Daniel Ricciardo can celebrate a brilliant victory that he made possible thanks to several decisive overtakes after a safety car period 20 laps from the end. Valtteri Bottas struggled to second on old tyres with Raikkonen finishing a close third.
I hope Merc does not fall too far behind the development curve, we need a tight season.
I wouldn't write the Mercs off because of a single Quali session. They had some bad luck the first two races. Here it seems they still struggle to get the tyres switched on. Tyres switched on vs not can make a huuuge difference. That can totally spoil the picture. The aero efficiency of the W09 is probably still very good. Just look where Williams and FI are....
That said it becomes clear that at least Merc apparently isn't massively dominant. Also the pure power advantage seems rather smaller than in previous years or compared to Ferrari maybe even almost gone.
Anyway seems like an interesting season in front of us.
Do we know if today's woes are related somehow with last year's problems?
I do hope so- it would keep Ferrari being the only one to do 5 in a row..
Whould people here see Hamilton join Ferrari next year- shocking move of the century?
Why Hamilton? They have a good relationship with Vettel. You think Ferrari will want Hamilton's fanbase saying that Ferrari can only win with Hamilton? Hamilton will stick with Mercedes.
I do hope so- it would keep Ferrari being the only one to do 5 in a row..
Whould people here see Hamilton join Ferrari next year- shocking move of the century?
Why Hamilton? They have a good relationship with Vettel. You think Ferrari will want Hamilton's fanbase saying that Ferrari can only win with Hamilton? Hamilton will stick with Mercedes.
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Or maybe he will be replaced by Ricciardo? If he carries on with this form he might retire at the end of the season.
Still wondering about the setup on the merc Vs Ferrari. If Ferrari was able to switch on the tyres so much better in the freezing conditions today, it makes sense that they’re simply putting more energy through them. Could mean they chew through them tomorrow, especially vs redbull but also Mercedes. Hoping for a close race, but also a Ferrari 1-2 just quietly.
Also some people on here already saying Ferrari has one-upped Mercedes need to chill. It’s been 2 races. The first in Melbourne was total luck. This doesn’t mean Mercedes are beat, and they’ll spend spend spend until they’re back on top. Look out for a massive update from them around Barcelona.
I’m a Ferrari fan, but I hate fanboyism for any team/driver. I wish Ferrari the best, but I don’t immediately think they’re going to dominate for the next 5 years. I dislike Lewis as a person, but he is probably the best driver on the current grid... or at least close with Alonso, Vettel and maayyybe Verstappen?
All the baiting between Ferrari and Mercedes fans is gross.
Laps from Ferrari today are no more and no less stunning than what Hamilton did in Melbourne. Ferrari got them perfectly prepared today and they kept optimal tyre temp during the entire lap, unlike Mercedes. Mercedes is not slower all of a sudden, nor is Ferrari massively faster.
Ferrari had trouble in pre-season testing, they had to make up some ground to Mercedes and they did so in 2 races. They were okay in P2 yesterday, Merc just took a wrong set-up turn, Ferrari took the right one and we have this much of a difference. Hamilton didn't have the confidence today, that alone is worth 2-3 tenths maybe.
Race will be exciting, Mercedes really need to win it now and we've seen how easy it can be to lose P1 in race in last two races.
Interesting that Mercedes silver qualifying bullet seems to have shifted over to Ferrari. I still think that Mercedes will have a slight edge on race pace especially on the Mediums, and with Ferrari needing more fuel saving.
Hamilton needs a good start though so he can stay close to Vettel, with the Redbulls behind that's going to be difficult, it's not inconceivable that they could get among the Ferraris as well over the first few laps but it will be short lived.
Ominous, pace-in-hand, mighty, stunning, gap, party mode... just some of the sensationalist words that the F1 media and fans like to trot out when Mercedes or Hamilton so much as do one good lap (or, often, before the season even starts!)
It was pretty clear to some of us that the Ferrari wasn’t fundamentally slow - and certainly not behind Red Bull - in testing, and now hopefully we can put that to bed and not have to have the same conversations next year (although sure we will).
