2014 Japanese Grand Prix - Suzuka

[prince]

Well done Max V.

Absolutely. First time in an F1 car and on a circuit with no experience, ending 2 places behind his more EXPERIENCED team mate, with 4 tenths. The time difference may also have something to do with the new nose that Kvyat was running. And, when the engine blew up, he displayed a good head on his shoulders to safely park it after monitoring the cars passing by. A lot of ease with which the kid has slided into top category. Bloody well done.

[Sevach]

LOL at Perez, so used to getting coached...

What happened?

He asked where he could improve on the radio.

The response?
"Uhhh... Checo i can't tell you that right now..."

[Juzh]

Lets wait until the end of fp2, but i have sneaking suspicion merc will be somewhere in the region of +1s in either wet or dry. Probably a barcelona-like performance.

[Kingshark]

Mercedes' advantage is always exponentially large whenever Pirelli bring Meds and Hards. As we saw in Sepang, Barcelona, Silverstone, and Monza.

[Shrieker]

Ah, the good ol' gravel traps.

Interesting movement on Bottas' front brake duct turning vane.

[Shrieker]

So Rosberg's onboard, he took the 130R flat.

[Juzh]

Gonna be a total walkover.

[Shrieker]

You never know, the mercs are fragile and there's a very good chance of rain on Sunday.

[f1316]

It does occur to me that the conservatively hard pirelli compounds this year have played into Mercedes ' hands.

Given that a) the gap is always bigger with the hard compounds and b) they were complaining of overheating with the softer ones in Singapore, it does seem as if their old tyre wear problems would still be present if pirelli hadn't consciously made more durable tyres this year in order to cope with the increased torque.

[prince]

http://www.fia.com/sites/default/files/ ... es_V01.pdf

Based on long stint lap times, Merc are 1 full second ahead of RBR and Williams, who both have similar times. Ferrari, McLaren and Toro Rosso are in next league.

For those who were hoping that RBR might match Merc in this high downforce circuit, they are in for total disappointment, unless Merc face any reliability issues. Generally RBR set their car up right in FP1 itself, but Christian Horner was commenting on Sky that they have been facing setup challenges. They aren't looking good in Qualifying either, which could be disastrous if they cannot be in 2nd or 3rd row. Let's see if they can sort their setup issues.

Code: Select all

Sector #1			
Pos	No	Driver			Time
1	44	Lewis Hamilton		34.229
2	6	Nico Rosberg		34.346
3	77	Valtteri Bottas		34.703
4	20	Kevin Magnussen	34.8
5	26	Daniil Kvyat		34.859
6	22	Jenson Button		34.995
7	1	Sebastian Vettel	35.017
8	14	Fernando Alonso	35.055
9	25	Jean-Eric Vergne	35.056
10	7	Kimi Räikkönen		35.141
			
			
Sector #2			
Pos	No	Driver			Time
1	6	Nico Rosberg		42.58
2	44	Lewis Hamilton		42.646
3	7	Kimi Räikkönen		42.987
4	1	Sebastian Vettel	42.997
5	77	Valtteri Bottas		43.001
6	22	Jenson Button		43.038
7	14	Fernando Alonso	43.16
8	20	Kevin Magnussen	43.193
9	3	Daniel Ricciardo		43.397
10	19	Felipe Massa		43.409
			
			
Sector #3			
Pos	No	Driver			Time
1	44	Lewis Hamilton		18.155
2	14	Fernando Alonso	18.316
3	77	Valtteri Bottas		18.328
4	22	Jenson Button		18.376
5	6	Nico Rosberg		18.392
6	20	Kevin Magnussen	18.4
7	1	Sebastian Vettel 	18.401
8	7	Kimi Räikkönen		18.401
9	26	Daniil Kvyat		18.444
10	25	Jean-Eric Vergne	18.495

[aleks_ader]

Awful Mercedes reliability shown in that table, just awful.

