2017 Austrian Grand Prix, Spielberg 7-9 Jul

[Sieper]

More then half full, they knew it already. He should still be easily able to come in 2nd and if Vettel runs into any problem the win is his to take. The race pace today was more then excellent.

[Manoah2u]

I think Lewis won't go all-out on the qually actually, i think they'll need Bottas to do that , and to save Lewis' engine. If you're gonna take a penalty anyway, don't risk screwing things up by pushing it knowing the restrictions. Getting from P6 or P7 from the start doesn't really amount to that much anyway.

Probable grid Austria:

P1 ) Bottas
P2 ) Vettel
P3) Verstappen
P4) Ricciardo
P5) Raikkonen
P6) Perez
P7) Hamilton

He'll get Perez and Raikkonen from the start without too much effort. It becomes tricky when he gets into RedBull territory. Bottas either will spear away or create a wake to slow the Ferrari down. But that RedBull wedge will appear either way, P6 or P7 from the start won't do much.

[ClarkBT11]

Hamilton pole by 3 tenths that's my prediction.

[Shrieker]

So that hands another easy 25 to Vettel...

[Mandrake]

So that hands another easy 25 to Vettel...

Don't say that, there is still Max Verstappen to ruin others' races....

[Phil]

Pressure will be on Bottas to perform. Mercedes will expect him to.

[ClarkBT11]

The perfect chance for Bottas to show he's got the minerals for a good performance. I hope for his own career he does.

[iotar__]

Pressure will be on Bottas to perform. Mercedes will expect him to.

- Slowing down and creating wake for cars following him ? This master tactician plan didn't include DRS factor.

- That's the rub, you can't turn on and off performance, you either run one driver team as Mercedes is doing now or bet on both (more or less) like in previous years. It's easier to pull off great laps with no competition.

- As for "pressure" I thought he was fine in Monaco when Hamilton wasn't there, I doubt repeat would be easy since as we know Merc diligently worked on "set up" to avoid problems like that. The only pressure on Bottas now is not to finish in front of Hamilton.

- BTW nice circle of Austrian GP history. Once you gain from gearbox penalties ('16) once you lose.

[Multi21]

The Redbulls will probably be a hassle to pass early on, especially VES and his defending on the brakes. If not for a mid race SC I don't see Lewis making up the 15-20secs he will have lost to VET BOT and possibly even RAI if he turns up in qualifying. I think p3.

[ClarkBT11]

You missed Bottas's main mission, to ruin Kimi's race again and finish on the podium

[godlameroso]

What are the chances of a SC? If it happens at all it'll be during the start.

[ClarkBT11]

There's been quite abit of conflict in this year's​ championship. Probably a good chance then. How many were there last year was it just Vettel's blow out causing a safety car.

[ENGINE TUNER]

Hamilton set for grid penalty after gearbox change

So, I expect him to set his best time in Q2 on Super Softs and start the race on them!

That would be the smart move, go long in the first stint, but it will probly only be a 1 stop.

[ENGINE TUNER]

I thought teams don't use race gearboxes on Fridays, if that's the case then that's another major set back, headrest and now gearbox with a driver on fire at the moment Mercedes really know how to shoot themselves in the foot sometimes

gearboxes don't follow same rules as PU components: you can't change your gearbox for a fixed number of gp unless you DNF last one.
so also on fridays you have to use the race gearbox

They don't have to use the race gearbox on fridays, they are permitted to use old used gearboxes on fridays without penalty.

[Artur Craft]

Hamilton FP1 new record lap onboard:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2K2bm3LhLxY

Verstappen vs Hamilton FP1:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=u93n3POEsS4

The Redbull seems to carry more speed through the corners, especially the fast ones

Red Bull's problems has always been the engine/PU, since 2014, actually. Horner said they knew they would suffer on these last 3 tracks(Montreal, Baku and Austria). He even joked that they asked Dietrich to add a few corners so that it wouldn't be a power track anymore.

Renault's doesn't want to use more than 4 PUs in the season so they say they will wait until Silverstone or Hungary to introduce a few new things on the new PUs ( the whatever little performance increase will mostly come from pushing the components harder rather than new game-changing hardware being introduced) now that they've reached the desired reliability on the dyno. Don't expect miracles, though, because this is Renault that we're talking about. Red Bull will do better on those tracks mainly because of their aero and power being relatively less important there.

About Austria, Ricciardo kind of confirmed the impression that I had, while watching the FPs, that the softest tyres might not be the best ones for the race, this time.