Looks like nobody will be touching the hard tyres in qualifying looking at the 1 lap low fuel performance difference. I would say a 4 stop. Usual suspects look strong but the acid test comes Sunday! as not even Saturday gives us an indication of who has the pace anymore.
Well, yeah, but - if this is indeed what Newey has done - above and below what? What surface is being affected? I don't think the application of this theory would have any effect beneath the sidepod or more than a negligible effect above it. If you could channel airflow from under the floor to the top of the sidepod (in the same way that the Sauber channels it from under the nose to the top of the bulkhead) then there would be an aero advantage but does taking it from above the floor and feeding it to somewhere else above the floor provide any benefit? And how does ducting the airflow from behind the sidepod to above it affect the balance between high and low pressure enough for it to be worthwhile?
Mark Hughes' view of Friday compressed to one(2) paragraph: Oddly it seems Button may win the quali fight and then Hamilton looks good for winning the race (long stints) fight.
What is the deal with gear ratios? Am I right in saying that they are set before the weekend and cannot be changed during it? ie. during or after practice Also I hear all teams have to choose a set of gears ratios before the season, can those ratios then not be modified, like, at all during the year. So they would only have like 7 (whatever number) of choices available?
They're set after free practice 2, not before the weekend. I think they select about fifty before the season but I can't remember where I read that so I might be way off. Maybe they select from a set of fifty. EDIT - I was way off, it's thirty:
Seb's body language isn't very confident. Reckon RBR still haven't sorted that rear out yet and I got a feeling Seb will revert to the one Webber was using today either in practice 3 or Q1.
Ferrari more confident about their performance. With Massa being a second off the pace, I'm think Alonso can be 7 tenths off the pace in qualifying and even closer in race pace.
From what I've read, going into the weekend: On Saturday it looks rosy for Button, followed by Vettel and Webber with Hamilton then behind these 3. Lotus and Merc (with Mercedes edging Lotus) seem way off that as do Ferrari. On Sunday it looks like the Louts' have the race pace. They were doing long stints in the hight 1:29's and low 1:30's. The McLaren and Red bulls were mid 1:30's and the Mercedes seemed at the back end of the 1:31's. With Lotus looking to run away with it on Sunday the race for 3rd is between Red Bull and McLaren. They seemed to have similar pace but Button could make his tyres fade slightly slower than Vettel and Webber, maybe stretching 2 more laps out of them. On the softs Hamiltons race pace was similar to Button but on the hards he could go faster and for longer. Hamilton may be back on schedule for collecting 3rd's. Raikkonen seems set to be in a position for a win
Looks like the hards could be preferable for the race at these temperatures. Mclarens were in the low 1:30's on each set, but the softs were done after 9 laps whereas the hards in lewis' case were getting faster after 9 laps. Interesting and confusing stuff. We dont know the fuel loads however.
Practice 2 timings of "same fuel": http://www.fia.com/en-GB/mediacentre/f1_media/Documents/esp-session2-times.pdf Seb: 1:30.769 1:30.514 1:30.717 1:30.852 1:30.737 1:30.628 1:30.948 1:31.001 1:31.494 1:31.770 1:31.735 1:32.085////12 laps Webber: 1:31.329 1:31.518 1:32.267 1:31.430 1:30.983 1:31.167 1:31.075 1:31.214 1:30.956 1:30.930///10 laps Jenson: 1:30.390 1:30.231 1:34.646 1:30.125 1:30.204 1:31.480 1:30.662 1:31.696 1:30.490 1:30.773 1:30.761///11 laps Lewis: 1:30.424 1:30.060 1:30.312 1:30.124 1:36.429 1:30.513 1:30.179 1:30.259 1:30.148 1:29.894///10 laps Alonso: 1:30.264 1:29.761 1:30.177 1:31.266 1:30.460 1:30.850 1:30.986 1:31.576///8 laps Kimi and Grojsean were on very long runs like 16 laps. Kimi: 1:30.145 1:30.141 1:30.307 1:29.632 1:29.687 1:30.146 1:30.831 1:30.812 1:30.899 1:34.884 1:30.789 1:31.933 1:31.691 1:31.572 1:32.644 1:32.164 Romain: 1:30.660 1:29.580 1:30.290 1:30.017 1:29.882 1:29.879 1:30.232 1:33.700 1:30.304 1:30.739 1:30.622 1:30.869 1:31.377 1:32.155 1:32.865 Seb though did a 14 lap stint: 1:31.654 1:33.730 1:31.409 1:31.761 1:32.081 1:31.398 1:31.702 1:31.773 1:31.539 1:31.746 1:31.257 1:31.588 1:41.091 1:31.271
How do you think someone would do, If they intentianally set their fastest lap and started on the harder tyre, get the hard stints out of the way early and do the 2nd half of their race on the softs, gambling on a SC to bunch the pack up for them, so they would be on softs and everyone else on hards. Super foolish?
The Hards seem as fast as the softs at the moment so it could be used by several of them. ... worlds most expensive game of Jenga
Drivers debate penalties going off track: http://www.bbc.co.uk/sport/0/formula1/18042665 Seems Schumacher and Massa were very "open" about Lewis' "illegal" overtake. Some drivers felt there should be a zero-tolerance approach to this - with seven-time world champion Michael Schumacher and Ferrari's Felipe Massa particularly vocal. But others - including world champion Sebastian Vettel - argued that stewards should be allowed to use their discretion. This was because there are such a wide variety of instances in which this could apply, and a penalty would in some of the less serious cases be draconian - an example it would be for gaining 0.1secs by cutting a chicane. Vettel and others felt that stewards should be able to take into account the size of the advantage gained and the mitigating circumstances that could be involved. It is understood no driver actively disagreed with this view once Vettel had raised it.
