2020 Sakhir Grand Prix - Sakhir, Dec 04 - 06

[godlameroso]

Huge development, the wind is going to be massive tomorrow, 32kph from the NW, in other words HUGE tail wind into the final corner, and a huge tailwind going into turn 7 8 chicane, the most critical corner on the track. Head wind into turn 4 too.

This also means turn 5 will be more difficult to do without lifting because the cross wind is going to make the rear go light. It's going to increase braking distance into the final turn because the wind will make cars understeer, and they'll have the wind pushing them.

Lastly it also means that drafting and DRS is going to be much more powerful into turn 4. The leading and trailing car will both be affected on the final corner, and the wind will help through 1, 2, 3.

[Moore77]

Obviously it's the car, this is F1. It doesn't take anything from greatness that is Lewis though, but many people wrongly assume Lewis would beat Max and Leclerc because he is 7xWDC and is spanking Bottas, this is where assumption IMO fails. We don't know. IMO Max is best driver currently in F1, closely followed by Ham and Leclerc. Leclerc is probably fastest over one lap, but Max in Merc vs Ham? Would be fireworks. Rosberg managed to beat him, albeit with lady luck helping, but Max is much bigger talent then Rosberg.

There was a guy in 2007 that came to a team and matched 2xWDC, so why wouldn't it happen again?

Sir Frank says hamilton is one of the once in 20 years drivers. Max doesn't get that classification. But anyhow i dont thtink they will team up. Max may need to worry about Perez getting that 2nd redbull seat next year. Perez may just be his greatest challenge.

You should stop hyping up Perez. He has been thoroughly beaten in qualifying by both Hulk and Ocon. He has been unceremoniously dropped by two teams. That says a lot. If one can't outqualify Max, he can't beat him in races. Perez might just be a good wingman to Max at best. Max has thoroughly beaten Riccardo in both quali and races. If ever Perez joins Red Bull, it would be an astonishing achievement if he comes within half a second in qualifying to Max.

[zibby43]

Obviously it's the car, this is F1. It doesn't take anything from greatness that is Lewis though, but many people wrongly assume Lewis would beat Max and Leclerc because he is 7xWDC and is spanking Bottas, this is where assumption IMO fails. We don't know. IMO Max is best driver currently in F1, closely followed by Ham and Leclerc. Leclerc is probably fastest over one lap, but Max in Merc vs Ham? Would be fireworks. Rosberg managed to beat him, albeit with lady luck helping, but Max is much bigger talent then Rosberg.

There was a guy in 2007 that came to a team and matched 2xWDC, so why wouldn't it happen again?

Sir Frank says hamilton is one of the once in 20 years drivers. Max doesn't get that classification. But anyhow i dont thtink they will team up. Max may need to worry about Perez getting that 2nd redbull seat next year. Perez may just be his greatest challenge.

It will be a travesty if Perez is without a seat next year.

Also, this is a nice gesture from Merc.

[Restomaniac]

Such a good answer by max!

What kind of BS question is that? Just pisses over all of the development work the drivers do to build a dominant car It's no accident the best drivers end up driving the best cars.

Who is the guy asking the question? I just want to make sure I completely disregard anything he writes or reports going forwards.

You should have heard his question to Bottas on Thursday during the press conference.

[Fulcrum]

Look at this. How much would that be hurting the aero and yet...

https://i.imgur.com/gHRIh0Z.png

Look at the INEOS logo on the halo..u will see how far back the camera is in george's car

And also to be fair they both are on different corners

Why is the the camera "further back" on George's car?

Because if it weren't, his head would obscure even more of the field of view than is already self-evident.

[e30ernest]

Such a good answer by max!

What kind of BS question is that? Just pisses over all of the development work the drivers do to build a dominant car It's no accident the best drivers end up driving the best cars.

Who is the guy asking the question? I just want to make sure I completely disregard anything he writes or reports going forwards.

You should have heard his question to Bottas on Thursday during the press conference.

Can you link it please?

Great job by Russel staying so close to Bottas' Q3 time! But I think the stand-out drive this round was by Leclerc. Amazing job to bring that car up to 4th!

