2019 Russian Grand Prix - Sochi Autodrom, 27 - 29 September

[matt_b]

Has the rain come too early though and then in three and a half hours time its bone dry, hopefully not though never seen a wet qualifying around this track before.

[Bill_Kar]

Has the rain come too early though and then in three and a half hours time its bone dry, hopefully not though never seen a wet qualifying around this track before.

I'm afraid so my weather app now says mainly forecast at 4pm

[falonso81]

Ferrari has just thrown the gauntlet.

[Sevach]

Leclerc absolutely on fire looking set for another pole.

[matt_b]

If it wasn't for LeClerc you would think it was neck and neck between the Mercs and Ferraris.

[LM10]

Leclerc absolutely on fire looking set for another pole.

What an amazing talent he is.

[Sevach]

If it wasn't for LeClerc you would think it was neck and neck between the Mercs and Ferraris.

Depending on who would be the other Ferrari driver you might even think Vettel is working miracles lol.

[MtthsMlw]

So much for a RB Quali run...but Verstappen was around 7 tenths down if you compare S1 and S2 (not clean though)

[LM10]

If it wasn't for LeClerc you would think it was neck and neck between the Mercs and Ferraris.

If you compare the faster drivers with each other and the slower drivers with each other, you'll see that between Vettel and Bottas there still are 3 tenths for now.

[MtthsMlw]

Fastest sectors:
S1
Ferrari 33.869
Merc +0.397
RB +0.425

S2
Ferrari 31.762
Merc +0.244
RB +0.341

S3
Merc 26.826
Ferrari +0.173
RB +0.596

[falonso81]

Leclerc is able to hold up pretty well in the last sector compared to the Mercs, while Vettel is falling apart there and also losing out some time at sector 2. Merc will be closer at Q but my bet is on Leclerc for pole, Hamilton p2 and Vettel p3.

[atanatizante]

Ferrari with the last upgrade have regain their ability to put heat quickly into the tyres, something I've noticed after a SC restart but most evidently when they simulate a hot lap in free practice. Leclerc's car setup does that in particular hence his need to manage better the tyres over a stint due to an increased load and greater deg&wear than Vettel...Here he did the same and overcooked the last sector in FP2,which is not good, and it seems that he hasn't improved much either in FP3. That's a bad sign for the race knowing that Sochi is an one stop race. Vettel seems to compromise a little the qualy setup, for setting his fastest FP3 lap on a second attempt, just to have a better tyre management over the entire race...
In contrast, Merc was heating slower the tyres both after a SC phase and a hot lap on free practises, thus maybe give them a longer tyre life. And that's the whole season trend...

Regarding top speed, now Ferrari are just 6km/h faster on the first straight and only 4km/h on the second one. Red Bull it's even closer... How about a tow? How much time you could gain here?

And what's delta between S and M tyre? Seems to me it's down to 4 or 5 tenths and knowing that after FP3 Grosjean was 1 sec. behind the top 6 drivers it could tempt someone to start the race on them...

[matt_b]

Leclerc is able to hold up pretty well in the last sector compared to the Mercs, while Vettel is falling apart there and also losing out some time at sector 2. Merc will be closer at Q but my bet is on Leclerc for pole, Hamilton p2 and Vettel p3.

We see this on many weekends where Ferrari make big improvements to their weakest sector by the time we get to qualifying through set up tweaks. Mercedes and Red Bull on the other hand cannot do anything to improve on their weakest sector due not having that Ferrari power deployment and minimal drag philosophy, they can turn the wick up but so will Ferrari who will get pole today and likely lock out the row.

[F1T]

FP3: Ferrari 1-2 ahead of qualifying

Ferrari are strong favourites to secure pole position for the Russian Grand Prix, as the scarlet cars headed the timing sheet of the final practice session. Lewis Hamilton came close to matching Sebastian Vettel, but he had to settle for third.

[CRazyLemon]

Ferrari with the last upgrade have regain their ability to put heat quickly into the tyres, something I've noticed after a SC restart but most evidently when they simulate a hot lap in free practice. Leclerc's car setup does that in particular hence his need to manage better the tyres over a stint due to an increased load and greater deg&wear than Vettel...Here he did the same and overcooked the last sector in FP2,which is not good, and it seems that he hasn't improved much either in FP3. That's a bad sign for the race knowing that Sochi is an one stop race. Vettel seems to compromise a little the qualy setup, for setting his fastest FP3 lap on a second attempt, just to have a better tyre management over the entire race...
In contrast, Merc was heating slower the tyres both after a SC phase and a hot lap on free practises, thus maybe give them a longer tyre life. And that's the whole season trend...

Regarding top speed, now Ferrari are just 6km/h faster on the first straight and only 4km/h on the second one. Red Bull it's even closer... How about a tow? How much time you could gain here?

And what's delta between S and M tyre? Seems to me it's down to 4 or 5 tenths and knowing that after FP3 Grosjean was 1 sec. behind the top 6 drivers it could tempt someone to start the race on them...

Was Leclerc's fastest time not on a second timed lap?