2018 Austrian Grand Prix, Spielberg, 29 June - 1 July

[atanatizante]

Bottas gained on Lewis 7 thousand on S1, lose 2 at S2 and gained again 14 on S4, coz Lewis braked a little earlier in turn 3 (where he would have hoped to gain the most) after that bad lesson taken on the previous lap. And also lose at turn 10, when he was trying to cut too much the apex unsettled his car after running over that yellow sausage curb, as he was experimenting this a lot since Q1 ...

In contrast, Vettel loses 1,5 tenths in S1, gained 1 tenth in S2 and lose the most in S3 (almost 3 tenths) ...

And last but not least, all 4 top drivers have their top speed between 321 and 323 km/h top speed ...

In conclusion, the gap to Ferrari although at first glance is not too big (+0,334sec) actually it means a lot coz at this type of circuit times are so close to one another ...

[TAG]

Damn those special Mercedes tires are so good, the effect lasts until the following race. I knew Bottas would do it, had him picked for Pole with a 63.4 way off on the time, but he goes well in this track. Going back to the Williams days. Congrats to him!

[MtthsMlw]

Ferrari really has to improve now. Mercedes has closed the gap in Qualifying and opened one up themselves. Coming to think that Ferrari was really doing something with battery before Spain. If not then applause to Merc for improving that much. Ferrari will be lucky if they are only half a second behind Merc in Silverstone. Nevertheless the race pace and tyre management is still fine for Ferrari so the season is far from over.
Red Bull seems to be stagnant so far I thought they would close the gap even further but aside from Monaco they're clearly third fastest in Qualifying, the new engine mode didn't seem to help them today at all.

[dfegan358]

Ferrari need to get working hard back at maranello to get upgrades to keep up with Mercedes!

[Vasconia]

I was expecting more from Ferrari so I am disappointed. This is looking more and more like 2017.

Another underwhelming point is sector 3. Mercedes smashes Ferrari which means that Silverstone will be a torture for Ferrari. I was expecting more from the longer wheelbase but high speed corners are still a problem. A bad sign.

[TAG]

Soooo close for LH! But still a great result for the team.
Bottas is really mighty in this circuit, I think LH would be OK with 2nd place here.

Start will be interesting, Vettel had such a better get away in France, but you can't really block him like Mercedes did there. It's a short run to Turn 1 though.

They'll do the same thing they did last week except with Lewis doing the boxing in. Maybe Vettel will keep from locking up this time round.

[dans79]

it'll be even closer in the race because Mercedes will have to manage tires but not fuel where as Ferrari has to manage fuel but not tires.

you've got the tires backwards, Ferrari is the one that will have to manage the tires they are on us Mercedes is on ss.

[Edax]

Did anyone see the Vettel Sainz thing? How serious is it?

I would guess a 3 place grid penalty. Obviously it was not intentional, but Sainz had to take some serious evasive action.

[Phil]

Nah. The stewards wont have the balls to penalize the WDC contender.

[thetruth]

Nah. The stewards wont have the balls to penalize the WDC contender.

Oh yes.
It reminds me to Silverstone 2017.

[F1NAC]

If nobody got penalized in Canada then well...

[Vasconia]

Nah. The stewards wont have the balls to penalize the WDC contender.

Oh yes.
It reminds me to Silverstone 2017.

Sainz wasn't complaining that much so I don't think it will be a penalty.

[f1316]

it'll be even closer in the race because Mercedes will have to manage tires but not fuel where as Ferrari has to manage fuel but not tires.

you've got the tires backwards, Ferrari is the one that will have to manage the tires they are on us Mercedes is on ss.

I also think the principal gain in the recent Ferrari PU upgrade is not outright horsepower or quali modes - Mercedes seems to have stretched its legs in that regard - but better race pace via better fuel economy.

Bottas made a comment in Canada about Vettel not having to save fuel whereas he did, and Seb’ been very confident of race pace these last two races.

Not conclusive proof but the evidence seems to point that way.

[Wass85]

Hamilton slightly past it or Bottas one of the quickest ever? Either way Hamilton isn't deserving of the big bucks in his new contract going by his performance this season. There's several drivers on the grid that could do just as good as a job if not better IMO.

[ThumbsUp]

Can somebody tell me why Ferrari used the SuperSofts in q1? I really don’t get it..