What if Rosberg wasn't as fast as he is...

I agree the Merc isn't a 4th place car but I think with the improvements, the Ferrari could be a P2 car. Alonso's best lap was 1.24:846 Webber's 1.24:828. Granted, Hamilton's was faster than both but it's hard to deny Red Bull's aren't P1 cars by virtue of Hamiltons time.

I think Ferrari is legitimatly in the hunt for P2 with Mclaren. Merc's still a ways off and more likely a P6/P7 car..

Interestingly, Rosberg's best lap was better than Schumi's best by .07 even if the results didn't show it. I think that all the teams made some advances today, it's just that RB did as well. Relatively speaking, I think the gap back to Merc actualy grew. Despite MSC's improved showing, I think he's right not to be happy... the car may be better for him, but their car is not really any closer to the front runners.

 

While I'd like to see that, I don't think they're there yet. It's still Red Bull, McLaren and then Ferrari.

Indeed.

Just as the 10th place in China wasn't representing things, today's 4th place doesn't either. The car is somewhere between 5 and 8.

 

WHY do you have to do that... I thought we WANTED MS to start doing better...because then all the excuses, and whining, why he isn't up to snuff would stop BTW, i agree, the pecking order in overall pace, right now at least, is RB, Mcl, Ferrari... err, when the heck is the supposed B-spec (or MAJOR ugrade) gonna be here? FA is doing a fantastic job 'holding on' with the 3rd fastest car out there--gonna stay in the fight week in week out. Massa...eh. Looks like i'm sending you a movie at the end of the season...eeeesh..

 

So who are you blaming for FM's 2nd place in the WDC before, the rain or Glock?

Results are what they are. Does that mean if Hami's wheel went away on the second lap it would have been a non issue? EVERY lap counts the same.

Still, MS schooled JB like he has to so many trying to pass him before.....

 

Worn out hate goggles....

 

Told you he'd cover Nico in a few races .

Did someone mention SWB in Monaco ????

 

If they are indeed using the SWB car in Monaco, how could anyone reasonably claim that they are being preferential to Schumi?

Actually, wasn't the car MS drove today the one that preceeded the one they started the season with? It was the R&D car, no?

So if one was going to suggest that the move to (an improved version of) an earlier iteration of the car was a way to help MS at the expense of Nico, then wouldn't the move from that early version that favored MS to the next version that favored Nico likewise be a move that screwed MS?

And if they went to the LWB car this weekend to favor MS, isn't going to the SWB version next week favoring Nico?


Or maybe they are just trying to go as fast as they can with what they've got - which is essentially the car they developed in late-2009 while they were still BrawnGP and were a non-very-well funded team?

 

In terms of speed
1. Red Bull
2. McLaren
3. Ferrari
4. Mercedes
5. Force India

Hamilton is fast but he is reckless and abuses his car and henceforth his tires. That is why his tire failed toward the end and Button is leading him in points.

 

Really? His tire failed because he didn't take care of it.

You're sure?

 

Pretty sure SRT Mike. I watched the replay several times and towards the end of the race we all heard a radio transmission with Louis saying his tires were going away. He overdrives the car.

 

I think the Mercedes was an improvement and still need alot a work to do. Spain is always a good indicator of who is really fast and who isn't.

 

Got to agree with Mike here..tires going away is one thing- but a blow out is another. I'd need to see some evidence that "tire wear" which is not severe enough to grossly limit cornering G's, can induce catastrophic failure by nothing more than those same forces the rubber is still able to generate mid corner. Hitting a curb or debris... yes. Mid corner G's... that's a scary proposition.

Yes- LH probably did over drive the tires... he had to - to outpace Webber for best lap. And I'm sure they were going away but His lap times were still decent enough that I would be more likely to believe this was something other than driver induced tire failure.

I'm not a huge Hami fan but I gotta give the kid his props. In race trim, today, he was the only one to better Webbers lap times. I thought he showed some maturity after the race as well. Won some points with me and of the two- I'd take him over Button even with the points spread.

 

We have seen many many drivers use up their tires in the races.

I don't recall a single tire failure as a result of that. Tire failures are rare, no matter how hard the driver is running. They are caused by debris or flaws in the tire construction.

The carcass of the tire is what fails in a failure like we saw on Hammy's car... the tread being abraded away is what causes tires to be worn out. Two different things. I do not think it is possible to overdrive an F1 car in any manner such as to cause a tire failure. The carcass is designed to withstand much much more abuse than the drive can give it through driving normally.

