2014 Spanish Grand Prix - Barcelona

[Waywardism]

It's nice that Rosberg and Hamilton are playing along:
- l.H: "Nico did fantastically and I struggled to keep him behind but I managed to" How? At no point in the race he was close enough to attack you. Closer to walk in the part than to struggle.
- N.R. "I think one more to be honest, I could have given him a go. I wasn't close enough, but one more I would have been," One more lap? More like 5+ and 0,7+ faster car at least, ask Alonso. Not to mention that this "I needed x more laps" is usually a lie. If races were longer strategies would have looked differently for both car.

If you lose time following behind, drop 1,5s nurse tyres/fuel, attack before stops. Fine, on the similar strategy the outcome would have been probably identical, it's Barcelona - but why pretend it was thrilling or close race with tyres shuffling?

There is no pretense, it WAS a thrilling and close race. I'm sorry that you don't understand F1 enough to see that.

"I think one more to be honest, I could have given him a go."

That's exactly how I saw it. He closed up to the back of him quite quickly, around 0.5 most laps, which obviously slowed down once he was about 1.2 behind and started getting in the dirty air. Then he was gaining 1 or 2 tenths a lap. By the end he was 0.6 behind and very close to the point where he could have a go under braking, probably into turn 10.

[Waywardism]

I'm confident that the answer is that Lewis started with less. This would explain why Nico got relatively faster towards the end, as Lewis started with a light car (and hence an advantage), burning less narrows that advantage over time.

Yeah I never thought of that. It's a bit worrying that Lewis needs the lighter car to be faster, those 2 are a lot closer than I thought.

And people are complaining that 2014 is boring. Give me a break! The WCC might be a foregone conclusion but the WDC is wide open between the Merc boys.

[beelsebob]

I'm confident that the answer is that Lewis started with less. This would explain why Nico got relatively faster towards the end, as Lewis started with a light car (and hence an advantage), burning less narrows that advantage over time.

Yeah I never thought of that. It's a bit worrying that Lewis needs the lighter car to be faster, those 2 are a lot closer than I thought.

No, Lewis's setup was just compromised. The team changed it between friday and saturday, and made it much worse.

And people are complaining that 2014 is boring. Give me a break! The WCC might be a foregone conclusion but the WDC is wide open between the Merc boys.

+1

[PlatinumZealot]

You mean battles up and down the field, including for the lead of the race are boring? Dude, you're watching the wrong sport.

WHAT battles? New tires vs. old? OMG, i almost peed my pants watching drivers with new tires pass the ones with old. SO thrilling... NOT!

So why do you keep watching? How did you manage in 2013?

[e30ernest]

I don't think the fuel loads were substantially different between the two cars. Towards the end of the race, Lewis seemed to be picking up a little more understeer than Rosberg. Maybe Rosberg's setup was simply better on the tires for the conditions towards the end of the race.

What the team did here was similar to Bahrain. There was a preferred strategy (which whoever was in front can take) and a secondary strategy the second driver can use to have a fighting chance at catching up. During this race, Rosberg nursed his tires better than in Bahrain and was able to keep up relatively close. However, he did miss the 2-second target gap towards his 2nd stop. I think this is what lost the race for Rosberg.

Lewis is playing mind games. Whenever he finishes ahead, he always says that Nico was faster that day, but he only managed to keep him at bay. I think Lewis knows that as the race leader, he can manage the pace of whoever is behind him. Nico can only push and hope he manages to get into a position advantageous enough to make a pass. And I think Nico is pushing pretty hard. Every time Lewis hails Nico as the "faster" driver, I think he's also pushing the message across that no matter how much faster Nico goes, he'll go fast enough to keep him behind.

I think the mind games are starting to work. Just looking at Nico's face after qualifying, I got the impression that he's thinking about what Lewis is possibly doing to get those few tenths above him. It's putting him on the back foot. Q2 gave Nico a much-needed psychological boost, but Vettel's Q3 breakdown may have stopped Nico's momentum and swung things back towards Lewis.

[tok-tokkie]

If Lewis did have less fuel at the start compared to Rosberg how would that show on the fuel consumption graphic? If the graphic assumes that the car had 100kg for the race then it could explain why the graphic was showing Lewis having more fuel available than Rosberg. In fact he has to use fuel slower than Rosberg because he does not have so much available and the graphic does not show how much he truly still has available.
Anyone know for sure how that graphic works?

[gandharva]

How did you manage in 2013?

At this time of 2013 season we had 3 different winners out of 3 different teams and in every of this races the first 3 drivers where in between 30 seconds. Please try harder next time...

[PlatinumZealot]

How did you manage in 2013?

At this time of 2013 season we had 3 different winners out of 3 different teams and in every of this races the first 3 drivers where in between 30 seconds. Please try harder next time...

Hey I said the whole 2013...So you turned of your TV after Spa I presume?

[PlatinumZealot]

If Lewis did have less fuel at the start compared to Rosberg how would that show on the fuel consumption graphic? If the graphic assumes that the car had 100kg for the race then it could explain why the graphic was showing Lewis having more fuel available than Rosberg. In fact he has to use fuel slower than Rosberg because he does not have so much available and the graphic does not show how much he truly still has available.
Anyone know for sure how that graphic works?

The graphic shows how much fuel is fed into the engines. The data is straight from the flow meters which measure average fluid velocity, and fluid temperature within a pipe of a given diameter. The flow meter uses this data, and the temperature density properties of the fuel to calculate volume flow and then mass flow. So the counter you see at the corner of the screen is counting up not down.

Hamilton is indeed using less fuel than Rosberg since the start of the races. He may be fueled lighter based on his fuel usage in Free practice. Hamilton may be more smoother and more gentler on the throttle than Rosberg. OR maybe they start the race with the same Fuel and Ham just saves it all for the last laps of the race.. we will never know.

[Waywardism]

OR maybe they start the race with the same Fuel and Ham just saves it all for the last laps of the race.. we will never know.

In the closing laps of today's race, when Rosberg was catching him quickly, they showed the fuel comparison graphic between the 2 drivers and Hamilton was still using slightly less fuel at that time.

[Juzh]

speed trap from the race:
http://184.106.145.74/f1-championship/f ... ap_V01.pdf
Massa 342 kmh, compared to rosbergs 336 kmh from china.
Albers managed 321.3 kmh back in 2005 with a V10.

[lebesset]

Vettel got fastest lap!! First time Mercedes haven't totally dominated, although you wouldn't know it watching it.

just amazing how often a driver with fresh tyres at the end gets fastest lap !

[Juzh]

Raikkonen interview.

[SilverArrow10]

Vettel got fastest lap!! First time Mercedes haven't totally dominated, although you wouldn't know it watching it.

just amazing how often a driver with fresh tyres at the end gets fastest lap !

o be a little light hearted. besides it didn't happen at the first four races its a glimmer of hope although it doesn't mean anything.

[Waywardism]

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-jjAj79e7RA

Raikkonen interview.

I don't think I've ever seen Raikonnen so upset. I don't mean it in a degrading way but I felt he could easily have starting crying then.