mexico Grand Prix - Autódromo Hermanos Rodríguez, 26-28 October

Post

Juzh wrote:
25 Oct 2018, 19:45
There is still some power loss, despite turbos. So percentage wise they dont gain anything, but because everyone's power is a bit less it means in absolute terms they're better off.
It's not only the engine side. Teams are running Monaco downforce levels in Mexico.

User avatar
MtthsMlw
1033
Joined: 12 Jul 2017, 18:38
Location: Germany

Re: 2018 Mexico Grand Prix - Autódromo Hermanos Rodríguez, 26-28 October

Post

Weather forecast has FP1 and FP2 dry. Medium risk of showers during FP3 and Quali. Also chance of thunderstorms on Sunday. [weather.com]

foxmulder_ms
1
Joined: 10 Feb 2011, 20:36

Re: 2018 Mexico Grand Prix - Autódromo Hermanos Rodríguez, 26-28 October

Post

Another win for Kimi is coming. 1st to say.

Justthatek
1
Joined: 02 Mar 2017, 15:24

Re: 2018 Mexico Grand Prix - Autódromo Hermanos Rodríguez, 26-28 October

Post

Hypersofts are degrading after 1 flying lap on the Ferraris.

santos
11
Joined: 06 Nov 2014, 16:48

Re: 2018 Mexico Grand Prix - Autódromo Hermanos Rodríguez, 26-28 October

Post

Sainz with 9 laps, saying that his tyres are gone. 9 laps… what a piece of … are this tyres?

Fulcrum
15
Joined: 25 Aug 2014, 18:05

Re: 2018 Mexico Grand Prix - Autódromo Hermanos Rodríguez, 26-28 October

Post

Phil wrote:
25 Oct 2018, 10:15
You are aware that Vettel must win in order to delay the celebrations, right? Forget the 7th place Hamilton needs. Vettel needs to win. Not only this race, but every race. He fails to do this just once, Hamilton is champion.

Of course if Hamilton does get that 7th place, he takes it even if Vettel wins.

To put this into perspective; even if Hamilton suffers 3 DNFs starting Mexico, Vettel must win all races to still take the championship. I dont know which is more unlikely. Hamilton finishing below 7th at any race or Vettel winning all of the remaining races...
The chances of a Hamilton DNF in the V6 era are about 6%. The chance since 2015 - including 2015 - is about 4%.

The chances of Vettel winning, given Hamilton has retired, are somewhere between 33% and 50%.

Therefore, the joint probability of Vettel winning and a Hamilton DNF is between 1.33% and 2%; of the order of 1 in 50 to 1 in 75. Highly unlikely, in other words.

User avatar
Sierra117
23
Joined: 08 Oct 2017, 10:19
Location: New Zealand

Re: 2018 Mexico Grand Prix - Autódromo Hermanos Rodríguez, 26-28 October

Post

Another race, another Magnussen Gateway errr ... roadblock lulz
NIKI LAUDANZ SolidarityCubolligraphy | Instagram | Facebook
#Aerogorn & #Flowramir

Locked