2021 Styrian Grand Prix - Spielberg, June 25 - 27

[NL_Fer]

Merc will burn their rears on those thight corner exits.

[heggy]

So this weekend is C2-3-4 tyres- what do they do the following weekend- a step harder or a step softer?

Red Bull will hammer Merc on the softer one but I think Merc will be closer on the harder compound weekend.

In Monaco and Baku they had the hardest compound. So that suits Red Bull well.

Monaco and Baku used the softest compounds, as will the Austrian GP

[Bill]

redbull have been playing with shallow rear wings for many years but it didn't yield any performance advantage in the straights but these time its different Honda have made a big leap on power side that make them deadly in Austria. when Toto say they are slower in the straights some people think its the usually Toto trolling his opponents but i think people are underestimating Honda and exaggerating merc capabilities they wasted a lot of time with oil burning rather than finding gains by other means .Ferrari had top pu for 2 years so merc are not invincible

[aral]

Please stay on topic, which is the Styrian GP. Discussions on power units etc can be done on dedicated threads or on team threads (if appropriate)

[PlatinumZealot]

Yup. Honda in front on ICE now it seems. Only saving grace for Merc is the car seems to be gentler on its tyres in the middle of stints.

Anyone remember if tyres are a big issue in Austria? I know overtaking is easy once a tyre advantage is there, but can't remember if tyre wores are result of bad strategy or globally induced by the track characteristics.

[zibby43]

The Red Bull Ring is middle of the road in terms of grip and abrasiveness. It’s usually a mild thermal degradation circuit, depending on temps.

One-stopper.

On a side note, I think the perceived Honda performance in France was entirely down to RW levels.

Some pictures of the circuit, courtesy of Albert Fabrega:







Tire Infographic:

[Mr.S]

Mercedes should be at par or better than RB on race pace like they have been this season especially with C2 & C3 (Medium & Hards). With C4 in the qualifying, RB should have a couple of tenths given they can get the tyres better working than RB.

And I am little shocked to hear [...] type comments like RW doesn't matter. With these kind of comments, logic goes out of the window. RB had an ultra small rear wing while Mercedes had a much bigger wing & more downforce. I don't think people can debate that Honda made a huge step this year & closed the gap in both straightline speed & packaging. And RB possibly is the best car in terms of downforce & they can afford to run such a small wing & get away with it.

But there has been nothing to prove that Honda has a better PU than Mercedes. I think they are a shade behind or at par at best but the gap is very strong. I guess we won't know until the teams get to Monza & run new PU with ultra small wing. But the gap isn't much.

This will be a close like the next 5 races would likely be. And there is prediction of rain I think !

[Wouter]

.
Leoben is 30 km from the circuit.

[Sieper]

Yup. Honda in front on ICE now it seems. Only saving grace for Merc is the car seems to be gentler on its tyres in the middle of stints.

Anyone remember if tyres are a big issue in Austria? I know overtaking is easy once a tyre advantage is there, but can't remember if tyre wores are result of bad strategy or globally induced by the track characteristics.

I am going to give it one last try. Why do you say this? Last race Hamilton first stint. Max was never able to fully chase. All throughout the stint Max kept slipping back further. By about 0.1 0.2 per lap on average. To in lap 18 already the pitstop came and then it was 3.1. Not the full 5/6 seconds Hamilton always used to keep the gap it but it was also not yet lap 22/25 so at that point it could well have been (imho the gap building was slightly increasing towards the later laps in the stint.

After the first pit stop, and eventhough Merc went for just 1 Max was never coming out of the 0.7 0.8 range for like 10 laps.

How does this point to a car that is only quicker (in the hands of Lewis VS max I talk about) in the middle part of a stint like you say? To me it simply points to a slightly quicker car on race day. No matter what compound even.

I would be glad if the scenario you see would become reality in my eyes too but I have not seen it on normal permanent race tracks.

[TimW]

Yup. Honda in front on ICE now it seems. Only saving grace for Merc is the car seems to be gentler on its tyres in the middle of stints.

Anyone remember if tyres are a big issue in Austria? I know overtaking is easy once a tyre advantage is there, but can't remember if tyre wores are result of bad strategy or globally induced by the track characteristics.

I am going to give it one last try. Why do you say this? Last race Hamilton first stint. Max was never able to fully chase. All throughout the stint Max kept slipping back further. By about 0.1 0.2 per lap on average. To in lap 18 already the pitstop came and then it was 3.1. Not the full 5/6 seconds Hamilton always used to keep the gap it but it was also not yet lap 22/25 so at that point it could well have been (imho the gap building was slightly increasing towards the later laps in the stint.

After the first pit stop, and eventhough Merc went for just 1 Max was never coming out of the 0.7 0.8 range for like 10 laps.

How does this point to a car that is only quicker (in the hands of Lewis VS max I talk about) in the middle part of a stint like you say? To me it simply points to a slightly quicker car on race day. No matter what compound even.

I would be glad if the scenario you see would become reality in my eyes too but I have not seen it on normal permanent race tracks.

Ah come on! The RB is clearly faster than the Merc. Red Bull is just being held back by having mediocre drivers. Max is just made to look good by having poor teammates. We now see by the comparison to Norris that even Ricciardo was a mediocre yardstick at best. On the other hand the Merc is nowhere as good as Lewis made it look over the last years. Even the tire wear is mostly attributable to his skills, we know from the years before Lewis that the Merc was terrible on the tires.

