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

[Manoah2u]

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.

Midfield battle for RB

[Schuttelberg]

Bottas will win this race.

[search]

Bottas will win this race.

it's certainly one of his strongest tracks. Seems like he has rediscovered those final corner issues though, which already cost him the pole position back in his Williams days...

[godlameroso]

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.

Did I say they would? What is wrong with you?

[Phil]

Bottas will win this race.

I wouldnt surprised to see him on pole, only to then be beaten at the start with that tow and that will be that. But yeah, Bottas has always been strong on this track. Wouldnt be surprised if he can make it stick either and get a strong result.

[zibby43]

Insightful as always! Thanks mate.

Thank you for the kind words my friend!

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

Thanks! That's a very good point re: how the advantage can potentially carry over to the race due to overall tire "life." About to watch FP2 to see what Merc's tire prep was like.

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?

Yes, generally, but we're talking about a few different things here: 1) Using the DAS on an outlap/prep lap to generate the front tire temperatures which are critical for the beginning of the lap; 2) Making sure on the actual flying lap, you're not scrubbing speed on the straights unnecessarily by running with less than optimal toe for the duration of the longest straights.

[cooken]

FP1


FP2

[Mansell89]

The contrast of this circuit to Mugello should make F1 bosses sit up and take notice of what a proper race track should feel like in F1.

[Shrieker]

What happened to Ham in practise 1 ?

[RZS10]

Essentially locked up with all tyre sets and had flatspots so he didn't run much

[yelistener]

Insightful as always! Thanks mate.

Thank you for the kind words my friend!

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

Thanks! That's a very good point re: how the advantage can potentially carry over to the race due to overall tire "life." About to watch FP2 to see what Merc's tire prep was like.

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?

Yes, generally, but we're talking about a few different things here: 1) Using the DAS on an outlap/prep lap to generate the front tire temperatures which are critical for the beginning of the lap; 2) Making sure on the actual flying lap, you're not scrubbing speed on the straights unnecessarily by running with less than optimal toe for the duration of the longest straights.

That's my point. If you want to bring heat as quickly as possible (as you suggested), you will NOT use DAS as less toe means less heat.

As for on the straights, Mercedes never used DAS in 2020 quali, so I don't think they will being use it in Sochi.

[yelistener]

Bottas will win this race.

Bottas better not win the pole then, because if he does, he will get slipstreamed to be passed by Lewis at T3 in lap1. That's how his bad luck goes this year with the race start.

[Schippke]

For the sake of the Driver's Championship, though that is effectively done and dusted... hoping Bottas wins here. Looking very strong so far, but regardless of qualifying it'll all come down to the drag race into Turn 2 (since I've realised the 'kink' in the straight is Turn 1... heaven knows why).

Daniel being P2 and P3 in Free Practice is worth a mention... even if Red Bull turns up the wick a bit for qualifying and locks out Row 2, there's some decent power in that Renault unit so again, down to the start he could have 1 (or 2!) of them heading into Turn 2. No doubt strategy and Red Bulls ridiculously quick pitstops will be tough, but there's a solid chance that a couple of Renault personnel might be heading for a tattoo parlour after the race.

Somewhat positive about Ferrari's pace, managing to get 2 cars in the Top 10; The times between Vettel and Leclerc look a lot closer which is positive, though I don't believe their race pace is so strong compared to the other mid-field teams looking at the timing screens. Wonder if they can maintain it throughout qualifying and the race... maybe aided somewhat by their new upgrades this weekend.

[zibby43]

Insightful as always! Thanks mate.

Thank you for the kind words my friend!

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

Thanks! That's a very good point re: how the advantage can potentially carry over to the race due to overall tire "life." About to watch FP2 to see what Merc's tire prep was like.

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?

Yes, generally, but we're talking about a few different things here: 1) Using the DAS on an outlap/prep lap to generate the front tire temperatures which are critical for the beginning of the lap; 2) Making sure on the actual flying lap, you're not scrubbing speed on the straights unnecessarily by running with less than optimal toe for the duration of the longest straights.

That's my point. If you want to bring heat as quickly as possible (as you suggested), you will NOT use DAS as less toe means less heat.

As for on the straights, Mercedes never used DAS in 2020 quali, so I don't think they will being use it in Sochi.

lol I know. You ignored the second part. The flying lap. NOT the prep lap. But that was in the context of the flying lap, if they would also be considering using it there.

You don’t want to be over-cooking the tires and scrubbing speed on the flyer, so they can adjust the toe in that scenario.

Regardless, if it’s true what you say about them never using it on an actual flyer, then that’s a moot point, and the sole benefit will come during preparation.

[Racer X]

Qualifying should be fun