MAY 9, 2017 Mercedes admits Ferrari still ahead Niki Lauda says Mercedes has work to do to catch up with Ferrari. Although Valtteri Bottas won in Russia, Lewis Hamilton struggled and the Brackley based team thinks it is because the Ferrari is better managing the new Pirelli tyres. "Sometimes we have a car of two parts," team chairman Lauda told Germany's Auto Motor und Sport, "with a tyre window at the front and another at the rear." A team engineer said that although Hamilton struggled at Sochi, there has been progress in how Mercedes understands the tyres. "Ferrari is still ahead," the engineer said, "but we are good at understanding problems and drawing conclusions. However it could take some races before we get fully on top of it, because some of the problems are probably due to the car." But Lauda tipped Hamilton to bounce back strongly this weekend in Barcelona, after a particularly bad show of form in Russia. "Bottas was quicker because he won the race but Lewis is an outstanding talent, a world champion," said the F1 legend. "Bottas beat him but perhaps the next three times maybe Lewis will do that."
Interesting statistic: Sainz came to F1 in 2015. He has since outscored Fernando Alonso (75 points vs 65). That's an incredible statistic.
Renault F1 team has further chassis updates for Spanish Grand Prix - F1 - Autosport Renault will bring an updated rear wing and new barge boards to this weekend's Spanish Grand Prix, as it continues its push to climb up the Formula 1 grid. All teams are expected to bring upgrades to the Barcelona race, with Mercedes non-executive chairman Niki Lauda suggesting the F1 title battle faces a total reset as a result. Renault's latest package comes after it ran a new front wing last time out in Russia, in a bid to cure its early-season race pace problems. Nico Hulkenberg finished eighth in that race, saying the team had made "a good step" forward, and Renault will now look to make further steps with this latest update. Renault technical chief Nick Chester said: "We've still got a few more upgrades on the aerodynamic package for Spain, so we're reasonably positive - we have new barge boards and an updated rear wing.
Glock comeback would be hilarious ammunition for the conspiracy theorists. He's clearly back to help Ham. Watch him start blocking Vet and Bot. Etc etc. Alternatively, he could just replace Palmer who is totally out of his depth. That would be good....
"We must give him the tools he needs to do the job in the next races and that will be a big focus for us," added Wolff. Maybe I read to much into this but the tools where obviously good enough for Bottas to do the job...Now the car might not suit Lewis but does the quoted sentence imply that Mercedes would change the car to the taste of Lewis so that he gets the job done even if this might be not to the advantage of Bottas because he seemed to get along with the car just the way it is. I guess it will aleays be a problem to develop a car if both drivers might have a different driving style but developing it towards one of them is setting No.1 status even without any team orders or contract clauses...
Forecast looking a bit warmer, which is good for Ferrari's pace. Friday: 15 - 23°C Saturday: 15 - 24°C Sunday: 14 - 22°C
Kimi in jeans and a "bigger" number on the SF70-H nose Image Unavailable, Please Login Image Unavailable, Please Login
I welcome the larger Numerals, as it will be easier to follow the cars on track. This year I am missing the crawl depicting the number of seconds each driver is behind one another.
Ferrari's ones look very good, easily seen on tv. Last year at the Spanish GP it was very hard for me to follow which Red Bull driver was which, as they had near identical helmets at the time! Max only changed to Orange helmet later in the season... That said I doubt the numbers are big enough still, at most tracks you sit too far away to see the numbers accurately. Best IMO to memorize the helmets of drivers...
Yep also works very well, but personally find myself looking at helmets, always done so...force of habit I guess.
