2020 Tuscan Grand Prix - Mugello, September 11 - 13

[Wass85]

If, by on the back foot you mean, not in P1 after every single run, okay.

There isn't much to be gleaned from the lap times today anyway. Lap time evolution was massive, and there will be more tomorrow.

Bottas has got no chance here, even if he is faster over a single lap. He's useless at managing tyres over the length of a stint, so I fully expect Hamilton to pass him at the first stops if he hasn't done so already on track.

Now that is just hyperbolic, if he gets pole here he will be a strong favourite for the win.

I guess the Bottas hype train was derailed by Ocon.

Yep, he was a massive half a tenth off.

It's all about the start tomorrow and who leads after the first corner.

[Juzh]

Pole Lap (open in yt)
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NJxy8mX4qH8

[Moore77]

If, by on the back foot you mean, not in P1 after every single run, okay.

There isn't much to be gleaned from the lap times today anyway. Lap time evolution was massive, and there will be more tomorrow.

Bottas has got no chance here, even if he is faster over a single lap. He's useless at managing tyres over the length of a stint, so I fully expect Hamilton to pass him at the first stops if he hasn't done so already on track.

Now that is just hyperbolic, if he gets pole here he will be a strong favourite for the win.

I guess the Bottas hype train was derailed by Ocon.

I know. Some people play him up as better than Barrichello to make Hamilton look good.

What a lap by Leclerc!!! Ricciardo feels 5th was his if not for yellow flag.

[Big Tea]

Gap VER to ALB seems to be reducing since the mapping directive.

4 1/2 tenths back has put him in the right spot for race day.

I think it has kept other cars out from in between them so looks 'better' for Albon

[Shrieker]

Pole Lap (open in yt)
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NJxy8mX4qH8

You know, I really used to enjoy doing hot laps on GP 500 back in the day on this track. Upon watching that my genuine reaction is holy sh!#. Like hoolllyy f&{k man. Flat thru 6-7-8-9, it seems surreal.

[Fulcrum]

Now that is just hyperbolic, if he gets pole here he will be a strong favourite for the win.

I guess the Bottas hype train was derailed by Ocon.

Yep, he was a massive half a tenth off.

It's all about the start tomorrow and who leads after the first corner.

It could have been 0.001, he was still slower when it counts, as always. That's going to sting.

Let's see if he can bounce back and have a good race, or if he wilts into 3rd place.

[zibby43]

Mercedes dialed a considerable amount of understeer into the car to protect the tires in the race.

Sacrificed a fair amount of qualifying pace, but that’s the benefit of having a huge margin. Same strategy that the team employs in Bahrain.

[PlatinumZealot]

Hamilton infuriates me, just chilling in the garage whilst Bottas is straight out hammering it.

If I was struggling on a circuit I'd want to be getting out and back on it ASAP.

For sake of the health of my fellow posters, I hereby make a formal request to Steven to place a promo code for some pain killers and pressure pills on this forum. A lot of headaches and heart palpitations are incoming! lol

[Fulcrum]

Pole Lap (open in yt)
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NJxy8mX4qH8

You know, I really used to enjoy doing hot laps on GP 500 back in the day on this track. Upon watching that my genuine reaction is holy sh!#. Like hoolllyy f&{k man. Flat thru 6-7-8-9, it seems surreal.

Lots of instances of holding a lower gear. Very few gear changes throughout the lap.

[El Scorchio]

Gap VER to ALB seems to be reducing since the mapping directive.

4 1/2 tenths back has put him in the right spot for race day.

Good point. I wonder if they were doing something slightly different on each car before that? Would they have been allowed to? He does seem to have picked it up, luckily for him. Seeing a lot less spins from both drivers than at the start of the season too.

[Restomaniac]

Probably best for posters to not make predictions unless they are willing to actually admit they are wrong instead of always finding excuses.

Admitting your mistakes is always the best idea. Just digging a bigger hole helps nobody except manufactures of spades.

[Moore77]

Mercedes dialed a considerable amount of understeer into the car to protect the tires in the race.

Sacrificed a fair amount of qualifying pace, but that’s the benefit of having a huge margin. Same strategy that the team employs in Bahrain.

I feel they have toned down the engine mode to avoid overheating issues that hampered them in Monza. Bottas was doing 312 in FP2 yesterday on the straight and Hamilton on his pole lap did 314. They are being cautious.

[Fulcrum]

Hamilton infuriates me, just chilling in the garage whilst Bottas is straight out hammering it.

If I was struggling on a circuit I'd want to be getting out and back on it ASAP.

For sake of the health of my fellow posters, I hereby make a formal request to Steven to place a promo code for some pain killers and pressure pills on this forum. A lot of headaches and heart palpitations are incoming! lol

I really don't get where the artificial Bottas hype came from in the first place. Hamilton is literally doing what he has done with regularity for 3+ seasons, i.e. putting the pretender in his place, albeit in this case at the last minute.

Stronger meds may be advisable for those suffering from delusions.

[214270]

Gap VER to ALB seems to be reducing since the mapping directive.

4 1/2 tenths back has put him in the right spot for race day.

I think it has kept other cars out from in between them so looks 'better' for Albon

Yes maybe. Peter Windsor (despite the gap to VER coming down) said he wasn’t impressed last week with ALB. He reasoned Monza is effectively 5 or 6 corners so there shouldn’t really be much between teammates. Mugello though is very technical, he deserves credit I reckon.

[MtthsMlw]

If nothing else, it'll be interesting to compare F1 times here with the other series that race here such as MotoGP. The last time F1 cars ran here, during testing, the top time was a 1.21 which was just over a second faster than the pole time for that year's Spanish GP. This year's Spanish GP pole time was 7 seconds faster than the 2012 pole time. So we might expect a pole time of 1.14 here? Or is that much too simplistic an approach?

Looks like it's not really