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

[Phil]

Mercedes so called "major upgrade" since Hockekheim doesn't seem to be very solid right now. Both RB and Ferrari are catching up with them rather quickly.

Lucky for Hamilton that he made hay early in the season when the opportunities came. He can afford to come third at every race so long as the wins are shared around the by the others. That's a nice buffer to have but with Ferrari apparently finding some much needed pace, I still think Hamilton needs some luck to win the title. A DNF or two and all bets are off. I'm guessing the season won't be over with 3 or 4 races to go this year.

He can finish 3rd and Charles or Max wins every race with fastest lap. Lewis still wins the title. Lewis is 99pts in front of Max and 102pts in front of Charles. Only 7 races to go.

With that kind of a gap, he can actually finish in 4th (almost 5th) for the rest of the season and still take the title with points to spare. And the driver to win the race is also the least likely to get 'fastest lap', so I wouldn't include it in any kind of math.

Still, Ferrari might be much better here than expected, but my best guess is they will be quite behind on tracks with a lot of downforce (e.g. not a street track and not a track full of high speed straights like Spa or Monza). I think we were led to believe/think that Mercedes had Singapore in the bag easily due to Ferrari being no-where last year (due to their not working upgrades) and Ferrari messing up their performance at Monaco with qualifying.

[dialtone]

During qualy Brundle and Crofty mentioned that this track has the lowest tyre pressure of the year so far and Ferrari was somewhat known for a hard suspension, so this could have clearly helped the balance as well.

[Morteza]

[LM10]

During qualy Brundle and Crofty mentioned that this track has the lowest tyre pressure of the year so far and Ferrari was somewhat known for a hard suspension, so this could have clearly helped the balance as well.

Ferrari is known for a soft suspension.

[dialtone]

During qualy Brundle and Crofty mentioned that this track has the lowest tyre pressure of the year so far and Ferrari was somewhat known for a hard suspension, so this could have clearly helped the balance as well.

Ferrari is known for a soft suspension.

AFAIK that's on the rear not on the front. I thought they stiffened their front suspension to compensate for the lack of energy on the front tyres, but maybe the softer tyres get stressed more and are easier to bring to temperature for them.

[etusch]

He is at pole because he didn't crashed

https://www.motorsport.com/f1/news/lecl ... e/4545444/

[MtthsMlw]

https://twitter.com/ChrisMedlandF1/stat ... 28544?s=19

[RZS10]

Renault trying Ferrari tricks but failing? Or was that the 1000hp mode

(just joking)

[ringo]

Hamilton needs to break leclerc's confidence here and win this race. Stellar job by charles by the way. He is now secured himself as ferraris #1. He has stirred up the team in a way Vettel cannot. He is showing that the car is good and has the pace to challenge. Makes you wonder about 2018 and 2017 in terms of which car was the best one. Anyhow Hamilton can beat leclerc here easily on tyre strategy. This race is an uknown for charles and its a long haul. Experience of managing pace will govern this race. But i hope there is a fight on track born from tyre wear.

[zibby43]

In the debrief that Merc posts, Shovlin admitted that they bottled their outlaps and tire preparation today.

He said Ferrari were a bit quicker than expected and Red Bull a bit slower, but that they’re going to have to review their qualifying procedures going forward.

With the amount of track evolution going on out there today, and how critical tire temperatures are here to overall one-lap performance, I’m not shocked by the result. Ferrari’s upgrades probably helped some, but they just executed perfectly today with LEC.

The Ferrari front end looked real pointy. I’ll be shocked if their rear tires last tomorrow, but it may not matter.

[nacho]

Was Hamilton supposed to go before or after Bottas?

I thought it was Bottas's turn to go first. Seem to remember him first on the road in all Q sessions.

That explains why he said he had to slow down when Hamilton passed him on warm-up lap which then compromised his temperatures.

[LM10]

In the debrief that Merc posts, Shovlin admitted that they bottled their outlaps and tire preparation today.

He said Ferrari were a bit quicker than expected and Red Bull a bit slower, but that they’re going to have to review their qualifying procedures going forward.

With the amount of track evolution going on out there today, and how critical tire temperatures are here to overall one-lap performance, I’m not shocked by the result. Ferrari’s upgrades probably helped some, but they just executed perfectly today with LEC.

The Ferrari front end looked real pointy. I’ll be shocked if their rear tires last tomorrow, but it may not matter.

Second run of Q3 both Mercedes cars were the last cars (theoretically the track was at it’s grippiest for them then) on track and had miles of free space in front. They had enough time for their outlaps as well. How is that considered bottling?

Post-quali Hamilton was fairly happy with his lap and told he could have not gone any faster.

Ferrari surely was not just “a bit“ quicker than expected.

Interesting words from Shovlin overall.

[zibby43]

In the debrief that Merc posts, Shovlin admitted that they bottled their outlaps and tire preparation today.

He said Ferrari were a bit quicker than expected and Red Bull a bit slower, but that they’re going to have to review their qualifying procedures going forward.

