All that pomp and circumstance for a total snooze fest.

**spoiler**


I can't remember drivers looking more wiped out than today. No flow to the track, just a chore. Kinda fun after the safety car, we seemed to have a race until RB had a wick to turn up. Our podium collectively seemed perplexed by just who in the hell is Willy T. Ribbs, I quote -- "Charles 'Chuck' Leclerc..." WTF, the look on CL's face was priceless

In case some folks didn’t know, Willy T. Ribbs was the first African American to qualify for the Indianapolis 500 in 1991, raced multiple CART seasons with Derrick Walker Racing, a road racer in the Trans Am series, and driven multiple races in multiple series for Dan Gurney. He retired and became a sport shooter in the National Sporting Clays Association.

A better race than expected for a 'car park'
Think I saw 213mph on one of the onboards over the weekend.

The Ferrari & Red Bull are well ahead of the pack on performance & pace.
Bottas held 5th pretty well, but was constantly losing ground to Perez, but not getting caught by Hamilton.
The error that put him wide & let both Mercs through killed it, but they weren't dropping him once they were past. Think he could've held 5th if it weren't for that error.

Bummer for Lando, looked like there was room for both, just chanced a bit too close. Lucky that it wasn't just a bot more skewed, he managed to avoid the walls.

George Russell... he is now my favorite. Smart driver, seems to get the most out of a dysfunctional Mercedes.

Louie-Louie doesn't seen to have much to say that folks want to listen to. He is like Vettel, when the car is perfect for him, he goes fast......if not, well that is another story.

quote:

Originally posted by GT-40DOC:
Louie-Louie doesn't seen to have much to say that folks want to listen to. He is like Vettel, when the car is perfect for him, he goes fast......if not, well that is another story.

While I wouldn't underestimate his skills, he does seem to have a problem with a not so good car and it works on his head.
Back in the McLaren days, they had a difficult car when he and Jenson Button were driving and Button beat him out that season.

Looks like a lot of things for them to work out in logistics, but clearly a largely produced and well attended event.

Did anyone notice they somehow failed to weigh MV until he was in the cooldown room? I was really surprised that didn’t create more of a stir.

eta - Danica sucked less here. She may be able to make a go of this. More race talk less silly shit.

Really hoping for Lando to do better this year. Want to see him up front with RB and Ferrari.

As the post-safety car race played out, it seemed the Red Bull was clearly porpoising and the Ferrari wasn't.

I didn't notice any porpoising on Friday, and the commentary mentioned it as well.
Saw up to about 213mph on the back straight & they all looked smooth.

Then on Saturday, the Mercs were back to metal concert headbanging.
Commentary speculating that they lowered the ride height & that brought the bouncing back.

Guessing we saw more of it on Sunday as the fuel burned off, resulting in a change in ride height, enough to induce oscillation.

Haven't watched it, but saw a video in my YT feed that had some theories. Image showed disrupted air under a RBR car. Maybe that turbulence can affect how badly a car stalls the airflow through the venturi.

quote:

Originally posted by HuskySig:
All that pomp and circumstance for a total snooze fest.

I thought so too. There were three or four laps after the safety car when there was a little racing for first, almost, but not quite.

quote:

Originally posted by P250UA5:

Guessing we saw more of it on Sunday as the fuel burned off, resulting in a change in ride height, enough to induce oscillation.

Great observation. Ride height seems to be at the heart of porpoising. Of course RH is the key to effective ground effects and they all push limits.
I have no idea how any car stays on the track when the ground effects cycles on and off under porpoising.

quote:

Originally posted by Ripley:

quote:

Originally posted by P250UA5:

Guessing we saw more of it on Sunday as the fuel burned off, resulting in a change in ride height, enough to induce oscillation.

Great observation. Ride height seems to be at the heart of porpoising. Of course RH is the key to effective ground effects and they all push limits.
I have no idea how any car stays on the track when the ground effects cycles on and off under porpoising.

My dad & I have talked about it off & on since pre-season testing.
I'm really shocked that they don't lose a significant amount of downforce by riding the curbs. You'd think the height differential L<>R would have some dramatic effect.

That & being un-sealed from the track, like the 70s GE cars, probably reduces catastrophic aero unloading.

I guess at lower speeds, where you're relying more on mechanical & wing grip, the curbs don't affect it as much.

I think it was one of the practices at Imola that Sky noticed the Ferrari started to porpoise around 280 kph/173 mph, so around the slow turns/chicanes around Miami they’re relying mostly on suspension/tire grip until 120ish mph when the aero starts mashing the car into the road.

Based on today's (Friday) performance, Mercedes has made a good improvement in their car. Also fastest on the straights.
If this holds and turns into results, I wouldn't count them out for the season yet.

Some definite shakeup in the order this weekend.
Alfa was shockingly slow in FP1, then kaboom in FP2. Bottas still 16 despite only running 3 laps.

McLaren way off pace

Mercedes & Aston made some big jumps. Alpine looked quick.
Baby Schu in the top 10 in FP2

I like how everyone is saying how dreadful a year Mercedes is having when they're a solid 3rd in the Constructors and George Russell is fighting for podiums. Are they having a disappointing year? I'd say yes, but all the talk of "horrific season" is just hyperbole and lamentations of the Lewis nuthuggers.

After years of dominance, I'd say they're having a poor start, but far from horrific.

I think a big part of the problem is that for 90% of our F1 news, we're stuck with UK coverage which does as much as possible to fellate and massage the Hamster that anything less than 2nd place is a disaster.


Speaking of disasters, Max's Red Bull was a bit fragile in Q3 today. If he can limp it home tomorrow, he can probably take the win, but I'm pretty sure if this engine blows, he's taking penalties.