NathanOlder wrote:Heres what i dont understand,
last year in spain, Merc Dominated the last sector. Ferrari were faster than Merc in sector 1 & 2 but Merc wer 6 tenths quicker in sector 3. (the slow , mechanical grip part of the lap.) They went to Monaco and were quicker in Qualy and won the race due to the nature of the track (no overtaking)
Go forward 1 year, and Daniel Ricciardo matched the pole lap in sector 3. (i know Rosberg went a little faster, but still Ricciardo matched Lewis' pole lap)
Sector 3 is more like monaco than sector 1 & 2 by a country mile, so surely by looking at this, its clear to see the Merc will be the best in Monaco, but not by much from Red Bull.
I also dont understand why people say the Red Bull is the best in high speed corners, this has NOT been backed up at any point this season in the timings. The Red Bull has been a lot closer in the slower corners, not the faster ones. In Spain, sector 1 in Qualy, Ricciardo & Vettel were over half a second down on Hamilton. And sector 1 is all about 3 fast turns, along with high speed on the straight. As far as I knew, Red Bull were losing out more on acceleration, and thats not alot in sector 1. So its just 3 high speed turns, where they were losing over 0.500! Huge.
I don't think you can look it that way. Yes, sector 3 is more like Monaco, but they don't put a Monaco setup in Barcelona, just to win time in sector 3. Other sectors will then be compromised. Perhaps Mercedes were running with far less downforce needed compared to RB. Maybe RB were thinking "Well, we are losing time on the straights anyway, why not be stronger in the infield?". So therefor they maybe used a higher downforce setup compared to Mercedes and that could be the reason that RB seems fairly strong in sector 3. Now put more downforce on that Mercedes and surely sector 3 times would look far different. Who knows?
