2020 Austrian Grand Prix - Spielberg, 3-5 July

[djones]

Were Mercedes actively using DAS?

[Moore77]

On a side note does anyone else get irritated when Horner gets interviewed on the out wall and he talks about Max and doesn’t reference Alex Albon once?

I often wonder why Red Bull bother having a second driver the way they treat them, it’s quite incredible.

Yes, I get what you mean. Max is arguably in the most comfortable position of the top pilots IMO

Quite the opposite. Gasly and now Albon are just too slow. Max is dying for a proper teammate again so that Red Bull can cover of strategic options from Mercedes and take away points from Hamilton.

Max is now fighting against two cars by himself. 2 cars that are slightly faster to begin with. In the rare races in 2019 they were in front of Hamilton the maximum they could hope for in normal circumstances was to gain 7 points on Hamilton, whereas Hamilton can gain 10 points on Max in normal circumstances because when the Mercedes is faster on that circuit Bottas is able to get second unlike Albon.

If I were Red Bull I would sign Bottas for 2021 and let Mercedes deal with a Hamilton/Vettel infight (or if they are smart Hamilton/Russell)

It isn't any different to 2005 and 2006 when Alonso fought the championship on his own against Kimi, Montoya and Schumacher and Massa (2006), without any help from Fisichella. Same thing applies to Hamilton in 2008 who fought and won the championship without any help from Kovalainen. It's rare that a championship challenger being ably supported by his team mate.

[Logie]

Were Mercedes actively using DAS?

Not sure how much but yea they did use it, might of been last lap. Sky F1 had 1 replay of LH using it

[Pyrone89]

Yes, I get what you mean. Max is arguably in the most comfortable position of the top pilots IMO

Quite the opposite. Gasly and now Albon are just too slow. Max is dying for a proper teammate again so that Red Bull can cover of strategic options from Mercedes and take away points from Hamilton.

Max is now fighting against two cars by himself. 2 cars that are slightly faster to begin with. In the rare races in 2019 they were in front of Hamilton the maximum they could hope for in normal circumstances was to gain 7 points on Hamilton, whereas Hamilton can gain 10 points on Max in normal circumstances because when the Mercedes is faster on that circuit Bottas is able to get second unlike Albon.

If I were Red Bull I would sign Bottas for 2021 and let Mercedes deal with a Hamilton/Vettel infight (or if they are smart Hamilton/Russell)

It isn't any different to 2005 and 2006 when Alonso fought the championship on his own against Kimi, Montoya and Schumacher and Massa (2006), without any help from Fisichella. Same thing applies to Hamilton in 2008 who fought and won the championship without any help from Kovalainen. It's rare that a championship challenger being ably supported by his team mate.

Please look at the points table of Bottas of the years since he joined Mercedes. He has been a help.

In 2005 and 2006 Fisichella was indeed useless, so was Massa in 2006.

[Just_a_fan]

Marko even said the goal of the team is to make Max world champion, they don't seem to really care about Albon.

In fairness, it's basically the approach they had when Vettel was with the team.

Yeah and all teams with some sense use. Do you really think Mercedes wants Bottas to take the WDC instead of Hamilton? They won't say it out loud but we all know it.

I'm sure they'd be happy if he did win it, they just don't expect him to. I don't, for one moment, think they'd ask Bottas to move over if he was leading the championship ahead of Hamilton - they'd expect Hamilton to do what he's paid to do and pass him on track by merit. What they wouldn't want, is for the drivers to take each other out. Having been bitten by the tension in the Hamilton/Rosberg days, I'm sure they're happier as they are now.

