You thought Benson would pass up a sphincter-licking opportunity like this? Naive indeed!! Edit: Well, I've read it now and Lewis just wants to be loved! It's almost as if he's apologising for himself. Quite touching really.
I don't think Red Bull are dominant. Lewis set his fastest lap time on the medium while on a 10 lap run, i'm sure Vettel's run was less. We then saw Lewis set the fastest 1st sector while on the SS. Whether or not he could maintain that throughout the rest of his lap is another story but it shows Red Bull aren't streets ahead. Lotus' long run pace matched Red Bull and looked better at times too, Vettel's tyres while on the long runs on SS were very bad and we also saw Webber spin which may have been caused by lack of rear grip. You can't count out Ferrari either in race conditions. If Alonso or Massa qualify in the top 5 they can definitely take the fight to the Red Bulls.
BIL, I really hope you're right and I admire your optimism but I'm seriously worried that this season's going to be another Red Bull whitewash; you can almost smell it.
agreed. Red Bull look good for pole but the Ferrari and Lotus look better for the race. They were doing 1.31s, 1.32s compared to the Red Bulls 1.33s
If you got into Q3, would any of the front runners give up Pole and opt to do their fastest time on the Mediums? Its expected that the SS will need changing after 6-8 laps? Maybe start the race on the Mediums, 3 stops and only run the SS in the final stint, stopping between lap 48-50?
It could be a struggle to get off the line at the start if they qualify on the Supersofts. I think if Quali is dry and the pole sitter (Lets say Vettel) starts the race on the SS tyre and others around him are on mediums then there is a possibility they could jump him at the start. The likes of Ferrari could split their qualifying strategy in Q3. Massa for example on mediums and Alonso on Supersoft or vice versa. Presuming qualifying is dry I think if teams are really worried about Red Bull's pace then this could be the way to go. Split the strategy and make it harder for Red Bull in the race
Probably best. I think Webber may get caught out and someone could capitalise on that, Hamilton/Alonso/Vettel first row start.
Assuming its a dry quali... whilst not know the timing details (difference between the Med and SS tyres), but the more I think about it the more I'd want to start on the Med's for the race.. I'd burn a set of Med's to get into Q2, most of the top runners shouldn't need to use the SS. Then use the SS, maybe two sets in Q2 to get into Q3 Once in Q3 I'd set a handful of sector times on a new set of Med's (making sure I didn't take too much life out of them). So for the race I'd have 1 set of new Med's and 1 set of new SS whilst starting the race on a scrubed set of Med's
I think if Mclaren are as bad as they look, they should use their SS's to get into Q3 (if they are lucky) and run the rcae on the mediums with a late switch to the SS's!
If they've taken all the life out of the SSs during Q3 then yes, they may well struggle to get off the line, however more often than not, the softer the compound the better the launch at the start, unless you're called Mark Webber!
We saw over 1 lap the supersoft loses performance towards the end of the lap. So to start on this tyre having already completed 3 laps on it seems dangerous especially if you have drivers behind you on the mediums. You're at risk of potentially having a bad getaway and then pitting and rejoining in the pack where most cars will still be close to each other heading into turn 1
Aye, saw that during FP2, after a handful of laps the tyres on all the cars looked BAD! 3 laps taken out of those tyres during Q3, when they're only going to be good for 6-8 laps, could see people coming in from lap 5 onwards, as you say, the field will still be bunched and going through the pack, even with DRS assistance won't be that easy, hence my reasoning for starting the race on the Med's.
Yeah It will be a tough one for the teams tomorrow. Fortunately for them it looks like rain all day tomorrow there, I even saw hail!
Um just out of interest was Paddy Lowe involved in the development of the McLaren for this year? i just don't see how they can of gone from having the best car at the end of last year to being more than 2 seconds off the pace. They essentially just need to undo everything they've changed, i mean Button did a 1:25.9 in practice here last year and a 1:25 dead in quali and now they're in the 1:28s wtf?!!
