Weather is set to be unspectacular, not warm, neither cold. There is an interesting fact on F1 in Sochi: No other car than a Mercedes has ever led a lap there. Will Ferrari break that? Will Bottles and Kimi finally have a Sunday to be proud of? Bottas used to qualify strongly in Sochi in the past, perhaps another upset for Goat44 in the making. Will Honda resolve their vibration issues and permit the McLarens access to the top 10? Will the Ultrasoft tyre last from start to finish? Image Unavailable, Please Login
Sebastian Vettel downplays impact of cooler conditions in Sochi Mercedes might have slight edge here.... Q Bottas Kimi Vettel R Bottas LH Kimi Hope the 'B' drivers Bottas and Kimi can have a good weekend
Just reading those headline words makes me smile. Don't even need to open the link and read the article. Just nine months ago, would you have imagined such a headline?
They'd better hope for cold weather. Sochi ultrasoft and supersoft (good for Ferrari I'd imagine), temp prediction low 20s but cloudy, so that's good for Mercedes again.
if it was above 25c I'd give it to Ferrari. Mercedes will still have the upperhand in quali, and this track is tricky to pass on. Don't think an overcut will work here, so it'll be down to pitting first and getting the undercut sorted. I'm calling it Vettel 1st, Mercs finish the podium and Kimi hung out to dry as Ferrari forgot they've got 2 cars in the race.
OK, but how about Max vs. Dan and Massa vs. Stroll? Stroll gonna "show Massa the way" yet? (Assuming, of course, that Williams figured out how to disable the carbon fiber magnet in Stroll's car...)
The tire wear wont factor as much possibly and maybe Mercedes have some improvement there after Bahrain testing. We do have a dry race again so it will be nice to see who is fast and what strategy calls are made, or missed!
Hope from here on we'll have clean weekends from Red Bulls, no reliability issues etc. IMO Max looks like the stronger driver so far this year, from the little we've seen. Plenty of guard rails here. Stroll will crash. Yep. Hopefully Ferrari can improve at the same rate (or quicker!) as Mercedes...
New FI front wing at Sochi. This thing is different to anything I've ever seen. Image Unavailable, Please Login
b*****itted myself They just haven't bolted on all the parts yet. Still interesting their wing elements with such meaty leading edges. Image Unavailable, Please Login
Small details will decide the title https://www.motorsport.com/f1/news/analysis-hamilton-drs-issue-shows-details-could-decide-f1-2017-title-897508/ High speed 1 stop low deg cold temp. If Mercedes don't comfortsbly win this they are in trouble
Some slight changes to the track, speed bumps added at turn 2: https://www.motorsport.com/f1/news/speed-bumps-added-to-turn-2-at-sochi-898385/ Rgds
The guy may be struggling on track but outside of it he is a champ: he is dating Kelly Piquet, the hottest daughter of Nelson Piquet Image Unavailable, Please Login Image Unavailable, Please Login
Time for the Finns to make a mark or else.... Russian GP preview - Time for Bottas and Raikkonen to step up
