All a bit mad really. Willing to see how it goes, and will try not to judge it by how it goes for my preferred drivers (good so far!) but it does feel like an odd 'fix'.
Other rule change is that Q2 tyres not used for start. I believe that they can select any tyres for both sprint and race starts.
Weird that RBR decided to make changes to an incredibly dominant car between practice and Qually. Incredible laps from Lewis and especially George. Lewis had that extra 0.3 to go too. Great stuff from Chaz The Clerk too.
He's young and I reckon he will get the merc drive next year . The I can think they will stick with Bottas , is that next year it is a compete reset .
The tyre rule is being dropped for next season in all quali formats too. Hamilton takes the "Pirelli Speed King Award" today, and is in pole first position for the pole position shootout tomorrow. I wish I was joking about the Speed King award...
I am sure the data showed they could be faster and I think they thought Merc were sandbagging, so any advantage they can take from the data they would. Just checked and Parc Ferme only kicks in at start of quali, not at end of practice 1 as I had thought! They are now only allowed to adjust, wings, tyre pressures and weigh distribution plus if temp changes by 10degC then they can alter cooling. So not sure if practice session tomorrow morning is any more than a tyre degradation test?
Yeah going to be a weird one, there's time within the session to run a full sprint-race distance sim, so presumably if they want to the teams can do so and get an idea of tyre life towards the end of the sprint race. Not sure if that's more useful, or assume the softs last long enough for the sprint race, and get some running in on the medium tyres.
Not sure the C4 exit music was a good choice (Sweet Caroline), although I do like the song, just wasn't very lucky for England team. Hopefully better for Lewis, Lando and George
3 Brits in the top 8 of not-quali, same as Austria. Before that you have to go back to the 2012 Singapore GP for such a strong British showing (Hamilton 1st, Button 4th, Di Resta 6th)
Just got back to the hotel from Silverstone. The traffic getting out is a nightmare! Also can confirm George definitely got the biggest cheer of the day especially when he stuck it on P8 and then came back in and parked up. I really hope he's in a Merc next year! Really glad Lewis stuck it on pole and hope he does well tomorrow and Sunday. The only other race I've been too was Melbourne in 2013 when he just joined Merc before the engine changes so he only finished 5th that day. Would love to see a Lewis win, especially at Silverstone.
One positive of this sprint race is the abandoning of the q2 tyre rule. Part of the reason for the gap between f1 and f1.5 is that cars 5th-10th often had to run an unfavourable strategy.
Looks like they are doing sprint race simulations with tyres? There could be some interesting strats with some on soft and some on medium. Sprint could be interesting.
Just thought, there are a max of 29 drivers points available this weekend!!! That could have a big impact if someone doesn't finish!
It's weird how Mazepin is so universally loved the world around He's like the next Helio Castroneves.
