Based on the on-screen speeds, LeC was sandbagging it on the main straight (max speed 281kph, much slower than in practice) to purposefully let Max pass him from miles back just before the DRS line, then get him back after turn 4. Will never know if simply going flat out on the main straight would have kept Max far enough behind, to allow him to stay ahead in the next DRS zone, but in any case his strategy on laps 17, 18 and then 19 worked beautifully. Would have been interesting to see if LeC would have tried it again, if Max hadn't messed up on the late safety-car restart.
I think by staying in 7th above a certain RPM the battery doesn't discharge further if in certain modes (who said F1 is complicated?). So by not going in 8th and use more battery to defend the inevitable, he'd rather get passed and use the DRS + battery saved to blast pass Max again at the next DRS straight..Max who then doesn't have DRS to defend. Even if he does defend on the main straight, Lec would be left wide open on the run to T4. Max would easily get passed there then and when running in clear air would allow him to possible get just enough a gap so that Lec doesn't get DRS on the main straight. Clever driving from Lec.
GO Carlos!! -- https://www.autosport.com/f1/news/sainz-ferrari-engineers-have-interesting-theories-on-closing-gap-to-leclerc/9286748/ Carlos Sainz Jr says his Ferrari Formula 1 engineers have come up with some "interesting theories" on how he can close the gap to team-mate Charles Leclerc. “I was right there in the fight for pole in qualifying [in Bahrain] and this was a good news for me, because for the lack of feeling that I have with this car, and the lack of understanding that I feel I have, it was good news to still be able to put a couple of very strong laps in qualify that nearly gave me pole,” he explained. “But the fact is that I still need to work on the set-up. I need to work on the car understanding. “I've done my analysis in these three days with my guys and we have a couple of very interesting theories. So we have a couple of very interesting things to try here. “I don't think it's going to be a matter of one race, but a bit like it was last year, little by little, chip away at it and get there. We also need more samples. “I don't know if Bahrain was a bit of a one-off, and all of a sudden here I'm back to where I should be where I expect myself to be. Let's see, it's still early days.”
heartbreaking!! now Italy is out of fifa world-cup soccer for second time, ferrari has to bring joy to Italians by winning both championship.
Ok, speed looks good, but dear boys, please avoid the walls. The DNF risk of this godforsaken whacky race track cannot be underestimated.
Another fine performance by the Scuderia. Hats off to Charles, Carlos. Most importantly to Binotto for his vision and execution; the dedicated team in Maranello and the tireless mechanics/support personnel. Bravo!
Is that Ferrari coming out of the desert for good? Let's hope that the good results will come more frequently, indicating that Marenello has turned the page. The car is good and promising this year, and the driver pairing one of the best.
We can seriously hope this is the case. Only fear is the development rate during the year. Red Bull and Mercedes have clearly demonstrated before they are better than us on this side. Hope i’m wrong !
Ferrari has the advantage of having (vastly) more development time allowance this year. Based on the updated Sporting Regulations for this championship, the Italian side will have 10% more RCFD/wind tunnel time against rivals Mercedes and 5% more as compared to Red Bull
I honestly don't know. All the big teams have their own wind tunnel...Not like there's an hour-meter on the thing that it's impossible to fiddle with, correct?
That's what happens when you want to create artificial parity between teams. We could see seesaw performance from year to year for some teams.
I truly hope Ferrari have upped their in-season development game efficiency or Red Bull will sail past them. If Merc fix their rear suspension bouncing issue and run the car at it’s designed ride height, they may very well sail past everyone. Really great start to the season though
LOL the only artificial thing has been Merc writing the rules for the past ten years and F1 letting the tail wag the dog.
