Just read somewhere that as soon as oil-for-fuel restrictions came into place, Mercedes are slower...
Interesting. At the strat meeting earlier in the week it was agreed that only 1 spec of oil can be used at a weekend! Which would suggest that some teams are currently using 'quali oil' and 'race oil'. If you think about it with a max fuel flow rate of 100kg/hr say full qali mode for maybe 6 mins in Q3 probably less than 2min full throttle. So it would not take much oil at all to provide say 20% more 'fuel' for 2 mins. Then again the FIA max 'fuel' flow rate may be badly worded in the regs and specify max 'petrol' flow rate. Otherwise if FIA know someone is using more than 100kg/hr 'fuel' then they could stop them surely? Very interesting point you raised EternalMSC.
Wasted, undoubtedly, but he has to take some of the blame himself. He's missed out on some good cars by going off under a cloud, and whilst he might have matured in his later years, he doesn't have a reputation of being easy to work with. His antics at Mclaren aren't going to be the most endearing either. When he left Ferrari there were serious question marks as to whether they wanted to retain him anyway, and unlike Rosberg, Button, Raikkonen, Ricciardo, etc, you can't pair him with another top driver and be sure you won't see inter-team fireworks. I do hope he achieves more in F1, but more and more I don't see it happening. A Renault move is not going to get him back on the podium within 2-3 years, and if Ferrari or Mercedes want to risk a personality clash, Max Verstappen is going to be a lot more attractive to them. Should Bottas and Raikkonen get the boot over the winter, I think Perez, Hulkenburg and Grosjean will all be higher on Merc/Ferrari shopping lists than Alonso.
I don't think this race is a straight forward slam dunk for Ferrari and/or Vettel. What I'm more interested in is how Merc handle potential team orders and having to fight and be strategical to win. I suspect they will implode.
Merc's strategy calls are certainly going to be interesting! Ferrari seemed to have the race pace in free practice, and they appear to have had the edge in that area all season. If they maintain the 1-2 into turn 1, I think they'll be difficult to beat. Kimi will probably act as a rear gunner for Seb, whether on purpose or not, as Vettel builds an insurmountable advantage. How do Merc scheme it? Unfortunately for them it's likely a 1 stop race (US then SS) which gives them little wiggle room. US probably until lap 15-20 then finish on SS (53 laps). About a second per lap expected between compounds. I think Merc need to undercut with both drivers, but put their leader on US not SS, and hope that they can get ahead of the lead Ferrari after the first round of pitstops. If both get ahead then the SS runner should "just" need to maintain track position for the rest of the race. The US runner stands a better chance at the undercut because of the second a lap advantage they'll have on tyres. If they're within 2 seconds when they pit then they'll definitely jump one, if not both Ferrari's if necessary. So with clean air and US tyres, they need to be at least 1 second a lap faster to make the strategy work. 23 seconds for a pitstop means 23 laps on the UltraSofts, right on the limit for the tyre life you'd expect.
RedBull don't seem on form this year. Max rear brakes failing, aero correlation issues etc..... Have they lost some key staff?
Channel 4 doing some great graphics clearly showing Merc fast on straights but Ferrari so much better in slower corners. Is it Ferrari wheelbase, better aero, or maybe better traction. Ferrari at Monaco should be interesting.
I hope Hondas problems are mainly caused by the vibrations breaking other bits. So once they fix the vibrations 90% of problems go away?
I wonder how much they're paying Sauber to run their engine in 2018, will it be the first pay-engine?
Honda are embarssing. Alonso deserves so much better then this. Hope he's in the Mercedes next season.