Red Bull saying it didnt use KERS because of tire degredation should be read; bull. 80 hp at the start of the straight can be applied anytime. A couple of feet beyond where it should be applied will not let the tires overstress and still carry the added speed down the rest of the straight. Something else was going on. No doubt they will step up, fix their KERS, and take off into the distance once again. A little early but unless Ferrari comes out with their big fix for the next race RBR should again walk away this year. Mclaren did theirs already.
IIRC it is the way the KERS works on charging itself up, a bit like a hand brake being applied and this causes wear on the rear tyres creating extra wear. I stand to be corrected though.
I know it's a little late, but I was thinking about those spins in Qualifying. Out of curiosity, is there anybody who also thinks those two spins were due to the drastic increase/reduction in downforce? Barrichello spun right when the downforce was applied at the end of that particular straight, and the other fellow (Force India?) spun immediately after the wing was pulled back going onto the straight. We all know a car can loose ALL control at the increase/reduction of downforce. Remember when Raikkonen lost his wing behind Schumacher and he slid right into the tire wall?
Ok finally saw the race. Wow, what a start to the season. Hamilton certainly drove the living wheels off that Mclaren. Good for him! What a weekend for MB. Holy crap what bad luck all around.
Barrichello put two outside tires off the side of the track during braking. If he was on the tarmac he wouldn't have had the trouble. Sophomoric error from the old guy, it appears. The other guy punched his wing too soon. His tires still needed the downforce as he was still completing the turn, and he deliberately stuck his finger on the button a couple moments too soon.
I would not have thinked that the charging stage is where the wear was considering the braking and acceleration forces asked of the tire. I might see how it would upset the ballance perhaps to the point of the rears locking up. A brake ballance adjustment could take care of that. One more thing for the driver to do while cruising around out there. Perhaps this is why Vettel was mad. Funny; I cant stand it.
Yeah it sounds like they are totally sandbagging right now. It appears Newey / Horner know that they have at least one second, maybe even 1.5 seconds advantage over *every* other car on the grid. Why bother to risk a KERS failure, and just give up that .2 to .3 saved every lap when you can "settle" on your measly one second per lap advantage. Also when the competition starts to catch up, they have an ace-in-the-hole and can easily bolt on KERS with no further development costs to maintain their lead. Being two seconds ahead vs 1 second would only marginally benefit their team. While it would give them more breathing room, one second is already an eternity in F1 and an extra half second would only serve to bring heavier FIA scrutiny, bolder moves by other teams in development, or further induce poaching efforts by Ferrari et al.
LOL no worries I'll sit down and spout off then.. I read it somewhere I'll see if I can find it, however Coultard made comment about the effect KERS has on the cars like a hand brake when the race was on. Also remember Hamilton secured his 2nd position on the grid without KERS, it wasn't working. That is why I don't think RB have got it all in the bag yet.
Now that I consider other factors I think the drivers are being asked to cope with a lot of new conditions. Not only is the wing areo ballance particular to this one corner but also this is where KERS is being charged. That plus the new tires. And the higher nose. Then the standard list including changing brake points. Other than that ....
Good point! I think he just had a bad weekend. Either his setup didn't work like he expected, or he is just getting old. . . . . . But mainly he had a bad weekend. However the thought of Red Bull purposely sand-bagging Webber even more, to the point of his being less competitive than Vettel and then the competition seems somewhat plausible. The tension between he and Seb last year did a lot of damage, literal damage in Turkey. By sacrificing some points early in the season they get good reason to further entrench Seb as their #1 and shut up Mark. We already know Ferrari is capable of this, so Red Bull would just be taking a lesson from its elders.
IIRC I read that Webber did had some set up issues with his car, not 100% what it was but he did not get the best out of it like Vettel, he sure had the sweet spot. But what makes me think is the quote by Horner, he said that Red Bull will suffer if they don't have KERS working in Malaysia.
I figured the same considering the massive difference in qualy. Webber is not that much slower than Vettel. On another note, but sort of similar: I believe because Red Bull did not run KERS they were allowed to run either: 1. a lighter car, or 2. place ballast in a better area and have better braking balance and weight distribution. Both are worth about .300-.400 depending on the venue. One thing is for sure, both Mclaren and Red Bull had their tires working correctly over the entire weekend. Ferrari and especially MB had a terrible time getting their tires to work correctly. Ferrari's difficulty was with full fuel load tire balance while MB had huge issues with both full load and qualy load. As I said before, MB's qualy times on hard and softs were identical! There should be a 1.00+ second difference! Crazy and terrible weekend for them. Ferrari and MB will figure it out shortly.
Can't say I agree with too many of your reasons. Many WDC and WCC have been won by teams that haven't started out with a win. Plus Alsono did have the fastest lap it I'm not mistaken. That says the car has potential, no?
Not sure but even if correct, doesn't necessarily mean much. Fastest lap will occur at the end of the race when cars are at their lightest... the biggest determinant becomes who wants it and who needs it. Vettel was in cruise mode... no points awarded for fast lap. why tax the equipment... why risk throwing it in the litter...
He got the first fastest lap in the middle of the race. Not to mention getting the fastest lap is something most drivers want. Schumacher used to pride himself on that. Not to mention a "crap" car could never pull of a fastest lap or HRT and Virgin would be doing it every race....
