2016 Russian Grand Prix

[AxelP800]

Lots of supersofts.

I win Miguel98

[Bobby Doorknobs]

I win Miguel98

Miguel 3-1 Axel.

Still 17 left to go

[Miguel98]

I win Miguel98

Miguel 3-1 Axel.

Still 17 left to go

Now fix IWC

On a more realistic bit: I wonder why ultra softs aren't used here? The track isn't abrasive enough, and I think the US tyre would survive a lap around here with quite a bit of ease.

[DanielPT]

Great Scott! Manor actually started to chose their tyres in Russia instead of going with the default option! Manor FTP!

[AxelP800]

On a more realistic bit: I wonder why ultra softs aren't used here? The track isn't abrasive enough, and I think the US tyre would survive a lap around here with quite a bit of ease.

Pirelli never (or yet) to tell us why, but I presume they fear turn 3, even if the surface is smooth

[Row Man Gross-Gene]

It looks like Haas, Williams, and Red Bull are going pretty aggressive with their tire strategies. Hopefully it works out.

[solarcold]

Welcome Formula 1 to my home Grand Prix And remember: in Modern Russia Formula 1 watches YOU.

[CoopsII]

remember: in Modern Russia Formula 1 watches YOU.

Then Formula 1 is in for some tedious viewing.

Is Sochi anywhere near you Solarcold? Are you going?

[solarcold]

remember: in Modern Russia Formula 1 watches YOU.

Then Formula 1 is in for some tedious viewing.

Is Sochi anywhere near you Solarcold? Are you going?

Unfortunately no, but I'm planning to go there in sometime in future.

It's very far from me, I live at the extreme north of Russia, in Murmansk (and I like it here!).

But I've been to Sochi 7 times in childhood. It was VERY different before Olympics and F1. It was a relatively simple provincial town and I couldn't possibly imagine something like that would eventually go on there.

[CoopsII]

It's very far from me, I live at the extreme north of Russia, in Murmansk (and I like it here!).

Looks lovely...

Looking through the images it reminds me a little of the coastal town in the north of England where my roots are (although temperature-wise that would be tropical to you). Seem like my kind of place, I'll put it on my list.

Seems like Sochi has been completely changed by all the investment which I guess is a good thing.

[solarcold]

Could see my home if the camera would turn to the left a bit
Surely it's a worthy place

Now, to live in Sochi became more expensive now, on the other hand. Development of infrastructure is good, but maybe it now becomes too big for my liking.

[watka]

It looks like Haas, Williams, and Red Bull are going pretty aggressive with their tire strategies. Hopefully it works out.

On the other hand, Ferrari seem to have gone very conservative. So I predict qualifying will be the usual shootout between the Mercs, a second ahead of the field. Then Ferrari will be left with egg on their faces when the safety car periods allows drivers to stay out on supersofts for longer.

[WeirdKerr]

For a few seconds I thought that this thread was opened about 5 to 6 months too early then realised the Russian gp was early this year..... (between this and the fact I missed the start of the Shanghai race I think I'm going senile enough to take over from Mr Ecclestone)

[Bobby Doorknobs]

For a few seconds I thought that this thread was opened about 5 to 6 months too early then realised the Russian gp was early this year..... (between this and the fact I missed the start of the Shanghai race I think I'm going senile enough to take over from Mr Ecclestone)

I had the same initial response, and I can confirm I'm not going senile (though several close acquaintances of mine will tell you that I am a bit mad, they're the ones who are insane!).

[DanielPT]

It looks like Haas, Williams, and Red Bull are going pretty aggressive with their tire strategies. Hopefully it works out.

On the other hand, Ferrari seem to have gone very conservative. So I predict qualifying will be the usual shootout between the Mercs, a second ahead of the field. Then Ferrari will be left with egg on their faces when the safety car periods allows drivers to stay out on supersofts for longer.

In another words, Ferrari will find yet another way of botching up a race...

[Nessafox]

It looks like Haas, Williams, and Red Bull are going pretty aggressive with their tire strategies. Hopefully it works out.

On the other hand, Ferrari seem to have gone very conservative. So I predict qualifying will be the usual shootout between the Mercs, a second ahead of the field. Then Ferrari will be left with egg on their faces when the safety car periods allows drivers to stay out on supersofts for longer.

