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

[ferkan]

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?

Yea. On 4th lap of stint. 2 cool down laps in between.

[MtthsMlw]

Quali prediction
Lec - Ham - Vet

[MtthsMlw]

So much for rain..

[falonso81]

Dry bodes well for a nice Q3 battle. I would prefer some rain during the race so we don't end up with the 1-stop procession again.

[LM10]

Quali prediction
Lec - Ham - Vet

I wouldn’t count out Max.

[MtthsMlw]

Quali prediction
Lec - Ham - Vet

I wouldn’t count out Max.

Yes definitely but I took the penalty in to consideration already

[F1Krof]

Mercedes' is getting their ass handed over to them. To me it looks like their upgrade did not work as expected, they lost their way.

[Javert]

Chances of Albon being reconfirmed are already slight above zero

[LM10]

Quali prediction
Lec - Ham - Vet

I wouldn’t count out Max.

Yes definitely but I took the penalty in to consideration already

Ok then, you're right. Gonna be exciting.

[Carl Mccoy]

Vettel is no match for Charles Leclerc.

[auv]

Chances of Albon being reconfirmed are already slight above zero

Not really. Gasly has been crashing and underperforming from the preseason tests, so Albon may still have his credit.

[Just_a_fan]

Vettel is no match for Charles Leclerc.

It does appear as if Vettel is struggling to find any answers against his team mate now. I think Leclerc is going to spend the rest of this season breaking Vettel.

[matt_b]

Charles is a machine also where did that come from with Lewis P2.

[MtthsMlw]

Leclerc is amazing. What a mental guy.
Classic Hamilton just got in there at the end but I guess Vettel will just fly past him at the start.

[El Scorchio]

What a turnaround for Ferrari since the break! Whatever they’ve done on the car has really worked. Too late for this season, but finally now someone other than Mercedes is the new benchmark.

Makes you wonder what could have been if it wasn’t for such incompetence earlier this year.