Some people are claiming that Charles Leclerc was driving way too aggressively and ended up wrecking his PU, but do you guys actually realize that the PU strategy is basically mapped out before the race even starts? If you look at the live timing, it's pretty obvious—you know exactly how many seconds the engine can run in any given mode per race. Charles wasn't even close to being the fastest on the straights. Honestly, this whole PU issue might be something similar to what Kimi went through in Barcelona last season, where he lost a cylinder just so the problem could be fixed in time to use the PU in the next race.
Sebastian Vettel spun out because he hit the dirty part of the track. He didn't stay on the racing line; instead, he floored it right through the grit, which caused that left rear tire to lose all its grip—and we all know what happens next: a total spin.
fadedpanther51 said:That race was intense, honestly. Such a shame about Leclerc 😢 But does anyone actually know what went wrong with his car? I saw a few posts above mentioning fuel consumption issues? Was it a deficit? I just really hope it isn't some massive mechanical failure that's going to haunt them for the rest of the season. :/
A cylinder failed, and they aren't sure yet if it's a permanent fix or if it can be salvaged, similar to what happened with Kim's back in Spain. Once the cylinder went, they had to switch to a different engine map where the MGU h regeneration was lower, which naturally caused their fuel consumption to spike significantly.
stormybadger8 said:The top speed gap between Kimi Räikkönen and Lewis Hamilton is about 12 miles/h in favor of Lewis Hamilton... Now, part of that is definitely down to the DRS, but even then, it’s hard to believe DRS alone accounts for 12 miles/h... And honestly, regardless of how much I try to remember, nobody actually manages to overtake anyone in that DRS zone, no matter if you're gaining 12 miles/h... which is pretty weird when you think about it, since 12 miles/h is a massive amount...
Looking at the start-finish line, the difference between Kimi Räikkönen and Lewis Hamilton is again about 6.2 miles/h... Once again, a chunk of that gap comes from the DRS...
But I really don't get how some people here can read these stats and conclude that Ferrari is freaking faster than The Bear in a straight line, let alone faster in every single sector. 🤔
Qualifying is one thing, but a race is a completely different beast altogether... It is totally possible for a car to behave differently during a race when it's heavy with fuel, where its top speed might not be quite the same... you can see this clearly with Ferrari and Mercedes-AMG, who basically swapped roles in that regard... If you look closely, you'd almost think Ferrari has a "party mode" they can pull out for qualifying but can't use during the race, whereas The Bear has it available for both...
Qualifying essentially means:
1) Using the absolute strongest engine mode possible 2) Flooring it the whole way 3) Running with minimal fuel
The fact that Lewis Hamilton was chasing Sebastian Vettel using DRS while Kimi Räikkönen was struggling a bit, making Lewis faster on the straight, doesn't mean anything. Even STR was faster than Ferrari and The Bear in top speed, so does anyone with half a brain actually think Honda is more powerful than the Mercedes-AMG or Ferrari engines? The only, absolute only time you can really see how much the engine strength shows is during qualifying. There's actually an interesting chart showing that the Ferrari crews lost by far the least amount of speed on the straights compared to all the other teams (everyone else was about 6-7km/h slower per sector because of the Halo and higher drag).
Anyway, Ferrari can absolutely use that high-power mode during a race, but what's the point when they need those Power Units to last through seven races plus practice sessions, and there's no real reason to go chasing anyone?
I honestly think it just came down to Lewis Hamilton having much better tire management on that lap. His car looked absolutely flawless during that specific stint, but prior to that, he was struggling with a pretty twitchy setup—much like what we saw with Bottas. There’s definitely a gap between them, but I don't think it's quite as massive as it looks right now. Once Ferrari manages to fine-tune their car, I really think the field is going to tighten up significantly.
stormybadger8 said:Why do you think Ferrari made such a massive blunder? 🤷
From day one, Mercedes has been miles ahead when it comes to the Power Unit... plus they’re elite with aerodynamics and chassis, their organization is top-tier, and their driver lineup is solid—especially when you look at Lewis Hamilton...
