2018 Russian Grand Prix - Sochi Autodrom, 28 - 30 September

[Phil]

Wasn't Raikkonen half a tenth from pole after two sectors on his last lap, before making a mistake in last sector?

That's been the story with Ferrari all weekend long, throughout all sessions of qualifying too. It's that last sector where they've been significantly losing. It's not as if they simply made a mistake in the last sector. They simply lacking the grip there.

Ferrari look less composed since the Raikkonen-Leclerc news. The more I watch, the more I think Arrivebene took a gamble on Leclerc's potential, rather than Kimi being old, as he's lost patience with Vettel.

I agree, completely my sentiment too. The dynamics of the Leclerc move is for sure interesting and IMO enlightening.

[aral]

Just an aside....Does anybody know why Ross Brawn has suddenly become Ross Brown? When being talked to by Ted Kravitz, he was wearing a shirt with Ross Brown embroidered on it.

[F1Krof]

I still don't understand why Pirelli didn't bring the Super Softs?

Instead of ?

Softs.

[The_table]

What's with the sudden disrespect for Vettel? (Or am i not understanding correctly?)

If you can't win with him in the car then i'm afraid it's the team/car, not him that's the issue?

I recently read some articles how he was supposedly falling off and now i read here that Arrivebene is losing patience with him?

What's going on?

[Jolle]

What's with the sudden disrespect for Vettel? (Or am i not understanding correctly?)

If you can't win with him in the car then i'm afraid it's the team/car, not him that's the issue?

I recently read some articles how he was supposedly falling off and now i read here that Arrivebene is losing patience with him?

What's going on?

near perfect Hamilton vs sloppy Vettel the last few seasons.

[Wynters]

What's with the sudden disrespect for Vettel? (Or am i not understanding correctly?)

If you can't win with him in the car then i'm afraid it's the team/car, not him that's the issue?

I recently read some articles how he was supposedly falling off and now i read here that Arrivebene is losing patience with him?

What's going on?

There was a strong argument last season that a Hamilton/Alonso/Ricciardo in the Ferrari would've won the WDC. This year has seen more of the same. It's been extremely fortunate that Red Bull have had to deal with crushingly bad reliability and a string of driver errors or Vettel would be under serious pressure from Max for 2nd in the WDC. Given the obvious quality of the Ferrari and the obvious deficiencies of the Red Bull, that's not good.

Even keeping it between team mates, if you go back over the last seven races (we'll ignore Spa as Kimi was shunted out through no fault of his own), he's been outscored by more than 10%.* Seven races is a big chunk of the season. If Kimi hadn't had such poor luck with reliability/pit stops before the summer break...

Even Newey has raised some concerns. "...sometimes he makes stupid mistakes that happen in the heat of the moment. If he leads a race, he is almost unbeatable. But in direct duels he sometimes slips up."

Vettel is still one of the best drivers on the grid but he puts himself under a great deal of pressure and, currently, he makes significantly more mistakes than his rivals.

*Very quick calc off the top of my head.

[Phil]

I’ll raise again, what i said during Q2 and no one has commented or picked up on it...

Why didnt they use HS on Kimi’s car during Q2? They should have split the strategy to put more pressure on Mercedes at the start. Softer tire, more traction, better start. Doing the same will only limit their possibilities. Or; use the softs during Q2 on Kimis car. Assmining it would have been enough, run long first stint, then hold up the Mercedes after they pitted.

Running the same tire strategy on both cars with the championship is daft, especially knowing there is no way they’d be challenging for pole and RedBull, their only competitors, starting from the back of the grid.

[PlatinumZealot]

Ham vs Vet q3 lap

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qLMVExno2cE

Vettel braked too late into turn two and compromised his exit. probably not relaxed as he looks.

And Hamilton also messed up his last lap too, so maybe he is equally not as relaxed as he looks?

I'm saying he gave away an easy two tenths at that corner.. And i actually think if he got it right he might have strung up the rest of the lap better and pipped Hamilton.

[PlatinumZealot]

Just an aside....Does anybody know why Ross Brawn has suddenly become Ross Brown? When being talked to by Ted Kravitz, he was wearing a shirt with Ross Brown embroidered on it.

It is a joke from Autosport forums far as i am aware.

There was a thread called "Where is Ross Brown"

[PlatinumZealot]

I’ll raise again, what i said during Q2 and no one has commented or picked up on it...

Why didnt they use HS on Kimi’s car during Q2? They should have split the strategy to put more pressure on Mercedes at the start. Softer tire, more traction, better start. Doing the same will only limit their possibilities. Or; use the softs during Q2 on Kimis car. Assmining it would have been enough, run long first stint, then hold up the Mercedes after they pitted.

Running the same tire strategy on both cars with the championship is daft, especially knowing there is no way they’d be challenging for pole and RedBull, their only competitors, starting from the back of the grid.

Agreed. Especially since there is very large gap to midfield. In a few laps he can pit comfortably for the undercut without worring about traffic.

[godlameroso]

Ferrari with their ultra super duper straight line burst may make things interesting into turn 2. Quadruple DNF is possible.


This track really highlights who is strong where. Maybe Mercedes tipped the balance towards downforce at the expense of drag, and Ferrari tipped the balance to drag at the expense of downforce. Ferrari is slightly faster in sector 1, they're dead even in sector 2, and Mercedes is better in sector 3.

Will be interesting to see how they stack up in Suzuka which is mostly like sectors 1 and 2, as that track resembles Silverstone the most.

[NathanOlder]

I still don't understand why Pirelli didn't bring the Super Softs?

Instead of ?

Softs.

So there is a gap in the compounds to make it more likely to have cars on different compounds with big speed differences to create more chaos and overtakes i'd imagine

[Juzh]

Ferrari is slightly faster in sector 1, they're dead even in sector 2, and Mercedes is better in sector 3.

Where do you get this nonsense? Merc is faster everywhere. Yes, everywhere. And not by a few hundreths either.

https://www.fia.com/file/73242/download?token=kxZhVNMH

[Juzh]

Vettel braked too late into turn two and compromised his exit. probably not relaxed as he looks.

And Hamilton also messed up his last lap too, so maybe he is equally not as relaxed as he looks?

I'm saying he gave away an easy two tenths at that corner.. And i actually think if he got it right he might have strung up the rest of the lap better and pipped Hamilton.

Then you're being silly. Ferrari was consistenly slower trough s3. One lockup can't possibly mean 0.44s difference. It's all academic anyway, since if hamilton wouldn't mess up his own final lap we wouldn't be having this conversation as the merc would be like 1s faster than the ferrari.

I wonder what king of mental gymnastics people would come up with in that scenarios as to how hamilton dragged an inferior car to pole position?

[Morteza]