The official 2016 Russian Grand Prix Thread *** SPOILERS with added canopies and ejector seats ***
Posted by J i m
Not a thread yet for this so I thought I'd start it. Stats and track mappery may or rather more likely may not follow later.
Fairly interesting weekend so far. Red Bull ran a installation lap with their canopy on Friday and aesthetically it's definitely less offensive than the halo. Personally although I love the old look of open cockpit single seaters I think the arguments for having a canopy are eventually going to far outweigh the arguments for not having it.
I mean, "this would have saved Justin Wilson's life" easily trumps "but non canopy looks so much cooler".
I remember thinking the wider front wings looked utterly ridiculous... But I soon got used to them so the canopy won't be any different. It makes crash helmet identification harder though so perhaps give over a part of the roll hoop to individual driver livery?
To the actual track action! I'm slightly surprised with how many reliability problems Mercedes (or Hamilton) and Ferrari (or Vettle) are having. Maybe it shows just how hard they are pushing on performance. Hamilton seems to be getting a bit peeved about it but it'd only take one DNF for Rosberg and he's right back in the game. It's odds on that Rosberg will make it seven in a row today but history shows things can turn around quicker than you could think it.
Merc seem to have taken another leap ahead in pace, I don't see how Ferrari in usual circumstances could pressure them here.. But on pure pace alone it ought to be Merc 1-2, Ferrari 3-4.
Now, it's clear that this track layout suits the car but Williams seem to have made a step forward. The car visibly looks more stable, up until now it reminded me of my childhood scalextric days trying to race a non magtraction car against one that has it and then flying off into the fireplace every other lap. Starting on the front row Bottas has a fair chance of leading the first stint but providing a clutter free start then Merc and Ferrari ought to move ahead with relative ease later on in the race.
Red Bull seem to be surprisingly off the pace but I think there's a chance they'll still move ahead of Williams further into the race and we can't rule Toro Rosso out of that mix either but it seems they've wasted their early season form and it's going to get harder from now on.
McLaren seem to be making steady progress and it'd be nice to see them make a strong challenge for points today but Force India etc will probably be able fend them off.
It's been a little bit dispiriting to see Hass drop back, but I think Grosjean could still mix things up especially if we get a well timed safety car.
Should be a nice race, Vettle and Hamiltion have a few cars to overtake again
Fairly interesting weekend so far. Red Bull ran a installation lap with their canopy on Friday and aesthetically it's definitely less offensive than the halo. Personally although I love the old look of open cockpit single seaters I think the arguments for having a canopy are eventually going to far outweigh the arguments for not having it.
I mean, "this would have saved Justin Wilson's life" easily trumps "but non canopy looks so much cooler".
I remember thinking the wider front wings looked utterly ridiculous... But I soon got used to them so the canopy won't be any different. It makes crash helmet identification harder though so perhaps give over a part of the roll hoop to individual driver livery?
To the actual track action! I'm slightly surprised with how many reliability problems Mercedes (or Hamilton) and Ferrari (or Vettle) are having. Maybe it shows just how hard they are pushing on performance. Hamilton seems to be getting a bit peeved about it but it'd only take one DNF for Rosberg and he's right back in the game. It's odds on that Rosberg will make it seven in a row today but history shows things can turn around quicker than you could think it.
Merc seem to have taken another leap ahead in pace, I don't see how Ferrari in usual circumstances could pressure them here.. But on pure pace alone it ought to be Merc 1-2, Ferrari 3-4.
Now, it's clear that this track layout suits the car but Williams seem to have made a step forward. The car visibly looks more stable, up until now it reminded me of my childhood scalextric days trying to race a non magtraction car against one that has it and then flying off into the fireplace every other lap. Starting on the front row Bottas has a fair chance of leading the first stint but providing a clutter free start then Merc and Ferrari ought to move ahead with relative ease later on in the race.
Red Bull seem to be surprisingly off the pace but I think there's a chance they'll still move ahead of Williams further into the race and we can't rule Toro Rosso out of that mix either but it seems they've wasted their early season form and it's going to get harder from now on.
McLaren seem to be making steady progress and it'd be nice to see them make a strong challenge for points today but Force India etc will probably be able fend them off.
It's been a little bit dispiriting to see Hass drop back, but I think Grosjean could still mix things up especially if we get a well timed safety car.
Should be a nice race, Vettle and Hamiltion have a few cars to overtake again
Glad a thread has already been started, this looks like being an interesting race strategically and very entertaining. It'll be interesting to see how Seb and Lewis manage their drives through the field, apart from anything else.
Looking forward to the start!
Looking forward to the start!
Lol having failed to get a strike it seems young Kyvat then went for a spare and collected who else but Vettle. Maldonado would be proud. I'm half expecting to see an announcement from the stewards reprimanding Vettle for commandeering a scooter and proceeding to ride it back to the paddock without wearing his crash helmet :P
The race didn't quite live up to expectations for the excitement level (Kyvat aside) but the form generally played out how I suspected with the odd interloper, Magnussen holding station for points and Alonso looked pretty strong too actually.
