2019 Spanish Grand Prix - Catalunya, May 10-12

[MtthsMlw]

Pre-season: Mercedes 1:16.224, Ferrari 1:16.221
Spanish GP: Mercedes 1:15.406, Ferrari 1:16.272

Merc improved more than Ferrari. 8 tenths more..

[digitalrurouni]

Pre-season: Mercedes 1:16.224, Ferrari 1:16.221
Spanish GP: Mercedes 1:15.406, Ferrari 1:16.272

Wow that's quite a telling statistic!

Adrian is a genius but it seems he's been more than blown away by Mercedes. Remind me again who's their main aero guy at Mercedes? Not Aldo Costa is it?

[GPR-A]

Pre-season: Mercedes 1:16.224, Ferrari 1:16.221
Spanish GP: Mercedes 1:15.406, Ferrari 1:16.272

Wow that's quite a telling statistic!

Adrian is a genius but it seems he's been more than blown away by Mercedes. Remind me again who's their main aero guy at Mercedes? Not Aldo Costa is it?

John Owen who is their chief designer. Geoff Willis (an aero guy) who is their technology director and Mike Elliott (another aero guy) who is also a technology director. These are the guys who design new cars.
Loic Serra who is their chief of Vehicle Dynamics (Mechanical). Aldo was an engineering director (also mechanical side) and leading in season development. Mark Ellis, who was also a Mechanical guy, is also retiring along with Aldo.

[Sevach]

I'm starting to believe that it's more in the car set-up then it is in the design. The car looks planted, it looks fast, it looks smooth. The Mercedes looks a bit more Twitchy. It's going to be interesting to see the Mercedes teammates on the first lap.

It looks planted because it has no turn in, drivers simply have to come into the corners slower.

I would say that the no turn in is caused by the setup, not the design. In any racing simulator, you can play with the bound and rebound settings of the front dampers as well as the Castor to change the turn in characteristics.

This looks like they have to compromise on those settings just to keep the tires from destroying themselves.

In run of the mill consumer grade simulators cars respond to setup changes as expected.

If the Ferrari has a design flaw on it's supension or doesn't get enough front downforce at slow speeds (yes there is such a thing) then it can't be fixed without re-designing at least some components.

[TAG]

That was a fantastic lap by Bottas, maybe the best of his career. No one is a "fan" of Mercedes, it's just not that kind of team. But man do you have to respect what they're doing in the sport. The "heritage" teams are looking like a chump, Red Bull can at least claim to be a soft drinks company. Points are awarded on Sunday but it's difficult to see beyond a 5th Mercedes 1-2 at the moment. God have mercy these race threads should that happen.

[Zynerji]

It looks planted because it has no turn in, drivers simply have to come into the corners slower.

I would say that the no turn in is caused by the setup, not the design. In any racing simulator, you can play with the bound and rebound settings of the front dampers as well as the Castor to change the turn in characteristics.

This looks like they have to compromise on those settings just to keep the tires from destroying themselves.

In run of the mill consumer grade simulators cars respond to setup changes as expected.

If the Ferrari has a design flaw on it's supension or doesn't get enough front downforce at slow speeds (yes there is such a thing) then it can't be fixed without re-designing at least some components.

I would only expect a redesign of components if the current ones limit the range of adjustability. If they need 5 degrees of positive castor and the current design only allows for 3.5 degrees, then they would need new parts.

I'm not saying that Sims are true to life, I am saying that they are so close with their real- time modeling that there is enormous crossover of philosophy. Teams would not own simulators otherwise.

[Restomaniac]

Pre-season: Mercedes 1:16.224, Ferrari 1:16.221
Spanish GP: Mercedes 1:15.406, Ferrari 1:16.272

Which is why people needed to ignore pre-season. It was always completely pointless as I said on this thread earlier.

Mercedes ran 2 different cars, Ferrari have made plenty of aero changes, Mercedes have made plenty of aero changes, May isn’t February, Ferrari have changed their PU, etc.

[GPR-A]

Pre-season: Mercedes 1:16.224, Ferrari 1:16.221
Spanish GP: Mercedes 1:15.406, Ferrari 1:16.272

The times done in Winter testing, was on C5, whereas the compound used today is C3. The performance gap between C5 and C3 is around 1.8 seconds.

Hypothetically speaking, Mercedes could have done a 1m13.6xxx with C5 today. While development through the past 2 months is worth a whole lot, there was no doubt that Mercedes wasn't going full beans in winter testing when they did the 1m16.224. Amazingly, while Ferrari brought a Spec 2 PU, Mercedes is still doing those times on the spec 1 PU that has already completed 4 race weekends. There was a post in the thread earlier that, Mercedes has been running with some cooling issues on their PU. Sum of all these points, it would be foolish to believe anyone can come anywhere close to those Mercs.

So, Lewis' no. 2 engineer who was moved over to become Bottas' No. 1 engineer (replacing Tony Ross) surely has carried some setup secrets!

[3jawchuck]

Hamilton has had the in-team battle too easy the last couple of years. He's forgotten what it takes to fight a strong teammate

Really good to see Bottas giving it some. I'd not mind if he won the title.

[GPR-A]

Hamilton has had the in-team battle too easy the last couple of years. He's forgotten what it takes to fight a strong teammate

I think it is natural. It's been 12 years since he had a strong team mate who was a genuine challenge to overcome for a championship!

[roon]

Pre-season: Mercedes 1:16.224, Ferrari 1:16.221
Spanish GP: Mercedes 1:15.406, Ferrari 1:16.272

Wow that's quite a telling statistic!

Not really. Testing times don't award world championship points nor prize money. Merc generally don't show their pace until they need to.

[Edax]

Amazing by Bottas. But I wonder whether Bottas 2.0 can keep this up. Hamilton has won so many championships coming from behind. It is almost like he needs the underdog position to extract his best performances.

Leclerc is making his own life difficult. I guess it is a different thing to run for a B team with no pressure from expectations, than for an A team where excuses don't count.

By the way would they be allowed to change the floor, without penalty? I would guess not since they decided not to replace it for Q3.

[nevill3]

Parc ferme conditions allow for replacement of certain broken items on a like for like basis

[MtthsMlw]

By the way would they be allowed to change the floor, without penalty? I would guess not since they decided not to replace it for Q3.

Looked to me like they simply changed the bargeboards and he was told that the car was fully repaired on the radio. I guess that's okay if it's the same spec right?

[dans79]

Amazing by Bottas. But I wonder whether Bottas 2.0 can keep this up. Hamilton has won so many championships coming from behind. It is almost like he needs the underdog position to extract his best performances.

From what I have seen, Bottas is taking a lot more risks than Hamilton. In FP2 for example he was pounding the curbs in the final chicane, He was also running out on the grass in the same way that lead to Stroll's accident. If he isn't careful, its will eventually come back and bite him.