2017 Japanese Grand Prix - Suzuka, 6-8 October

[PlatinumZealot]

I quoted him from Malaysia!
For Suzuka he is just a bit weary of the package on heavy fuel. He did not get any heavy fuel running with the new package in Malaysia. And Suzuka will have rain on Friday. You guys need to pay more attention man

You are misquoting him like crazy...
Hamilton said he considered(highlighting how unsure he was) going to the new package because him and Bottas were very close together in FP3 and every milisecond counts.

Somehow you turned that into "Hamilton knows the new package is better but stuck with the old one"... because reasons, i guess.

He said it. Toto said it. Lauda said it. But anyway.. doesn't matter right now! the new package is working well in Japan! I will be surprised if Ferrari can beat them to pole.

[ringo]

I wont read to much into an old engine being down on power and still more powerful than the new ferrari.
Because the engines are boosted, i think they can increase the boost and fuel consumption to compensate for any wear and tear. The team has enough data to know how far they can push their fuel consumption by running the engine's at the higher damage cycles. Saying that i don't think there is much power loss with the older engines.
The main power gap is when the newer engine has the power upgrade which the old one doesn't.

[PlatinumZealot]

It's really a tricky one... I'm inclined to say Vettel for pole as well, but more because I'm not entirely sure if this is supposed to be a strong track for Hamilton. He was somewhat underwhelming here last year and I recall correctly, Rosberg also beat him to pole in 2014, 2015 and 2016.

We will see.

Nah. Ferrari running on fumes. They stand no chance. We got'em.

[George-Jung]

These numbers rather tell a different story. Someone need to confirm if Mercs are using older PUs and Ferrari are indeed using Spec 4 in FP1. If so, then old spec Merc = Spec 4 Ferrari OR Ferrari have turned down MORE than Merc. OR both are using their latest spec AND have turned down equally.

https://pbs.twimg.com/media/DLaxONOXUAA8VZa.jpg:large

Plus we don't know the rear wing angle. Presumably similar?

To add here, Vettel was under the slipstream of a Sauber on his SS fast lap (on long straight as well as on start straight), when he registered his fastest lap of FP1.

I just have seen FP1- Vettel was +0.042 slower than Hamilton fastest time, while driving the (S) tyre... on the same tyre (SS) Vettel was -0.211 faster.

Just saying, but we will see tomorrow.

[Phil]

So Vettel only improved by 0.252 on the much faster tire which should tell you that something aint quite right and that maybe, those lap times are not that conclusive....?

[ringo]

Maybe had more fuel in the car on the option tyre run?

[GrandAxe]

Its really hard to believe that Vettels gearbox escaped damage, so won't be changed. That is only possible if Ferrari engineers have climbed the realms of "Almightyhood" and you can drop a nuclear bomb on the thing without as much as a little scratch.
Common sense says the gearbox will be changed as a precaution at least. Therefore, my prediction is that Vettels gearbox will be changed before FP3 (too risky to do it after) and he'll start from 6th at least.

Predictions:

Pole - Lewis, Ricciardo or Max (in order of likelihood).

Winner - Lewis
2nd place - Max
3rd place - Bottas
4th place - Ricciardo
5th - Vettel (after swapping with Kimi)
6th - Kimi
7th - Occon
8th - Perez
9th - Vandoorne
10th - Grosjean

[godlameroso]

Alonso has a grid penalty incoming, they're fitting a new engine(spec 4 maybe?), he may qualify well up the order, will be interesting to see. Even with a dead last start he'll have a better chance of scoring points than Vandoorne.

[makecry]

Alonso has a grid penalty incoming, they're fitting a new engine(spec 4 maybe?), he may qualify well up the order, will be interesting to see. Even with a dead last start he'll have a better chance of scoring points than Vandoorne.

Is the Spec 4 even ready yet?

[godlameroso]

Apparently it is, they just didn't want to take penalties, if they are using a spec 4 then they've decided to listen to reason. The car isn't going to qualify any better than 12th as is, so starting last with a car that has pace for the podium is much better than starting 12th in a car that has the pace to get 10th at best.

[makecry]

Apparently it is, they just didn't want to take penalties, if they are using a spec 4 then they've decided to listen to reason. The car isn't going to qualify any better than 12th as is, so starting last with a car that has pace for the podium is much better than starting 12th in a car that has the pace to get 10th at best.

I genuinely doubt spec is going to grant us the pace to be on podium all of a sudden.

[Restomaniac]

No Honda spec 4 it's a spec 3.75. Maybe spec 4 at COTA.

[atanatizante]

Vettel tested the spoon RW - that with a higher DF - in a race simulation stint ...
Bottas is focused more for pole and a 3 stop strategy
...
W08 is at its best both on low track temp but also on a green track ...

[Restomaniac]

Bottas' backend smacks the barrier. I wonder if that new gearbox lasted less than 30 mins.

[Restomaniac]

A fan with a 'VB77 DRINK!' Sign.

Now Raikkonen goes off in exactly the same place that Vettel had his moment and that really was a rear end smack.