In another words, Ferrari will find yet another way of botching up a race...

I'm sure Williams will find a way too. Yeah, it's gonna be an easy walk for Red Bull to become second in the constructors championship.

[Dj_bereta]

Despite having a lot of super soft tyres, I believe Williams will try an one stop strategy, starting with super soft (Q2) and finishing with the medium tyres.

[mario]

remember: in Modern Russia Formula 1 watches YOU.

Then Formula 1 is in for some tedious viewing.

Is Sochi anywhere near you Solarcold? Are you going?

Unfortunately no, but I'm planning to go there in sometime in future.

It's very far from me, I live at the extreme north of Russia, in Murmansk (and I like it here!).

But I've been to Sochi 7 times in childhood. It was VERY different before Olympics and F1. It was a relatively simple provincial town and I couldn't possibly imagine something like that would eventually go on there.

I might be mistaken, but wasn't Sochi traditionally a coastal resort that was mainly frequented by the elites of the Soviet Union, hence the rather relaxing sense of simple seclusion that developed around the town? As you say, though, it seems to be anything but that these days...

It looks like Haas, Williams, and Red Bull are going pretty aggressive with their tire strategies. Hopefully it works out.

On the other hand, Ferrari seem to have gone very conservative. So I predict qualifying will be the usual shootout between the Mercs, a second ahead of the field. Then Ferrari will be left with egg on their faces when the safety car periods allows drivers to stay out on supersofts for longer.

In another words, Ferrari will find yet another way of botching up a race...

I'm sure Williams will find a way too. Yeah, it's gonna be an easy walk for Red Bull to become second in the constructors championship.

Even with their issues, Ferrari are still currently beating Red Bull in the WCC...

Williams do seem to have gone for a more aggressive strategy, but tyre management has been one of their weaker points for a few years. It makes more sense for Haas and Red Bull given they have tended to show good tyre management characteristics, but Williams haven't looked strong in that department.

Speaking of Williams, though, they really do need to put in a better performance here given that they are coming under a bit of pressure from Haas and Toro Rosso.
With the FW38 being something of a conservative evolution of their previous cars, they have to hope that the prevalence of higher speed corners is in their favour (their cars do seem to have been stronger at high speed circuits - Silverstone, for example, comes to mind - but fairly poor at circuits where low to medium speed stability are more critical).

Still, I'm expecting them to struggle for competitiveness - given the limited resources of the team and the upcoming rule changes in 2017, I would not be surprised if Williams have chosen to sacrifice some competitiveness now for a better chance of staying in the top 4 teams in 2017.

Despite having a lot of super soft tyres, I believe Williams will try an one stop strategy, starting with super soft (Q2) and finishing with the medium tyres.

It looks more to me like most teams are going for a one stop strategy with super softs for the first stint and softs thereafter, with the single set of medium tyres taken simply to satisfy the requirement to have a minimum of one set of whichever tyre Pirelli designates as the prime tyre.

If a team is going for an aggressive strategy, which Williams, Haas and Red Bull seem to be doing, I expect them to go the other way and to run two stints on the super soft tyres and a shorter stint on the soft.
The soft tyres tend to hang on pretty well - last year, most drivers were fairly comfortable with running for more than 30 laps, or more than half a race distance, on the soft tyre, with most drivers setting their best lap times towards the end of the stint.

That would suggest to me that Sochi is one of the few venues where the delta from fuel burning off is still higher than the performance loss of the tyres. In that scenario, using a harder compound tyre, such as the medium, isn't really that advantageous - the main benefit is more likely to come from using softer, rather than harder, tyres.

[AxelP800]

I approve Sochi night race proposal.

Axel pls pls plspls...... Lower temps tends harder to overtake. See Milwaukee 2003

[golic_2004]

I approve Sochi night race proposal.

Axel pls pls plspls...... Lower temps tends harder to overtake. See Milwaukee 2003

I'm in favor

[Dj_bereta]

I approve too because I don't want to wake up at 8 am in Sunday to watch the race .

[UncreativeUsername37]

WTF did Brundle just say? Big debris-deflecting windscreens are a slippery slope to "driverless cars"? He's supposed to be one of the smart ones.

