Lewis Hamilton has taken another massive step towards winning this year's World Championship by dominating the Japanese Grand Prix while Bottas completes the Mercedes 1-2. Max Verstappen finished a close third. Championship contender Sebastian Vettel was 6th at the finish line.
Going by frames, despite alonso having MUCH better exits he still lost around 1.1s on the main straight, back straight and out of the hairpin going up to spoon. I'd say the renault engine is probably around 1.2-1.5s off the pace here.
Last edited by Juzh on 06 Oct 2018, 15:29, edited 1 time in total.
Going by frames, despite alonso having MUCH better exits he still lost around 1.1s on the main straight, back straight and out of the hairpin going up to spoon. I'd say the renault engine is probably around 1.2-1.5s off the pace here.
Don't forget that the McLaren is one of the worst cars aerodynamically - maybe even the worst. That needs to be factored in - a better comparison would be Sainz vs Kimi.
Going by frames, despite alonso having MUCH better exits he still lost around 1.1s on the main straight, back straight and out of the hairpin going up to spoon. I'd say the renault engine is probably around 1.2-1.5s off the pace here.
Don't forget that the McLaren is one of the worst cars aerodynamically - maybe even the worst. That needs to be factored in - a better comparison would be Sainz vs Kimi.
Judging by speed trap data this does not seem to be the case this weekend. Renault is slower than mclaren at all measuring points
I was at the track while when Q3 started the track was dry and only for slicks, there were very grey clouds overhead. The rain that started in Q3 continued on for about 45 minutes, heavier than it had been all day previously. In a sense Ferrari were right, 5 minutes too early, but 5 crucial minutes.
Hamiltons engine smoking a few times today. Add the oil leak and hesitations the last race and without knowing all the facts, if it was me I would put a fresh one in.
They would not go into the race with a smoking engine which should not smoke normally. So I guess it’s a controlled smoking. Whatever the reason is.
You mean Ferrari like?
On Sky they were saying that the floor was bottaming out quite heavily and the smoke was the result of that. I would think another FIA sensor coming to Mercedes, to measure the smoke may be, if not a dual battery?
Hamiltons engine smoking a few times today. Add the oil leak and hesitations the last race and without knowing all the facts, if it was me I would put a fresh one in.
They would not go into the race with a smoking engine which should not smoke normally. So I guess it’s a controlled smoking. Whatever the reason is.
You mean Ferrari like?
On Sky they were saying that the floor was bottaming out quite heavily and the smoke was the result of that. I would think another FIA sensor coming to Mercedes, to measure the smoke may be, if not a dual battery?
the smoke appeared when he exited the pitlane in Q3 I think. In FP3 he bottomed out heavily going into chicane. THere is clip in highlights.
I don't get why you guys are focusing so hard on Ferrari putting them out on Inters, that actually worked in their favour - it meant Vettel and Raikkonen were out on slicks at the absolute best moment to be out on slicks... They just also --- up their lap.
Judging by their recent pace in wet, they will be in trouble anyways
You never can tell with Vettel, he has put in some decent wet times in the past (notably with Toro Rosso), his problems this year only seem to stem from ebbing confidence against an unrelenting competitor.
Kimi on the other hand has always been a dud in the wet, so his case is sealed.
Of course, all of the above will only be useful if it rains.
Other than monza 2008, which other decent race has he pulled off in wet?
Nobody is saying he is poor in wet, just that he is not as good as Schumacher, senna or Lewis in wet
Today says he's not even as good as Bottas, Hulkenberg and Stroll. Wow performance.
No one has posted the onboard pole lap ? Blasphemy !
A. Davidson says touching the kerbs were Ferrari's bane, but Hamilton does touch them plenty on his fastest lap as well. He shies away from them at spoon tho. Maaaybe another difference is, couple of times when he gets on the exit kerbs (most notably out of Degner 2), he is a little less aggressive on the throttle compared to Vettel. So it's hard to say I agree with Davidson there.
Education is that which allows a nation free, independent, reputable life, and function as a high society; or it condemns it to captivity and poverty.
-Atatürk
Going by frames, despite alonso having MUCH better exits he still lost around 1.1s on the main straight, back straight and out of the hairpin going up to spoon. I'd say the renault engine is probably around 1.2-1.5s off the pace here.
You can easily see less downforce on the McLaren too. The vicious circle of having a weaker engine. Dropping downforce to be able to take on racing conditions..
A. Davidson says touching the kerbs were Ferrari's bane, but Hamilton does touch them plenty on his fastest lap as well. He shies away from them at spoon tho. Maaaybe another difference is, couple of times when he gets on the exit kerbs (most notably out of Degner 2), he is a little less aggressive on the throttle compared to Vettel. So it's hard to say I agree with Davidson there.
Hamitlon touches the curbs in a smarter way: when car is going straight and unloaded and with two wheels at a time. (degner two outside). And he obviously avoided the curbs in the high speed (spoon).
vettel clipped degner two inside curb and spoon outside curb. Not so smart.