Motorsports Thread

[Deleted member 1258]

https://www.skysports.com/watch/video/12619138/spanish-grand-prix-highlights

I'm not sure who was at fault if you watch the above from about 35 seconds, Lewis has the inside line is well ahead, Kevin tries to go around the outside, it's difficult to see but I didn't see Lewis moving left, it was the slightest of touches.

I'm not convince Mercedes are back despite all the hype, they are still clearly the 3rd team, I think they have made a jump & found 0.5 seconds, but they need to find another 0.5 to be able to compete, George did a great job of holding Max up but that was all he was doing, he was holding him up, had the DRS worked correctly he'd have breezed past & George would not have been able to come back at him. There was also the reliability issue towards the end, they claim a heat issue, I suspect it was a fuel issue & if Lewis hadn't of slowed down he'd have run out of fuel.

As to Red Bull it appears they caused their own problems, reading between the lines, they tried to move a few grams of weight from up top of the car DRS area down lower for more stability & they went the wrong side of the sharp edge & lost reliability, in years gone by they would have tested it extensively in the wind tunnel first to find this weakness. But a great job of the tacitions to be able to come up with a way for Max to drive around George on traction & not DRS.

As to whether RB should have let Sergio win as it's only round 6, that's a hard one, he is the defacto No2, he's doing a better job than any other Max No2, if that's not the role he wants to play then he needs to look elsewhere, but can RB afford to piss him off that much as nobody else has managed to get as close to Max in a car designed exclusively for Max. It leaves a nasty taste, but if Max ended up losing this years championship on less than 5 points they would never have forgiven themselves.

I read an article somewhere that said Hamilton had a water leak, but like you I recon it was more likely he was running out of fuel

 

[Jody]

If he had the fastest race time, he'd have been first. He wasn't.

55 seconds behind the lead on lap 1. So would have needed a car 1 second a lap faster than anyone to have pulled that one off.

P4 (without issue) and P5 with as a great result.

 

[icowden]

There was also the reliability issue towards the end, they claim a heat issue, I suspect it was a fuel issue & if Lewis hadn't of slowed down he'd have run out of fuel.

So although they told the press and drivers that water was leaking onto the power unit, and although Russell has asked slightly earlier in the race why he was getting overheating warnings despite being in clear air, despite the former f1 driver commentators speculating that Mercedes had been caught out a little by the heat and might have been a bit marginal with their cooling options for better performance, and despite both drivers getting the warning even though Hamilton would have had more fuel due to his slow lap with the puncture, you think it was a fuel issue - on both cars?

 

[Deleted member 26715]

So although they told the press and drivers that water was leaking onto the power unit, and although Russell has asked slightly earlier in the race why he was getting overheating warnings despite being in clear air, despite the former f1 driver commentators speculating that Mercedes had been caught out a little by the heat and might have been a bit marginal with their cooling options for better performance, and despite both drivers getting the warning even though Hamilton would have had more fuel due to his slow lap with the puncture, you think it was a fuel issue - on both cars?

Being a bit argumentative & confrontational currently aren't we?

Just like yourself I have an opinion, just like yourself it could be wrong, but Russell's overheating appeared to have gone away, IF it had been that serious to have to ask Hamilton to slow down that much & give a place away, it is my opinion they would have retired the car as they would not have risked the chance of losing 1 of the 3 engines they are allowed.

It is my opinion the more likely cause is they didn't expect Hamilton to have an accident on lap 1, go to the back of the grid & have a very aggressive fight to come back through the field, in doing so using more fuel than they had calculated as they will only put in the tank what they absolutely need to save weight at the start. Ihe instruction was to lift & coast as much as possible to ensure that there was still the 1L in the tank at the end of the race otherwise disqualification as per Aston Martin.

 

[Reynard]

There *may* have been a water leak. The instruction to lift and coast is consistent with driving a car with a faulty water pump / thermostat - been there, done that, bought the t-shirt.

But it's equally an instruction to conserve fuel. It's done a lot in endurance racing. It's also done a lot in Formula E, where the energy the cars start with isn't enough to finish the race, so harvesting and conserving energy is likewise second nature. You hear that a lot on the radio, especially if a driver has been over-consuming - or the teams have got their numbers wrong. Because FE is a timed race rather than a given number of laps, it is pretty critical.

So read into it what you will.

 

[icowden]

Being a bit argumentative & confrontational currently aren't we?

Fair point. Hayfever is making me grumpy today

Just like yourself I have an opinion, just like yourself it could be wrong, but Russell's overheating appeared to have gone away, IF it had been that serious to have to ask Hamilton to slow down that much & give a place away, it is my opinion they would have retired the car as they would not have risked the chance of losing 1 of the 3 engines they are allowed.

It's a fine line though - given that the cars seemed to be OK or tolerably within OK until the last few laps - they may have preferred to be slightly risky to get the constructors points.

F1 seem pretty definitive about it:

Against the odds, Hamilton was actually looking on course for P4 in the closing stages of the race, having pulled off late moves on former team mate Valtteri Bottas and the Ferrari of Carlos Sainz. But an instruction to manage a "DNF risk” – later revealed to be a water leak – by lifting and coasting saw Hamilton concede position to Sainz with two laps to go, leaving the Mercedes driver “gutted”.

 

[FishFright]

Not whilst their "lead" driver* wants to retire the car because he made a mistake.

*Who was just short of being shown the black and white flag, and receiving a time penalty for exceeding track limits, again.

Meanwhile their new golden boy gave a great defensive performance and another well deserved finishing position.

 

[FishFright]

From what I saw on Ch4 highlights it seemed as though Magnussen did a Verstappen at Silverstone by steering into Lewis . It looked opposite to what my son had said what happened .
I expect that Lewis was thinking that having to complete the lap with a flat tyre and restarting at the back on a circuit which was difficult to overtake on it seemed the right option .

Hamilton's on board looked like that but not the other camera angels.

Racing incident , no blame but no flowers.

 

[icowden]

So - Monaco this weekend.

Place your bets:

1) Procession
2) Great race!
3) Carnage / wet weather

...

Anyone think the new narrower cars will help? Red Bull might not be as dominant on this one as no huge straights.

 

[Jody]

1. Almost guaranteed
2. Doubtful
3. We can only hope (for wet weather)

 

[Deleted member 26715]

1. Almost guaranteed
2. Doubtful
3. We can only hope (for wet weather)

100% correct, even the race where Mansell punctured & chased down Senna was only exciting because of Murray Walkers commentary there was never a chance of him getting past.

 

[Reynard]

Looking at the forecast just now, I'm going for (3)

 

[Jody]

50% chance of showers on a dry track could lead to an interesting race.

Slick gamblers into the barriers. Inters left out too long and getting cooked.

We can but hope.

 

[Jody]

On a cynical note. I see the FIA have given another extension to the HAM jewellery clamp down.

Now going to start the weekend of the British GP. Let me guess, no removal = no race on a weekend they feel he will back down.

If the cynic in me is right, it could massively backfire if he stands firm and they don't let him race infront of the home crowd.

A fine is never going to concern him.

 

[Reynard]

On a cynical note. I see the FIA have given another extension to the HAM jewellery clamp down.

Now going to start the weekend of the British GP. Let me guess, no removal = no race on a weekend they feel he will back down.

If the cynic in me is right, it could massively backfire if he stands firm and they don't let him race infront of the home crowd.

A fine is never going to concern him.

If you're right, this might end up in the same way as the whole James Hunt thing at Brands in 1976...

Conveniently omitted from "Rush"