2020 Russian Grand Prix - Sochi Autodrom, September 25 - 27

[selvam_e2002]

If it were to be a crazy race, I'd love to Perez or Ricciardo win. I have a feeling Bottas may cause an upset though. He will take the lead down to turn 2, and Lewis will get frustrated and stuck behind.

Crazy start, somewhere between T1 and T5, Bottas overtakes Hamilton, takes the turn wide, collides with the wheels, Albon starts from the back, Ham's front suspension breaks, Bottas rear puncture and floor damage, Max has to avoid collision, barely makes it, Sainz loses places after making contact with Ricciardo who's out, Safety car. Restart Max P1, Perez P2, Ocon P3, Stroll P4, Norris P5, Raikkonen P6, Leclerc P7. Restart Perez has a slow getaway, Ocon overtakes him, Max gets engine problems, Ocon takes the lead. Ocon, Perez, Stroll make up P1 to P3, Lelerc battles Norris for P4. This goes on for a while, Perez undercuts Ocon who has a slower pitstop. Perez P1, Ocon P2, Stroll P3. Incident occurs somewhere, second safety car. Perez and Ocon just miss the pit entry, Stroll takes a pitstop. Leclerc stays out, gets P3. Restart Perez gets away well, Ocon defends against Leclerc who got a better start than Esteban despite both on worn tires, Ocon locks his brakes and sets a flat spot, Leclerc takes P2 but Stroll's pink mercedes on fresh tires and after geting DRS easily overtakes Charles to take P2. Ocon needs to come in for tires, Norris in P4 overtakes Leclerc to get P3. Albon who started from the back, had been collected by magnussen previously (hence Safety car). Raikkonen is P5 with Bottas behind him who can't overtake him. Meanwhile, Stroll on fresher tires and upgraded car, gets within DRS range, Stroll overtakes Perez in the final 5 laps.

P1 Stroll. P2 Perez. P3 Norris. P4 LeClerc. P5 Raikkonen. P6. Bottas. P7. Kvyat. P8 Ocon. P9 Vettel. P10 Gasly.

Stroll happy. Perez not, and everybody thinks Perez should have won and suspects Daddy intervened.
Vettel confirmed RP is a good move next year. Norris super happy with P3. Ferrari claims improvement thanks to P4 of LeClerc. Bottas floor damage couldn't bring in better results. RedBull disappointment with two DNF's.

Max engine problem turns out to be a problem with the steering wheel, which put the car in some mode which made it looks like engine problems. WDC over for Max, he's just done with it. Hamilton is annoyed with Valterri for taking too much speed in the corner after he didn't have the best of starts and then correcting the steer which resulted in contact and his suspension giving way. Isn't mad because he is miles ahead in the championship, sad for Max to see the competition lost, Ferrari making improvements, and missing out in Sochi for the 91th win, but is pleased with the crowd and how nice it is to go for the crowd. He couldn't show his political move/shirt/whatever due to this either.

He'll go for the next race to have a better result, but feels bad for the team that they again didn't get the results they were looking for, applauds the team (not Bottas) for achieving P6 with such a bad floor which shows how good the car is, and compliments RP with their win.

okay i got carried away.

If only 50% will come through, I'll stand up and applaud you ...

It never going to happen as both the Mercedes will cover rest of the filed then Ham will pull over.

If botta in frond, he will try to slow down to put ham in below 2 in pitstop or in race craft. he did the same last race for safety car restart unfortunately it hit back him very hard for next standing start.

I would think Hamilton already knows what Botta going to do so, Ham first and finishes race in First.

AS Max said, their car is not suitable for this track, he may come to 3rd if no "Honda" bludner and Albon will be 5 or below if he drives well else will be further down.

[godlameroso]

It hasn't traditionally been strong for RB, but you never know if the improvements made to the car will carry over.

[zibby43]

I think this may be the first track this season where DAS can be used to its full potential by Mercedes. Particularly in qualifying. Marc Priestley mentioned this in passing during his weekend preview.

And taking into account the circuit characteristics, I can see why he said that.

The track surface itself is incredibly smooth, and the nature of the lap is such that the front tires need to be up to temperature right at the start of the lap for maximum laptime (but without overheating the rears, which are essential for the last sector). This is where DAS will become incredibly useful/potent.

In the past, some teams have needed at least 2 prep laps to get heat into the fronts before starting a flyer. Again, DAS may help mitigate this.

Not to mention the effect of reducing toe on the long straights.

[erudite450]

I think this may be the first track this season where DAS can be used to its full potential by Mercedes. Particularly in qualifying. Marc Priestley mentioned this in passing during his weekend preview.

And taking into account the circuit characteristics, I can see why he said that.

