2018 Mexico Grand Prix - Autódromo Hermanos Rodríguez, 26-28 October

[Shrieker]

For anyone interested in taking a walk down memory lane, this was an exerpt of a Sky article from 2015 is still a barrel of laughs to read and in hindsight, extremely telling of clueless some people in the sport are.

To be honest I too predicted in 2012 that Hamilton's move to Mercedes would end in a disaster of epic proportions.

At least I can console myself that I'm not a pro F1 journo unlike Saward

[WaikeCU]

No idea... as I said, I thought it sounded like the audio was broadcast to the venue as well as to the TV viewers. There was just so much hall. And Lewis didn't comment or anything, so I was like... where did that come from? At first I thought it was like a message from Neymar, was it last year or something? :/

Yeah, you are right. I think it was also here at the Mexican GP last season where Neymar came on the radio. When Lewis won his 4th.

[NathanOlder]

Maybe Lewis and Will Smith have had a joke in the past about Will telling Lewis how to drive ?

Was pretty bad though !

[zac510]

It is starting to seem to me like VSC is replacing double yellow flags, and this is used when a car has stopped with a mechanical problem (that is not a crash) and requires marshals on the track to recover the car.

it definitely looked like that yesterday, yes. I mean, Alonso parked the car on a side road next to the marshalls and it took something like 20 seconds to get it out of the way - and we still got a VSC for that. Would be interesting to know if this was due to the short track or if it's a general change of approach.

I know the VSC is not perfectly fair, but it's probably a bit fairer than localised double yellows which may affect half the field so this change might not be too bad in the long run.

[Sieper]

But if a stopped car will always give a VSC that opens the window to some (dirty tactics) timed bad luck in the junior teams (and/or teams with high reliance on you as an engine supplier). If it is not known (for sure) if a VSC will be triggered this will be less likely.

Also There seems to be so much variation in the gap, depending on where you are on the track this can be anywhere up to 6 seconds or so. That is much time in a F1 race.

[WaikeCU]

It is starting to seem to me like VSC is replacing double yellow flags, and this is used when a car has stopped with a mechanical problem (that is not a crash) and requires marshals on the track to recover the car.

it definitely looked like that yesterday, yes. I mean, Alonso parked the car on a side road next to the marshalls and it took something like 20 seconds to get it out of the way - and we still got a VSC for that. Would be interesting to know if this was due to the short track or if it's a general change of approach.

I know the VSC is not perfectly fair, but it's probably a bit fairer than localised double yellows which may affect half the field so this change might not be too bad in the long run.

high speed sections perhaps?

[search]

or closed pits, like in Indycar

[zac510]

But if a stopped car will always give a VSC that opens the window to some (dirty tactics) timed bad luck in the junior teams (and/or teams with high reliance on you as an engine supplier). If it is not known (for sure) if a VSC will be triggered this will be less likely.

This possibility exists even without the VSC - any team could easily cause a safety car (and indeed it has famously happened, that was long before the VSC was invented!)

Also There seems to be so much variation in the gap, depending on where you are on the track this can be anywhere up to 6 seconds or so. That is much time in a F1 race.

Yes but it's not as bad as half the field having to slow for double yellow and half the field not having to slow at all. Perfect is the enemy of good in this scenario, IMO!

[Just_a_fan]

Here ya go:

https://soundcloud.com/matt-betros

Lewis Mexico:

https://soundcloud.com/ma...eam-radio-mexican-gp-2018

I now see not "most" (sorry) just a few, but interesting nonetheless.

The amount of car management info and setting adjustments the drivers do is mad. 20 years ago they had brake balance and a radio button to order their after-race steak and beer!

[TwanV]

But if a stopped car will always give a VSC that opens the window to some (dirty tactics) timed bad luck in the junior teams (and/or teams with high reliance on you as an engine supplier). If it is not known (for sure) if a VSC will be triggered this will be less likely.

Also There seems to be so much variation in the gap, depending on where you are on the track this can be anywhere up to 6 seconds or so. That is much time in a F1 race.

Yep, VSC's are terribly unfair most of the time.. if a VSC situation ends and a driver finds himself halfway down the straight, he loses a lot of time. There is not a better solution though, the same applies (although I argue less so) for double yellow. There will always be cars that will be caught out having to slow down while others are just able to pass without lifting.

[Just_a_fan]

In the VSC that happened just as Ricciardo caught Magnusson, Danny seemed to lose time as Mag seemed to gain a lead over him. Indeed Seb seemed to catch up although he was close anyway. Maybe Dan's delta time was slower or maybe he was just being ultra careful and making sure he stayed well away from it.

Danny was also generally well messed around by the back markers - he seemed to catch them just as he got to the twisty stuff and most of them were too busy racing each other to notice/make way. It did rather lead to his place being gifted to Seb more easily than would otherwise have been the case. Sadly, of course, it didn't make a difference in the end.

[search]

Mercedes did the race without the cooling wheel rims again by the way. I had not read that before.

They say it didn't make the difference though. No idea if that's the whole truth or not...

https://www.motorsport.com/f1/news/merc ... s/3205249/

[Big Tea]

But if a stopped car will always give a VSC that opens the window to some (dirty tactics) timed bad luck in the junior teams (and/or teams with high reliance on you as an engine supplier). If it is not known (for sure) if a VSC will be triggered this will be less likely.

Also There seems to be so much variation in the gap, depending on where you are on the track this can be anywhere up to 6 seconds or so. That is much time in a F1 race.

Yep, VSC's are terribly unfair most of the time.. if a VSC situation ends and a driver finds himself halfway down the straight, he loses a lot of time. There is not a better solution though, the same applies (although I argue less so) for double yellow. There will always be cars that will be caught out having to slow down while others are just able to pass without lifting.

The only way around it would be for vsc to last full laps and release the car at the same point it was captured.
Even this would make uneven delays as it could be in the acceleration zone or the deceleration zone.

[NathanOlder]

Mercedes did the race without the cooling wheel rims again by the way. I had not read that before.

They say it didn't make the difference though. No idea if that's the whole truth or not...

https://www.motorsport.com/f1/news/merc ... s/3205249/

Ahh good find. Thats interesting, I wonder why ? The surely if they were cleared to use them, they would use them ?

[Big Tea]

Mercedes did the race without the cooling wheel rims again by the way. I had not read that before.

They say it didn't make the difference though. No idea if that's the whole truth or not...

https://www.motorsport.com/f1/news/merc ... s/3205249/

Ahh good find. Thats interesting, I wonder why ? The surely if they were cleared to use them, they would use them ?

'just in case'. Better to finish 4th than win and have the cars dsq'd later. Possibly a special case as it was the one that closed out the championship.