Late to the Party after watching the replay! FORZA FERRARI!!
Ferrari is too used to being an "also-ran". What were they thinking, putting Carlos on hards with full fuel? We saw cars on hards sliding all over the track during practice. If they wanted to gamble on a gimmick, they might have tried going for softs and gambling on a SC to change tires. But that would only have been a real option if the softs were C4 instead of C5. With the gap between the C3/mediums and the C5/softs, the tire selection seems to be based on assuming the softs would ONLY be used in qualifying. But with the pace the Ferrari has, they could have started Carlos on mediums, and let the pace bring him into contention. I guess the pit wall isn't used to Ferrari being a front-runner yet. "We need a gimmick." Although the other issue is that Carlos didn't *drive* the "long game" strategy for hards. He was pushing to make up spots, when Ferrari fitted the car with "wait and see" tires. Those tires just weren't able to exploit the car. I think Charles was getting bored towards the end. With 20 seconds back to Perez, he wanted to do a sprint for fast lap. Maybe a change to softs for a sprint. Did you catch Perez asking his pit if they were still awake? --- I tried watching live, but I dozed off after Carlos' beach party. (Busy day Saturday) Watched the replay.
Ricciardo, as I remember, was the ONLY opposition to Mercedes during the first year of the hybrid formula. Not only he dominated his 4 time WDC team mate Vettel, but won 3 GPs that year, the only one to challenge Rosberg and Hamilton. That's where his reputation comes from.
Sky commentators are so biased towards Hamilton, it's not even funny. No matter who is leading the race and where in the lineup Lewis is, he is the focus point of all their comments. Constantly droning on about him. Wake up guys, there's a bunch more F1 fans out there who care for some of the other 19 drivers. If Sky were only broadcasting in the UK I could somewhat understand it (although they don't talks as much about the other British drivers). But they are reporting for a much wider audience who might or might not care about Hamilton.
Sainz is mostly to blame. Albon, in a William's, did 57 laps on hards and finished the race P10....albeit from retirements from up front....but scored a point for the team.
The closer cars follow each other, the better...I think we'd see more overtaking attempts happening if larger brake cooling is allowed. This track in particular is quite poor for racing. I'm not in love with the new layout...yes it created the opportunity for that wonderful run Perez had on Hamilton but that's really it...The wider T13 would've worked just as well with the old layout. IMO the old layout provided more challenges to get it right for the drivers. Considering that Jeddah somehow became FIA graded for F1 why not Mount Panorama? I preferred to see a race with few overtakes but real ones, not DRS assisted rather than the Jeddah DRS fest.
Brilliant work Charles. Shame Sainz's race was ruined by Alonso's shunt during Q3. Forza Ferrari please keep the momentum up and build a monster lead while we can.
The move towards larger open and long sweeping turns is perfect for these over-weight non-lithe 'race cars'. A total symptom of a series now moving away from racing and more towards a 'glam' show. Miami has a fake Yacht Harbor lol. Lets add some beaches and palm trees as run off areas. Alonso can reset his beach chair and enjoy the rest of the race if he leaves the circuit and gets 'beached'
Merc makes me so nervous I keep expecting them to show up with some improvement and all of a sudden have the fastest car by a mile. I really hope they struggle this season it's nice watching them in the midfield.
Tried to stay awake to watch it live..but I fell asleep just after Carlos went off track. Watched the replay this afternoon..kinda glad I fell asleep. Is was a bit of a snoozer this one. Could have been a great that last few laps if the Redbull didn't crap the bed..
More or less. Hards can work, but only if you take it easy and wait until you burn some fuel off. Sainz was trying to make up spots, and he didn't have the tires to manage that. So it was a disconnect: Ferrari put him on "wait and see" tires, while Carlos was trying to make up spots early. But the team could have started him on mediums, and let the car's pace get him up into contention. Ferrari just didn't have faith in their own package.
Sort of contradictory. Alonso was on hards to begin and doing very well. The "wait and see" is not a bad philosophy if there is expectation of multiple SC's. Albon was the poster child for this. So more like Sainz didn't have faith and was trying to do too much too soon.
One would think Binotto would see the benefit of that strategy you outline. Sainz has good reason to internally question that thinking and provide greater input on his own set up accordingly next time. Those are the strategic decision Ferrari must get right now, not later to keep a title drive alive.
Some cars were better on hards than others. Alpine and Williams weren't all that fast on any tire. Running long on hards is an iffy proposition. Luck is needed, and you can't really count on luck in racing.
Well, Sainz had an issue with his steering wheel at the start.....so it was changed....then at the start Sainz hit the anti-stall button 2x which enabled Sainz to have a bad start. He tried to hard to play catch-up on hard tires without any temperature and spun it on the gravel.
Williams proved this afternnon that running long on hard tyres was a good tactic when you only have an average/slow car. Gambling on only 1 pit stop instead of 2 saves you on average 20 seconds on most circuit. Some cars are unable to attack or resist, therefore the strategy should be for them to run at a conservative pace.
Soooo . . . . Ferrari really, really, really looking good! And now it's off to Imola. Sprint race qualifying for the first time this season to put a little spice into the mix.
Awesome result for Charles, and at least 1/2 of the Ferrari team. Other than the one restart where Lec almost drove off the track Max wasn't even close to challenging him. That's the one thing that annoys me about Leclerc: the gamer-trendy (from about a year ago) "LETS GOOOOO" radio messages. One fad that won't be missed when it's gone
