No F1 thread?

[duncs500]

Quite a difference between wings at Aus so far. Merc have almost nothing on the rear, whilst Ferrari have gone for a fairly steep one!

I think Merc have to run a lower than optional downforce wing to deal with the porpoising.

[jamcg]

And possibly a horsepower deficit too

[Mito Man]

I read the Mercs had too much rear wing for the first 2 races of the year - they had too much wing in Bahrain so they reduced it for Saudi but it was still too much.
The problem which compounded it was due to the cost cap they can’t just bring out 4 different wings to each race.

I guess after a few races they should have a decent selection of rear wings.

[Swervin_Mervin]

Is that because their floor is creating a lot of downforce then?

[Mito Man]

Is that because their floor is creating a lot of downforce then?

This has been suggested to be the case (and why they've gone for the tiny side pod design) but because they can't get on top of the porpoising they keep raising the ride height and then that loses downforce. A really skinny rear wing could also suggest that they've improved the porpoising which is letting them exploit the chassis more.

[Mito Man]

Just watching the highlights - usual idiots coming together.
McLaren seem to be back to where they were last year.

[Pete_]

Great to see Mercedes and McLaren making a big step forward from the last race.
TV director currently showing us Hamilton driving round 1.5 seconds behind Russell for 5 minutes and completely missed MSC overtaking Alonso!
Very impressive no stop race for Albon

[duncs500]

For an average circuit it was an interesting enough race. Ferrari well and truly had the measure of RB there. The promising thing for Merc is that LH was actually quicker than SP just before the first pit stop, so they are edging closer to finding some pace out of the car and possibly have low deg. It would be amazing if we ended up with three teams fighting it out at the front.

[jamcg]

For an average circuit it was an interesting enough race. Ferrari well and truly had the measure of RB there. The promising thing for Merc is that LH was actually quicker than SP just before the first pit stop, so they are edging closer to finding some pace out of the car and possibly have low deg. It would be amazing if we ended up with three teams fighting it out at the front.

I’d say the most promising thing for Mercedes is that red bull are pretty much guaranteed to take some serious pain in engine penalties. Possibly even by as soon as race 6/7, never mind towards the end of the season

[Mito Man]

Red Bull breakdowns all seem to be fuel related so far rather than mechanical don’t they?
I’m not sure if Mercedes were any quicker though, aided by a broken down Red Bull and a clumsy Sainz. Leclerc already on a 34 point lead by race 3.

Speaking of Sainz he’s even worse than Bottas was in the number 2 seat. I always thought he was overrated…

[integrale_evo]

The merc looked awful through the high speed bits of sector three. Really really bad. The Ferrari certainly bobs a lot but not as bad as the merc.

[Swervin_Mervin]

In race pace I'd say the Mercs seemed more competitive - they were holding pace with Perez until the end when they reeled him in by quite a margn.

[Mito Man]

This just randomly came up on my twitter and now I’m seriously disturbed so I’m sharing it here

[Rich B]

To be fair, LeClerc is prettier than half of those as a man.

[McSwede]

Max Verstroppen has been massively over scored

[Mito Man]

I’m pretty sure I’ve seen Nicola Latifi in Soho before

[Mito Man]

Sainz has signed a new 2 year contract with Ferrari.
I can only assume he is the new Barrichello or Massa in this current competitive Ferrari era.

[teacherboy]

Little bit wet in Italy for FP1 - would not fancy driving the Mercedes while it is pogoing up and down in the wet

[Mito Man]

Just keeping up on this with the lap by lap commentary. Looks like Carlos Shite has binned it again…

[Swervin_Mervin]

Doh.