We'll never know if Red Bull would have beaten the Williams due to the first lap hilarity but I think that was a rare strategy error by them, baffling tyre choice.
Not too much to say about the Mercs except "yawn" they always claim some kind of critical car problem and end up winning anyway. SKY and Crofty once again gave unessacary airtime to silly viewers who can't cope when their favourite driver doesn't win every single race and cry foul conspiracy. I think Toto's rather robust response was pretty much on point to be honest and he's right for there are plenty of lunatics on Twitter. I'm surprised they didn't leave Hamilton out a lap or two later on the first stint though as their overall advantage would easily trump the undercut.
It was nice to see that Kimi v Bottas round three did not end up in the barriers and it was a good race between whilst it lasted. I disagree with Brundle who was disappointed with the Williams race pace. The Ferrari was always going to emerge with the performance advantage. I think Bottas did well to put himself in the podium fight at all and he does seem handle the restarts on safety car periods well. I knew he'd be all over Kimi there and he was. Not sure what was going on with the late stop for Massa... either a puncture, tyre wear or 'hey! Let's get some data'. But a positive result and a definite improvement for them in low speed corners and traction.
Other notable performances Include Alonso, Magnussen and Grosjean who indeed took full advantage of the well timed safety car I speculated about in my previous post.
The race didn't quite live up to expectations for the excitement level (Kyvat aside) but the form generally played out how I suspected with the odd interloper, Magnussen holding station for points and Alonso looked pretty strong too actually.
We'll never know if Red Bull would have beaten the Williams due to the first lap hilarity but I think that was a rare strategy error by them, baffling tyre choice.
Not too much to say about the Mercs except "yawn" they always claim some kind of critical car problem and end up winning anyway. SKY and Crofty once again gave unessacary airtime to silly viewers who can't cope when their favourite driver doesn't win every single race and cry foul conspiracy. I think Toto's rather robust response was pretty much on point to be honest and he's right for there are plenty of lunatics on Twitter. I'm surprised they didn't leave Hamilton out a lap or two later on the first stint though as their overall advantage would easily trump the undercut.
It was nice to see that Kimi v Bottas round three did not end up in the barriers and it was a good race between whilst it lasted. I disagree with Brundle who was disappointed with the Williams race pace. The Ferrari was always going to emerge with the performance advantage. I think Bottas did well to put himself in the podium fight at all and he does seem handle the restarts on safety car periods well. I knew he'd be all over Kimi there and he was. Not sure what was going on with the late stop for Massa... either a puncture, tyre wear or 'hey! Let's get some data'. But a positive result and a definite improvement for them in low speed corners and traction.
Other notable performances Include Alonso, Magnussen and Grosjean who indeed took full advantage of the well timed safety car I speculated about in my previous post.
While I'm happy to see Rosberg do well, really hope there is an on-track battle with Hamilton soon - need to see if he really does have what it takes to go on with it this year! Shame that Vettel is already out of the hunt basically...
X (@ed24f1)
X (@ed24f1)
Indeed... We're lacking a straight fight at the moment.
I can see both sides of the argument here. Kvyat has been decent enough (although I've had the feeling he has a tendancy to overdrive the car) yet I can't help but believe that Verstappen is a higher tier driver. If this was the beginning of the season, and I could only sign one of these two, I'd pick Verstappen in a heartbeat, but replacing Kvyat mid-season when it has barely even started...? Like you said, harsh, but at the end of the day this is the big league and if you don't perform, you're out.
If I remember rightly, Ricciardo performed similarly to Verstappen when he was at Toro Rosso. It will be interesting to see how they compare. I expect Verstappen to have a slight disadvantage, but to be more or less equal come the end of the season.
Also, I can't help but feel a bit sorry for Sainz. I think he's been brilliant, if a bit unspectacular (Nick Heidfeld syndrome?). I hope he doesn't get overlooked by the bigger teams simply because he wasn't given the nod at Red Bull.
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You know you want to. [judgegrudge.mybrute.com]
If I remember rightly, Ricciardo performed similarly to Verstappen when he was at Toro Rosso. It will be interesting to see how they compare. I expect Verstappen to have a slight disadvantage, but to be more or less equal come the end of the season.
Also, I can't help but feel a bit sorry for Sainz. I think he's been brilliant, if a bit unspectacular (Nick Heidfeld syndrome?). I hope he doesn't get overlooked by the bigger teams simply because he wasn't given the nod at Red Bull.
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You know you want to. [judgegrudge.mybrute.com]
Ooh tough call.
Still, they obviously still see some potential in him otherwise they wouldn't have simply demoted him to STR. Not quite the same fate as Klien, Luizzi, Speed, Bourdais or Alguersauri.
Still, they obviously still see some potential in him otherwise they wouldn't have simply demoted him to STR. Not quite the same fate as Klien, Luizzi, Speed, Bourdais or Alguersauri.
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