Good recovery from Checo.
Max with his 3rd grand chelem. Austria '21, Imola '22 and now Barcelona '23
For me, that is very nice, it is real hard to get these nowadays as fastest laps are contested now that they are worth a point. Still, one every year since he has a competitive (this year outright best) car. Lewis did try to take it away, I thought he would have another go in the last lap as he lost a bunch of time in the two laps before that (I thought he was topping up his ERS) but he was just freewheeling to the end those last laps.
Perez wasnt able to overtake Alonso early on, whereas russell took only a few laps. So once alonso pitted and released perez, gap between him and russell was 7.5s. In the end it was 5.5s.
Perez got the gap down to 2.4 seconds to start the final lap, then must have lifted across the finish line at the end which would explain the 5.5s.
Hard to say but i think russell was just sitting pretty behind backmarkers, knowing he had enough time in had and didnt have to overtake them anymore. Not that it matters much. Perez maybe had a bit of pace over russell but not over hamilton.AR3-GP wrote: ↑04 Jun 2023, 20:09Perez got the gap down to 2.4 seconds to start the final lap, then must have lifted across the finish line at the end which would explain the 5.5s.
True, but, when Perez started to get really close, if I remember like a tad below 6 seconds. Then Russell sped up and Perez couldn’t get closer anymore until the last laps when it was simply too late. So Russell had pace in hand as well. Imho, on this track, Mercedes wasn’t that far off anymore.AR3-GP wrote: ↑04 Jun 2023, 20:09Perez got the gap down to 2.4 seconds to start the final lap, then must have lifted across the finish line at the end which would explain the 5.5s.
Max and Checo did 75% of the race on a 1 step slower tire compared to the Mercedes. Given that neither Mercedes nor RB had serious tire issues, RB could have earned some free laptime, by doing the aggressive S-M-S that Mercedes did rather than the conservative M-H-S that they did. They dropped free laptime on the M and H stints. It makes it look closer than it was.Sieper wrote: ↑04 Jun 2023, 20:35True, but, when Perez started to get really close, if I remember like a tad below 6 seconds. Then Russell sped up and Perez couldn’t get closer anymore until the last laps when it was simply too late. So Russell had pace in hand as well. Imho, on this track, Mercedes wasn’t that far off anymore.
If Mercedes has truly improved its race pace that much with the upgrades and Perez doesn’t get his qualifying together, I think he’ll be in trouble soon!Juzh wrote: ↑04 Jun 2023, 20:18Hard to say but i think russell was just sitting pretty behind backmarkers, knowing he had enough time in had and didnt have to overtake them anymore. Not that it matters much. Perez maybe had a bit of pace over russell but not over hamilton.
This I agree with. They should have gambled with perez at least.AR3-GP wrote: ↑04 Jun 2023, 20:39Max and Checo did 75% of the race on a 1 step slower tire compared to the Mercedes. Given that neither Mercedes nor RB had serious tire issues, RB could have earned some free laptime, by doing the aggressive S-M-S that Mercedes did rather than the conservative M-H-S that they did. They dropped free laptime on the M and H stints. It makes it look closer than it was.Sieper wrote: ↑04 Jun 2023, 20:35True, but, when Perez started to get really close, if I remember like a tad below 6 seconds. Then Russell sped up and Perez couldn’t get closer anymore until the last laps when it was simply too late. So Russell had pace in hand as well. Imho, on this track, Mercedes wasn’t that far off anymore.
https://www.planetf1.com/news/mercedes- ... pen-rival/Are Red Bull quaking in their boots yet?
“They were still 23 seconds behind at the end of the race,” he said, wryly smiling, before admitting the aero testing restrictions applying to his team and giving Mercedes extra development time will likely allow Brackley to close the gap.
“Yeah, they made a good step but we’ve got some stuff in the pipeline,” Horner continued.
“They’ve had a big upgrade. We’ve got some bits coming later into the season but look, for sure, it was a big step. They’re a quality team and they’re going to be putting us under pressure in the second half of the year.”