2020 Eifel Grand Prix - Nürburgring, October 9-11

[godlameroso]

Looks like I was spot on about this track suiting the RB, entry oversteer FTW.

But sector 3 was where the RedBull and Max lost most of their time, not quite what was being said a few days ago so not quite spot on maybe ?

Right, sector 3 is the DRS back straight, so naturally Mercedes would be able to carry more speed, the chicane was pretty much dead even, and Verstappen lost a little bit of time on the final corner, a corner type the RB has had it's instability issues all season long. Despite all of this he was essentially dead even with Hamilton, Bottas is a good qualifier, he's proved that, he's also proved that his qualifying ability doesn't always translate into great race pace. He put in a really good lap, but we know both Hamilton and Verstappen in a capable car can get the better of Bottas if there are any mistakes.

The start will be crucial tomorrow. A good start from Hamilton or a bad start from Bottas and things can get interesting in the first turn. Verstappen is still there, very close and can capitalize on any mistake if everything works as normal.

We still don't know how the tyre situation is going to play out, and it's a long race tomorrow, 61 laps with a 1:32 lap time at the front, that's easily an hour and a half if there's no incidents or safety cars, which is unlikely with that first sector.

[atanatizante]

HAM was fastest on the medium tyre in Q2, with a good half a second faster than BOT and that means his car is putting more heat into the tyres required for that medium tyre, which we all know it operates at a higher operation window than the soft ones.

But putting too more energy into his soft tyres Q3 led to overheating the fronts and lost almost 2 tenths between turn 1 and 4, thus he didn`t achieve the pole ... but I think it was a deliberate move ...

My presumption was demonstrated at the interview after the qualy when he implied something about graining tomorrow, knowing that track temp will go down even further than yesterday.

So the key in the race is to have a setup which puts enough heat into the tyres tomorrow, especially onto the medium one, the designated race tyre ...

[godlameroso]

HAM was fastest on the medium tyre in Q2, with a good half a second faster than BOT and that means his car is putting more heat into the tyres required for that medium tyre, which we all know it operates at a higher operation window than the soft ones.

But putting too more energy into his soft tyres Q3 led to overheating the fronts and lost almost 2 tenths between turn 1 and 4, thus he didn`t achieve the pole ... but I think it was a deliberate move ...

My presumption was demonstrated at the interview after the qualy when he implied something about graining tomorrow, knowing that track temp will go down even further than yesterday.

So the key in the race is to have a setup which puts enough heat into the tyres tomorrow, especially onto the medium one, the designated race tyre ...

I mentioned that running a lot of front toe would help keep temperature in the tires, Mercedes has DAS and I saw Hamilton using it on his preparation lap.

[Big Tea]

In other news I’m pretty certain David Croft has had part of his brain removed!

Yeh, it was lonely in there.

[PlatinumZealot]

HAM was fastest on the medium tyre in Q2, with a good half a second faster than BOT and that means his car is putting more heat into the tyres required for that medium tyre, which we all know it operates at a higher operation window than the soft ones.

But putting too more energy into his soft tyres Q3 led to overheating the fronts and lost almost 2 tenths between turn 1 and 4, thus he didn`t achieve the pole ... but I think it was a deliberate move ...

My presumption was demonstrated at the interview after the qualy when he implied something about graining tomorrow, knowing that track temp will go down even further than yesterday.

So the key in the race is to have a setup which puts enough heat into the tyres tomorrow, especially onto the medium one, the designated race tyre ...

You could be right. When Bottas outqualifies Hamilton by a decent amount it's sometimes when Bottas baises his setup for qualifying over the race and sometimes he suffers for it come race day. This track is not easy to overtake similar cars on. So Bottas may have done the right strategy.

Hamilton though was visibly miffed that Bottas got him. He must be wondering where did Bottas find so much time. Banking his race on medium pace may backfire if Bottas forces a long first stint.

[Restomaniac]

In other news I’m pretty certain David Croft has had part of his brain removed!

Yeh, it was lonely in there.

