Grand Prix Rejects

The tyre choices have been made!



Quite an aggressive choice made there by Ferrari and Renault, but who will come out on top? Oh right, this isn't 2006...

Simtek wrote:Oh right, this isn't 2006...

Nope, and in at least one way it's better. The fact that we have the Austrian Grand Prix.

Simtek wrote:Quite an aggressive choice made there by Ferrari and Renault, but who will come out on top?

If last year's race (I'm looking at you, Kimi) and the banana boat drivers' silliness this season are anything to go by, we could see the cars getting on top of each other...

Thanks, Firefox, for crashing just as I hit submit.

lance_rambert wrote:If last year's race (I'm looking at you, Kimi) and the banana boat drivers' silliness this season. we could see the cars getting on top of each other...

Nah, there's no way Ferrari will let him get in the car that drunk again. Not two years in a row....

The Manor's aren't that conservative either, with 8 US and 4 SS on each car.

Fetzie wrote:The Manor's aren't that conservative either, with 8 US and 4 SS on each car.

We will see how the ultra-softs perform in Austria, but the fact that the tyres have proven to be more durable than expected suggests that it might not be such a wild gamble after all.

Asides from that, we've seen drivers struggle to make effective passes around this circuit, which pushes teams towards a more aggressive qualifying strategy to help them control the race.
Ferrari and Renault know that, on raw pace, they probably can't challenge their rivals. Their best option is probably to try and get a better track position in qualifying, using the free practise sessions to finesse their qualifying set up and perhaps relying on having an extra set of the softest tyres they could use in qualifying, and then rely on their drivers being able to defend from potentially faster cars that would, quite literally, be left in their wake.

That said, to a certain extent you'd expect the situation to normalise by the time that qualifying rolls around anyway. After the teams have whittled down their stockpiles in the practise sessions, they will probably end up with a similar number of remaining tyres - so it probably won't make a significant difference for the race itself in the end.

mario wrote:

Fetzie wrote:The Manor's aren't that conservative either, with 8 US and 4 SS on each car.

We will see how the ultra-softs perform in Austria, but the fact that the tyres have proven to be more durable than expected suggests that it might not be such a wild gamble after all..

But did they know that when they made the choices two years in advance?

mario wrote:

Fetzie wrote:The Manor's aren't that conservative either, with 8 US and 4 SS on each car.

We will see how the ultra-softs perform in Austria, but the fact that the tyres have proven to be more durable than expected suggests that it might not be such a wild gamble after all.

Asides from that, we've seen drivers struggle to make effective passes around this circuit, which pushes teams towards a more aggressive qualifying strategy to help them control the race.
Ferrari and Renault know that, on raw pace, they probably can't challenge their rivals. Their best option is probably to try and get a better track position in qualifying, using the free practise sessions to finesse their qualifying set up and perhaps relying on having an extra set of the softest tyres they could use in qualifying, and then rely on their drivers being able to defend from potentially faster cars that would, quite literally, be left in their wake.

That said, to a certain extent you'd expect the situation to normalise by the time that qualifying rolls around anyway. After the teams have whittled down their stockpiles in the practise sessions, they will probably end up with a similar number of remaining tyres - so it probably won't make a significant difference for the race itself in the end.

Ferrari have not focused on qualifying pace latelly. Actually, Ferrari's qualifying performance recently has been everything but normal

Both in Catalunya and Monaco, during the free practice sessions, the Ferrari's were on pace with the Mercedes over a lap, but then suddenly lost time between FP3 and qualifying, with both Kimi and Vettel blaiming setup changes to the car that suddenly switched the balance on the cars.

https://twitter.com/MBrundleF1/status/7 ... 8363671552

Awww the Paul di Resta era ends.

So (not going off-topic but it's still some days before the race) how was di Resta as a commentator?

Rob Dylan wrote:So (not going off-topic but it's still some days before the race) how was di Resta as a commentator?

