Peter Windsor said of quali that teams with less downforce are scrubbing their tires throughout the lap, gaining more (presumably surface) temp and thus grip and pace. This seems to have translated to the race, which was similarly cloudy and “cold.” (Pirelli’s min pressure for the tires was in the teens, vs. some races where it’s well into the twenties.) Ferrari seem to have the most downforce thus don’t warm their tires up as quickly (and suffer less thermal degradation, which was not a factor in this race). That’s why putting the hards on Charles at any point in this race was baffling, though we don’t know their tire situation (they didn’t have any other lightly-used softs or mediums?).
The F1 post-race show had a good graphic of the tire stints, and a lot of interviews mentioned cars on similar stints with dissimilar outcomes (i.e., Sainz vs. Lewis).
I believe the penalty for going a bit over the budget limit is financial, oddly, so the rich teams can afford it. They also approved a ~3% budget increase this year because inflation. It does seem like RB can stop developing this year’s car and start focusing on next’s sooner than Ferrari.
The F1 post-race show had a good graphic of the tire stints, and a lot of interviews mentioned cars on similar stints with dissimilar outcomes (i.e., Sainz vs. Lewis).
I believe the penalty for going a bit over the budget limit is financial, oddly, so the rich teams can afford it. They also approved a ~3% budget increase this year because inflation. It does seem like RB can stop developing this year’s car and start focusing on next’s sooner than Ferrari.