[PlatinumZealot]

HAM was fastest on the medium tyre in Q2, with a good half a second faster than BOT and that means his car is putting more heat into the tyres required for that medium tyre, which we all know it operates at a higher operation window than the soft ones.

But putting too more energy into his soft tyres Q3 led to overheating the fronts and lost almost 2 tenths between turn 1 and 4, thus he didn`t achieve the pole ... but I think it was a deliberate move ...

My presumption was demonstrated at the interview after the qualy when he implied something about graining tomorrow, knowing that track temp will go down even further than yesterday.

So the key in the race is to have a setup which puts enough heat into the tyres tomorrow, especially onto the medium one, the designated race tyre ...

I mentioned that running a lot of front toe would help keep temperature in the tires, Mercedes has DAS and I saw Hamilton using it on his preparation lap.

RedBull is already the stronger car it seems. Without DAS Merc would have been behind for sure. Max should be able to apply pressure quite easily.

[hollus]

RedBull is already the stronger car it seems. Without DAS Merc would have been behind for sure. Max should be able to apply pressure quite easily.

But the car has DAS. It is part of the car. And it is not without compromises. Weight, different setup, space, extra failure points, etc. Without DAS, Mercedes would have optimized differently. DAS is part of Das Auto.

[El Scorchio]

It looks like (fingers crossed) a really interesting and exciting race in prospect.

[LM10]

What a qualifying that was. And what a lap from Leclerc again! Amazing job.

Really good lap from Bottas as well, but the problem is that his race pace is quite a lot poorer than some other drivers, unfortunately.

[Just_a_fan]

And what a lap from Leclerc again! Amazing job.

Agreed. 5 tenths up on Vettel in Q2 was good work but then to get P4 was an excellent outcome although it wouldn't be surprising in a normal year. But this year they've been really up against it in the red car.

Ironically, one of the good things about having a bad car is you can make yourself look really good with a decent performance like today.

Charles can get a decent points haul tomorrow if he's careful.

[grubschumi13]

RedBull is already the stronger car it seems. Without DAS Merc would have been behind for sure. Max should be able to apply pressure quite easily.
[/quote]

Mercedes are 1-2 and Redbull 3-5. Hamilton says he wants competition, let him get it.

[godlameroso]

And what a lap from Leclerc again! Amazing job.

Agreed. 5 tenths up on Vettel in Q2 was good work but then to get P4 was an excellent outcome although it wouldn't be surprising in a normal year. But this year they've been really up against it in the red car.

Ironically, one of the good things about having a bad car is you can make yourself look really good with a decent performance like today.

Charles can get a decent points haul tomorrow if he's careful.

I think the poor power unit performance is a blessing in disguise because Ferrari has to work harder to improve the chassis in order to make inroads. So what they learn this year combined with a much improved power unit will see them move up next year. I feel the cape is going to become essential for next year given the other downforce limiting changes that are being introduced, and that because of this Ferrari is a bit on the back foot. They'll be developing their nose into next year while other teams that have ran capes this year have already had experience using and developing them. It took Renault and Red Bull half the season to get on top of the new nose style, I'm sure McLaren, will pick up more time as they develop their version. Fortunately it is something that will carry over to next year.

[godlameroso]

RedBull is already the stronger car it seems. Without DAS Merc would have been behind for sure. Max should be able to apply pressure quite easily.

Mercedes are 1-2 and Redbull 3-5. Hamilton says he wants competition, let him get it.
[/quote]

The gap between Hamilton and Verstappen was less than a tenth, that's basically the margin for error. It's incredibly close between those two and it's a long race.

[grubschumi13]

RedBull is already the stronger car it seems. Without DAS Merc would have been behind for sure. Max should be able to apply pressure quite easily.

Mercedes are 1-2 and Redbull 3-5. Hamilton says he wants competition, let him get it.

The gap between Hamilton and Verstappen was less than a tenth, that's basically the margin for error. It's incredibly close between those two and it's a long race.
[/quote]

You are being selective why the slowest Merc vs the fastest RBR?