[DanielPT]

WTF did Brundle just say? Big debris-deflecting windscreens are a slippery slope to "driverless cars"? He's supposed to be one of the smart ones.

Yeah... Perhaps someone failed to inform him that driverless cars will be a thing in a support race for FE next year. Anyway, the car needs a visible human factor otherwise no one will relate to which is not good for a standalone series.

[Row Man Gross-Gene]

WTF did Brundle just say? Big debris-deflecting windscreens are a slippery slope to "driverless cars"? He's supposed to be one of the smart ones.

Yeah... Perhaps someone failed to inform him that driverless cars will be a thing in a support race for FE next year. Anyway, the car needs a visible human factor otherwise no one will relate to which is not good for a standalone series.

I wonder if he means truly driverless or simply remotely-driven cars? Because there would be a difference. I doubt we'll see either case though because as DanielPT said, there would be no way to relate. Although, remotely-driven cars might result in more banzai passing moves (and also more wrecks), not that I'd advocate for that.

I must say that I'm excited to see Russia because I haven't seen the previous two races. Anyone care to enlighten me as to how good the last two races were?

[Ataxia]

WTF did Brundle just say? Big debris-deflecting windscreens are a slippery slope to "driverless cars"? He's supposed to be one of the smart ones.

Yeah... Perhaps someone failed to inform him that driverless cars will be a thing in a support race for FE next year. Anyway, the car needs a visible human factor otherwise no one will relate to which is not good for a standalone series.

I wonder if he means truly driverless or simply remotely-driven cars? Because there would be a difference. I doubt we'll see either case though because as DanielPT said, there would be no way to relate. Although, remotely-driven cars might result in more banzai passing moves (and also more wrecks), not that I'd advocate for that.

I must say that I'm excited to see Russia because I haven't seen the previous two races. Anyone care to enlighten me as to how good the last two races were?

They've been very exciting races! Plenty of drama on-track, which is great to see.

[tommykl]

Yeah... Perhaps someone failed to inform him that driverless cars will be a thing in a support race for FE next year. Anyway, the car needs a visible human factor otherwise no one will relate to which is not good for a standalone series.

I wonder if he means truly driverless or simply remotely-driven cars? Because there would be a difference. I doubt we'll see either case though because as DanielPT said, there would be no way to relate. Although, remotely-driven cars might result in more banzai passing moves (and also more wrecks), not that I'd advocate for that.

I must say that I'm excited to see Russia because I haven't seen the previous two races. Anyone care to enlighten me as to how good the last two races were?

They've been very exciting races! Plenty of drama on-track, which is great to see.

Of course they haven't. Don't you remember? Any race that doesn't include engines with at least 8 cylinders and that sound like nails on a chalkboard, has Pirelli tyres or doesn't have literally hundreds of non-DRS passes for the lead is automatically awful!

[Bobby Doorknobs]

I must say that I'm excited to see Russia because I haven't seen the previous two races. Anyone care to enlighten me as to how good the last two races were?

They've been very exciting races! Plenty of drama on-track, which is great to see.

Of course they haven't. Don't you remember? Any race that doesn't include engines with at least 8 cylinders and that sound like nails on a chalkboard, has Pirelli tyres or doesn't have literally hundreds of non-DRS passes for the lead is automatically awful!

Pffft, 8 cylinders. 12 cylinders is where you get the real sound!

[Cynon]

Obviously the best sound was the 10 cylinder engines, because a processional, predictable, boring as shite race is a classic because it happened in 1994 and random bits sprouting from cars makes them attractive, right? I mean, we just have to have 6 million winglets so that when one of them falls off we can say that something actually happened in the race! But remember, these were the best of the best of mediocre European, Brazilian, or Australian muppets.

In all fairness I'm REALLY not a fan of the V6 engine sound but given that the racing is actually entertaining this year (unlike every year since the V6s came in) I'll enjoy it while it lasts.

WTF did Brundle just say? Big debris-deflecting windscreens are a slippery slope to "driverless cars"? He's supposed to be one of the smart ones.

Scare tactics worthy of Fox News. Driverless cars are going to happen on public roads regardless of those windscreens.

In other news, Vettel is taking a five place grid penalty;
http://www.gpupdate.net/en/f1-news/3386 ... d-penalty/

It does cast a bit of doubt as to who the real challenger to Mercedes will be -- Ferrari or Red Bull -- and whether the championship will be a Mercedes runaway as Ferrari and Red Bull take points off of each other.

