Official 2014 Russian Grand Prix Thread ***Spoilers***

It was an excellent recovery drive considering he did double the prescribed distance on one set of tyres, overtook cars on track who by then had fresher tyres and also set his fastest lap almost at the very end. I would as far to say that if was a better performance than Hamilton's charge at Singapore.

EC83 Wrote:

> What's with the inverted commas? It WAS a recovery
> drive. 21st to 2nd is a good recovery IMO,
> regardless of what car you're driving. And
> badly-flatspotted front tyres are a pretty major
> disadvantage too. Just because he pitted before
> the disadvantage had a chance to show, didn't mean
> he didn't have one. (Admittedly a self-inflicted
> disadvantage, but a disadvantage nevertheless.)
> So, necessary pit stop, meaning he had to climb
> back up through the field.


if the tyres are rock hard and don't wear out, and most can manage with only 1 stop to fulfil the tyre compound rules in a dry race, then a stop on lap 1 which then inevitably drops you to last place and then a gain back of all those positions either by passing (in the fastest car) or through others pitting for their mandatory stop, isn't a recovery drive to me, hence the inverted commas.

the fact he was 21st at one point means nothing IMO, as that wasn't his real position or a reflection of the speed of the car.

a Mercedes with badly flat spotted tyres is still way faster than most of the grid, so while it was probably uncomfortable for the 1 lap he did on them, he was still fast and right up Lewis's exhaust pipe on the way into the pits. if the disadvantage of the flat spots doesn't actually show itself in terms of laptime, it's not a disadvantage surely? (if you pit straight away and don't actually lose time or positions)

the fact he did the fastest lap on the 52nd lap on those tyres shows how ridiculous the tyre compound choice was, but you can't blame Pirelli for being conservative. they'd have been slaughtered had it gone the other way had they brought tyres that couldn't do 10 laps, like Canada a few years ago.

and how Lewis kept a straight face while pretending the race was tough in the interviews, i'll never know.

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RIP Jules, never to be forgotten. #KeepFightingMichael

They brought the compounds they did as they weren't confident the super softs would cope with turn 3. Next year they might be allowed to run the mediums and the softs given the nature of the track. Still, it's good to see a variation to the normal tyre characteristics, so one race in 20 where they hold up well I can cope with - more likely to throw a curveball (even if it didn't really manage it this year).

I think it was a decent recovery from Rosberg. It's all good and well saying the tyres were rock hard, but he kept them alive while negotiating traffic, and he just leapt on people as soon as he saw them, much in the way Hamilton does. Rosberg is usually much more circumspect around traffic.

It's not often a car falls to the back and is able to come through to 2nd on a perfectly dry track, irrespective of how good the car is.

i would say Nico did what he had to do, it is not for praise him that much but im sure he was gonna be slaughtered if he arrived 3rd or 4th

Regarding the tyre thing, altough the ideal would be more tyre suppliers so the thing wold be make the faster tyre, i think it would be good that each team choose their tyre compund every race, with Pirelli only giving a recommendation, or something like that. I dont think it´d be a logistical distaster and it could add a bit of excitement having a dark horse on softer tyres