56 laps of the 5.513-kilometre Circuit of The Americas 18th October Practice 1 18:30 - 19:30 18th October Sprint Qualifying 22:30 - 23:14 19th October Sprint 19:00 - 20:00 19th October Qualifying 23:00 - 00:00 20th October Race 20:00 - 22:00 All times are UK times Poll closes before Quali - Saturday!!!!!
Oscar is on a roll. I think he can win here. I`m really ready for a race weekend again,I`ve missed my GP fix more this time than the summer break.
I am hoping Mclaren can maintain the momentum and advantage. Keen for them to pick up both championships. Red Bull will no doubt have addressed their recent lack of performance. We have a sprint weekend too. My hopes will either be dashed by Sunday evening or hope will prevail.
I was reading somewhere today that a team unnamed by the FIA have been adjusting the clearance of the front bib – commonly known as a T-tray – between qualifying and the race. They keep one setting for qualy when fuel load is low and then maybe a mechanic or some other person is changing the clearance within the cockpit for the race with full fuel when the car is in for pre-race preparations. Don`t know why FIA are not telling which team it is because that`s got other teams wondering who it is.Maybe FIA don`t have enough proof.
This article explains why they can’t know for sure if someone cheated and that really the story is that if someone was cheating the FIA should now be able to prevent that. https://www.autosport.com/f1/news/why-the-fias-front-bib-trick-clampdown-is-not-going-to-stop-team-intrigue/10663448/ If you assume there’s a strong suspicion someone has cheated and it’s one of the top four teams, then the fact that fingers aren’t being pointed narrows it down to two. Along with reading between the lines in this article, I think it’s pretty clear where suspicions lie.
If these assumptions are true then Red Bull appear to cheat almost every year. The character of the company is driven by the management, says it all.
The old Benetton excuse being getting a run out I see. "we designed an illegal device for our car but never used it" Wonder how long it's been there
It's a bit weird as by all accounts being able to raise and lower the t tray allows best quali performance on low fuel then adjust before race to enable full fuel running. It's supposed to help over the kerbs, where red bull seem to have been poor recently. I wonder if this is actually old news and FIA found out early in the season and stopped red bull using this device, hence their drop in performance.
Yes, I wondered that. Seems highly likely, but that still means they cheated, for which the right solution is a points penalty. I naively ask the question, could this have been true last season too?
If it is true for last season there is little or no chance of proof now,but I think it`s more than a coincidence that RBR won every race except one last year, Adrian Newey very clever at finding loopholes in the rules.Funny how Max stopped winning just as Newey leaves.!!
Now been confirmed by Red Bull, that this is indeed them! As in most aspects of life, those who shout loudest normally have the most to hide.
Martin and Ted seem to be saying that Red Bull are currently (live on tv) showing the FIA how they could (but never did ) adjust the level of the T tray with a mega long extension on a ratchet (about 60cm long) . I was under the impression the problem was that Red Bull had a mechanism that allowed the T tray height to be adjusted Without Tools and that was against the rules. So why Martin and Ted are saying it's so great to see FIA being shown how to adjust it!!! Seems to me like Red Bull had been able to adjust the height without tools and now they are showing the new method that requires tools? All that said seems like they have found a bit of speed. Pity! Ignore the above, seems like the device was only ever able to be adjusted with a long tool - not naming any names . The thing that now confuses me is that all other teams have the adjustment on the outside of the car. That suggests to me that the other teams envisaged that they need to be able to adjust the T tray height frequently during practice sessions. By Red Bull having the adjustment via an access panel would suggest they didn't need to adjust very often OR they thought that they could legitimately adjust something allowed (driver comfort) through the access panel and while they where there tweak the T Tray height. Surely FIA have scrutineers notes between every quali and race session which would tell them if the access panel was removed at all! Plus there is garage cctv that might still exist? All a bit iffy if you ask me.
What a weird session, Max’s pole lap looked so slow and controlled - I guess the soft tyre just isn’t even up to a lap at any where near a quick pace.
Looks like my hopes will lie in ruins on the floor after this weekend but will hang onto the dream till the weekend is over. That was all about a one lap of tyre management.
Not sure if I’ve fully followed this? I think the summary is: every car has a system to adjust this, and “someone” complained because RedBull’s is inside the cockpit and all the others have systems that are actuated externally? The suggestion was that because it was internal and hidden from view you could be adjusting it secretly and illegally in Parc Fermé but actually it turns out, it would be really obvious if you did that, because you need to use this long tool?
Unhappy with the sprint result but I enjoyed the sprint. No long game, they all had to get on with it. Makes for fun racing.
Yes, originally I read that the adjustment was in cockpit without tools! Looks like it was within the cockpit but an access panel needs removing then a long tool used to adjust. So unless the 'ratchet with long extension' is needed for another legitimate reason under parc ferme then the cctv and stewards notes should exonerate Red Bull. The cynic in me thinks this adjustment has been available and the FIA knew about it at the back end of last year and have been monitoring it since then and now Red Bull have found an alternative solution to regain their speed, it's now been published. I still don't get why, what would seem like a routine adjustment, requires the pedals to be removed on the Red Bull and other teams can just adjust it from the outside! Seems a mad design unless there is an alternative reason!!!
