I think the mediums were operating on the cold end of the working range, not graining but still too cold for comfort. The core temperature is not providing enough grip and in the end you are forced to use more tyre slip than you'd like. I guess that comes with the same type of thermal degradation that you have when leaning against the warm end of the working range.
The gap was +4.0 when LEC came in, LEC stretched that to +7.0 with the bad Merc pitstop and 1 lap undercut. That means undercut alone was worth 2 seconds... It sounds close but I don't recall teams feeling the urge to cover when they are 2 seconds clear of the undercut range. Even at Spa. About VET I don't recall exactly when but we heard them say he was going to play the team game. I don't think catching up to him with a Merc close behind was considered a big problem for them.dans79 wrote: ↑Tue Sep 03, 2019 8:07 pmMy assumption would be they were worried about a potential undercut. Lewis had a really bad stop, 3.6 seconds if memory serves. If he had had a normal Merc stop (2.2-2.4) and the undercut, he would have probably been within 1 to 1.5 seconds of Charles, as they both closed in rapidly on Vettel.
Ferrari would want to avoid this type of situation at all costs.
Softs were fine in terms of : the gap to the Merc was steady, which is the only thing that really mattered. Already VET laptimes were far from stellar on the mediums, only 5 laps in, surely they already felt they were not a great tyre for them to be on for 23 laps.NL_Fer wrote: ↑Tue Sep 03, 2019 10:23 pm
Softs were not fine. The times looked ok, because the fuel becoming lighter compensated for tyre degradation. Both Leclerc and Hamilton were allot faster after the stop.
With such long laps, Hamilton could have jumped him with a undercut. They had to react, and who would have thought the mediums would burn up that day in 20 laps.
Which is exactly why when a driver is very wide, he should assume there could be cars he can't see on the inside and should stay on a wider line and not chop to the inside. Likewise a driver on the inside should not suddenly swing out to a wide line even if it's a corner where a wider line would provide a better exit.notsofast wrote: ↑Tue Sep 03, 2019 9:59 amFrom lap 2 onward, whenever there is a gap somewhere, there is usually just one driver who is near enough to be able to go for that gap. On lap 1, there are often multiple drivers who are in close proximity to a gap. When they all go for the gap, you end up with the usual lap 1 racing incident. Especially in turn 1. There is so much going on on lap 1 that you cannot know where all the other drivers are and what they are doing. However, if you see a gap, you can be fairly confident that there are others who see the same gap. That goes for both Kimi and Max.
I went back and checked live timing.PhilS13 wrote: ↑Tue Sep 03, 2019 11:23 pmThe gap was +4.0 when LEC came in, LEC stretched that to +7.0 with the bad Merc pitstop and 1 lap undercut. That means undercut alone was worth 2 seconds... It sounds close but I don't recall teams feeling the urge to cover when they are 2 seconds clear of the undercut range. Even at Spa. About VET I don't recall exactly when but we heard them say he was going to play the team game. I don't think catching up to him with a Merc close behind was considered a big problem for them.dans79 wrote: ↑Tue Sep 03, 2019 8:07 pmMy assumption would be they were worried about a potential undercut. Lewis had a really bad stop, 3.6 seconds if memory serves. If he had had a normal Merc stop (2.2-2.4) and the undercut, he would have probably been within 1 to 1.5 seconds of Charles, as they both closed in rapidly on Vettel.
Ferrari would want to avoid this type of situation at all costs.
Also Vettel helped to make Ham a bit slower for 4-5sec
The reason why he was probably reserved is because of the death the day before rather than jumping around and celebrating note how Charles was for his first victory completely the opposite of how you'd be if you had finished P1 in normal circumstances.dans79 wrote:Honeslty, I think this is why Binotto was very reserved in the post race. They won because they got their strategy perfect, and Mercedes made some mistakes. namely, a slow pit stop, Lewis going wide in the final chicane, and a missed undercut opportunity.PhilS13 wrote: ↑Tue Sep 03, 2019 11:23 pmThe gap was +4.0 when LEC came in, LEC stretched that to +7.0 with the bad Merc pitstop and 1 lap undercut. That means undercut alone was worth 2 seconds... It sounds close but I don't recall teams feeling the urge to cover when they are 2 seconds clear of the undercut range. Even at Spa. About VET I don't recall exactly when but we heard them say he was going to play the team game. I don't think catching up to him with a Merc close behind was considered a big problem for them.dans79 wrote: ↑Tue Sep 03, 2019 8:07 pmMy assumption would be they were worried about a potential undercut. Lewis had a really bad stop, 3.6 seconds if memory serves. If he had had a normal Merc stop (2.2-2.4) and the undercut, he would have probably been within 1 to 1.5 seconds of Charles, as they both closed in rapidly on Vettel.
Ferrari would want to avoid this type of situation at all costs.
Vettel definitely played a big part in Charles win thats for sure.
I was rather surprised at how 'happy' Seb was to 'tailgun' for Charles. There didn't seem to be a complaint about switching places or 'acting as a team mate' (shall we sayNathanOlder wrote: ↑Wed Sep 04, 2019 12:45 pmVettel definitely played a big part in Charles win thats for sure.
1 thing I totally disagree with is, when some say Vettel held Lewis back to help Charles win. This is nonsense. Seb held Lewis back simply because he is a racing driver and doesnt want to let anyone pass him. Every driver would do the same, he was fighting for 2nd position at the time, then after Ham got past, it made sense to pit agaian as Bottas was going to follow Lewis through, so 4th was always going to be Sebs finishing position, and a new set of tyres helped Vettel get the extra point for fastest lap.
There has been rumors for months that he is going to retire, maybe he finally made a decision.
Well take into account tyre wear plus older, worn Ferrari PU against fresh spanking new PU from Mercedes.