[Aislabie]

Disclaimer: "You can't read much into FP1, but..."

Alfonso Celis gets comfortably outpaced by Rio Haryanto as he goes around more than three seconds slower than his team-mate. Sirotkin, meanwhile, was one second and five places better off than "race" driver Jolyon Palmer. Might as well just bump him up to a race seat.

[Row Man Gross-Gene]

They've been very exciting races! Plenty of drama on-track, which is great to see.

I should say I meant the last 2 Russian GPs, not the last two races this year (after I re-read my question, it seemed like it might not have been clear). But hopefully that is what you were talking about and an exciting race is on the docket.

[Ataxia]

They've been very exciting races! Plenty of drama on-track, which is great to see.

I should say I meant the last 2 Russian GPs, not the last two races this year (after I re-read my question, it seemed like it might not have been clear). But hopefully that is what you were talking about and an exciting race is on the docket.

Well, last year's was good. 2014 had some good bits (Magnussen and Vergne side-by-side through turns 3 and 4 stood out), but wasn't a massively thrilling race overall since Pirelli brought hard tyres to a low-wear circuit.

[Rob Dylan]

This year is turning out to be such a 2004. So much hype by Mercedes' competitors that they're going to 'take the fight to them', then none of them can get their act together properly to put a serious challenge to them. Ferrari has taken points away from themselves every race this year so far, and now Red Bull are showing enough pace that Vettel and Raikkonen are no longer isolated in 2nd as they believed they would be.

Given the high expectations of Ferrari's supposed championship challenge, and the low expectations of Red Bull's issues with engine deals and the like recently, I think it's the latter who are impressing in a bid to beat Mercedes.

I mean, if I were to put money on it, I can imagine Ricciardo or Kvyat being the first non-Mercedes winner this year.

[Aguaman]

This year is turning out to be such a 2004. So much hype by Mercedes' competitors that they're going to 'take the fight to them', then none of them can get their act together properly to put a serious challenge to them. Ferrari has taken points away from themselves every race this year so far, and now Red Bull are showing enough pace that Vettel and Raikkonen are no longer isolated in 2nd as they believed they would be.

Given the high expectations of Ferrari's supposed championship challenge, and the low expectations of Red Bull's issues with engine deals and the like recently, I think it's the latter who are impressing in a bid to beat Mercedes.

I mean, if I were to put money on it, I can imagine Ricciardo or Kvyat being the first non-Mercedes winner this year.

I disagree. It doesn't feel like 2004. Feels like more similar to 2001 in a way but we'll see.

[UncreativeUsername37]

Hamilton's luck, geez... straight fights in 4 races: 1

[Rob Dylan]

Looks like a ROBERGWINSLOL race again. Vettel's got a penalty which will put him out of first-corner contention against Rosberg, and Hamilton will possibly get penalised if they change any more car parts overnight (also wasn't there another stewards enquiry over him driving around turn 2 during the session?).

Good to see the Williams cars doing well, at least. It will be interesting to see if Bottas and Massa can get a decent result and turn around the comparatively mediocre form of this year so far.

[mario]

Looks like a ROBERGWINSLOL race again. Vettel's got a penalty which will put him out of first-corner contention against Rosberg, and Hamilton will possibly get penalised if they change any more car parts overnight (also wasn't there another stewards enquiry over him driving around turn 2 during the session?).

Good to see the Williams cars doing well, at least. It will be interesting to see if Bottas and Massa can get a decent result and turn around the comparatively mediocre form of this year so far.

As you say, with the massive performance advantage Mercedes have had so far this weekend and given that any potential threats to him have been knocked right out of contention, the race really is Rosberg's to lose.

The enquiry is ongoing, I believe, and there certainly is the possibility of further grid penalties for Hamilton if he has to change engine components - it must also be rather worrying for Mercedes that Hamilton has had two back to back identical component failures.

[Aguaman]

Hulkenberg and Vettel out.

[Londoner]

bathplug sake, Hamilton made 5 places up by not even attempting to take Turn 2!

I love this season at the moment.

[Aguaman]

Kvyat hits Vettel....twice.

[Aguaman]

lol Crofty is shambles.