Honestly, it would be a total miracle if Ferrari suddenly didn't just catch up to Mercedes, but actually overtook them. Realistically, the only actual edge they had last year was when the FIA banned the Mercedes suspension, which completely trashed their car concept.... Everything else is just "sorry, tough luck." They didn't have a more powerful Power Unit, nor was it any more reliable. It's questionable whether the car was even better to begin with, or if it just looked that way because the suspension trick sent Mercedes crashing backward while Ferrari ended up with some weird hybrid design that wasn't even meant to work with that kind of setup...
Red Bull, on the other hand, almost certainly has the best aero and chassis out of the top three teams. There's a much higher chance that Renault catches up or at least gets close to Ferrari, which automatically puts Red Bull ahead of Ferrari—maybe even right up there with Mercedes...
Even back when Red Bull was absolutely dominating, Renault didn't exactly have the strongest or best engine, but they were close enough that the Red Bull chassis and aero could carry the whole team past everyone else...
I don't think Ferrari fundamentally screwed everything up. It's more that Mercedes is so far ahead on the Power Unit side (specifically regarding reliability) that they can easily afford to focus on performance. Meanwhile, everyone else is sweating, wondering if their three Power Units will even survive the entire season. Even now, before the season kicks off, manufacturers are already planning how their engines will die and how they'll intentionally take penalties by using four Power Units (Renault and Honda are already hinting at it, and who knows, maybe Ferrari is planning the same thing too)... Does anyone on this planet actually expect Mercedes to go out of their way to take a penalty and limp through the season on four or five engines? 🙂
Toto mentioned to AMUS today that Ferrari actually has more horsepower with their new engine than they do.🍿
Yet, the folks watching from the track are saying Mercedes looks surprisingly sharp in the corners, looking even better than both Ferrari and Red Bull.
Red Bull was actually looking slower than Ferrari in both qualifying simulations and the race sims. Honestly, who knows how those two teams will shake out, but one thing is for sure: the Bears are going to cruise straight to the title.
Btw, Adrian Newey isn't the Red Bull TD anymore as of yesterday. Man, I wonder where he'll end up...
Is Haas actually flying, or is Vettel's time just nothing to write home about?
Those stints from Bottas were seriously impressive...
From what I gather, Vettel knocked out 11 laps on the HS (plus those 5-lap bursts on the US and SS) without needing a fuel refill. That means on those SS tires, he likely had enough gas for at least 20 laps minimum. My gut feeling? Haas might just be a much lighter car...
Plus, Vettel was only 0.03 seconds slower in S3 on that final lap using the hyper tire. Hmm... if you look at the pure ultimate pace, we're probably looking at the low 16s.
Raymond Anderson4 said:On SS. There’s definitely no more than a second between SS and medium.
McLaren actually clocked the fastest lap using the Hyper Softs.
On one hand, it’s pretty encouraging that nobody from the Ferrari camp is saying anything yet, but on the other... Mercedes looks absolutely dominant. Red Bull seems a bit twitchy on track, if I'm being honest. They've got plenty of aero work left to do in these final days to figure out what's going wrong.
stormybadger8 said:Who exactly are you picking a fight with, and what's your problem? 🤷
Besides that... Monaco - Ricciardo sits right on the podium, just behind Ferrari, and... Right in front of both Mercedes cars. 🙂 Budapest - Ricciardo's out (Max Verstappen ran him over) 🤣So they were all basically screwed from the jump... Japan—Max takes 2nd, Ricciardo takes 3rd right behind the No1 Mercedes. Sitting right there in front of both the Ferrari and the No2 Mercedes. Singapore — Ricciardo grabs second place on the podium, sandwiched between two Mercedes cars. Leading both Ferraris.
What exactly are you trying to pull with that post? 🤷
Honestly, you’re just turning the whole thing upside down. If Vettel has a bad race, suddenly everyone's going to be pointing fingers and claiming Ferrari doesn't know how to build a decent car.
It doesn't really matter if we're talking about Monaco, Budapest, Japan, or Singapore—Ferrari managed to qualify ahead of Red Bull in all of them. When you look at three out of those four races, the engine isn't even the deciding factor. It’s all about the tracks themselves; they're the kind of circuits that really reward a solid chassis and superior aerodynamics. Honestly, Malaysia is pretty much the same story too.