That said, let’s also not get carried away on the other end - Mercedes haven’t suddenly turned a good car into a relatively bad one. They seem to have more problems with the softer tyres - but it’s not the whole story (Bottas: "There was nothing in the lap we could have gained that much," he said. "Maybe a little bit in terms of getting the tyres absolutely perfect for the lap but it’s not half a second”) - and much of the swing is likely Ferrari getting their car working properly, which took some time. But I also believe there’s a certain amount that is track-specific - Ferrari have consciously chosen efficient downforce because it benefits them at the majority of circuits - but they will also therefore have traded away some gains at lower speed/more maximum downforce tracks (such as Australia).
So Mercedes will definitely come back and I wouldn’t be at all surprised if they’re much stronger tomorrow and end up having the strongest car at some stage of the season - but they don’t right now, that’s now for sure.
Lewis: 1:31.678 vs 1:31.675 -0.003 gain
Bottas: 1.31.865 vs 1.31.625 -0.240 gain
Seb: 1.31.864 vs 1.31.095 -0.770 gain
Kimi: 1.32.140 vs 1.31.182 -0.958 gain
Its too early days if you ask me.
Barcelona will be the best indication of where the cars actually are, and how the first half of the season will play out.
But no matter whats going on, me personal i stand in front of the tv, i open the f1 app on my cell phone, and i follow the GP with double the excitement from last year.
And that excitement has to do with half the grid. Not just the podium order.
Saw a comment earlier about Ricardo's engine change, this being found to be only part assembled in the crate.
After reading Horner's comments he said the mechanics did a great job to "dress" and fit the engine in time, is it normal that these ancillary parts are not fitted, and should they not have checked this before hand, they have has some practice at this after all
With that new car philosphy for Ferrari (low drag-high rake) I think they could be strong in Baku,Canada,Hockenheim, Silverstone,Spa, Monza, Sochi, which are all high-speed tracks. They might be a little bit slower in high-downforce tracks (Monaco,Budapest, Singapore), but they have same as RBR high rake, which should help them to gain more downforce in the corners on max downforce setup. I think in Melbourne Ferrari didnt manage to get the best setup, and the rain certainly didnt help.
Barcelona will be very interesting, in S1,S2 they should be strong in the medium-high speed corners with maybe losing some time comparing to the RBR (smaller-wheelbase of car) in twisty S3, but dont know about Mercedes.
Its a fantastic day for me as a Ferrari fan, bu we need to keep our feets on the ground. The race is tomorrow, everything is possible.
Last edited by Vettel165 on 14 Apr 2018, 13:02, edited 3 times in total.
Lewis: 1:31.678 vs 1:31.675 -0.003 gain
Bottas: 1.31.865 vs 1.31.625 -0.240 gain
Seb: 1.31.864 vs 1.31.095 -0.770 gain
Kimi: 1.32.140 vs 1.31.182 -0.958 gain
Mercedes gained quite less. Also the step forward Redbull has done today is much bigger than the one of Mercedes. Yet, some people accuse Ferrari of burning oil instead of giving them credit for obviously having built a very fast (revolutionary) car.
Mercedes, on the other hand, stuck to their concept. I've already told in testings that I see the W09 more as a developed W08 and that I believe their further developing steps therefore might not be as big anymore or there might not be as much of a room for improvement as for Ferrari or Redbull. It was just a an opinion and it still is. I can be wrong, but until now it looks like Ferrari was not so wrong by changing and trying or even risking a new concept.
I'm curious about the upgrades Mercedes will bring to Barcelona and how they will work.
There is one thing I'm sure of though - the season has been refreshingly interesting until now.
This is what I like about Kimi straight to the point no nonsense.
Q: (Christian Menath) - Question for the two Ferrari drivers. It’s always a balance between race pace and qualifying pace. Now, as you’ve seen the gap to the Mercedes, do you feel you’ve sacrificed race pace a bit too much for qualifying pace?
KR: I honestly don’t know how you could sacrifice something today to be better tomorrow. We have nothing that you could change like that. I never… as long as I remember, there has never been a case like that. You have somehow different setups for two days. It’s what you have. If it’s fast in qualifying it’s fast in the race, if it works.
