Spare Parts (F1 odds and ends)

I expect Sgt had a word

 

Maybe Sainz posted it to get paid as much as Charlie.

 

I'll sort em out.

I'm ready for the weekend already!

 

Mercedes’ won’t be. Saudi is a far faster track than Bahrain. I think Red Bull might be slight favourites over Ferrari for this track.

 

Yeah. I'll be absolutely amazed if they manage to improve the situation between now and then.

And based of what we saw at the weekend, you could be absolutely right. Assuming RBR get on top of whatever caused the fuel system woes.

 

I have to say that over 2 full tests not one single engine seized or boiled over for a red bull Honda.

They did far more laps but were clearly turned down so this issue will likely be resolved pretty quick.

I'm not sure on the advantage over ferrari but that ferrari was just better out of slow corners so the red bull MIGHT be better but I wouldn't want to be in an unstable car here.

Tbh I am praying nobody dies that all. I think this track is lunacy.

 

That is the first of the four he bragged about achieving by age 30. He will be 25 in September so he needs to win 50% of the remaining championships till he is 30.

 

He won't.

Just won't. Its that simple

 

I hope he won't. The talent in the sport is strong so if the cars are themselves closer he will fail.

 

Out of curiosity, why are the cars, during qualifying allowed to use DRS? I thought it was supposed to be an overtaking aid, so why is it being allowed when going for pole position etc?

 

I guess to get the absolute fastest lap. Pole would look silly if they could beat it in race.

 

How much does Drs add to a lap an

How much does DRS add to a lap anyway? Pole is usually the soft tyres for 1 lap on as little as fuel as possible. fastest lap is usually almost 3 seconds off that pace.

 

You're not alone. I've always wondered the same since its inception.

 

great when they first used it in quali and everywhere was a drs zone.

 

I was just having a look at PU homologation and it appears that it happened on 1st March!! So Merc are a bit stuck as they are not allowed to change things apart from MGU-K, energy store and control electronics with is allowed till August but only once!!! The homologation included fuels and lubricants!
Looking at the performance of all the Merc powered cars they do seem down on max power, maybe not so much in the race but their quali power seems well down.

So even if they fix the bouncing they might not be challenging for poles!
I did notice the Haas bouncing a lot when Lewis was chasing it, so even with bouncing Haas are quicker which does suggest to me Merc PU is well down?

 

All the evidence points to a slow merc engine now.

Just like 2020 or whenever ferrari were told to not use whatever chest they had and they all went slow and stayed slow.

It might only be the fuel or something but it seems to be a major change by the other teams passing them in power terms

Given this merc basically put a new engine in in Brazil and passed the entire field its a massive.massive turnabout.

 

The suggestion is that E10 may be the issue, and it may be causing overheating, hence the engines may have been turned down to prevent damage.

 

Well those are issues i don't know who they can resolve without having bigger radiators

the ferrari seems fine. they have clearly stopped development and left the 2021 car to trundle along and have got this engine right.

 

That's the obvious fix, but the customer cars have the same issue and proper sidepods so I think it's more involved. Maybe not though. Maybe we'll see the Barcelona sidepods back.