The way that Lawson is fighting and having to struggle with the RBR,you could have a point. Bet he wishes he`d stayed at RB.
What I don't get is that all their drivers (probably excluding Max) are contracted to drive for either team so surely they can put each driver in both simulators and compare them directly. Unless the simulators aren't as good as they are cracked up to be in that they can't simulate the tyre wear due to driving style etc. I know the simulators are just 'models' but normally they tweak models to be as close to real life as possible. Does seem like there is something not quite right there?
I think there’s a few things going on here. Firstly we’re in a chassis dominated era and those tend to exacerbate the gap between drivers. Then the RedBull seems particularly peaky, so it’s especially hard to get the pace out of it. It’s a tool a genuine 10/10 driver can take advantage of, but something that a lesser driver will do worse in, than a slower car with more accessible performance. We’ve seen this before with no driver getting within 0.5s of Schumacher, particularly in the Benetton days. Back then that kind of gap was the difference between winning and 6th, nowadays the grid is really close, so when Lawson is 0.4-0.6s off Max it’s the difference between Q2 and Q3 and the all it takes is a mistake or some bad luck to put him a bit further behind and he’s out in Q1. It does make you think how many potentially great cars, never had a driver that could take advantage of them. For example, Merc were convinced the zero-pod concept was fast they just couldn’t unlock the speed.
Not sure the zero pod was the best example, it was suggested the lack of pods made preventing the porpoising nigh on impossible, thereby making the car slow.
A good weekend for the championship, with Piastri taking a decent chunk out of Lando’s lead, but not the most action packed race. It’s a potentially good sign for the season that McLaren seemed to have a smaller advantage in a front limited track than they did at a rear limited one. Quite a big form swing from Haas since Australia, George showing good consistency that might stand him in good stead if Merc can find a little more pace. The big story emerging after the race is that RedBull is already considering swapping Yuki with Lawson for Suzuka. It would seem a shame to pull the trigger that early as Suzaka is a track Lawson knows well. With the car as it is having Tsunoda coming 7th regularly isn’t really going to change much, it seems more like RedBull needs to find some pace or they’re going to be 4th in both Championships anyway.
Lewis disqualified from China GP. Disqualified from the final classification by the FIA after being found to be in breach of a strict F1 rule. A statement released by the motorsport's governing body said the thickness of the plank assembly was below the permitted minimum Edit.... Seems Charles is in trouble too with an underweight car,even after the missing front wing end plate was replaced.
I understand why we’re getting so many plank violations in the ground effect era as there’s a huge advantage to being as low as possible, but I wonder what’s behind cars failing the weight checks under this ruleset.
I think these instances of underweight are the time old practices of F1. Always push the envelope to the absolute maximum every time.It`s about who can stretch the elastic the most without it breaking.Even with components. Today,Ferrari stretched it too far.
Why not just get rid of this plank thickness rule. If teams want to run their cars as low as possible, then let them.
You’re right - I had the impression we’d experienced a number of weight related disqualifications under these rules, but actually it was just George last year, seemingly for similar reasons.
A fairly mundane race, I was hoping there would be some tyre troubles in the last few laps, but all the action seemed to happen in post race scrutineering. Ferrari lose a few points, but Williams and Haas needed them far more. Lawson managed to beat the Saubers on track, not sure how many races he'll get before the next fall guy gets the seat.
I can’t say I agree that Ferrari don’t need those points, it’s long way back to Norris and McLaren already, having thrown points away at both events so far. Something I omitted to say earlier, is that I’ve been hugely surprised by Hadjar. I expected he and Doohan to struggle, but actually both have shown decent speed in qualifying. Obviously last week Hadjar had a nightmare on the parade lap with and we didn’t get to see his race pace, but this week he wasn’t far off Tsunoda through the whole weekend. Given Yuki seems to have be being considered for RedBull even at this early stage, that’s pretty impressive.
Red Bull should bring Ricciardo back as he was only teammate to Max that actually got close, rest have just not been good enough.
I have wondered about Riccy, supposedly he pretty much matched the pace when running a test (was it Silverstone?). The only thing is his late breaking supposedly doesn't work well with the current designs (same has been said that is a problem with Lewis too).
