2015 Monaco Grand Prix - 21-24 May

[Vasconia]

https://pbs.twimg.com/media/CFi7ac7UsAI6se6.jpg:large

Thre reliability of the Mercedes power units is simply incredible. Honda´s situation is far from being good but it seems that RB is going to be the first team to get a penalty.

[SiLo]

https://pbs.twimg.com/media/CFi7ac7UsAI6se6.jpg:large

Thre reliability of the Mercedes power units is simply incredible. Honda´s situation is far from being good but it seems that RB is going to be the first team to get a penalty.

I feel like Mercedes are really going to reap this advantage later in the year when other engine manufacturers might be turning engines down thinking more of reliability than performance.

[Andres125sx]

https://pbs.twimg.com/media/CFi7ac7UsAI6se6.jpg:large

Thre reliability of the Mercedes power units is simply incredible. Honda´s situation is far from being good but it seems that RB is going to be the first team to get a penalty.

I dont´t think Honda´s situation currently is that bad, reliability wise. Yes the start of the season was terrible, but lately they have had no big problems. A plastic film blocking brake ventilation can´t be considered a reliability issue. Button´s problem OTOH could, but that nust be electronics related that ruined driveability of his car, and that´s not as worrying as an engine breaking apart

Maybe I´m a bit too optimistic, but after watching Magnusen´s engine throwing pieces all around the track in Melbourne after qualifying last (no perfomance and no reliability) I think situation has improved very very much, now they qualify on Q2, we´ll see if Q3 is a real posibility, and they usually finish the races

As you say their situation is very similar to Renault, and Renault is on his second season with this engine so considering circumstances, I´d say Renault situation right now is much worse than Honda. Honda has the excuse of a new concept and his very first season, Renault don´t have any of the two but their situation is similar if not worse

[Vasconia]

Yes, Honda´s situation has improved in the last races though they know that they will face several penalites during the second half of the race. But better in this season than in 2016.

Renault situation is very bad but is worse with RB, I dont know why but RB has bigger problems than the others teams. Perhaps its chasis is specially hard with the weak Renault power unit.

[turbof1]

Merhi crash

http://www.gfycat.com/AgedTheseBaiji

That looks really bizarre. after he hits the barrier a first time he almost was standing still. Then suddenly he accelerates again, obvious to see what the amount of wheelspin accompagnied, which causes him to hit the barrier again. Looks like glitch in his car or something.

I disagree. He is definitely not moving slowly after the first hit - you are being tricked by the extreme zoom level of the camera. Totally normal crash. What you call 'accelerating again' is in fact Merhi letting off the brakes. The tires stop sliding when he does that and vector the car in the direction they are facing.

When a camera is zoomed in so far like this it is way easier to see something move left or right than tell whether it is coming toward or away from you.

There's wheelspin involved. That can't be explained by just letting the brakes go. It does step when he presses the brake pedal again. Looks to me like a software glitch.

[FW17]

Is that a nose cone write off or can it be salvaged?

[F1NAC]

Is that a nose cone write off or can it be salvaged?

Write off possibly because it is damaged at the tip od the cone

[turbof1]

The tip might be detachable.

[f1316]

It's interesting to be going into FP3 with so little idea of what to expect.

I'm sure this will be greeted with shouts of "Hamilton is clearly going to demolish everyone/Mercedes has a lock on destroying the world with its little finger" - and that may very well be true - but we really haven't seen any representative running and none on the super soft which will be used for quali.

I have a feeling it may very well be a Singapore 2014 type situation where the extra grip afforded by the super soft brings everyone a lot closer and, whilst I still think Merc and mostly likely Hamilton will get pole, I'd put some money on top 5 being covered by less than .5 of a second.

[Andres125sx]

There's wheelspin involved. That can't be explained by just letting the brakes go.

Yes it can. I´ve watched it several times, do this, watch it again, but intead of looking only at the rear tires, try to look at both the front and rear wheel at the same time....
http://www.gfycat.com/AgedTheseBaiji
They do exactly the same, no difference, same spinning rate. Actually front tires start spinning a bit sooner than rear ones, what I really don´t understand since brake bias always put more pressure on front tires but anycase it´s clear there´s not throttle involved

After hitting the barrier first time he must think he could recover the control of the car and release the brakes, so instead of sliding with the four wheels locked it start rolling, and since the car was facing the barrier he hit it again

[SiLo]

It's interesting to be going into FP3 with so little idea of what to expect.

I'm sure this will be greeted with shouts of "Hamilton is clearly going to demolish everyone/Mercedes has a lock on destroying the world with its little finger" - and that may very well be true - but we really haven't seen any representative running and none on the super soft which will be used for quali.

I have a feeling it may very well be a Singapore 2014 type situation where the extra grip afforded by the super soft brings everyone a lot closer and, whilst I still think Merc and mostly likely Hamilton will get pole, I'd put some money on top 5 being covered by less than .5 of a second.

If the top 5 are covered by less than half a second I'll buy you a six pack of beer.

[Andres125sx]

It's interesting to be going into FP3 with so little idea of what to expect.

I'm sure this will be greeted with shouts of "Hamilton is clearly going to demolish everyone/Mercedes has a lock on destroying the world with its little finger" - and that may very well be true - but we really haven't seen any representative running and none on the super soft which will be used for quali.

I have a feeling it may very well be a Singapore 2014 type situation where the extra grip afforded by the super soft brings everyone a lot closer and, whilst I still think Merc and mostly likely Hamilton will get pole, I'd put some money on top 5 being covered by less than .5 of a second.

If the top 5 are covered by less than half a second I'll buy you a six pack of beer.

Probably not even top 3

[SectorOne]

Ferrari and down i expect a very tight qualifying. Mercedes will probably have a bit of a gap.

[godlameroso]

If it's dry, the pole time is going to be high to mid 14's, we really haven't seen anything yet.

[f1316]

It's interesting to be going into FP3 with so little idea of what to expect.

I'm sure this will be greeted with shouts of "Hamilton is clearly going to demolish everyone/Mercedes has a lock on destroying the world with its little finger" - and that may very well be true - but we really haven't seen any representative running and none on the super soft which will be used for quali.

I have a feeling it may very well be a Singapore 2014 type situation where the extra grip afforded by the super soft brings everyone a lot closer and, whilst I still think Merc and mostly likely Hamilton will get pole, I'd put some money on top 5 being covered by less than .5 of a second.

If the top 5 are covered by less than half a second I'll buy you a six pack of beer.

Probably not even top 3

Awesome. I'll have some sculpin ipas

Well, it'll be interesting. I was going to say top 4 - so Mercs and Ferraris - but wanted to open up the possibility of someone doing something special.

But if we look at 2014, top 4 were basically .5 apart - Vettel just a shade over 5 tenths back. Top 5 were covered by about .7.

People on this forum - for reasons that escape me - seem to want to believe that the gap this year is bigger than last but I see no reason to believe that. Vettel has come out today to say he feels Ferrari has no slow corner problems, just an bad weekend in Spain, and I suspect that the stark differences in tyre usage between the two teams that has been in their DNA for years (Merc heat their's up quickly, Ferrari struggle to do so - been that way ever since Pirellis cam in) will be somewhat negated by the super softs.

Again, Kimi was fastest on super softs in Q2 in Singapore and it was noticeable how much those tyres transformed the car. The 2015 car is undoubtedly better in every way and, whilst my above prediction may, I'll admit, be an optimistic stretch, I am quite confident at least one Ferrari will be well within .5.

Let's see