Gene mentioned that China will be though for them so if Vettel can be second it would be a great result. A 1-2 for Mercedes wouldn´t be a greast surprise though.godlameroso wrote: ↑08 Apr 2018, 21:04Mercedes is generally very fast in China, I have a feeling Hamilton will be untouchable there, but yes great start to the season from Ferrari. The improvement they made to the diffuser has paid off handsomely. I was on the edge of my seat for the last 10 laps, I can't believe Vettel held off Bottas, shame for Kimi.
But it is not a slow car that has stopped the wins this year, it has been unplanned things. The gearbox penalty and VB crash or the Safety car incident could all have happened with a dominant car. Things just happen if you have the fastest car or not.Vanja #66 wrote: ↑10 Apr 2018, 15:06If Mercedes don't win in China, it will be very difficult for them to recover. Either that, or they'll just pump in even more money (already an insane amount by them) and win at all costs.
China should suite Mercedes more, cooler track namely - as they definitely struggle with overheating the tyres. However, there are some positives to look for in Ferrari's case - their top speed being the most positive fact by far. Merc had the upper hand in that area so far and it's not a small thing here. However, if Merc take pole, the only chance for Ferrari will be an undercut or an overtake, and we've seen just how hard that is with 2018 cars. If Ferrari hadn't improved their top speed so much, I wouldn't count even on a second place here to be honest.
I think the Ferrari is very good, as was last year's car, but Ferrari seemed to go into self destruct mode a few times or they would have been up there at the end. Kimi's incident has already cost them valuable non car related points loss.Vanja #66 wrote: ↑11 Apr 2018, 11:55The point is - Ferrari has 2 wins and they are not in full control, they don't yet fully understand their car. Seb is doing a good job reminding the team about that to keep them focused. W09 is a better car - at the moment.
In my view, SF71-H is a car with greater potential than W09, but it's not unlocked yet. It turned out W08 had a better concept than SF70-H even with all the reliability trouble Ferrari had. So Ferrari fused the best ideas from last year and added some new stuff as well. Merc has cured their diva issues, but they haven't picked up all the good stuff from Ferrari.
Whether or not Ferrari will improve their car more than Mercedes is to be seen, it's just my opinion that SF71-H has more room for improvement than W09.
the gearbox penalty might not have cost them the win. ham would have still started 4th, he would have still needed to pass kimi and botas somehow lets not forget kimi also had bad luck so that might not have been easy.Big Tea wrote: ↑10 Apr 2018, 21:41But it is not a slow car that has stopped the wins this year, it has been unplanned things. The gearbox penalty and VB crash or the Safety car incident could all have happened with a dominant car. Things just happen if you have the fastest car or not.Vanja #66 wrote: ↑10 Apr 2018, 15:06If Mercedes don't win in China, it will be very difficult for them to recover. Either that, or they'll just pump in even more money (already an insane amount by them) and win at all costs.
China should suite Mercedes more, cooler track namely - as they definitely struggle with overheating the tyres. However, there are some positives to look for in Ferrari's case - their top speed being the most positive fact by far. Merc had the upper hand in that area so far and it's not a small thing here. However, if Merc take pole, the only chance for Ferrari will be an undercut or an overtake, and we've seen just how hard that is with 2018 cars. If Ferrari hadn't improved their top speed so much, I wouldn't count even on a second place here to be honest.
As you say, but having car say 2 tenths faster a lap probably would not have changed things much. Bottas car would also be 2 tenths faster and Ferrari would have to compensate with strategy, so I still dont think Hamilton would have won. He was driving down to a delta in one, and it was position in the other, and would have had a faster car infront.marmer wrote: ↑11 Apr 2018, 17:13the gearbox penalty might not have cost them the win. ham would have still started 4th, he would have still needed to pass kimi and botas somehow lets not forget kimi also had bad luck so that might not have been easy.Big Tea wrote: ↑10 Apr 2018, 21:41But it is not a slow car that has stopped the wins this year, it has been unplanned things. The gearbox penalty and VB crash or the Safety car incident could all have happened with a dominant car. Things just happen if you have the fastest car or not.Vanja #66 wrote: ↑10 Apr 2018, 15:06If Mercedes don't win in China, it will be very difficult for them to recover. Either that, or they'll just pump in even more money (already an insane amount by them) and win at all costs.
China should suite Mercedes more, cooler track namely - as they definitely struggle with overheating the tyres. However, there are some positives to look for in Ferrari's case - their top speed being the most positive fact by far. Merc had the upper hand in that area so far and it's not a small thing here. However, if Merc take pole, the only chance for Ferrari will be an undercut or an overtake, and we've seen just how hard that is with 2018 cars. If Ferrari hadn't improved their top speed so much, I wouldn't count even on a second place here to be honest.
lets say the front 3 got away as they did and Hamilton didn't move up he would have had to pass kimi on pure pace or by better race strat. while Bottas would have been easier if he had been battling kimi for too long bottas could have been too far ahead and vettal might have been able to pit in the right window
China is a front limited circuit and rear degradation isn't an issue here. So far, we haven't seen degradation being an issue for Mercedes. Using mediums was a strategic gamble to do a one stopper in Bahrain.
I looked at the speed trap figures for qualifying for many a GPs from last year and could find Ferrari ahead in trap figures!
Not true, this year its not the same. Look at other Ferrari engine-powered cars! Ferrari has done an amazing job this winter by leapfrogging all of the Mercedes-engine powered cars on pure power. This was already seen in Barcelona (testing). Ferrari car philosphy is for me the best this year. The car has a high rake (RBR style) with low drag ,the car is having in my opinion even less drag than Mercedes. I wouldnt be suprised if Ferrari is having a better aero efficiency in medium-high speed corners with that car than Mercedes. This was a big weak factor by Ferrari last year.GPR-A wrote: ↑11 Apr 2018, 18:01China is a front limited circuit and rear degradation isn't an issue here. So far, we haven't seen degradation being an issue for Mercedes. Using mediums was a strategic gamble to do a one stopper in Bahrain.
I looked at the speed trap figures for qualifying for many a GPs from last year and could find Ferrari ahead in trap figures!
https://www.fia.com/f1-archives
When the circus reaches tracks where downforce demand is more, is when you would actually see the difference in the compromises. We saw two races of varying characteristics. On a circuit like Albert Park, which puts premium on downforce and power, Mercedes was ahead and on a circuit that puts large premium on power and less on downforce like Bahrain, Ferrari was ahead (at least in qualifying). Until Ferrari sorts out the fuel economy issues (based on available information from different sources), Ferrari cannot afford to put large amount of downforce as it would hurt them in races. It would help on straights (due to less drag) but loses out on cornering performance. Albert park and Bahrain were two contrasting evidences.
Once they manage to resolve the fuel consumption issues and manage to put more downforce, they would be slower on straights, but faster through corners. But with only 3 PUs allowed, which means only two more upgrade packages, it remains to be seen when would the next upgrade for PU comes.