2015 Russian Grand Prix - Sochi, October 09-11

[Moose]

If Rosberg stays in front of Hamilton after the 3rd corner there's a good chance he'll stay in front, and Hamilton could DNF trying to pass him. An agressive two stop strategy doing two stints on super softs and a short one on softs could be a good way to make up ground. Otherwise the one stop seems to be the most efficient way around, I'd say the super softs are good for about 10-12 laps depending on how you manage them, and from there the soft can easily take you the rest of the way. Everyone else that tries a one stopper is going to be struggling at the end of their first stint, and towards the end of the race.

Hamilton won't take any risks to pass Rosberg. 1. ROS, 2. HAM will leave Hamilton only needing to to be 3rd in the remaining races to be WDC no matter where ROS finished. 1. ROS, RET HAM would result in Rosberg being close enough to win by winning all the remaining races no matter where HAM finished.

[multisync]

If Rosberg stays in front of Hamilton after the 3rd corner there's a good chance he'll stay in front, and Hamilton could DNF trying to pass him. An agressive two stop strategy doing two stints on super softs and a short one on softs could be a good way to make up ground. Otherwise the one stop seems to be the most efficient way around, I'd say the super softs are good for about 10-12 laps depending on how you manage them, and from there the soft can easily take you the rest of the way. Everyone else that tries a one stopper is going to be struggling at the end of their first stint, and towards the end of the race.

Trying to pass someone guarantees a DNF, right?

HTH

[bdr529]

I now understand why most Americans don't watch F1, the NBC coverage sucks, particularly the commentators, they are morons! (I regret to say, especially the Aussie Leigh Diffy, he sucked even in Australia commentating the V8's)

That's one of the reasons, and a good one. Another is that most of the races are on at 5:00am on the West coast, 8 am for East coast and 7 am for everyone else in the middle. That's ok for getting up for work but not for watching F1 on a Sunday morning.
F1's target audience is still sleeping off a good night out

[djos]

I now understand why most Americans don't watch F1, the NBC coverage sucks, particularly the commentators, they are morons! (I regret to say, especially the Aussie Leigh Diffy, he sucked even in Australia commentating the V8's)

That's one of the reasons, and a good one. Another is that most of the races are on at 5:00am on the West coast, 8 am for East coast and 7 am for everyone else in the middle. That's ok for getting up for work but not for watching F1 on a Sunday morning.
F1's target audience is still sleeping off a good night out

That's what TiVo's are for, we have the same issue with time zones here in Australia.

[Chuckjr]

I now understand why most Americans don't watch F1, the NBC coverage sucks, particularly the commentators, they are morons! (I regret to say, especially the Aussie Leigh Diffy, he sucked even in Australia commentating the V8's)

TRUTH djos!!! It's been horrible since hey replaced Varsha with Diffy.

David Hobbs is stuck in his old days of racing and is a blatant Lewis Hamilton boy toy. It's pathetic. Seriously. He needs to go not because he likes the guy but because on a public broadcast you at least need to make an effort to hide your favorites. Smh.

The only guy worth a toss in the group of three is Steve Matchett. He's really helpful, and I enjoy his unbiased and educated commentary. I've learned most of what I know technically about F1 from him and from here at F1tech.

But Hobbs and Diffy?? Friggin' jokers!

[djos]

I now understand why most Americans don't watch F1, the NBC coverage sucks, particularly the commentators, they are morons! (I regret to say, especially the Aussie Leigh Diffy, he sucked even in Australia commentating the V8's)

TRUTH djos!!! It's been horrible since hey replaced Varsha with Diffy.

David Hobbs is stuck in his old days of racing and is a blatant Lewis Hamilton boy toy. It's pathetic. Seriously. He needs to go not because he likes the guy but because on a public broadcast you at least need to make an effort to hide your favorites. Smh.

The only guy worth a toss in the group of three is Steve Matchett. He's really helpful, and I enjoy his unbiased and educated commentary. I've learned most of what I know technically about F1 from him and from here at F1tech.

But Hobbs and Diffy?? Friggin' jokers!

Plus one for Matchett, he's carrying a really weak team - I recently got access to directv and when my usual method of getting the sky coverage failed I thought I'd give NBC ago, definitely a broadcast of last resort!

[bdr529]

The only other things I can think of are F1 sucks and they figured that out a long time ago
or they don't have anyone to follow driver or team, things may change next year with Hass F1,
Who knows ? Your going to have to ask an American why
Can't forget this


I have a choice where I live between NBC and BBC, I prefer the latter, I don't mind Matchett now that Schumacher has retired but still can't watch NBC

[hollowBallistix]

If it stays ROS leading HAM after the start I just think HAM will manage the gap, wait for the first round of pitstops & deploy hammer time.

Can't see it being a particularly interesting race up front, hopefully there will be some excitement midfield.

[Phil]

I think it will depend on how each drivers race pace is. If dirty air is too big of an issue and ROS, assuming he'll still be leading after lap 1, is competitive on race pace, it'll be a boring procession to a 1-2. If Lewis happens to have better pace at any one point, he will put ROS under pressure, which could lead to some excitement. If HAm can get passed ROS on the start and ROS has better pace, then the opposite. Somehow though, i dont think HAM is overly happy with his setup. We'll see if that will be the case on todays track condition and under heavy fuel.

[Bomber_Pilot]

Three things will need to happen for Rosberg to win.
1. He needs to stay in front at the start
2. He must not buckle under Hamiltons pressure
3. No breakdowns
He should be ok when it comes to tires, since in my opinion this car is not the kindest to the tires, when it comes to driving in dirty air.

[F1NAC]

Sainz will be allowed to race tomorrow: http://www.f1fanatic.co.uk/2015/10/10/s ... n-to-race/

Best news of the weekend so far =D>



About the barriers, I agree lifting and hitting drivers helmet is a risk, but as some of you already posted that can´t be prevented because they can´t be secured to the ground or they wouldn´t decrease deceleration so well.

I´m a big defensor of closed cockpits, but in this case I don´t think this is a big problem. It is not a solid object hitting drivers helmet, it´s a techpro barrier (soft) so that´s not a huge problem, helmets should cope with that perfectly

about tecpro, what if they put a denser material at the bottom so when they crash into them a less denser material at the top will move faster than bottom one?

[Schuttelberg]

1. Ham
2. Ros
3. Vet

[hollowBallistix]

Pirelli confirmed as tyre supplier for the next 3 years.

[f1316]

Wow, no wonder I've never heard Mehri speak before...

[atanatizante]

Toto said they have to much rear tyre deg, so for Merc it could be a 2 stop race with an OPO or OPP strategy depending wether or not will se a SC period, Rosberg opting for one or another depending their first stint rear tyre deg.
In contrast had Lewis would want to play safe he would go with an OPP strategy, but having a better tyre management than Rosberg he could afford even an OPO one, maybe with a little help from a SC phase ...
Ferrari could be on one stop race only when there's a SC phase, otherwise they have to do a 2 stops race and that's the way they should go bearing in mind there are low track temps, Button being interviewed a couple of minutes ago saying it's very poor grip out there in his outlaps before the race ...