It’s funny how the narrative shifts so quickly, isn't it? Ferrari keeps coming up with these incredibly innovative solutions, and suddenly everyone starts claiming Newey is just copying them. After four seasons of struggling, we're all expected to believe that Red Bull is suddenly untouchable and is going to completely outclass Ferrari? Give me a break. If you listen to most of the expert analysts out there, they'll tell you that Ferrari has actually done a fantastic job lately. And honestly, the idea that having Cadille leading aero since last season instead of Newey makes a difference is just nonsense. It’s about the engineering work being done at the factory, plain and simple.
Tbfd, you really are something else. Always going on about how Red Bull Racing does this or Mercedes does that, or claiming they’re just copying Ferrari while insisting Ferrari will be the last one standing. Give me a break... Where was Red Bull Racing during Monaco, Budapest, or Japan last year? And where were they in Singapore? On those high-downforce aero tracks? Please... they were trailing right behind Ferkan. You keep saying Ferrari comes up with solutions everyone else copies, but no... the "genius" Newey is just going to triple-copy them instead.🤦
NASCAR is the absolute pinnacle of motorsports, and because of that, it pulls in the biggest crowds and attracts massive amounts of investment. You've got the heavy hitters from the automotive industry—think Ferrari, Mercedes, McLaren, Renault, exBMW, Honda, and more—all competing at the highest level. Because of that caliber, you just can't lump it in with NASCAR and try to force some artificial fixes just to make teams like Sauber, NASCAR, or Haas more competitive.
The reality is simple: these multi-billion dollar corporations participating in NASCAR are here for the prestige, the rivalry, and most importantly, the marketing. There's zero chance they're going to start building mediocre junk just to ensure every car is within two-hundredths of a second just to "level the playing field."
I honestly think three-tenths isn't far off from the truth, but ONLY if we're strictly talking about race trim. We saw a gap of 5 to 7 tenths between Mercedes and General Motors during qualifying, which is a whole different ballgame.
Mercedes hasn't even tested out that suspension setup at the Australian Grand Prix before now. Apparently, they only bring that kind of thing out for a handful of races a year (at least, according to what AMUS says).
I was telling everyone earlier that Sebastian Vettel could have easily taken half that gap. He drove an absolute beauty, but honestly, that little slip at T9 and being a bit sluggish on the entry into T1—where he had to fight just to make up ground later—cost him at least 0.150s. It looks like Sebastian is braking a bit later, while Lewis Hamilton is getting back on the throttle just a touch sooner. Plus, you've got the Mercedes PU still feeling a bit more powerful, though I wouldn't be surprised if Ferrari has a slight edge on the aero side.
neonfox65 said:It’s about how you develop through the season, not just how you nail that first race. And right now, Ferrari isn't exactly thriving—they lost ground to Red Bull Racing last year and ended up in third... which means they've actually slipped behind where they were back in 2015.
I’m not so sure about that; I feel like people tend to overstate the importance of seasonal development. Red Bull Racing was already neck-and-neck with Ferrari back in China, and then by Barcelona, they brought in the new engine and out-qualified them. It doesn't seem like they brought massive upgrades to the car last year; to me, it looked more like Ferrari struggled with tire management across different temperatures rather than falling behind due to poor development.
BTW, Tibi, Sebastian Vettel might think he missed out on pole, but if you watch the onboard lap in S2, he lost it by a hair. He actually lost at least a hundredth in one corner because he hit the throttle a little too early, which made the rear end dance around quite a bit. Same thing in S1—he seemed to make a tiny mistake in turn 3. All in all, this track really demands mechanical grip and a punchy engine. Personally, I think Mercedes has at least a hundredth advantage in both those areas, though Ferrari seems to have the edge on aero.
We’ve got an interesting season ahead of us, especially looking forward to Bahrain! 🙏
Vettel made a bit of a mess during Q1, and then he went and did it even worse in Q2. He really should have walked away with pole position today. I mean, let’s be honest, it's pretty obvious to everyone watching that the Ferrari is looking faster than the Mercedes right now.