2015 British Grand Prix - Silverstone, 03-05 July

[Jordan44]

Does anyone find it strange that although the Mercedes has not improved at all since last year the gap remains the same? They are still 1/2 to 1 full second per lap faster than everyone else. Last year Hamilton set fast lap during "hammer time" a 1:37.176 on lap 26, this year 1:37.093 on lap 29. So it stands to reason that whatever race pace Mercedes had last year will essentially be the same this year. So to heck with qualifying as long as anyone can do 1:27-1:25 next round they will be competitive because that is the pace Mercedes had last year.

They have improved. They're about 0.5 seconds quicker if you look deeper over the season so far. It's really impossible to judge from two laps, where temperatures, engine maps, how much the driver is pushing, fuel and more all come into play, as well as the circuit they are on. I'm willing to bet a lot the W06 is quicker overall.

[iotar__]

After re-watching: starting pile up was 100% Ricciardo's fault, firstly he went backwards as he usual does and then caused the whole thing overcompensating. Of course he got away with it since he's a Red Bull driver. I don't understand why they even investigated others, looks like the old Perez-Vettel type of tactic, diverting focus.

[elMaestro]

Does anyone find it strange that although the Mercedes has not improved at all since last year the gap remains the same? They are still 1/2 to 1 full second per lap faster than everyone else. Last year Hamilton set fast lap during "hammer time" a 1:37.176 on lap 26, this year 1:37.093 on lap 29. So it stands to reason that whatever race pace Mercedes had last year will essentially be the same this year. So to heck with qualifying as long as anyone can do 1:27-1:25 next round they will be competitive because that is the pace Mercedes had last year.

They have improved. They're about 0.5 seconds quicker if you look deeper over the season so far. It's really impossible to judge from two laps, where temperatures, engine maps, how much the driver is pushing, fuel and more all come into play, as well as the circuit they are on. I'm willing to bet a lot the W06 is quicker overall.

It may be because i think this year's tyres are harder than last year if im not mistaken.

[GPR-A duplicate2]

Does anyone find it strange that although the Mercedes has not improved at all since last year the gap remains the same? They are still 1/2 to 1 full second per lap faster than everyone else. Last year Hamilton set fast lap during "hammer time" a 1:37.176 on lap 26, this year 1:37.093 on lap 29. So it stands to reason that whatever race pace Mercedes had last year will essentially be the same this year. So to heck with qualifying as long as anyone can do 1:27-1:25 next round they will be competitive because that is the pace Mercedes had last year.

They have improved. They're about 0.5 seconds quicker if you look deeper over the season so far. It's really impossible to judge from two laps, where temperatures, engine maps, how much the driver is pushing, fuel and more all come into play, as well as the circuit they are on. I'm willing to bet a lot the W06 is quicker overall.

It may be because i think this year's tyres are harder than last year if im not mistaken.

Plus, there is a weight increase for the car itself this year for the relief of taller drivers. Plus, the change of nose regulations, impacted the aero philosophy reducing the down force. Plus, only 4 PUs are available for the year, putting increased focus on reducing stress on the PU, which means, slightly lesser throttle appliation, detuned engine and LIFT AND CRUISE as much as possible. There may be some other parameters too, put together, we see either similar times to last year OR as the year progress, we might see slower times !!!

[elMaestro]

They have improved. They're about 0.5 seconds quicker if you look deeper over the season so far. It's really impossible to judge from two laps, where temperatures, engine maps, how much the driver is pushing, fuel and more all come into play, as well as the circuit they are on. I'm willing to bet a lot the W06 is quicker overall.[/quote]

It may be because i think this year's tyres are harder than last year if im not mistaken.[/quote]
Plus, there is a weight increase for the car itself this year for the relief of taller drivers. Plus, the change of nose regulations, impacted the aero philosophy reducing the down force. Plus, only 4 PUs are available for the year, putting increased focus on reducing stress on the PU, which means, slightly lesser throttle appliation, detuned engine and LIFT AND CRUISE as much as possible. There may be some other parameters too, put together, we see either similar times to last year OR as the year progress, we might see slower times !!![/quote]

I actually think that having a year of experience on these PU's and of course these aero regulations they have managed to claw back some of that downforce as i genuinly think that they will be faster around the second part of the season at other tracks,

[dans79]

I expect to see a significant jump in Merc's performance when they actually upgrade the Motor. I expect this will happen after the summer break when they switch over to the 3rd PU.

[SectorOne]

Not sure what 2014 has to do with his status of king in the wet. Hell, his best races last season were in the wet, where he was comfortably faster than Ricciardo.

Right... and i assume that if you count all the wet races since 2007 Vettel is topping the win-charts?

[wickedz50]

On the Williams call to ask Bothas to stay put with his position on the first few laps, was he meant to block Hamilton so that Massa could build a substantial lead upfront? whether being a Merc customer team are their race position compromised ? is it fixed that they only get the second best result or else no more engine updates or something?
Hope to see some similar situations going forward where this will have some concrete proof.

