2020 Tuscan Grand Prix - Mugello, September 11 - 13

[Hammerfist]

I'm not impressed by Vettel and Albon. Same 3 and 4 tenths gap to teammate respectively. Vettel paid a steeper price and Albon was lucky.

In Vettel's case, Leclerc is just that much faster. I don't believe it has anything to do with car control anymore. 3 tenths is 1.5 tiers faster. For precisely this reason, I don't think Vettel will set the world alight in Aston Martin, might be the same performance level as Perez but his winning mentality will be good for the team morale.

I am now firmly of the view that Albon is average and Max is two tiers above him into the elite segment. (2 tenths plus 2 tenths). One segment below max is the very good drivers, like Ricciardo, Bottas. I don't think Albon is a bad driver, he's just not good enough to partner an elite level like Max.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=h8BGfuXkVaI

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BzkFH5AAk5Y

Why do people always take the last result at face value and not consider all the other results before that? Vettel is usually only around 2 tenths slower than Leclerc. Today was an aberration and it's really the first time this season that Vettel go hammered in qualifying. Please do not bring up Monza where Vettel did not even get to do a clean lap due to all the shenanigans in that race.

[Wass85]

He 100% always says this when he gets beat by Lewis

Again you are talking as though he was way off Hamilton, what makes you so sure Bottas wouldn't improve?

At no point did I say he was way off nor did I say he wouldn't improve. All I said was that he always says the time was there but for one reason or another. Yet he consistently doesn't find said time when it matters.

He has improved on his second run quite often this year.

[Hammerfist]

his final (normally decisive) lap wasn't good though, which is fairly unusual. So I guess he doesn't really feel familiar with the track yet

Yep that was disappointing of him especially since Verstappen improved, Bottas will be gutted after having his second run aborted.

Bottas took a risk letting so many cars between him and Hamilton i think or the team

Yes I thought so too, but he was probably looking to use the track's evolution to his advantage. It backfired. Everything that guy does seems to not work against Hamilton. LOL

[MtthsMlw]

DRS was very strong today in F3 and F2 but these cars can ofc follow each other closely in corners. Shouldn't be too bad tomorrow I guess.

[nevill3]

I think Albon's improved showing today is due to the higher downforce this weekend. The flowing nature of the track and higher downforce would have given him more confidence to throw the car into the corners with less risk of the twitchy nature inducing a spin.

As for Lewis not improving in his final run he stated that the wind increased, causing a drop in overall performance. An increase in the head wind down the first straight prevented Lewis setting a purple sector and so who knows if anybody else's final runs would have been similarly effected.

The greater effect of the DRS in the lesser formulas bodes well for the race, Danny Ric has commented that a run around the outside of turn one could be a possibility....

[nacho]

Would like to see Bottas have good race pace.

[Wass85]

I think Albon's improved showing today is due to the higher downforce this weekend. The flowing nature of the track and higher downforce would have given him more confidence to throw the car into the corners with less risk of the twitchy nature inducing a spin.

As for Lewis not improving in his final run he stated that the wind increased, causing a drop in overall performance. An increase in the head wind down the first straight prevented Lewis setting a purple sector and so who knows if anybody else's final runs would have been similarly effected.

The greater effect of the DRS in the lesser formulas bodes well for the race, Danny Ric has commented that a run around the outside of turn one could be a possibility....

Verstappen did improve on his final run so the potential for a Bottas improvement was still there.

[PlatinumZealot]

I'm not impressed by Vettel and Albon. Same 3 and 4 tenths gap to teammate respectively. Vettel paid a steeper price and Albon was lucky.

I want to agree with the Vettel statement, but watching the onboards, his car simply does not seem to accelerate like Leclerc's car does. It like the wheel bearings are not as smooth. Not making excuses, but you can hear the difference while accelerating...

I rarely play video games these days, but the announcement of Muggello was interesting enough for me to break out the steering wheel and Assetto corsa. I did some practice runs till I could lap without spinning off, and one thing I can say is that you have to nail these quick corners to keep the speed up through the lap. If you mess up the first corner say in one of the chicanes your top speed will be greatly affected coming out the second corner. I think that was happening with Vettel and Leclerc. Leclerc was just hooking up better in the turns.

[JordanMugen]

I really don't get where the artificial Bottas hype came from in the first place. Hamilton is literally doing what he has done with regularity for 3+ seasons, i.e. putting the pretender in his place, albeit in this case at the last minute.

Pretender?

It's a deliberate strategy by Mercedes-Benz to NOT hire Alonso or Ricciardo or similar despite availability...

I'd expect Ricciardo could do at least as well against Hamilton as Rosberg, if not a touch better.... More of a 35/65 split of wins in Hamilton's favour rather than 10/90 as with Bottas.

[nevill3]

I thought I saw that Lewis went out again in Q1 after a setup change, this change obviously worked for him.
Only three drivers went quicker in Q3 compared to their Q2 times. Lewis, Valteri and Leclerc.
Ok some would have done their first Q3 runs on used softs and had to abort their second runs, but even Max was slower in Q3.

[nacho]

Well I guess he's doing all he can. Half a tenth down on the greatest of his generation, it's not much and it's not the first half a tenth loss this season.

[nevill3]

Bottas does a great job on a Saturday, going up against Lewis must be hard but he will get to look at his data so is probably benefiting from being in team with such an excellent team mate. Lewis will analyse Valtteri's data too of course which will help him understand where he may be losing time to Valtteri

[Sieper]

I think Albon's improved showing today is due to the higher downforce this weekend. The flowing nature of the track and higher downforce would have given him more confidence to throw the car into the corners with less risk of the twitchy nature inducing a spin.

As for Lewis not improving in his final run he stated that the wind increased, causing a drop in overall performance. An increase in the head wind down the first straight prevented Lewis setting a purple sector and so who knows if anybody else's final runs would have been similarly effected.

The greater effect of the DRS in the lesser formulas bodes well for the race, Danny Ric has commented that a run around the outside of turn one could be a possibility....

Verstappen did improve on his final run so the potential for a Bottas improvement was still there.

Yeah, but to be fair he also said his first run was not optimal. Not close enough for the tow. And he said circumstances (wind picked up) deteriorated.

[PlatinumZealot]

Vettel is usually only around 2 tenths slower than Leclerc.

I get the Median to be -2.65 tenths. The average is -0.338 tenths.

AUT STY HUN GBR 70A ESP BEL ITA TUS
VET 01:04.206 01:19.545 01:14.774 01:26.339 01:27.078 01:17.168 01:43.261 01:21.151 01:16.858
LEC 01:04.041 01:19.628 01:14.817 01:25.427 01:26.709 01:16.953 01:42.996 01:20.443 01:16.324

GAP -0.165 0.083 0.043 -0.912 -0.369 -0.215 -0.265 -0.708 -0.534

The median ignores outliers.
Median -0.265
Average -0.338

Average with slowest and fastest removed..
-0.3161

[search]

You do realise it was both of their first q3 run times that counted right? So the extra run means nothings at all?
Hamilton regularly does 2 runs good enough for pole where bottas can't even get close with his second run.

well, no. They are usually within a couple of hundreths. Sure, Bottas had a poor weekend in Spa, but more often than not it's very, very close between those two in Qualifying. In the two races before and after Spa, the gap was 0,059s, 0,069s, 0,059s and 0,063