China's not comparable and Ferrari were the strongest three races ago in Canada although HS and let's say unequal engine situation contributed.f1316 wrote: ↑02 Jul 2018, 19:02On paper it’s nailed on for Mercedes .
The only hope is that the rumoured Ferrari update brings something significant - they haven’t really brought anything since Canada, whereas Mercedes brought a big update last week, so they’re kinda out of sync with each other.
I’m not sure that the Ferrari wouldn’t have been on terms with Mercedes at this type of track earlier in the season - certainly in China they were stronger - but, not only is this a traditional Mercedes track, but they’ve also upped their game.
Ferrari seems to remain decent on race pace - but we haven’t got a really clear view of Vettel’s pace either of the last two weeks - but that won’t necessarily be true here as the harder compounds (I didn’t say anything about thinner! ) are much more suited to the Mercedes car.
There is an old King's tale about a brave blond German, who was miles ahead of the black king in the same car before his gearbox was eaten by a dragon...
No, it is the thin tires, as hard as possible. In France you could discuss about the term "Merc tires", but here...
No penalty for Bottas since he didn't finish the race.basti313 wrote: ↑02 Jul 2018, 20:09There is an old King's tale about a brave blond German, who was miles ahead of the black king in the same car before his gearbox was eaten by a dragon...
No, it is the thin tires, as hard as possible. In France you could discuss about the term "Merc tires", but here...
The only thing, that should spice up the race is a gearbox penalty for Bottas.
I won't refer it to as the "Merc tyre", but I will also state my claim that the only thing F1 that truly levels the playing field is the saying "It is the same for everyone". I greatly dislike changes made to the control items in F1 AFTER the teams all design to the same item, and then it gets changed afterwards because one team gets it wrong.basti313 wrote: ↑02 Jul 2018, 20:09There is an old King's tale about a brave blond German, who was miles ahead of the black king in the same car before his gearbox was eaten by a dragon...
No, it is the thin tires, as hard as possible. In France you could discuss about the term "Merc tires", but here...
The only thing, that should spice up the race is a gearbox penalty for Bottas.
Mercedes has more powerful PU, not better aero efficiency. They weren't that strong at all on race day in Austria, they were weaker in Canada and in Monaco. I'm not counting Spain and France for obvious reasons. Mercedes were strong in Qualy in Austria because of more powerful PU than before (unlike Ferrari, which is "only" more reliable and uses less fuel) and because of track temp. Also, Seb messed his lap, so all in all kind of like China reversed.
Wasn’t that the old rule? I thought that changed in recent years
AFAIK you can change the gearbox without a penalty if you didn't finish the last race.
As long as it is not out of your 'seasons allowance'
The race wasn't that bad last year, and there is an extra DRS zone this year, but yeah with the Mercedes control tires they'll just romp everyone. Pole in the 25's. Also it's hard to predict but weather is supposed to be actually decent this weekend, but it's England, so you know how accurate that is.