2017 United States Grand Prix - COTA, 20-22 October

[godlameroso]

https://www.wunderground.com/weather-ra ... tonio/ewx/

Real time radar, track is about 15 miles south of Austin.

[drunkf1fan]

cherish these momemnts peopld. We are witnessing a special once in a generation driver ascending to a higher level above his peers. His speed in that car is just amazing. Bottas has no answer.

Yep I made that point a few weeks ago.
Alongside the other greats we won't realise how good he is until he is gone and there is a Lewis Hamilton sized hole that is unable to be filled.

He did something in Malaysia that only the likes of Senna and Schumacher could do. Put a car on Pole that had no right to be there. With everybody asking 'how?'. Then we have him being a whole second clear of everyone in changeable conditions in Italy (IIRC).
He is now doing the other thing. Be 0.5sec ahead of a team mate in the sister car consistently.

I mean people keep acting like without a crash in Singapore Hamilton would have come 4th maybe at best despite fp2 pace in which Ham was strongest on the softs by a margin. The ultras weren't working great but Ham on the inters and in the race at the end anyway was untouchable. His pace was again compared to Bottas a completely different league and he'd absolutely have been a threat in that race if the three ahead of him didn't crash out. Would he have won, don't know, I'm not saying that, but he'd have certainly been fighting hard and trying to pass those guys for sure. He also has a habit of making wets work beyond everyone else so when others pit and get into traffic he puts in a few ridiculous fast laps no one else can do on wet tires, gets clear and pits as in Monaco.

The way he's driving he was certainly a threat for Singapore without the crash and again even with Vettel not losing out in qualifying there is nothing to say he'd be on pole or manage to beat Ham or Max.

[GPR-A duplicate2]

I mean people keep acting like without a crash in Singapore Hamilton would have come 4th maybe at best despite fp2 pace in which Ham was strongest on the softs by a margin. The ultras weren't working great but Ham on the inters and in the race at the end anyway was untouchable. His pace was again compared to Bottas a completely different league and he'd absolutely have been a threat in that race if the three ahead of him didn't crash out. Would he have won, don't know, I'm not saying that, but he'd have certainly been fighting hard and trying to pass those guys for sure. He also has a habit of making wets work beyond everyone else so when others pit and get into traffic he puts in a few ridiculous fast laps no one else can do on wet tires, gets clear and pits as in Monaco.

The way he's driving he was certainly a threat for Singapore without the crash and again even with Vettel not losing out in qualifying there is nothing to say he'd be on pole or manage to beat Ham or Max.

I agree. Getting a result that was better than 4th (doubt if a win was possible), was possible in Singapore for Lewis. It was a wet start and for most part, the track wasn't drying as it dries had that been a day race. Even if there was no start chaos, the SC period that came because of Kvyat's shunt, would have definitely offered an opportunity to jump the bulls and the undercutting one of the cars ahead at a pit window, would have been possible. So, to say the best was a 4th, was to undermine strategic possibilities for a car that had such a good pace on race day. Also, if one observes, Singapore doesn't offer a lot of overtaking opportunities, even in mid-field. But in the wet race, we witnessed a number of over takings. So, for Lewis, overtaking should have been possible. It was a pity, that we didn't see what would have really transpired without the start chaos.

[GrandAxe]

Its interesting that Ferrari changed Vettel's chassis for the race, even though they found nothing wrong with the car.

[Just_a_fan]

Changing things that aren't broken is usually done for the driver's mental benefit. It's not unknown for a driver to think that A is better than B even though both are the same. If the driver has anything that makes him lack confidence in the car he will be slower than usual. A driver's speed is as much mental as it is physical ability.

[GrandAxe]

Vettel is a four time world champ and at 30, is not that young anymore, so shouldn't have such issues. It makes you wonder if the teams approach to this and recent races has been with the right mindset. Radio conversations in FP3 and qualifying should be quite interesting.