With the amount of track evolution going on out there today, and how critical tire temperatures are here to overall one-lap performance, I’m not shocked by the result. Ferrari’s upgrades probably helped some, but they just executed perfectly today with LEC.

The Ferrari front end looked real pointy. I’ll be shocked if their rear tires last tomorrow, but it may not matter.

Second run of Q3 both Mercedes cars were the last cars (theoretically the track was at it’s grippiest for them then) on track and had miles of free space in front. They had enough time for their outlaps as well. How is that considered bottling?

Post-quali Hamilton was fairly happy with his lap and told he could have not gone any faster.

Ferrari surely was not just “a bit“ quicker than expected.

Interesting words from Shovlin overall.

Merc bottled their outlaps. Mercedes needed to drive faster outlaps (so, not ultra-slow, but not at a qualifying pace; let's say "moderately quick") to get the tires in the window. As Shovlin, and Bottas, and AMuS explain, they couldn't achieve that in Q3.

"At Mercedes, the preparation was not going according to plan. Bottas reveals: 'We have to start as fast as possible so that the front tires are in the window right at the beginning of the lap. For me it only worked in Q1 and in the first attempt in Q2.' In the first Q3 trial, both silver arrows were in circulation. For their own needs, the warm-up laps were much too slow. The receipt was lap times that were a second above those of Ferrari.

Thus, everything focused on the last attempt. Hamilton was behind Valtteri Bottas in the round, but overtook the teammate in the third sector. That was not agreed, Bottas told, but provided the explanation. 'A Red Bull was dawdling in front of me. I had to do it slowly. Lewis probably did not see the Red Bull right away and overtook us both to speed things up. I was doubly penalized because I had to get off the accelerator again.' Hamilton's second attempt was to raise free sight in all circumstances after the bad experience in the first. Ideal are at least five seconds of air on the front man.

But the intermediate sprint at the end of the warm-up lap became the own goal. Hamilton drove the third sector almost at race pace before entering the crucial round. 18 seconds faster than the first crash, 16 seconds faster than Leclerc. His tires did make the fast lap, but perhaps they would have provided more grip on the two sectors on a more moderate warm-up procedure, on which the Mercedes was programmed to take the Ferrari time off. For a better understanding, we have written down the split times of the warm-up rounds and the resulting end product."

- AMuS

[f1jcw]

In the debrief that Merc posts, Shovlin admitted that they bottled their outlaps and tire preparation today.

He said Ferrari were a bit quicker than expected and Red Bull a bit slower, but that they’re going to have to review their qualifying procedures going forward.

With the amount of track evolution going on out there today, and how critical tire temperatures are here to overall one-lap performance, I’m not shocked by the result. Ferrari’s upgrades probably helped some, but they just executed perfectly today with LEC.

The Ferrari front end looked real pointy. I’ll be shocked if their rear tires last tomorrow, but it may not matter.

Second run of Q3 both Mercedes cars were the last cars (theoretically the track was at it’s grippiest for them then) on track and had miles of free space in front. They had enough time for their outlaps as well. How is that considered bottling?

Post-quali Hamilton was fairly happy with his lap and told he could have not gone any faster.

Ferrari surely was not just “a bit“ quicker than expected.

Interesting words from Shovlin overall.

Merc bottled their outlaps. Mercedes needed to drive faster outlaps (so, not ultra-slow, but not at a qualifying pace; let's say "moderately quick") to get the tires in the window. As Shovlin, and Bottas, and AMuS explain, they couldn't achieve that in Q3.

"At Mercedes, the preparation was not going according to plan. Bottas reveals: 'We have to start as fast as possible so that the front tires are in the window right at the beginning of the lap. For me it only worked in Q1 and in the first attempt in Q2.' In the first Q3 trial, both silver arrows were in circulation. For their own needs, the warm-up laps were much too slow. The receipt was lap times that were a second above those of Ferrari.

Thus, everything focused on the last attempt. Hamilton was behind Valtteri Bottas in the round, but overtook the teammate in the third sector. That was not agreed, Bottas told, but provided the explanation. 'A Red Bull was dawdling in front of me. I had to do it slowly. Lewis probably did not see the Red Bull right away and overtook us both to speed things up. I was doubly penalized because I had to get off the accelerator again.' Hamilton's second attempt was to raise free sight in all circumstances after the bad experience in the first. Ideal are at least five seconds of air on the front man.

But the intermediate sprint at the end of the warm-up lap became the own goal. Hamilton drove the third sector almost at race pace before entering the crucial round. 18 seconds faster than the first crash, 16 seconds faster than Leclerc. His tires did make the fast lap, but perhaps they would have provided more grip on the two sectors on a more moderate warm-up procedure, on which the Mercedes was programmed to take the Ferrari time off. For a better understanding, we have written down the split times of the warm-up rounds and the resulting end product."

- AMuS

Get of the accelerator?
Bottas is full of ****

https://gifyu.com/image/hJP1

[Capharol]

Ricciardo excluded from qualifying for MGU-K infringement

https://www.racefans.net/2019/09/21/ric ... ringement/