[e30ernest]

Such a good answer by max!

What kind of BS question is that? Just pisses over all of the development work the drivers do to build a dominant car It's no accident the best drivers end up driving the best cars.

Who is the guy asking the question? I just want to make sure I completely disregard anything he writes or reports going forwards.

You should have heard his question to Bottas on Thursday during the press conference.

Can you link it please?

Great job by Russel staying so close to Bottas' Q3 time! But I think the stand-out drive this round was by Leclerc. Amazing job to bring that car up to 4th!

[Fulcrum]

So we now have clear evidence of Russell’s raw pace. However does he have the race craft?

Relative to Hamilton, absolutely not. Relative to Bottas, probably still a no. A podium would be a good result, as I think Verstappen will be faster over the race distance.

[e30ernest]

So we now have clear evidence of Russell’s raw pace. However does he have the race craft?

Relative to Hamilton, absolutely not. Relative to Bottas, probably still a no. A podium would be a good result, as I think Verstappen will be faster over the race distance.

Yeah I sort of expect Verstappen to overtake him at the start. Maybe even Bottas. For Russell to finish 3rd would probably be the most realistic expectation.

Hopefully I can wake up for this race. It happens really late from my end of the globe (1:10am!) and my work starts early (7am). But I really want to see this race not only because of the new layout, but also to see how Russell does.

[Racer X]

If I had to guess I should say Perez will slowly fall back over the laps of the race because of the older weaker PU.
Charles will also slowly fall back because of the weaker PU. So right off the bat those are 2 good racers who will suffer to a power hungry track.

I also don't think anyone else has the car to challenge the top 3. So with Albon in the middle of the grid. But the overall better engine and car then the rest of the cars around him should be able to climb up to P6 or something around that. I think The Renaults/McLaren's will overtake Perez/Charles. So my prediction for the race is:

Bottas
Max
George
Renault
McLaren
Albon
Renault
McLaren
Perez/Charles

P9/P10 For Leclerc/Pérez because of the weaker PUs maybe P6/P7....

I assume Albon will move up the grid because the car is fast enough to do so.

[Restomaniac]

What kind of BS question is that? Just pisses over all of the development work the drivers do to build a dominant car It's no accident the best drivers end up driving the best cars.

Who is the guy asking the question? I just want to make sure I completely disregard anything he writes or reports going forwards.

You should have heard his question to Bottas on Thursday during the press conference.

Can you link it please?

Great job by Russel staying so close to Bottas' Q3 time! But I think the stand-out drive this round was by Leclerc. Amazing job to bring that car up to 4th!

I can’t I watched the whole thing. It was along the lines of ‘what would being beaten by George do to you and your career?’. It was that bad that Bottas’ first reaction was to just say ‘That’s questions a bit punchy!’.

[Restomaniac]

So we now have clear evidence of Russell’s raw pace. However does he have the race craft?

Relative to Hamilton, absolutely not. Relative to Bottas, probably still a no. A podium would be a good result, as I think Verstappen will be faster over the race distance.

True. However you can learn race craft but without the raw pace to start with.....

That WAS always Verstappen’s problem he’s always been blindingly fast but lacked the race craft to go with it. Hell even Hamilton had to improve his from when he was younger so as long as Russell learns he’ll be fine as he gets more miles on his clock.

[djos]

Sensational job by Russell, to get beaten by only 2/100th’s by Bottas, who has had over a dozen race weekends to learn the current Merc, is extremely impressive.

Let’s not forget that he barely fits in the car either and is far from comfortable. He’s definitely the real deal.

Who knows if he’s the second coming of Lewis, but he’s definitely going to be a force to reckon with once he starts putting together good race weekends in a decent car.

[sosic2121]

Max has thoroughly beaten Riccardo in both quali and races.

When that happened?
I would say they were equal.

[djos]

Indeed, last time I checked Daniel beat Max on points in most years they were at RBR together and even in his last season won the same number of GP’s. Daniel also got 2 poles to Max’s Zero Poles.

Daniel also had shocking reliability in the 2nd half of the season iirc.