[Just_a_fan]

He is a multiple champion and has been doing it for most of his life but he still needs to feel the car is under him. All racing drivers need to be confident that the car will do what they expect when they ask. Any doubt will mean a slightly earlier braking, slightly later throttle, slightly less apex speed. It's only tiny, tiny, tiny fractions but that is the difference between winning or not, between pole position or not.

It's not a criticism of Vettel. He's human. Hamilton, Alonso, Schumacher, Senna - all of them would suffer if their confidence in the car is knocked for some reason.

A friend who used to be a race engineer tells me of a time that Berger was having a problem. Kept saying there was something wrong with the car. Team couldn't find anything - there was nothing wrong - but they told him they'd found and fixed it. He went back out and was on the pace. Mind games.

[NathanOlder]

How is Kvyat allowed to take Sainz car, and therefore take Sainz pool of engine components?

Imagine if Mercedes put a new power unit for bottas this weekend, let him take the penalties, then the next race put Lewis in that car to take the fresh parts.

[Mamba]

A friend who used to be a race engineer tells me of a time that Berger was having a problem. Kept saying there was something wrong with the car. Team couldn't find anything - there was nothing wrong - but they told him they'd found and fixed it. He went back out and was on the pace. Mind games.

Not sure if it was the Berger incident but I remember another story of a driver who also felt there was something wrong with the car but the engineers could not see a thing. If I rember correctly they changed the chassis and all was fine again. Sometimes things are just different to a human even if the data suggests otherwise.

Some people also seem to forget that these cars have mechanical components and mechanical components do wear over their life time. A bumby back straight for example could have aggrivated something not picked up earlier.

Ferrari have done the proper thing. They have put Vettel's mind at ease and they can inspect the old chassis properly with the correct equipment back home. No need to continue with the old chassis if Vettel felt a problem and does not trust the car - even if their track side checks reveal nothing.

MAMBA

[Jolle]

A friend who used to be a race engineer tells me of a time that Berger was having a problem. Kept saying there was something wrong with the car. Team couldn't find anything - there was nothing wrong - but they told him they'd found and fixed it. He went back out and was on the pace. Mind games.

Not sure if it was the Berger incident but I remember another story of a driver who also felt there was something wrong with the car but the engineers could not see a thing. If I rember correctly they changed the chassis and all was fine again. Sometimes things are just different to a human even if the data suggests otherwise.

Some people also seem to forget that these cars have mechanical components and mechanical components do wear over their life time. A bumby back straight for example could have aggrivated something not picked up earlier.

Ferrari have done the proper thing. They have put Vettel's mind at ease and they can inspect the old chassis properly with the correct equipment back home. No need to continue with the old chassis if Vettel felt a problem and does not trust the car - even if their track side checks reveal nothing.

MAMBA

It happens quite a lot by the way. I can recall that in the middle of '13 Hamilton got a new chassis after his "dip" midseason complaining about the car where they found some previously unnoticed small cracks after they changed it.

[godlameroso]

We have nice conditions, the wind is blowing strongly but this is good, keeps temperatures cooler than if the air was stagnant, cross wind going into turn 1 but head wind through the twisty stuff so extra downforce, and a tail wind down the main DRS straight, might make the 3rd sector extra tricky.

[GPR-A duplicate2]

Its interesting that Ferrari changed Vettel's chassis for the race, even though they found nothing wrong with the car.

Sometimes, you need to do things just to ward off the evil.

[godlameroso]

It's very close between Mercedes and Ferrari.

[Jolle]

It's very close between Mercedes and Ferrari.

as you not count Hamilton, yes, four tenths is a lot...

[drunkf1fan]

Not so much, Ham just either wanted to do the fast/slow/fast setup, maybe struggling to get up to temps or he messed up his first lap but despite beating vettel and being close to Kimi, had enough tire left to go half a second clear with his next run.

I think Ham + Merc = clear pole, Bottas + Merc = match for Ferrari. Actually Merc 1/4 and Ferrari 2/3 seems fairly likely unless RBR are holding something back which they don't often do.