planetf1.com

Source - Imgur


Source - Imgur

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Feel The Fourth

I find it a bit odd that after winning the last two years in Mexico, Max is already tamping down expectations ahead of the race.

"I expect it to be a little bit more difficult this year because of the Ferrari pace but I think we can still have a very good race."

https://www.gpfans.com/en/articles/4652 ... in-mexico/

Max has already suggested that he doesn't expect RBR to win another race this year.

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Mission WinLater

Rain could play a factor during the weekend:


Source - https://pbs.twimg.com/media/EHey4REX0AA ... name=small

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Feel The Fourth

You know what’s the most bizarre about this weekend? I don’t see a favourite. Any of the top 5 drivers could take pole position or win the race and it wouldn’t be a surprise.

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Mission WinLater

Who counts as the top 5? Albon matched Verstappen last time out, surely it wouldn't be that much of a surprise if any of the top 3 teams drivers got it based on this?

But then i don't see Mercedes being strong. Hamilton finished 75 seconds behind Verstappen last year with Bottas a lap down if i remember correctly. With Red Bull having a difference that massive and even Vettel nearly being a minute ahead of Hamilton, I think Mercedes are extremely unlikely to get pole and likely struggle to get a podium. But could be wrong.

As I remember Mexico last year was one of the races where Mercedes blocked off the cooling ducts in their wheel-hub connections amid concerns that this might be seen as a blown hub or moveable aerodynamic device and declared illegal. As a consequence their car and setup was graining the tires pretty aggressively during the race. Since then the cooled hubs and wheels have been approved by the FIA and Merc uses them without challenge.

I will be surprised if the Merc continues to have the same kind of tire issues this year that plagued them at a few of the races last year where they did not used the wheel cooling technology.

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Mission WinLater

Agreed. Could be a very exciting weekend, even more so if there is some rain to throw into the mix.

Don't really think the mercs will be involved based on last year but we'll see. Think this will be a solid circuit for Ferrari and red bull

Why do people still talk about the results last season? There has been very little correlation between 2018 and 2019. Mercedes was third best around Monaco in 2018 yet comfortably locked out the front row in 2019.

Because there is a clear and obvious trend in certain cars being good at certain circuits and everybody knows that Mexico is a bad track for Merc and always has been

Given that Ferrari have been much closer this year to Merc you'd probably expect them to be ahead at mexico

Have those trends stuck for this season?

If I remember rightly a supreme lap by Hamilton and a Ferrari blunder contributed.

I'd say the trend has turned upside down when it comes to Mercedes and Ferrari.

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Räikkönen - Vettel - Bottas
Thank you Nico - You´re the champ!

PF1 Pick 10 Competition 2016: CHAMPION (2 wins, 8 podiums)

I'd say they've stuck for a lot of races...

Ferrari strong in Bahrain, Spa, Hockenheim (before Ferrari blew it in quali), Monza and Canada

Red bull strong in Monaco, Hungary, Austria

So why not anticipate that probably Mexico will be a strong circuit for Ferrari & red bull (although less so for red bull due to their poor development this season)

Are you guys really expecting Merc to be the favourites for mexico

As I said above, Merc should not have the same problems with tire degradation this year that they had last year. Ferrari will still have an edge as far as raw power output is concerned. Vettel, Leclers, Hamilton, Bottas, & Verstappen should all have a chance at the win.

The popular favorites among fans and pundits seems to be Vettel and Leclerc and I don't think that is unreasonable. As always, Hamilton could show up and put on one of his masterclass drives. Should be interesting.

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Mission WinLater

Maybe not but they will likely have cooling issues. The air is thin in Mexico City at that elevation and it will be very hot. They struggled badly in Austria and I expect more of the same.

Could be but Merc has also had time to address those issues.

Still, it will be an interesting race.

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Mission WinLater

Pretty sure they've solved those issues they had in Austria. We'll probably know one way or the other this weekend.

To clarify, I thought Mercedes had addressed this. Are you saying it is resolved at lower altitudes but remains an issue in thin air? If so why would they not have covered all the possibilities?

What does it matter anyway, we'll see soon enough?

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Räikkönen - Vettel - Bottas
Thank you Nico - You´re the champ!

PF1 Pick 10 Competition 2016: CHAMPION (2 wins, 8 podiums)

I believe the issue was the size of the radiators. They may have addressed it but yes, thinner air means more difficult cooling as does high ambient temperature.

Last year's pole was 1:14.759. These guys are puttering around in the 1:19 sec range. No one showing speed yet.

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Mission WinLater

Leclerc a tenth slower than Hamilton despite being on the Mediums compared to Hamilton soft. Also maybe a little compromised by Norris in the final sector.

FP1 done:


Source - https://scontent.fbom16-1.fna.fbcdn.net ... e=5E19B59B

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Feel The Fourth

Ferrari looking strong on one lap pace again.

An Autosport live tweet from about 20 minutes again suggests Merc looks good on the mediums and Red Bull the softs when it comes to long runs.

Maybe early days but seems like vintage Vettel is back...I can see his confidence picking up and the performance showing..It's taken a while but hopefully Seb is back for good

Info from yesterday:


Source - Imgur


Source - Imgur


Source - Imgur


Source - https://pbs.twimg.com/media/EHv9I0tWwAI ... ame=medium

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Feel The Fourth

Sorry thought forums were for discussion...

Looks like it's gonna be ferrari > red bull > merc
that straight-line speed gives them so much reward

It really does and isn't engine power supposed to be less important here because of the altitude?

It isn't hugely important for this year but Merc really need to get somewhere close to Ferrari on the engine if they want to beat them next year.

He's certainly looked a lot better over the last few races, I think it's all to do with comfort in the car. If you look at where he dropped off it was from France, where Ferrari brought the new front wing. His improvement has come from Singapore onwards, which was the race where Ferrari brought a big upgrade package and improved a lot in the corners.

The track is mildly wet as of now. There's a chance of medium intensity rain in the ending stages of qualy & in the second half of the race as well!

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Feel The Fourth

Around 150 work staff of teams Toro Rosso, McLaren & Renault are suffering from a (stomach) Virus. Pierre Gasly too is suffering from the same.

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Feel The Fourth

Marko said Gasly might need to wait a diaper

FP3 done:


Source - https://pbs.twimg.com/media/EH0RLI0XUAE ... ame=medium

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Feel The Fourth

Probably not a good measure of where everyone is but Merc only a tenth or two off the Ferrari cars.

I do like the fact that Carlos Sainz Jr. went faster than both Max and Alex.

Pierre also went faster than Alex. Think he wants the RBR ride back???

Haas almost as far out in the weeds as Williams.

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Mission WinLater

Ferrari drivers did their quickest lap after the Mercs so I'm wondering if they got slightly better track conditions?

Verstappen's lap at the end when they were setting their best laps was compromised I think so not a representative time.

Ok, here comes Quali!!!

Source: https://media.giphy.com/media/12aW6JtfvUdcdO/giphy.gif

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Mission WinLater

Wonder why Haas and Alfa Romeo aren't seeing the benefits of the Ferrari engine, they must be doing something different - it's can't be the standard engine. Maybe the oil burning has some truth to it

Ferrari’s secret is probably in the ERS deployment. The high altitude doesn’t seem to affect their power at all unlike last year when oil burning was an issue.