James is well versed in the art of stroking the ego.

quote:

Originally posted by Georgeair:
In Mercedes first Pure Pitwall video of the season, chief strategist James Vowles admits that Lewis Hamilton did a "fantastic job" in fending off Max Verstappen in the closing stages of Sunday's Australian Grand Prix as the full extent of his car's damage is revealed.

Well shit, he must have damaged it on the formation lap given how Bottas drove off and left him.

There's not a roll-eye emoji large enough.

Autosport (I think) did a video analysis on it, such a tiny piece of the floor directly in front of the LR tire. Crazy that such a seemingly minor piece can cause such an aero imbalance.

quote:

Crazy that such a seemingly minor piece can cause such an aero imbalance.

Since it is meant to keep dirty air out of the diffuser, I'd think that that unbalanced lost of rear downforce would have quite an affect on the handling...to say nothing of the increased rear tire wear

I think when you can't find anything, you find something and embellish to get the desired effect.
I suspect going onto the yellow tires so early, to cover Vettel, had a lot more to do with his problems.
Vettel took those tires a lap earlier and had a similar unexplained lack of speed. His teammate, who went onto the harder tires, and later, was much quicker during the second half, even after going off course where he likely suffered a few nicked up parts on the floor.

Off topic a bit.
Watching Indy qualifying at COTA. After 4 years watching F1 at COTA (2 in person), Indy isn't quite as exciting.

The no penalty for exceeding track limits is interesting, not sure if that's just for quali or all weekend.

Location of the start/finish for quali is odd being before that last turn, rather than the start/finish line.

Thoughts on this weekend? Anther MBZ runaway, or have Ferrari sorted their setup shortcomings from AUS to be more on the pace?

We'll certainly know by end of Q3. I'm afraid it's going to be more of the same, but a fellow can hope.

In other news say where Mick Schumacher is testing next week in both the Ferrari and the Alfa. Very cool.

Not overly surprised about Schumacher getting a test.

Being an F2 driver opens the possibility, being a Schumacher opens the door to the red cars.

So much great F1 content on YouTube, etc. was watching Nico Rossburg interview Bernie, Flavio, Massa, and Toto Wolff and something Flavio said really stood out (actually all made good points at some time) about all this high tech and massive investment only to save tires for the last 1/2 or 1:3 of a race. Excellent point about the current state of F1.

Also re-experiencing Schumi’s WCs journey through the years.

Lastly, I hope that in Bahrain we see some improved pace from the prancing ponies.

Reports from ferarri suggest they anticipate better performance on a smoother track than what Melbourne is.

I'm still a little worried about their straight line speed compared to Mercedes...

Should be a good show, Riccardo is probably wishing he stayed at Red Bull. I would rather play second fiddle to Max in a competitive car than be the team leader for an organization on the apparent decline.

Still nowhere near as bad a situation as Williams has. That girl has no business running a team. And no, I'm not saying it's because she has a vagina. She is a poor leader.

Will for sure be interesting, the Mercs looks really twitchy on the bumpy Melbourne surface; that same stiffness could be a benefit & more stable on a smoother purpose-built track.

Hoping for more Bottas dominance, and some more of the mid-field scraps with things seeming tighter in the 4-7 place teams.

Real shame to see Williams in this state. Hope they're able to turn things around. Would be a real downer if they dropped out of competing.

quote:

Originally posted by DoctorSolo:
Still nowhere near as bad a situation as Williams has. That girl has no business running a team. And no, I'm not saying it's because she has a vagina. She is a poor leader.

quote:

Originally posted by P250UA5:
Real shame to see Williams in this state. Hope they're able to turn things around. Would be a real downer if they dropped out of competing.

Head's back!

I'm hopeful we see someone step in and buy out Williams. That's the only pathway for that team I'm afraid. Frank and his process are effectively gone.

1/2 hour ahead of you ^^^

Maybe Head can bring the ship around, though it may be too late for the 2019 car, unless they can ramp up development & make a late season charge to escape last in the Constructor's Championship....

interesting!

Popcorn a poppin!

Pretty uneventful FP1 at Bahrain, use link at bottom to view --




Link to original video: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tS4wXL5ar8g

Red cars looking strong on 1-lap pace.

Tough call if they're genuinely quicker this weekend, or if MBZ added a couple bags of sand for practice....

Interesting front row for tomorrow.

Just saw quali - interesting results. Grosjean continues to show what an idiot he can be. That was incredibly close to a massive wreck.

And how does Steiner think their decision not to communicate with their drivers somehow makes this OK?

quote:

"He did not do anything wrong," said Steiner.

"There was no radio call. Why should he get a point? That is just like having it out at somebody.

I think I'm gonna be sick.