Merc bringing their new Tokened PU to Spa.. Therefore, its confirmed that Hamilton will be taking the new improved PU and subsequent Grid Pen.. new units for FP1 and if they go well, another new unit for FP3 Rosberg to also get new upgraded PU but without the Grid Pen hit!
Rosberg will be taking PU 4. he gets one more? is this right? Hamilton will be on PU 4 or 5? but has taken the two so will have one in car and one in reserve just like rosberg In short: if this race goes as expected rosberg "should" win so hamiton should lose 10 to 15 points (worst case IMO) to rosberg. equal cars, equal engines left, hamilton to lead by some single digit number by end. Italian GP to come. = hamilton will win this title.
I can't see Hamilton focusing too much on single lap pace in FP sessions, so don't expect him to top any times. Also, don't see him doing too much in Quali either, may go out, set a nominal time and park it up. He'll most likely start on the Softs (others will most likely start on Super Softs.) he'll have a longer stint in the first phase, make up positions (if he avoids first lap issues) and then pick off half of the field before the first stops. Getting past the Ferrari's, FIs, Williams and RBs won't be easy, Ferrari have a quick car in a straight line, the RBs will be running Skinny wings and the FI and Williams will have the same engines! Podium is unlikely me thinks, best bet is top 5.
Looks like it's Rosberg's to lose, and if anyone can, he can. You can never rule out one of his lapses. But I have gone for him anyway. Would be nice to see something different though. Perhaps a good performance from Vettel.
I don't think anyone will argue with you, but we at least want some action and not just Lewis cruising around, winning at the first corner.
yup. totally agree. I don't cae who wins i just want a genuine decent race. Could rain here for example.. Love this one.
Forecast is set fair, should be warm and dry.. Although, this is Spa and it tends to have its own Micro Climate!
McLaren have bought their upgraded PU (7tokens) this weekend apparantly. Working through the rumour mill, there could be 20bhp gain but a big jump in fuel efficiency, which has been hurting them real bad on race days.
Good news if true, fuel efficiency is obviously the main issue. But having said all that, considering most feel their chassis is sound and that there engine is ahead of the Ferrari 2015 unit and equal to the current Renault unit, their 1 lap pace is still significantly lacking?
Just reading the Merc are saying Lewis will only take 15 place penalties for changing sixth MGU-H and sixth turbocharger plus taking the rest of the PU penalty free as it will be his 4th. The thing that I find interesting is if you look at the component useage so far Merc (as a PU supplier) have the highest use of components on their own works cars and the lowest on all the other teams they supply! To me that categorically proves Merc are either supplying a different PU spec to their customers or not allowing their customers to run the higher power maps (not sure about specs of fuels!). Once again the FIA need to crack down, works teams exclusive use of certain maps/PU modes should not be allowed. That way the customers would have a fighting chance at getting towards the front. This situation really shows why Ron and McLaren wanted to be the works team in any PU deal. Currently it does appear that unless you are 'the works' team you will never get close to the front!
the penalises currently are alonso 35 hamilton 30 so we need ot know if hamilton will take more penalities this weekend. erikson has a 10 place so he will be right down as well but obviously hamilton looks on for last place. Rumours are he will.. He has taken 15 penalites early and 15 more in P2. ...................... On the PU, I dunno. there is certainly a case to be made that all things being equal a non works mercedes isn't all that and a bag of chips as proved by the grid. But being a on works team for anyone is not a nice thing ever. Like... all non works teams have always been at this disadvantage. At this point nobody will ever make an engine that isn't also going racing so.... its kind of a pity the old days where you could get a cosworth engine and away you go are well and truly gone.
Hamilton would probably finish second if he started from pouhon so i don't see the big issue. He's made up a 40 point gap, i don't think a loss of 7 will be the swinger. The most exciting part of the race at the moment is that Force India look like they might take it to Ferrari and Red Bull tommorow. The McLaren upgrade hasn't been impressive, but i think we need to remember how much this track punishes a bad engine. Without the upgrade they'd probably have fallen back a lot here.
As long as its fun.... We need a bit more of this and unreliability built in. the rules as they stand encourage reliability as well as speed and we used to have lots of guys blow up which just doesn't happen any more. tyre saving... sheesh. this is going to be decent i hope. I HATE F1 where i know what will happen after 100m. I know rosberg should win this one but this hamilton factor mixes this one up.
Well.... how long have the softs run for so far? It might well be 3 and a saftey car ir drop of rain can assure that but some lads will try got on softs and run as long and as boringly as possible And anyone doing it should be hamilton fodder.
Sounds like Lewis has fitted a 3rd PU this weekend!!! So he should have more than enough for the end of the season. But if Merc spend any more tokens (if they have any left) Lewis wont get them without more penalties. Race looking like it could be good as temp are making tyres difficult. Force India and Estaban are only ones to have 2 sets of medium. I think Ferrari will have a tough time, they have 9 sets of super soft, only 3 soft and 1 medium. I think they gambled on much cooler temps.
Hamilton should fit a new PU for qualifying then a new one for the race. No more engine saving this season. Troll lol lol lol lol lol Is a mighty hole in the regulations
