Formula 1 - 2013 Season
- Thread starter Dave Baumann
- Start date
DuckThor Evil
Legend
F-A-N-T-A-S-T-I-C !1!1!
Billy Idol
Legend
Good first race!
Yep enjoyed that one - thankfully the Red Bull does appear to have an achilles heel with tyres. It won't be long before the sort that one out though.
Ferrari must be happy, though I wonder if Massa will already be depressed at only being 4th and behind Alonso again after basically outperforming him all weekend up until the race.
Unsure about the Merc, they didn't impress me much and are probably 4th behind the RB, Lotus and Ferrari. Not quite in that group on race pace I feel.
Ferrari must be happy, though I wonder if Massa will already be depressed at only being 4th and behind Alonso again after basically outperforming him all weekend up until the race.
Unsure about the Merc, they didn't impress me much and are probably 4th behind the RB, Lotus and Ferrari. Not quite in that group on race pace I feel.
Great race!
Kimi drove great and controlled race! When Massa, Alonso and Vettel were within 0.5-1,0s of each other after first stop, Kimi held his distance at 2.0s not to ruin tyres. From that point on I knew he will do 2 stopper!
Ferrari are lots better than I expected and Mercedes is where they are were saying they might be.
McLaren - ... they have lots of work to do and I don't expect them to catch up this much deficit before European leg of races.
Kimi drove great and controlled race! When Massa, Alonso and Vettel were within 0.5-1,0s of each other after first stop, Kimi held his distance at 2.0s not to ruin tyres. From that point on I knew he will do 2 stopper!
Ferrari are lots better than I expected and Mercedes is where they are were saying they might be.
McLaren - ... they have lots of work to do and I don't expect them to catch up this much deficit before European leg of races.
Whitmarsh actually went already as far as saying they might return to using last years car if they can't fix this quick
That's basically where the race was won. Vettel actually held up the Ferrari's a little bit and tbh I think Ferrari weren't even considering Raikkonen when they brought Alonso in for an early 2nd stop.
Vettel must be a bit perturbed about his race. He was under pressure from Massa, couldn't pass Sutil on fresher tyres then watched Alonso drive away from him. On that showing there is no way the Red Bull could have managed a 2-stop, while the Lotus clearly can and the Ferrari is able to if the strategy allows for it.
Alonso will be delighted. The Ferrari should be very strong on the faster circuits and long straights. The bookies responding by shortening the odds on Alonso, Raikkonen and Massa unsurprisingly - http://www.oddschecker.com/motorsport/formula-one/drivers-championship
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UniversalTruth
Veteran
One race in so cold, unusual conditions, and you are ready to give such conclusions...
Sure, they are top of the Constructors' Championship and I am sure they will push even more...
Let's wait and see Malaysia on Sunday before talking too much in advance, shall we?
One race in so cold, unusual conditions, and you are ready to give such conclusions...
They were also very strong during testing - they have an obvious tyre advantage over the rest of the field along with Ferrari.
Having watched the entire race again it's clear that the Lotus has a humungous tyre advantage.
Raikkonen drove the perfect race and at no time did his tyres look like they couldn't have just go on and on had he needed them to. I reckon he did two stints of 25 laps comfortably on those mediums while the rest were struggling badly at the end of 17 laps maximum.
Of course he also had a clear track almost the entire duration of the race, and that might have been the reason why they lasted so well. The rest of the field must be hoping that's the case and that the Lotus doesn't have such a commanding, inherent advantage.
Mercedes got the plan completely wrong. Really not clever for them to attempt the 2-stopper tbh.
While we can expect a change at Malaysia, it doesn't necessarily have to be a change in favour of the cars struggling on tyres. Hot weather just might mean the mediums perform like the super softs and we'll get the 5 stops that people were talking about. I see no reason to assume the Lotus won't be very strong on tyres in Malaysia also but they might lose out on raw pace.
I expect a Ferrari 1-2 however. Ferrari appears to be "next best" on tyres and has real qualifying and race pace. If Alonso hadn't been in dirty air the entire race he could easily have just driven away from the field, so a good qualifying position is even more important for him than usual I think.
Raikkonen drove the perfect race and at no time did his tyres look like they couldn't have just go on and on had he needed them to. I reckon he did two stints of 25 laps comfortably on those mediums while the rest were struggling badly at the end of 17 laps maximum.
Of course he also had a clear track almost the entire duration of the race, and that might have been the reason why they lasted so well. The rest of the field must be hoping that's the case and that the Lotus doesn't have such a commanding, inherent advantage.
Mercedes got the plan completely wrong. Really not clever for them to attempt the 2-stopper tbh.
While we can expect a change at Malaysia, it doesn't necessarily have to be a change in favour of the cars struggling on tyres. Hot weather just might mean the mediums perform like the super softs and we'll get the 5 stops that people were talking about. I see no reason to assume the Lotus won't be very strong on tyres in Malaysia also but they might lose out on raw pace.
I expect a Ferrari 1-2 however. Ferrari appears to be "next best" on tyres and has real qualifying and race pace. If Alonso hadn't been in dirty air the entire race he could easily have just driven away from the field, so a good qualifying position is even more important for him than usual I think.
Rurouni
Veteran
It might just be Lotus got the setup right. Based on last year performance, if you've got the setup right then you've got a massive advantage. I'm not really sold about Lotus have absolute tyre advantage. I do think that Lotus is one of the fastest car this year along with RB and Ferrari.
Not sure I agree. They had very good pace on the super-soft tyre which lasted them quite long, so it was reasonable to assume they would be in an equally strong position on the medium compound tyre as well. It was a reasonable assumption and they had commited to that plan. It didn't work out, but considering, 5th is a good result.
DuckThor Evil
Legend
I don't think Mercedes got hurt due to their strategy, not much anyway. Hamilton got what was possible and no strategy would have given him more.