On that note: If the start time isn't changed and there's a high likelihood the race won't go ahead, then now would be a fantastic opportunity to take your 6 engine... effectively a free one.

emm the penalties could be carry forward to next races...

[tranquility2k4]

It does occur to me that the conservatively hard pirelli compounds this year have played into Mercedes ' hands.

Given that a) the gap is always bigger with the hard compounds and b) they were complaining of overheating with the softer ones in Singapore, it does seem as if their old tyre wear problems would still be present if pirelli hadn't consciously made more durable tyres this year in order to cope with the increased torque.

I think you'll find the reason Merc's advantage is bigger with harder compounds is because their car performance is shown more so than when using say super-softs, when all the other cars get a lot more grip. Merc gain less from super-soft because they already get a very good lap time out of soft, medium, etc. Niki Lauda said as much as Singapore, that they had a bigger gap with soft, but the others gained on them with the extra grip from super-soft. Also, with regards to tyres, sure Merc may overheat the tyres on a single lap and that's one of the reasons why they can generate good 1 lap pace. This said if you look over the season, Merc have arguably had better tyre management than any other team. Look at Lewis' first stint at Singapore, when all the others behind him dropped off the cliff he was still pumping in very good lap times. This has also been the case at many other circuits, such as China. The only other possibility, which is also likely to an extent is that the reason Vettel for example looked close to Lewis' pace at the start of the first stint is because he was going really slow, to save the tyres, which just highlights how much pace the Mercs have in hand. They can crawl round and save tyres and still be fastest. Either way, they certainly don't have big tyre issues like last year and seem to be able to adapt their setup very well from Friday practice to solve any issues that may arise.

[CHT]

Gonna be a total walkover.

SC is 2014 F1 best friend.

[mikeerfol]

So rain is forecast before, during and after the race! Bernd Maylander will be busy I think!

[f1316]

It does occur to me that the conservatively hard pirelli compounds this year have played into Mercedes ' hands.

Given that a) the gap is always bigger with the hard compounds and b) they were complaining of overheating with the softer ones in Singapore, it does seem as if their old tyre wear problems would still be present if pirelli hadn't consciously made more durable tyres this year in order to cope with the increased torque.

I think you'll find the reason Merc's advantage is bigger with harder compounds is because their car performance is shown more so than when using say super-softs, when all the other cars get a lot more grip. Merc gain less from super-soft because they already get a very good lap time out of soft, medium, etc. Niki Lauda said as much as Singapore, that they had a bigger gap with soft, but the others gained on them with the extra grip from super-soft. Also, with regards to tyres, sure Merc may overheat the tyres on a single lap and that's one of the reasons why they can generate good 1 lap pace. This said if you look over the season, Merc have arguably had better tyre management than any other team. Look at Lewis' first stint at Singapore, when all the others behind him dropped off the cliff he was still pumping in very good lap times. This has also been the case at many other circuits, such as China. The only other possibility, which is also likely to an extent is that the reason Vettel for example looked close to Lewis' pace at the start of the first stint is because he was going really slow, to save the tyres, which just highlights how much pace the Mercs have in hand. They can crawl round and save tyres and still be fastest. Either way, they certainly don't have big tyre issues like last year and seem to be able to adapt their setup very well from Friday practice to solve any issues that may arise.

Yes, and all of that is just a different way of framing the same point.

Mercedes are able to get harder compounds into their working range better than other teams but this same ability can mean they are putting too much temperature into the softer compounds. I agree that there is a perfectly reasonable argument that would say they're able to do this better because they have better performance - and it was arguably the same with RB at the start of 2013 - but that doesn't make it any more or less true.

My point is that Merc are indeed able to manage tyres better than some, but this is because these compunds suit their ability to put a lot of heat into tyres. For example, Ferrari struggle with tyres because they don't generate enough grip > the rear slides > the tyres wear. It's because they don't have enough downforce, but it's still true that the two teams would likely be closer if all the tyres were softer.

For better or worse. Just saying.