If this were not true, we would see occasional tire failures in F1 when a driver was overcooking it, but that doesn't happen.

 

Is this thread primed for elephant jokes yet?

 

2/3 laps before his tyre failure, Ham-bone put in his lastest laps of the race, panicking I guess as Fernando was actually catching him at 0.5 seconds per lap. I think he hit the car too hard in his efforts to maintain the gap (which he actually increased back to 10 seconds or do), and as usual, leaned too hard on his equipment, whereby if he had just upped his pace a little bit, he couldve given Fernando 0.5 to a second per lap and still finished second

 

Sorry to be a buzz-kill guys, but trye failures and Ham-bone are all-too often hand-in-hand, check out your tapes of the races, lots of occassions he has destroyed them

 

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CGaq_SeXTgI
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FUGIm5Is5iA
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QkPdXMHBNC4



yeah right

 

So MS has yet again been able to knobble his team mate. Lets discuss this in detail:

Nico is currently 5th in the WDC and was doing very well and looking very competitive. Along comes an old MS, looking completely out of his depth and yet the team have changed the car based on his wishes and now Nico is struggling. BUT most importantly MS is still not on fire and puttering around managing a 4th place.

So thinking of the car only, Mercedes have taken a car that was capable of 2 podiums for a young and exciting future prospect it and modified it so that it can no longer podium for an over the hill past champion.

Yeah makes sense to me, er, not. It's not like MS was competitive in the Spanish GP, holding up JB for part of the race and finishing over a minute behind Webber. Nico was less than 10 seconds behind the winner at China, 13.5 behind at Malaysia, under 17 at Australia and only 40 seconds behind at Bahrain. Thus overall they have made the car SLOWER to make MS happy!!!!!

Look I understand that MS has that WDC winning experience and if he had not retired and kept on racing and kept his form, yeah a no brainer, but that is not what happened. He stepped out of the car and has lost some of his form, definitely and it was ONLY MS that was saying the old car was not competitive. The team was going along with this to save MS's face.

Interesting.
Pete

 

According to everything I've read- this is way off.

1) MS was not the only one saying the old car was not competitive - the whole team was saying it. And, it was obvious to most that it was not on par with Ferrari, McLaren or RB.

2) MS is saying the new car is better, but not a winner. Nico is sayng the new car is better- but not a winner.

3) Nico was 2nd in the standings for many reasons- not becuase the old car was a second place car.

4) Nico's going backwards for 1 race is no more evidence of favoritism than MS going backwards for the previous 3.

5) On Nico's own website, "HE" states the new car is better- but he's struggling with setup and other teams have made bigger steps forward.

6) MS has been "matter of fact" about the whole thing. He's been rightly concerned about Merc's position relative to the field- and continues to be- despite the changes.

I'll give you this much: when Nico was beating MS, Nico got headlines and despite losing, MS was getting headlines. Now, Nico lost 1 time to MS (still ahead in points).. BUT- Nico's forgotten- hardly a word written. I don't think that's fair but that's the medias (and publics) fascination with MS . Regardless of whether we feel it deserved or not, that's not directly manipulated by MS either (as I'm sure some would like to believe). Nor do I beleive there is any direct attempt to sabotage Nico's performance by him or the team. Do they give more credence to MS feedback over Nico? Probably... and deservedly so IMHO.

 

+1 great post

I believe had the Mercedes been the only updated car in Spain, it would have been a front runner. Obviously not the case as everyone brought their 'A' game and upgrade packs. It's clear Merc is pretty quick in the corners compared to Mclaren, but not fast enough in a straight line. Mclaren seems to be vice versa to this on most tracks. Red Bull seems to have the best of both worlds. I have a feeling Mclaren is going to dominate Monaco. I predict a similar finish for Mercedes this coming weekend. Similar to Spain I mean.

 

Could be. Button and Hamilton are capable of winning in Monaco as they have shown.

Even the f-duct didn't get Ferrari on par with RBR, which hurts for the tifosi.

On Speed for the race, Newey said RBR will probably come out with their f-duct chassis for Turkey.

There will probably be an big upgrade for everyone for Turkey and then another big one for Valencia when they come back from the fly-away in Canada. Then the updates will come fast and furious throughout the summer...

Frank

 

+2

 

I think Hamilton will win Monaco. Red Bull has a great car but neither of the drivers have excelled in Monaco. Alonso would be a possible win contender but the car may not be up to snuff.

 

Dont count out Button, he is also really good there.

 

You're wrong. Sorry.

http://www.autosport.com/news/report.php/id/83530

Zing!