[Vasconia]

Rosberg is inferior under real rain condition to Hamilton, that's a fact.
Those condition yersteday are so special, and Rosberg attacking and he benefit of the dirty hair of the Williams.

We all know it. But in this race Rosberg was better managing the slick tyres in those mixed conditions. Is that simple but it seems that some Hamilton fans cant accept that their idol can not be the best in all conditions, always.

[Vasconia]

For anyone who harboured any doubts that Vettel is the king of the wet:

Did he become king after 2014? Or before it?

From what I remember Vettel has always been very,very good when it rains.

[ChrisF1]

For anyone who harboured any doubts that Vettel is the king of the wet:

Did he become king after 2014? Or before it?

From what I remember Vettel has always been very,very good when it rains.

Memory is spot on, just look at the beginning - Fuji 07, Monza 08

[Andres125sx]

Rosberg is inferior under real rain condition to Hamilton, that's a fact.
Those condition yersteday are so special, and Rosberg attacking and he benefit of the dirty hair of the Williams.

We all know it. But in this race Rosberg was better managing the slick tyres in those mixed conditions. Is that simple but it seems that some Hamilton fans cant accept that their idol can not be the best in all conditions, always.

If my memory serve me well, Hamilton won the race


When you´re the leader by a good margin (8 seconds I think) and it start raining but not enough to switch to inters, any smart driver would have done the same, assume as little risks as he could. That supposed his tyres got cold wich is not good, but it´s a lot better than making a mistake with slick tyres under the rain and ruin the race.

He didn´t assume risks, and he won the race. What exactly did Rosberg better than him? He tried hard, reducing the gap under dificult track conditions, but it was not enough, actually it was useless. Hamilton leaded the race before and after the rain.


PS. I´m not a Hamilton fan, I support Alonso and also like Hamilton driving, in this order, but can´t get how someone may suggest Rosberg is better than Hamilton under those difficult conditions because he assumed more risks on a race wich was under Hamilton´s control

[LionKing]

For anyone who harboured any doubts that Vettel is the king of the wet:

Did he become king after 2014? Or before it?

From what I remember Vettel has always been very,very good when it rains.

In 2013 when Merc started the season very fast on one lap (they had tire management problems in races) If i remember correctly, Mercedes were on pole in all 8 dry qualis in the first 11 races. The other 3 were Vettel poles in wet conditions.

[Phil]

We all know it. But in this race Rosberg was better managing the slick tyres in those mixed conditions. Is that simple but it seems that some Hamilton fans cant accept that their idol can not be the best in all conditions, always.

It has nothing to do with fans or not fans. It's all about understanding why. It's a simple indisputable fact that Rosberg was quicker during a very narrow but distinct window of the race, namely then when the track became unpredictable. We know for a fact why Hamilton drove slower; he said it himself in the post-race interview, namely because he had lost tire temperature and pressure. Rosberg, evidently, did not. This explains the large lap time offset we saw. Nothing more, nothing less. In hindsight, Rosberg did it right, Hamilton didn't (and thus became vulnerable, which forced him into the perfect pit-stop decision).

Sudden erratic changes in track conditions is always the worst-case scenario for the race leader because he is the one with everything to lose and all others behind him have potentially more (or everything) to gain. Lets not forget that Rosberg had an off-track moment while he was pushing. Could have been the end of his race, but it wasn't. He took a risk and it paid off - but not all the way, as the conditions and pit-stop shifted the advantage back to Lewis. Lets also not forget that usually, Lewis is very skilled under wet conditions (points to wet or unpredictable QF in 2014) - so the large laptime offset must have a deeper reason here (= loss of pressure and temperature, which is explained by the difference in risk assessment of both drivers during that phase of the race).

[SiLo]

We all know it. But in this race Rosberg was better managing the slick tyres in those mixed conditions. Is that simple but it seems that some Hamilton fans cant accept that their idol can not be the best in all conditions, always.

It has nothing to do with fans or not fans. It's all about understanding why. It's a simple indisputable fact that Rosberg was quicker during a very narrow but distinct window of the race, namely then when the track became unpredictable. We know for a fact why Hamilton drove slower; he said it himself in the post-race interview, namely because he had lost tire temperature and pressure. Rosberg, evidently, did not. This explains the large lap time offset we saw. Nothing more, nothing less. In hindsight, Rosberg did it right, Hamilton didn't (and thus became vulnerable, which forced him into the perfect pit-stop decision).

Sudden erratic changes in track conditions is always the worst-case scenario for the race leader because he is the one with everything to lose and all others behind him have potentially more (or everything) to gain. Lets not forget that Rosberg had an off-track moment while he was pushing. Could have been the end of his race, but it wasn't. He took a risk and it paid off - but not all the way, as the conditions and pit-stop shifted the advantage back to Lewis. Lets also not forget that usually, Lewis is very skilled under wet conditions (points to wet or unpredictable QF in 2014) - so the large laptime offset must have a deeper reason here (= loss of pressure and temperature, which is explained by the difference in risk assessment of both drivers during that phase of the race).

This. Case closed.

I really wish we had gotten to see what Button would have done with the changing conditions, he's always on the case!