[tomazy]

Comparing fastest car of a team in FP1 2020 to Q 2019 is useles, but still

Mercedes: 1:04.816, 1:03.262 diffirence = +1.554s
RB: 1:05.418, 1:03.439 = +1.979s
McLaren: 1:05.431, 1:13.601(Q2)= +1.830s
RP: 1:05.512, 1:04.789 = +0.723s
Renault: 1:05.860, 1:04.516= +1.344s
Haas: 1:05.907, 1:04.072= +1.835s
Ferrari: 1:05.924, 1.03.003= +2.921s
Alfa: 1:06.360, 1:04.056 (Q2)= +2.304s
AT: 1:06.404, 1:04.665 = +1.739s
Willisms: 1:06.495, 1:05.904 = +0.591s

[Big Tea]

Comparing fastest car of a team in FP1 2020 to Q 2019 is useles, but still

Mercedes: 1:04.816, 1:03.262 diffirence = +1.554s
RB: 1:05.418, 1:03.439 = +1.979s
McLaren: 1:05.431, 1:13.601(Q2)= +1.830s
RP: 1:05.512, 1:04.789 = +0.723s
Renault: 1:05.860, 1:04.516= +1.344s
Haas: 1:05.907, 1:04.072= +1.835s
Ferrari: 1:05.924, 1.03.003= +2.921s
Alfa: 1:06.360, 1:04.056 (Q2)= +2.304s
AT: 1:06.404, 1:04.665 = +1.739s
Willisms: 1:06.495, 1:05.904 = +0.591s

Ferrari only run medium tyres though.

[Wynters]

Yeah and all teams with some sense use. Do you really think Mercedes wants Bottas to take the WDC instead of Hamilton? They won't say it out loud but we all know it.

With Rosberg winning a WDC and Bottas winning four races last year, including Australia, that's a brave line to take.

Also, I suspect that if Ferrari rigorously stuck to Vettel being their number 1, last season would have looked a little different (compare Brazil last year with Baku and VER/RIC).

Having said that, worth remembering that RBR and Mercedes are in slightly different positions. It makes sense for RBR to dedicate the entire team to Max winning races where as Mercedes have often had the luxury of not having to worry too much about that.

[tomazy]

Comparing fastest car of a team in FP1 2020 to Q 2019 is useles, but still
...

Ferrari only run medium tyres though.

Thats (and a lot of other stuff) why it makes it useles

[Big Tea]

Comparing fastest car of a team in FP1 2020 to Q 2019 is useles, but still
...

Ferrari only run medium tyres though.

Thats (and a lot of other stuff) why it makes it useles

Nothing is useless, just ....qualified .

[atanatizante]

So apparently Red Bull has also managed to develop a DAS system for this race here as Christian Horner said to Crofty they`re waiting for some FIA clarification regarding this matter instead of filling a protest against Merc`s DAS!
Is that so? It seems so: https://www.formula1.com/en/latest/arti ... nzQ1D.html

On another note, Merc has had a little bit of a race stint of 13-14 laps at the end of the first session.
The average time was 1:08,5 sec/lap but worth to note the consistent times set from both drivers, especially for LH.
And also they are on top 5-speed traps list now ...

It`s early days but seems to be good right now ... more to see in FP2 ...

[MtthsMlw]

Gio gets a new CE already

[SiLo]

So apparently Red Bull has also managed to develop a DAS system for this race here as Christian Horner said to Crofty they`re waiting for some FIA clarification regarding this matter instead of filling a protest against Merc`s DAS!
Is that so?

On another note, Merc has had a little bit of a race stint of 13-14 laps at the end of the first session.
The average time was 1:08,5 sec/lap but worth to note the consistent times set from both drivers, especially for LH.
And also they are on top 5-speed traps list now ...

It`s early days but seems to be good right now ... more to see in FP2 ...

Interesting! That was quick. And if true, seems like it could be quite a valuable addition to the car.

[matt_b]

Didn't expect the gap to be 6 tenths on such a short track but its just FP1

[McMika98]

Quite the opposite. Gasly and now Albon are just too slow. Max is dying for a proper teammate again so that Red Bull can cover of strategic options from Mercedes and take away points from Hamilton.

Max is now fighting against two cars by himself. 2 cars that are slightly faster to begin with.

What a load of nonsense. The reason Danny ric left was because of favouritism to Max even though he was winning races. Max will get the updates, best crew, best track conditions, best strategy etc etc. If Max crashes and there is no spare, he will jump on Albons car. Funny how Max is struggling to keep the car on track at slow speed, if that was Alex people would be calling for his sack.

Alex will get more points than Max in the next couple of races despite everything stacked against him.