The track surface itself is incredibly smooth, and the nature of the lap is such that the front tires need to be up to temperature right at the start of the lap for maximum laptime (but without overheating the rears, which are essential for the last sector). This is where DAS will become incredibly useful/potent.

In the past, some teams have needed at least 2 prep laps to get heat into the fronts before starting a flyer. Again, DAS may help mitigate this.

Not to mention the effect of reducing toe on the long straights.

Insightful as always! Thanks mate.

[El Scorchio]

Lot of incidents in this session so far!

The Williams guys aren't going to thank Latifi for that overly.

[Wouter]

[basti313]

Not neccesarily so, there was a firestarter around but since he/she/it is now no longer able to participate, i think things will be a lot less explosive.

Something tells me Hamilton won't make his 91th GP win this weekend though.
Either it'll be another bonkers weekend, or it'll be boring and Hamilton will make it though.

Let's go for something crazy. Stroll or Kvyat for the win.

If it were to be a crazy race, I'd love to Perez or Ricciardo win. I have a feeling Bottas may cause an upset though. He will take the lead down to turn 2, and Lewis will get frustrated and stuck behind.

Some dogs get overtaken by their own tail if they are really afraid.
This is how Bot looks to me in T1 if Ham is anywhere close. Yes, the slipstream will be there...but if they do not bottle the start, the Mercs will try to play the game safe, go next to each other and Bot will drop back to P3 or P4 in T1 because he will leave the corner to Ham and an aggressive Bull will slip through.

[El Scorchio]

Massive gap between the Mercs and everyone else so far.

Good to see Ricciardo best of the rest for now, though. Would love a podium for him here.

[PlatinumZealot]

I think this may be the first track this season where DAS can be used to its full potential by Mercedes. Particularly in qualifying. Marc Priestley mentioned this in passing during his weekend preview.

And taking into account the circuit characteristics, I can see why he said that.

The track surface itself is incredibly smooth, and the nature of the lap is such that the front tires need to be up to temperature right at the start of the lap for maximum laptime (but without overheating the rears, which are essential for the last sector). This is where DAS will become incredibly useful/potent.

In the past, some teams have needed at least 2 prep laps to get heat into the fronts before starting a flyer. Again, DAS may help mitigate this.

Not to mention the effect of reducing toe on the long straights.

Very insightful. It could mean race set is one lap fresher on the Mercedes for the first stint.

[yelistener]

I think this may be the first track this season where DAS can be used to its full potential by Mercedes. Particularly in qualifying. Marc Priestley mentioned this in passing during his weekend preview.

And taking into account the circuit characteristics, I can see why he said that.

The track surface itself is incredibly smooth, and the nature of the lap is such that the front tires need to be up to temperature right at the start of the lap for maximum laptime (but without overheating the rears, which are essential for the last sector). This is where DAS will become incredibly useful/potent.

In the past, some teams have needed at least 2 prep laps to get heat into the fronts before starting a flyer. Again, DAS may help mitigate this.

Not to mention the effect of reducing toe on the long straights.

Reducing toe angle would raise less temperature of the tyres, doesn't it? I mean, if you're talking about teams having trouble bringing heat to the tyres, why would they want less toe?

[Racer X]

I wonder if Lawrence Stroll can buy DAS for Lance so that he can be quicker because even with all those upgrades he's still a bit slow...

[Moore77]

I wonder if Lawrence Stroll can buy DAS for Lance so that he can be quicker because even with all those upgrades he's still a bit slow...

Even if he buys one, why would he fit it on a driver's car who is anyway not going to be part of the team?

[search]

I wonder if Lawrence Stroll can buy DAS for Lance so that he can be quicker because even with all those upgrades he's still a bit slow...

no idea if that's the (main) reason, but Mercedes tends to be very careful with newly introduced engines on Fridays.

[godlameroso]

You guys are reading too much into practice. The only thing you can really gauge from practice is the race pace, nothing more. Not to mention all the support races will rubber in the track, so track evolution can change things massively.

Riccardo has been up there before only to just miss out on Q3.

This track especially consists of two phases, phase 1 is finding the limits, phase 2 is finding the rhythm that lets you dance on those limits.

Lots of teams were trying things in P1, and a very green track meant lots of mistakes and sliding around.

P2 things started settling down, but teams were still trying things, feeling for the limits of the track. Lap times were very inconsistent up and down the field, it seems the hard tire will be the preferred race tire.

Marginal one stop is likely.

[McMika98]

You guys are reading too much into practice. The only thing you can really gauge from.

Yeah right, says the man who quotes practice time. Either u are overtly optimistic or deluded, no way will Redbull ever challenge Merc here. Midfield battle all the way.
Really want to see how Max drives with same engine modes.