Lewis Hamilton has won the inaugural Saudi Arabian Grand Prix, but it wasn't a straightforward affair as Max Verstappen pulled off some questionable manoeuvres during the eventful race. Valtteri Bottas finished third by passing Ocon on the finish line.
I just looked at his F3 season. Those run of wins are impressive stranglehold on the championship that season. It looks like he had the most wins - he should’ve won the championship. For whatever reason, it looks like he also has the most DNF’s of the front running drivers in the championship. I don’t have the energy to look into the causes of those DNF’s, but surely not all of them are mechanical failure?
It would be a bizarre parallel to this season if he doesn’t win the championship despite most wins
If Hamilton wins both remaining races- as he needs to, assuming neither of them have anything untoward happen- then it’ll be 9 wins each, I think. It is possible but very unlikely for Hamilton to win the title but with only 8 wins. It would require a DNF for Verstappen or a very low points finish in one of the races.
I can very much see Hamilton winning the championship with 8 wins. A Mercedes 1-2 in Saudi putting Lewis on 8 wins. Then another Merc 1-2 in Abu Dhabi with Lewis letting Valtteri take the win as a thank you for the help over the last 5 years. All Championships secured with 8 race wins. All very possible, especially if the saudi track suits the Merc and Bottas gets a more powerful PU for the last 2 races as mentioned in the Mercedes team thread.
That's definitely possible. But of course it would require both cars out front with a little bit of clean air to Verstappen and a 'clean' weekend for the team. I've honestly lost track of the last time both MB and RBR both had a clean weekend with the cars qualifying and/or finishing 1-2-3-4. In fact, have they had a 1-2-3-4 finish all season? It's entirely possible, but I just can't think of a race off the top of my head.
With those walls I anticipate at least one and probably more safety car situations which probably means the race & possibly the championship will be decided by pit or stay out decisions by the teams & not the skills of the drivers. I hope that isn't the way it plays out but ....
I am hoping it will be like Baku 2015
Er, what happened in Baku in 2015? It wasn't an F1 race that's for sure.
This will be a hell of an interesting weekend in so many ways. Street ciruit, supposed RBR areo updates, Mercedes’ mysterious rocket engine, evolving track conditions, inconsistent performing wingmen, immense pressure on Lewis and Max. Everything you can wish for in a single weekend!
Engineering thrives on communication. Jus soli defending WDC, love and merchandise McLaren, passion and inspiration Ferrari. Open wheel car racing and karting addict.
tbh this track is quite terrifying from the onboards. It's literally a high speed power circuit with Monaco levels demands on many corners. The margins from hero to zero is inches.
This will be a hell of an interesting weekend in so many ways. Street ciruit, supposed RBR areo updates, Mercedes’ mysterious rocket engine, evolving track conditions, inconsistent performing wingmen, immense pressure on Lewis and Max. Everything you can wish for in a single weekend!
It looks highly demanding to me, like high speed Monaco, but we’ll soon see. There’s several “wall of champions sections”.
I’m not sure how accurate these sim previews actually are.
This seems the best I’ve seen
Looks like pole position will be everything here then.
Following in dirty air is going to be a tyre shredder and engine/brake boiler.
There's barely a chance to pull out to the side to cool the car because you need to be on the racing line all the time (there aren't really any other lines) and you're forever turning/braking or accelerating or some combination, which you'll have to rely on the tyres more to achieve as downforce will be compromised.
It looks highly demanding to me, like high speed Monaco, but we’ll soon see. There’s several “wall of champions sections”.
I’m not sure how accurate these sim previews actually are.
This seems the best I’ve seen
Looks like pole position will be everything here then.
Following in dirty air is going to be a tyre shredder and engine/brake boiler.
There's barely a chance to pull out to the side to cool the car because you need to be on the racing line all the time (there aren't really any other lines) and you're forever turning/braking or accelerating or some combination, which you'll have to rely on the tyres more to achieve as downforce will be compromised.
And the walls....I think the walls if they are like in the Sim are a big factor:
You need to follow the wall to be quick, but the wall will keep the dirty air "encapsulated" by preventing it from wind.
Slight sideways wind usually helps the following car as it disturbs both cars and removes a bit the dirty air....now the question is if you can have any sideways wind in these tunnels.
If we do not have some breeze from the sea, I fear that the dirty air will be massive.
This will be a hell of an interesting weekend in so many ways. Street ciruit, supposed RBR areo updates, Mercedes’ mysterious rocket engine, evolving track conditions, inconsistent performing wingmen, immense pressure on Lewis and Max. Everything you can wish for in a single weekend!
Looks like pole position will be everything here then.
Following in dirty air is going to be a tyre shredder and engine/brake boiler.
There's barely a chance to pull out to the side to cool the car because you need to be on the racing line all the time (there aren't really any other lines) and you're forever turning/braking or accelerating or some combination, which you'll have to rely on the tyres more to achieve as downforce will be compromised.
And the walls....I think the walls if they are like in the Sim are a big factor:
You need to follow the wall to be quick, but the wall will keep the dirty air "encapsulated" by preventing it from wind.
