No F1 thread?

[Mito Man]

Anyone following the Mercedes squat game?
Horner and Helmut seemed convinced Mercedes were cheating at the last race as they suddenly had way higher top speeds. I believe they said Mercedes must have changed their engines mid season to produce more power. Well nope, just clever suspension.

I like the sweet irony that Red Bull couldn't pull this off and resorted to illegally flexing the rear wing to reduce drag but this is an old regulation which has been mastered by Mercedes now and basically lets them squat the whole car

[duncs500]

I love this kind of stuff, it's not often engineers become Kings, so it must be celebrated!

[integrale_evo]

Qualifying highlights not on c4 until 8:30 tomorrow morning? What the heck is that all about?

[Mito Man]

The quali is really late this year - 10pm so it’s going to finish near midnight.

[Mito Man]

Didn’t realise Americans actually pronounce Bottas as “Boat Ass” - thought it was just a meme

[Rich B]

Anyone following the Mercedes squat game?
Horner and Helmut seemed convinced Mercedes were cheating at the last race as they suddenly had way higher top speeds. I believe they said Mercedes must have changed their engines mid season to produce more power. Well nope, just clever suspension.

I like the sweet irony that Red Bull couldn't pull this off and resorted to illegally flexing the rear wing to reduce drag but this is an old regulation which has been mastered by Mercedes now and basically lets them squat the whole car

so how does it work? As in, what's the physical mechanism that drops it?

[jamcg]

There’s a heave dampener in the rear suspension to prevent the car squatting- I imagine they’ve found a way for the dampener to collapse under full aerodynamic load, therefore allowing the car to squat. Would make sense with the reduction in pace in qualifying relative to practice as drs will reduce the aero load stopping this working. I’m expecting the mercs to be quicker in race trim because of this

[Mito Man]

It’s also set to work above the speed of the fastest corner on the track. In Austin the esses in sector one are taken at over 160 mph therefore it only drops above that speed which makes it less effective compared to Istanbul.
Mexico with its massive straights will be good to see how well it works.

[duncs500]

Looks a long way back for LH now IMO, particularly with a supposed further engine penalty on the way and a number of RB tracks to go. Not a big deficit so could change in an instant of course.

[duncs500]

It would be amazing if we went into Abu Dhabi with less than 7 points separating them and the cars evenly matched. Wheel to wheel at the front with the WDC on the line in the last race would be spesh.

[JonMad]

Level on points into the final race. Max leads Lewis but bins it on the last corner into the wall with the finish in sight. He has just enough drive to punt Lewis off as he passes. Max jumps out of his car, Lewis sees and follows suit. They race on foot, Chris Froome stylee, to the finish line. Lewis, who also grabbed his steering wheel, doesn’t have the pace of the younger man but his lead from where his car came to rest is sufficient and he takes the win on the line.

What are the odds?

[mik]

Level on points into the final race. Max leads Lewis but bins it on the last corner into the wall with the finish in sight. He has just enough drive to punt Lewis off as he passes. Max jumps out of his car, Lewis sees and follows suit. They race on foot, Chris Froome stylee, to the finish line. Lewis, who also grabbed his steering wheel, doesn’t have the pace of the younger man but his lead from where his car came to rest is sufficient and he takes the win on the line.

What are the odds?

Sounds awesome. Can we have them negotiate an escaped rabid pet tiger sporting a diamond-encrusted collar on the way to the line?

[GG.]

Looks a long way back for LH now IMO, particularly with a supposed further engine penalty on the way and a number of RB tracks to go. Not a big deficit so could change in an instant of course.

Yes even a Max DNF would now only bring them back into parity, plus the potential 5 place grid drop for the engine penalty you mention. I think the RB is just too quick this year but it is still so close that anything (well, not Jon's scenario ) could happen.

[duncs500]

Looks a long way back for LH now IMO, particularly with a supposed further engine penalty on the way and a number of RB tracks to go. Not a big deficit so could change in an instant of course.

Yes even a Max DNF would now only bring them back into parity

Unless I missed something, a Max DNF would put Lewis further ahead of Max than Max's current lead (assuming Lewis won the race).

[GG.]

Looks a long way back for LH now IMO, particularly with a supposed further engine penalty on the way and a number of RB tracks to go. Not a big deficit so could change in an instant of course.

Yes even a Max DNF would now only bring them back into parity

Unless I missed something, a Max DNF would put Lewis further ahead of Max than Max's current lead (assuming Lewis won the race).

You're right - Lewis would then be ahead by 13. I though the gap to MV was bigger for some reason.

[DaveE]

The size difference between Shaq and everyone else on the podium was hilarious...

[RobYob]

The real pic was funny enough though tbh

[DaveE]

This is when Nick Heidfeld met Shaq...

[Mito Man]

A good race this ain’t.

[DeskJockey]

No. First lap shenanigans aside, it hasn't exactly been an edge-of-seat experience.