He was good. He was fresh and didn't play any bias at all which unlike Brundle and Crofty.

Rob Dylan wrote:So (not going off-topic but it's still some days before the race) how was di Resta as a commentator?

Despite being boring in his "lesser" roles, he was actually quite good. He isn't as funny or insightful as Brundle, but he had less of an urge to instantly give his opinion on everything.

Aguaman wrote:https://twitter.com/MBrundleF1/status/747174528363671552

Awww the Paul di Resta era ends.

Maybe he was too unbiased for Sky nationalistic tastes...

Rob Dylan wrote:So (not going off-topic but it's still some days before the race) how was di Resta as a commentator?

It would help if he could speak English properly, e.g. "He's went off on the first corner".

It gives the impression he is ill-educated which undermines his credibility, it gives a cheap feel to what BE believes is an elite sport, and it potentially confuses those whose native/first language is not English.

This kind of unnecessary street affectation is all too prevalent amongst sports personalities. Meanwhile Rosberg, Vettel, Alonso, etc. seem to manage to speak 4+ languages with facility.

Miguel98 wrote:

mario wrote:

Fetzie wrote:The Manor's aren't that conservative either, with 8 US and 4 SS on each car.

We will see how the ultra-softs perform in Austria, but the fact that the tyres have proven to be more durable than expected suggests that it might not be such a wild gamble after all.

Asides from that, we've seen drivers struggle to make effective passes around this circuit, which pushes teams towards a more aggressive qualifying strategy to help them control the race.
Ferrari and Renault know that, on raw pace, they probably can't challenge their rivals. Their best option is probably to try and get a better track position in qualifying, using the free practise sessions to finesse their qualifying set up and perhaps relying on having an extra set of the softest tyres they could use in qualifying, and then rely on their drivers being able to defend from potentially faster cars that would, quite literally, be left in their wake.

That said, to a certain extent you'd expect the situation to normalise by the time that qualifying rolls around anyway. After the teams have whittled down their stockpiles in the practise sessions, they will probably end up with a similar number of remaining tyres - so it probably won't make a significant difference for the race itself in the end.

Ferrari have not focused on qualifying pace latelly. Actually, Ferrari's qualifying performance recently has been everything but normal

Both in Catalunya and Monaco, during the free practice sessions, the Ferrari's were on pace with the Mercedes over a lap, but then suddenly lost time between FP3 and qualifying, with both Kimi and Vettel blaiming setup changes to the car that suddenly switched the balance on the cars.

It's true that their qualifying pace was poor in Monaco and Catalunya - that said, I don't think that they would have done much better in Monaco even in favourable conditions, with their chassis seemingly lacking the same sort of stability and predictability that the W07 and RB12 seem to have in corners where mechanical grip is more important.

It was a somewhat speculative idea, since I was trying to rationalise why Ferrari might want to take so many sets of the ultra-soft tyres. The layout of this circuit is somewhat reminiscent of Canada, with the straights followed up by heavy braking zones and heavy traction zones, which was also one of Ferrari's stronger showings this season.
If they learned anything from that race, it should be that there are times when you could gamble on trading outright pace against track position when trying to beat the Mercedes drivers, given how sensitive the W07 seems to be this season to turbulent air. Still, I agree that it is speculative at best and, in all likelihood, Ferrari won't go down that route.

IceG wrote:

Rob Dylan wrote:So (not going off-topic but it's still some days before the race) how was di Resta as a commentator?

It would help if he could speak English properly, e.g. "He's went off on the first corner".

It gives the impression he is ill-educated which undermines his credibility, it gives a cheap feel to what BE believes is an elite sport, and it potentially confuses those whose native/first language is not English.

This kind of unnecessary street affectation is all too prevalent amongst sports personalities. Meanwhile Rosberg, Vettel, Alonso, etc. seem to manage to speak 4+ languages with facility.

