Korean GP 2011 - Yeong-Am International Circuit

[raymondu999]

Yes their nose has been mighty in fast and slow. In long slow corners like Rivage they can stick to the apex; and corners like Nurburgring T1 they were absolutely mighty

[beelsebob]

For refrence – I was wrong – the DRS was pretty perfect here. The fact that it was straight out of the pits made it very very interesting, also, the fact that it was after a significant overtaking zone made it very interesting – gave a good chance to make the pass back by tucking underneath.

[raymondu999]

For refrence – I was wrong – the DRS was pretty perfect here. The fact that it was straight out of the pits made it very very interesting, also, the fact that it was after a significant overtaking zone made it very interesting – gave a good chance to make the pass back by tucking underneath.

Hence why I thought Rosberg out braked himself on purpose out of the pits - so he could DRS Jenson

[ell66]

For refrence – I was wrong – the DRS was pretty perfect here. The fact that it was straight out of the pits made it very very interesting, also, the fact that it was after a significant overtaking zone made it very interesting – gave a good chance to make the pass back by tucking underneath.

Hence why I thought Rosberg out braked himself on purpose out of the pits - so he could DRS Jenson

I dont think so, he just locked up his tyres.

"To defend like that throughout a race with a car that wasn't performing as well as it should have been"

Thats a comment from whitmarsh, i wander why that was the case.

[raymondu999]

why what was the case? The car wasn't performing? Lewis had massive understeer on the primes

[myurr]

why what was the case? The car wasn't performing? Lewis had massive understeer on the primes

Whitmarsh is quoted on Autosport elaborating on this saying that for reasons unknown Lewis's car suddenly lost 10 points of downforce (a huge amount, roughly equivalent to losing an endplate!) on the first lap. So he was effectively running the entire race with a 'damaged' front wing.

[beelsebob]

why what was the case? The car wasn't performing? Lewis had massive understeer on the primes

Whitmarsh is quoted on Autosport elaborating on this saying that for reasons unknown Lewis's car suddenly lost 10 points of downforce (a huge amount, roughly equivalent to losing an endplate!) on the first lap. So he was effectively running the entire race with a 'damaged' front wing.

Holy crap, he did incredibly well to keep in front of webber then! I thought he'd driven a good race before hearing that!

[CHT]

It good to see that Adrian Newey has stopped going to races to spend more time designing RB8..

[myurr]

Okay the causes for the downforce losses are coming out in the latest interviews. On Lewis's car tyre rubber had lodged itself in the slot gap in the front wing, filling it and causing the losses in downforce. I would guess that this was causing that section of the wing to stall causing all Lewis's understeer problems in the high speed corners.

Jensen's front wing was damaged by a stone also causing a loss of downforce, albeit not to the same extent.

[raymondu999]

Yes apparently marbles have been doing their part in stalling wings this year

[ringo]

Good race,

rebull is constantly the stongest car. I think the few times they were off the ball was all down to set up affecting degradation.

This race, the Mclaren looked better than ever and so did the Ferrari, however the 2 redbulls were on a different level.
Looking from the helicopter view, Webber looked monstrous under braking and in the flowing sections of the lap.
Vettel was his usual self growing the gap from the start, running and hiding.
Hamilton was hanging on pretty well, keeping the gap small to vettel, when under normal circumstances with other drivers vettel would be more than 15 seconds up the road in the first stint.

Now what i found interesting was how selfish Button was in the middle part of the race.
He had no interest in fighting webber, as this would give hamilton time to focus on Vettel.
Button wanted to sit back until both their tyres went off, or the took each other out.
What a teammate huh?
Secondly his little meanness canceled out, as he was waiting so long that Alonso caught him. By the time this happened he had no rubber left to even think about fighting webber and moving up. Button, the most calculated and for self guy on the grid.
The team indicated that he could catch webber, but it seems he has no interest in giving the team the best opportunity if it puts him at a slight risk.
Mclaren need to have a word with him. A good number of times now he's show to be very much for his own little interests.

Switching gears to other drivers, Alonso was a beast! He put 5s in Bulky in a matter of laps after the pitstop. He could have got button if he just calmed his nerves a bit.
Then he "gave up". Guy's ruthless.

[ringo]

Redbull is just free styling, they really have nothing to lose.

I would experiment with different strategies for next year too if i were them.

I wouldn't read too much into their choice, as it really doesn't look advantageous.
When the track is rubbered in, both tyres are almost the same after a few laps on them.

The best strategy is always to go with the fastest tyres and then leave the last stint for the aproximate lap limit of the prime tyre.
If the prime can do 20 laps, you got 35 laps on options to play with and split how you chose.
Faster tyre is always the best to get on when the car has some weight in it.

Whoo! I can be a race engineer now.
As expected, the tyre wear is over estimated in practice.
I am willing to bet most races will use this strategy. There are no surprises anymore back to 2010 levels of predicatable stops. Bring back refueling!

[Richard]

Its nice to talk 'bout the Big Guns of F1, but ...

I agree, Jaime Alguersuari had a good race. I also thought Rosberg is showing his skill in recent races with some great opening laps and then we saw him taking opportunities in this race, even against Button in the much faster McLaren.

Looks like Merc will keep ahead of Force India. The Torro Rosso v Sauber battle is getting interesting.

[PlatinumZealot]

I was sweating profusely when Webber was catching up.. only by the gift of KERS and a bit of luck with the track layout were Mclaren able to hold on. They say mclaren is close now, but I am still not really comforatable for 2012, redbull still got that bit extra

eh?

I thought you were a diehard RB fan nowadays? Make your mind up!

....

Or why not appreciate all the cars?

A fan of the car. I have it as my wallpaper. Technical masterpiece.

[Shrieker]

Okay the causes for the downforce losses are coming out in the latest interviews. On Lewis's car tyre rubber had lodged itself in the slot gap in the front wing, filling it and causing the losses in downforce. I would guess that this was causing that section of the wing to stall causing all Lewis's understeer problems in the high speed corners.

Jensen's front wing was damaged by a stone also causing a loss of downforce, albeit not to the same extent.

Whaaaaaaaa ?!? Can that even happen I told in another tread that I don't like marbles. Ok the tyre should degrade, but the marbling is waaay over the top, it creates security issues and sometimes puts the off-racing line out of comission so it can't be used, hampering racing. If really a tyre piece got stuck in the fw (and if that's what caused the df loss), tough, tough luck Lewis.