2019 Singapore Grand Prix - Marina Bay, 20-22 September

[zibby43]

I agree zibby, but maybe Mercedes see tyre-deg gone higher as expected

We'll see what the data says later today.

[zibby43]

[Fulcrum]

The track is still very green, so I expect things to change as the weekend progresses. Ideally, at least for the sake of an actual race, someone (anyone) looking more competitive relative to Hamilton.

[Juzh]

hamilton vs verstappen fp2 lap
https://streamable.com/6tf0h

[HungarianRacer]

hamilton vs verstappen fp2 lap
https://streamable.com/6tf0h
https://streamable.com/6tf0h

Curious how Lewis has a higher minimum speed in basically every corner, yet it's Verstappen who pulls ahead in S1 and even S2... Top speed seems virtually identical, but Ves puts down power much earlier (clear trade-off between throttle application and min. speed)... When it comes to connected turns though, Hamilton just kills it.

[Capharol]

hamilton vs verstappen fp2 lap
https://streamable.com/6tf0h
https://streamable.com/6tf0h

first of all thanks again Juzh
i stopped the video and saw RB does 313 at the straight, Mercedes 311

and VER had 3 cars to overtake, HAM had a clean track

[izzy]

https://pbs.twimg.com/media/EE6eSUKXoAE ... me=900x900

thanks . Brace for another Lewisfest then, by the look of it so far

[Zarathustra]

hamilton vs verstappen fp2 lap
https://streamable.com/6tf0h
https://streamable.com/6tf0h

Thanks- I always appreciate these insights a lot!

[foxmulder_ms]

no RB would never lose 0.7 to 1.0s on mercedes on a long run.

my guess is Hamilton was checking how long the tyres will hold if you push hard on the Softs, this could come into play if Mercedes thinking of doing Q2 on Mediums and do the last laps to push should Verstappen or a Ferrari be within they're pit window, so they can close the gap and overtake the driver ahead at that moment

this shows the Bottas long run aswell .... conservative on the Mediums (avg. low 1.47.xxx) and Bottas hs run on the Soft

Verstappens longruns were conservative all the way, on the softs aswell on the hard tyre..... which could suggest start on the soft, changing to hard tyres

never?? I think it happens quite often

yeah then show me where in this season where RB was so far off the pace at the start of the race ..... I am not talking about different tyres or older tyre scenarios or due to traffic....

so the measuring can only be done at the start of a race both on the same tyre....

@GPR-A we know you dislike RB so i ignore your further comments or they are helpfull (which in this case they aren't)

Edit: i am not a real RB fan, because i don't preffer any team above another one compared to you and any other here
I admit Mercedes were faster in FP2 and on the long run but i go through every possible scenario instead of some that only focussing on the laptimes

What are you talking about mate? Merc was faster than RB by half a second or more for all the races but Australia. Vest generally ends races 25-30 sec behind Hamilton.

[drunkf1fan]

The track is still very green, so I expect things to change as the weekend progresses. Ideally, at least for the sake of an actual race, someone (anyone) looking more competitive relative to Hamilton.

People all seem to be forgetting that Hamilton has owned here in race pace for years when he's had a lower downforce car that is less suited to Singapore. This year the Merc is the car I would say equally or most suited to Singapore. As the track gets greener, he'll get faster too. Without some big issue, Hamilton wins, and easily. His pace is miles beyond everyone.

[atanatizante]

Merc has an extra set of mediums, which is interesting.
...

It`ll be interesting to see that due to Charles matching Lewis` lap times he did on the same M tyre and on the very precise time when they should be used in the race ... although watching on F1TV through the Lewis` T-cam I just heard Bono telling him to switch to STRAT5 just after he went out on those M tyres (before that, on the S tyre stint he was on STRAT12) ... also interesting to hear how Bono is coaching him, by the way ...

It worth to say that in FP1 Lewis did some H tyre runs in the low 1:46 when the track was 2 to 3 degrees Celsius higher but much greener than it was at FP2 sim race time.

Now that H tyre - C3 type - has a working window between 105-135 degrees C, then C4 - M tyre - from 90-120 and the softest tyre - C5 - between 85-115, thus the ideal car setup window it`s between 105 and 115 just to cover all the tyres working windows available for this race.

From my point of view, after FP2 sim race, it seems that Merc should start the race on S tyre based on their both faster (by 3-4 tenths to M tyre and 8-10 tenths to H tyre) and better tyre management capabilities at least on Lewis` side. Had he`d be on the pole he could stretch the first stint heading to an S-M one-stop strategy. The H tyre demands higher track temps. Lewis needed a second attempt in FP1 in order to set a fast time and that says to me his car is set up for the lower working range of the tyres, hence for the softest one and it seems logical to me to change their race pace setup approach (which we could saw from the last races) into a qualy setup one and the main reason is that the track position is king here ...