Have you listened to any British commentary lately? I thought lack of education and grammar were prerequisites!

UgncreativeUsergname wrote:

Rob Dylan wrote:So (not going off-topic but it's still some days before the race) how was di Resta as a commentator?

Despite being boring in his "lesser" roles, he was actually quite good. He isn't as funny or insightful as Brundle, but he had less of an urge to instantly give his opinion on everything.

And didn't get baited by Crofty.

What we need is a pair-up of Paul di Resta and Mark Blundell. You'd need subtitles but it'd be hilarious.

Rob Dylan wrote:What we need is a pair-up of Paul di Resta and Mark Blundell. You'd need subtitles but it'd be hilarious.

I guess the chair would be too small for Mansell....

While we've seen already a track record beeing broken during FP1, FP2 is currently on stand still as the mother of all storms has hit the circuit.

Meanwhile, I think we find our ROTR:

Miguel98 wrote:Meanwhile, I think we find our ROTR:

At first glance I thought they'd both sat in cow-shit together but actually I quite like idea. Seems like a while since RBR have done something like this. The drivers look embarrassed, though

CoopsII wrote:[
At first glance I thought they'd both sat in Red Bull-shit together

Fixed.

dr-baker wrote:

CoopsII wrote:[
At first glance I thought they'd both sat in Red Bull-shit together

Fixed.

I see what you did there......

Rosberg crashed in FP3 (well, "crashed", he got a suspension failure) and he needs to change his gearbox. 5 place grid penalty.

That was a stunning lap by Wehrlein.

Rear suspension problems continue in Q1...

Pérez slowed down due to this earlier and limped into the pits.
Later, Kvyat's suspension went at high speed and he went into the barriers...

c'mon, these yellow bratwursts are insane.

And Pascal Wehrlein is in Q2 omgomgomgomg.

Wehrlein qualifies 12th.

Hulk 3rd, Jenson 5th!

(and Jenson starts the race 3rd!!!)

Reject_Dom wrote:Hulk 3rd, Jenson 5th!

(and Jenson starts the race 3rd!!!)

If hulkenberg gets a penalty for ignoring yellow flags then button could start on the front row.

Best qualifying session in years. Let's hope the race tomorrow lives up to it!

And as he's my favourite driver, I hope Button can cling on to some good points tomorrow. More rain, please!

2nd: Hulkenberg

*crosses fingers, toes and everything else*

Austria so often delivers when it comes to odd grids! Really hope Button can get a good result and show his doubters (although I'd love to see Vandoorne next year).

I forgot to say that I do love the pleasingly retro on-board camera angle next to Vettel's head. It feels very 1990s!

But the stewards forget to punish Hamilton after what happened in practice when he spun off and reversed the car to the track, almost causing a crash with Grosjean. I don't know why Lewis wasn't punished for that, considering it was a dangerous maneuver. Hulk should be promoted to pole.

Dj_bereta wrote:But the stewards forget to punish Hamilton after what happened in practice when he spun off and reversed the car to the track, almost causing a crash with Grosjean. I don't know why Lewis wasn't punished for that, considering it was a dangerous maneuver. Hulk should be promoted to pole.

If that were to have happened, a McLaren Honda would be on the front row of the grid on the same weekend Prost and Senna finish one-two in a race. Is this 1988?

dr-baker wrote:

Dj_bereta wrote:But the stewards forget to punish Hamilton after what happened in practice when he spun off and reversed the car to the track, almost causing a crash with Grosjean. I don't know why Lewis wasn't punished for that, considering it was a dangerous maneuver. Hulk should be promoted to pole.

If that were to have happened, a McLaren Honda would be on the front row of the grid on the same weekend Prost and Senna finish one-two in a race. Is this 1988?

No. Austria wasn't on the calendar in 88.

AndreaModa wrote:No. Austria wasn't on the calendar in 88.

Gonna miss Paul Di Resta's commentary.

Wehlrein messed that up.