/sarcasm

[Zynerji]

Yup. Honda in front on ICE now it seems. Only saving grace for Merc is the car seems to be gentler on its tyres in the middle of stints.

Anyone remember if tyres are a big issue in Austria? I know overtaking is easy once a tyre advantage is there, but can't remember if tyre wores are result of bad strategy or globally induced by the track characteristics.

I am going to give it one last try. Why do you say this? Last race Hamilton first stint. Max was never able to fully chase. All throughout the stint Max kept slipping back further. By about 0.1 0.2 per lap on average. To in lap 18 already the pitstop came and then it was 3.1. Not the full 5/6 seconds Hamilton always used to keep the gap it but it was also not yet lap 22/25 so at that point it could well have been (imho the gap building was slightly increasing towards the later laps in the stint.

After the first pit stop, and eventhough Merc went for just 1 Max was never coming out of the 0.7 0.8 range for like 10 laps.

How does this point to a car that is only quicker (in the hands of Lewis VS max I talk about) in the middle part of a stint like you say? To me it simply points to a slightly quicker car on race day. No matter what compound even.

I would be glad if the scenario you see would become reality in my eyes too but I have not seen it on normal permanent race tracks.

Ah come on! The RB is clearly faster than the Merc. Red Bull is just being held back by having mediocre drivers. Max is just made to look good by having poor teammates. We now see by the comparison to Norris that even Ricciardo was a mediocre yardstick at best. On the other hand the Merc is nowhere as good as Lewis made it look over the last years. Even the tire wear is mostly attributable to his skills, we know from the years before Lewis that the Merc was terrible on the tires.

/sarcasm

[_cerber1]

.
Leoben is 30 km from the circuit.

Right now

[TimW]

Only significant rain is forecasted for Friday afternoon. Saterday and Sunday forecast is dry.

https://www.zamg.ac.at/cms/de/wetter/we ... nachmittag

[Sieper]

Yup. Honda in front on ICE now it seems. Only saving grace for Merc is the car seems to be gentler on its tyres in the middle of stints.

Anyone remember if tyres are a big issue in Austria? I know overtaking is easy once a tyre advantage is there, but can't remember if tyre wores are result of bad strategy or globally induced by the track characteristics.

I am going to give it one last try. Why do you say this? Last race Hamilton first stint. Max was never able to fully chase. All throughout the stint Max kept slipping back further. By about 0.1 0.2 per lap on average. To in lap 18 already the pitstop came and then it was 3.1. Not the full 5/6 seconds Hamilton always used to keep the gap it but it was also not yet lap 22/25 so at that point it could well have been (imho the gap building was slightly increasing towards the later laps in the stint.

After the first pit stop, and eventhough Merc went for just 1 Max was never coming out of the 0.7 0.8 range for like 10 laps.

How does this point to a car that is only quicker (in the hands of Lewis VS max I talk about) in the middle part of a stint like you say? To me it simply points to a slightly quicker car on race day. No matter what compound even.

I would be glad if the scenario you see would become reality in my eyes too but I have not seen it on normal permanent race tracks.

Ah come on! The RB is clearly faster than the Merc. Red Bull is just being held back by having mediocre drivers. Max is just made to look good by having poor teammates. We now see by the comparison to Norris that even Ricciardo was a mediocre yardstick at best. On the other hand the Merc is nowhere as good as Lewis made it look over the last years. Even the tire wear is mostly attributable to his skills, we know from the years before Lewis that the Merc was terrible on the tires.

/sarcasm

But I surely hope this is not PZs real thoughts. I think I too might be going more with these fan-interpreted extremes in the future (also against Max, or Lewis, or whomever) and have some fun with it. not those guided by the numbers of what happened interpretations, those are just weak.

[El Scorchio]

I am going to give it one last try. Why do you say this? Last race Hamilton first stint. Max was never able to fully chase. All throughout the stint Max kept slipping back further. By about 0.1 0.2 per lap on average. To in lap 18 already the pitstop came and then it was 3.1. Not the full 5/6 seconds Hamilton always used to keep the gap it but it was also not yet lap 22/25 so at that point it could well have been (imho the gap building was slightly increasing towards the later laps in the stint.

After the first pit stop, and eventhough Merc went for just 1 Max was never coming out of the 0.7 0.8 range for like 10 laps.

How does this point to a car that is only quicker (in the hands of Lewis VS max I talk about) in the middle part of a stint like you say? To me it simply points to a slightly quicker car on race day. No matter what compound even.

I would be glad if the scenario you see would become reality in my eyes too but I have not seen it on normal permanent race tracks.

Ah come on! The RB is clearly faster than the Merc. Red Bull is just being held back by having mediocre drivers. Max is just made to look good by having poor teammates. We now see by the comparison to Norris that even Ricciardo was a mediocre yardstick at best. On the other hand the Merc is nowhere as good as Lewis made it look over the last years. Even the tire wear is mostly attributable to his skills, we know from the years before Lewis that the Merc was terrible on the tires.

/sarcasm

But I surely hope this is not PZs real thoughts. I think I too might be going more with these fan-interpreted extremes in the future (also against Max, or Lewis, or whomever) and have some fun with it. not those guided by the numbers of what happened interpretations, those are just weak.

It cuts both ways. Both Verstappen and Hamilton have been grossly overrated and also grossly underrated by various people at times, which is just silly. The simple truth is they are both fantastic drivers doing a great job in their respective machines.