[ 2020 ] Aston Martin RedBull Racing F1 Team - Honda

[Wouter]

Max said afterwards that the car was better this morning than yesterday, but was still unstable,
even at the start of qualifying. In Q3 the car suddenly felt a lot better.
Maybe they changed something in the setting before the Q3? Albon's car remained unstable.

[Sieper]

Could anybody hear what Max said about who motivated him, Something along the lines of xxx said down and out?

Maybe he does need the extra pressure of a teammate challenging him. Today,s performance was astounding. No other word for it.

[nzjrs]

Gasly out qualified Albon LOL

until Q3 I thought ATs will beat RBR

I still don't understand Kvyats Q1 lap in comparison to the others, and also considering the engine mode regulations. It was great!

[Sieper]

Maybe he pulled a great tow combined with a top lap?

[KelsO]

Maybe he pulled a great tow combined with a top lap?

He had the best third sector, it cannot be explained by the tow. On this route, the temperature of the tires to the third sector is of importance, perhaps he got into a narrow window when the temperature of the tires in the third sector was optimal.

[Wouter]

Max said afterwards that the car was better this morning than yesterday, but was still unstable,
even at the start of qualifying. In Q3 the car suddenly felt a lot better.
Maybe they changed something in the setting before the Q3? Albon's car remained unstable.

And indeed.

'For my second run in Q3 we made some adjustments, which gave me more grip. On this track you need a lot of grip at the entrance to the corners. That was a nice lap to drive ', Max concludes.

[Juzh]

verstappen vs albon q3 lap (open in yt)
It seems verstappen has signifcantly more straight line speed, even disregarding main straight and a tow from bottas (-0.26s just before braking zone) he's still arriving with more speed at pretty much every corner by 3-4 kmh, even on the back straight with no tow. I think this new engine is giving Max a lot more performance compared to the one alex is using, which I think is still the old unit? Correct me if im wrong here.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=t_ykPm4L09I

[Marti_EF3]

Also Alex said in an interview that he was running more DF than Max. So that maybe can explain some of the speed deficit on the straights

[Revs84]

Max said afterwards that the car was better this morning than yesterday, but was still unstable,
even at the start of qualifying. In Q3 the car suddenly felt a lot better.
Maybe they changed something in the setting before the Q3? Albon's car remained unstable.

And indeed.

'For my second run in Q3 we made some adjustments, which gave me more grip. On this track you need a lot of grip at the entrance to the corners. That was a nice lap to drive ', Max concludes.

Maybe the approach to the out lap? Cannot think of anything else since after FP3 no more changes are allowed.

[siskue2005]

Max said afterwards that the car was better this morning than yesterday, but was still unstable,
even at the start of qualifying. In Q3 the car suddenly felt a lot better.
Maybe they changed something in the setting before the Q3? Albon's car remained unstable.

And indeed.

'For my second run in Q3 we made some adjustments, which gave me more grip. On this track you need a lot of grip at the entrance to the corners. That was a nice lap to drive ', Max concludes.

Maybe the approach to the out lap? Cannot think of anything else since after FP3 no more changes are allowed.

No, you can make changes until you go out on your first lap in Qualifying

What Max is talking about is the allowed changes under par ferme like tyre pressures, front wing levels, brake bias, differential setting, ERS deployments etc all these can have a significant change

[Revs84]

verstappen vs albon q3 lap (open in yt)
It seems verstappen has signifcantly more straight line speed, even disregarding main straight and a tow from bottas (-0.26s just before braking zone) he's still arriving with more speed at pretty much every corner by 3-4 kmh, even on the back straight with no tow. I think this new engine is giving Max a lot more performance compared to the one alex is using, which I think is still the old unit? Correct me if im wrong here.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=t_ykPm4L09I

Thanks for sharing this! Indeed, Alex is still using his 2nd PU.

It's hard to tell whether there is any difference between PU performance. However, I couldn't help but noticing how much smoother Max is in his run, taking more kerb in some corners.

Having watched the video a few times over though, it seems to me that he is gaining the most by taking a different racing line. In general, it seems that Max is braking later and carrying less speed into the corners. It allows him to stabilise the car better mid-corner and get a faster and cleaner exit out of the corner.

The latter could well explain the reason why he's faster at the end of the straights.

[Revs84]

And indeed.

Maybe the approach to the out lap? Cannot think of anything else since after FP3 no more changes are allowed.

No, you can make changes until you go out on your first lap in Qualifying

What Max is talking about is the allowed changes under par ferme like tyre pressures, front wing levels, brake bias, differential setting, ERS deployments etc all these can have a significant change

Indeed - changes can be done until Q1. Forgot the time between FP3 and Qualy, but that's pretty much what I had in mind.

With that said, Max is talking about his 2nd run in Q3, not before qualy as you're mentioning. Some of the changes you mentioned, I don't believe are allowed. Moreover, he was talking about grip, and not withstanding the fact that teams wouldn't be changing ERS deployment strategy half way through Q3, the latter 3 you mentioned don't really contribute much, if at all, towards grip.

[Big Tea]

verstappen vs albon q3 lap (open in yt)
It seems verstappen has signifcantly more straight line speed, even disregarding main straight and a tow from bottas (-0.26s just before braking zone) he's still arriving with more speed at pretty much every corner by 3-4 kmh, even on the back straight with no tow. I think this new engine is giving Max a lot more performance compared to the one alex is using, which I think is still the old unit? Correct me if im wrong here.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=t_ykPm4L09I

Thanks for sharing this! Indeed, Alex is still using his 2nd PU.

It's hard to tell whether there is any difference between PU performance. However, I couldn't help but noticing how much smoother Max is in his run, taking more kerb in some corners.

Having watched the video a few times over though, it seems to me that he is gaining the most by taking a different racing line. In general, it seems that Max is braking later and carrying less speed into the corners. It allows him to stabilise the car better mid-corner and get a faster and cleaner exit out of the corner.

The latter could well explain the reason why he's faster at the end of the straights.

Max is slightly sooner on the power out of the corner. Although the displayed numbers are the same in the frames, the road position is slightly out.

[Sayeman]

Verstappen's car often sounds different from the other Hondas, which makes me think Honda is trying to run Verstappen's PU more aggressively using software updates. Which could explain the recent issues with Max's car.

[Juzh]

Verstappen's car often sounds different from the other Hondas, which makes me think Honda is trying to run Verstappen's PU more aggressively using software updates. Which could explain the recent issues with Max's car.

It's just microphone placement, dont read too much into it, sometimes it will change drastically from fp1 to fp2 and so on. Especially don't do sound analysis from my clips since I sometimes up or down certain audio channel to get "better" sound (to me anyway).
For example hondas without exhaust mics sound like complete and utter garbage so I increase volume from that mic +6db and lower the other one.