On another note, interesting to see the speed sector traps: VET and LEC did 316-318Km/h, HAM&BOT just 308-310 and VER&ALB 311-313. Same delta speeds, although into 280km/h on SPD2, then almost the same speed - 258-260km/h - at the start-finish line for all the six drivers. Those speeds were set in the hot laps coz when they went onto the sim laps and run their race mode those delta speeds were much lower: VET&LEC did 303-305km/h on SPD1, then HAM&BOT: 298-300 and VES&ALB 300-301 ... So that special PU mode for Ferrari is used just in Q3, at the start of the race and defending or overtaking mode ... same like everybody, isn`t it?

[Bill_Kar]

Merc has an extra set of mediums, which is interesting.
...

It`ll be interesting to see that due to Charles matching Lewis` lap times he did on the same M tyre and on the very precise time when they should be used in the race ... although watching on F1TV through the Lewis` T-cam I just heard Bono telling him to switch to STRAT5 just after he went out on those M tyres (before that, on the S tyre stint he was on STRAT12) ... also interesting to hear how Bono is coaching him, by the way ...

It worth to say that in FP1 Lewis did some H tyre runs in the low 1:46 when the track was 2 to 3 degrees Celsius higher but much greener than it was at FP2 sim race time.

Now that H tyre - C3 type - has a working window between 105-135 degrees C, then C4 - M tyre - from 90-120 and the softest tyre - C5 - between 85-115, thus the ideal car setup window it`s between 105 and 115 just to cover all the tyres working windows available for this race.

From my point of view, after FP2 sim race, it seems that Merc should start the race on S tyre based on their both faster (by 3-4 tenths to M tyre and 8-10 tenths to H tyre) and better tyre management capabilities at least on Lewis` side. Had he`d be on the pole he could stretch the first stint heading to an S-M one-stop strategy. The H tyre demands higher track temps. Lewis needed a second attempt in FP1 in order to set a fast time and that says to me his car is set up for the lower working range of the tyres, hence for the softest one and it seems logical to me to change their race pace setup approach (which we could saw from the last races) into a qualy setup one and the main reason is that the track position is king here ...

On another note, interesting to see the speed sector traps: VET and LEC did 316-318Km/h, HAM&BOT just 308-310 and VER&ALB 311-313. Same delta speeds, although into 280km/h on SPD2, then almost the same speed - 258-260km/h - at the start-finish line for all the six drivers. Those speeds were set in the hot laps coz when they went onto the sim laps and run their race mode those delta speeds were much lower: VET&LEC did 303-305km/h on SPD1, then HAM&BOT: 298-300 and VES&ALB 300-301 ... So that special PU mode for Ferrari is used just in Q3, at the start of the race and defending or overtaking mode ... same like everybody, isn`t it?

Great stuff about the tyres, half-noticed it as well.

[drunkf1fan]

hamilton vs verstappen fp2 lap
https://streamable.com/6tf0h
https://streamable.com/6tf0h

Curious how Lewis has a higher minimum speed in basically every corner, yet it's Verstappen who pulls ahead in S1 and even S2... Top speed seems virtually identical, but Ves puts down power much earlier (clear trade-off between throttle application and min. speed)... When it comes to connected turns though, Hamilton just kills it.

It's not a zero sum game of just going as fast as you can in every corner. Both from a power/deployment viewpoint where the teams can have different mapping and optimise different corners.

Ham is pretty much king of all drivers in picking the right corners and areas of a lap to extract the performance and get the best overall lap time. Kill it in S1 and run out of tire by S3. Ham is genuinely ridiculous in optimising a lap to get every inch of performance out of it.

I also somewhat suspect though that Honda felt the need to push higher engine modes because they have way way less, well both experience but seeming expertise in engine maps. Things like not accelerating because Alonso took a corner flat out so the engine was expecting a braking zone, didn't get it so didn't know where it was in the lap. Then Monza or Spa, already forget which, the engine cut acceleration as it hit an RPM limit and enabled a safety mode. Honda made a statement they can't be certain it won't happen again so it makes sense for them to try a 'full power' lap in FP2 so they can get more realistic RPM readings, check for wheel spin that might trigger the RPM and safety modes, etc.

[Shrieker]

hamilton vs verstappen fp2 lap
https://streamable.com/6tf0h

Juzhes of F1T

Fvcking epic. Streamable is perfect for this, it stops the exact moment you click as i said before. I'm chomping at the bit for the q3 version of this (assuming everything goes as it should).

[LM10]

hamilton vs verstappen fp2 lap
https://streamable.com/6tf0h
https://streamable.com/6tf0h

Seems like Verstappen could have gone faster in S3. He had quite a lot of traffic.

Pace analysis from official F1 homepage shows that RBR was the only car being faster than Mercedes in medium speed corners and just 1 tenth off pace in slow speed corners.
I think driveability and power of the new Honda spec, which we still have not seen at full beans, will be a significant factor as well, considering how close it seems to be between Max and Hamilton.