Slight sideways wind usually helps the following car as it disturbs both cars and removes a bit the dirty air....now the question is if you can have any sideways wind in these tunnels.
If we do not have some breeze from the sea, I fear that the dirty air will be massive.
driving close to the wall cleans the wake up a bit surely? it lowers the drag of the car doesnt it so much clean the wake
If Hamilton wins both remaining races- as he needs to, assuming neither of them have anything untoward happen- then it’ll be 9 wins each, I think. It is possible but very unlikely for Hamilton to win the title but with only 8 wins. It would require a DNF for Verstappen or a very low points finish in one of the races.
I can very much see Hamilton winning the championship with 8 wins. A Mercedes 1-2 in Saudi putting Lewis on 8 wins. Then another Merc 1-2 in Abu Dhabi with Lewis letting Valtteri take the win as a thank you for the help over the last 5 years. All Championships secured with 8 race wins. All very possible, especially if the saudi track suits the Merc and Bottas gets a more powerful PU for the last 2 races as mentioned in the Mercedes team thread.
That's definitely possible. But of course it would require both cars out front with a little bit of clean air to Verstappen and a 'clean' weekend for the team. I've honestly lost track of the last time both MB and RBR both had a clean weekend with the cars qualifying and/or finishing 1-2-3-4. In fact, have they had a 1-2-3-4 finish all season? It's entirely possible, but I just can't think of a race off the top of my head.
Paul Ricard I think.
"Nosotros diferimos, pero nosotros todos son iguales"
I can very much see Hamilton winning the championship with 8 wins. A Mercedes 1-2 in Saudi putting Lewis on 8 wins. Then another Merc 1-2 in Abu Dhabi with Lewis letting Valtteri take the win as a thank you for the help over the last 5 years. All Championships secured with 8 race wins. All very possible, especially if the saudi track suits the Merc and Bottas gets a more powerful PU for the last 2 races as mentioned in the Mercedes team thread.
That's definitely possible. But of course it would require both cars out front with a little bit of clean air to Verstappen and a 'clean' weekend for the team. I've honestly lost track of the last time both MB and RBR both had a clean weekend with the cars qualifying and/or finishing 1-2-3-4. In fact, have they had a 1-2-3-4 finish all season? It's entirely possible, but I just can't think of a race off the top of my head.
Paul Ricard I think.
I had a quick look and it actually happened in Brazil(!)
And as you say, France too. Also Portugal and Austria 1.
It's quite surprising it's only happened 4 times considering the cars have been the class of the field.
Looks like pole position will be everything here then.
Following in dirty air is going to be a tyre shredder and engine/brake boiler.
There's barely a chance to pull out to the side to cool the car because you need to be on the racing line all the time (there aren't really any other lines) and you're forever turning/braking or accelerating or some combination, which you'll have to rely on the tyres more to achieve as downforce will be compromised.
And the walls....I think the walls if they are like in the Sim are a big factor:
You need to follow the wall to be quick, but the wall will keep the dirty air "encapsulated" by preventing it from wind.
Slight sideways wind usually helps the following car as it disturbs both cars and removes a bit the dirty air....now the question is if you can have any sideways wind in these tunnels.
If we do not have some breeze from the sea, I fear that the dirty air will be massive.
driving close to the wall cleans the wake up a bit surely? it lowers the drag of the car doesnt it so much clean the wake
No, driving close to the wall increases drag (the air being pushed sideways into the wall ‘bounces back’ into the car. There is a sweet-spot for the car in relation to the wall, watch a bit of NASCAR or Indycar racing and you will see that they do not get too close to the walls
Perspective - Understanding that sometimes the truths we cling to depend greatly on our own point of view.
This will be a hell of an interesting weekend in so many ways. Street ciruit, supposed RBR areo updates, Mercedes’ mysterious rocket engine, evolving track conditions, inconsistent performing wingmen, immense pressure on Lewis and Max. Everything you can wish for in a single weekend!
What RB aero updates have you heard about?
There aren’t any.
Verstappen already confirmed a few weeks ago the development program is done. They’ll have to fix their DRS actuator for their medium downforce wing option, though.
This will be a hell of an interesting weekend in so many ways. Street ciruit, supposed RBR areo updates, Mercedes’ mysterious rocket engine, evolving track conditions, inconsistent performing wingmen, immense pressure on Lewis and Max. Everything you can wish for in a single weekend!
What RB aero updates have you heard about?
Unreliable rumors on dutch tv. Let’s wait and see if the oscillation on the drs actuator is solved before we start believing we might learn how fast they can copy Mercedes’ wing magic. Would add some spice to the weekend though. I suppose they want to run the smaller rearwing configuration that has the oscillation issue and when not sorted out they may very well once more lack speed and suffer from balance and understeer problems (when they need to fall back to a larger rearwing during a weekend where you need every second of tracktime). New actuator design is not allowed since it is a homologated part so curious as to how they will solve this.
Engineering thrives on communication. Jus soli defending WDC, love and merchandise McLaren, passion and inspiration Ferrari. Open wheel car racing and karting addict.
