2019 U. S. Grand Prix Free Practice & Qualifying Thread

UnlikeUday · Post by **UnlikeUday** » Sat Nov 02, 2019 3:15 am

Source - Imgur

Exediron · Post by **Exediron** » Sat Nov 02, 2019 4:36 am

Turn one at COTA looking as beautiful as ever! Weather was great for a northerner like me, but the locals seemed to consider it quite cold.

Ruste13 · Post by **Ruste13** » Sat Nov 02, 2019 11:47 am

Exediron wrote:

Turn one at COTA looking as beautiful as ever! Weather was great for a northerner like me, but the locals seemed to consider it quite cold.

That is a fantastic seat. Very jealous.

Mayhem · Post by **Mayhem** » Sat Nov 02, 2019 11:51 am

@ Exediron, looking good man. Enjoy

jimmyj · Post by **jimmyj** » Sat Nov 02, 2019 11:55 am

Nice. If you can, watch some of the practice from the stairs up to the bridge over the track down by the S turns, it's not far from where you are. Looks great, have a good time!

Fiki · Post by **Fiki** » Sat Nov 02, 2019 1:04 pm

Wouldn't Exediron's position make for a great TV-camera position? Over the last few years, I've often wondered why we see so many close-ups that may be great for a very few sponsors, but don't give us the feel of distance and speed.

Enjoy your weekend man!

Mort Canard · Post by **Mort Canard** » Sat Nov 02, 2019 5:55 pm

Will be interesting how many teams are practicing the "tow" as it seems to have helped Lewis in FP2 yesterday. Various pundits credited it with a .2-.3 second per lap benefit.

Mort Canard · Post by **Mort Canard** » Sat Nov 02, 2019 6:17 pm

Leclerc stops on track. Says problems with the engine.

JN23 · Post by **JN23** » Sat Nov 02, 2019 6:45 pm

Leclerc must be on the edge of a penalty if he needs new parts?

Mort Canard · Post by **Mort Canard** » Sat Nov 02, 2019 6:57 pm

JN23 wrote:Leclerc must be on the edge of a penalty if he needs new parts?

Transmission reportedly being broken open.

Mort Canard · Post by **Mort Canard** » Sat Nov 02, 2019 6:58 pm

Closing lap for FP3. What times can everyone post?

UnlikeUday · Post by **UnlikeUday** » Sat Nov 02, 2019 7:12 pm

FP3 done:

Source - https://pbs.twimg.com/media/EIY9mJUXkAE ... ame=medium

Option or Prime · Post by **Option or Prime** » Sat Nov 02, 2019 7:43 pm

Why is Hamilton holding back on his soft tyres, or are they just not wearing at all?

DFWdude · Post by **DFWdude** » Sat Nov 02, 2019 8:13 pm

Is LeClerc taking a penalty for engine work?

F1_Ernie · Post by **F1_Ernie** » Sat Nov 02, 2019 8:17 pm

DFWdude wrote:Is LeClerc taking a penalty for engine work?

I think he is taking an engine from before Monza, if so then it wont be the upgraded one like Vettel will have

Mort Canard · Post by **Mort Canard** » Sat Nov 02, 2019 9:22 pm

What happened for Norris?? Surprising lap.

TheGiantHogweed · Post by **TheGiantHogweed** » Sat Nov 02, 2019 9:29 pm

Mort Canard wrote:What happened for Norris?? Surprising lap.

He did it on a new set of tyres. Also the track tempeature improvement seems huge here.

JN23 · Post by **JN23** » Sat Nov 02, 2019 9:31 pm

So Merc have the edge through Q1 and so far in Q2. Last time that happened it didn't translate to Q3

mpls2 · Post by **mpls2** » Sat Nov 02, 2019 9:43 pm

TheGiantHogweed wrote:
Mort Canard wrote:What happened for Norris?? Surprising lap.
He did it on a new set of tyres. Also the track tempeature improvement seems huge here.

I think also turned up engine,, remember Renault can work their engines in certain conditions, but race pace falls off as the engines runs at a pace lower to preserve reliability..
Why do you think Mcarlen signed again with Mercedes !

JN23 · Post by **JN23** » Sat Nov 02, 2019 10:03 pm

So close between the top four!

Mort Canard · Post by **Mort Canard** » Sat Nov 02, 2019 10:04 pm

Have Merc decided to support Valtteri for the rest of the year to make sure that he gets second in the WDC and they can claim a WDC 1&2??? Toto looked very happy about Bottas' pole.

Invade · Post by **Invade** » Sat Nov 02, 2019 10:06 pm

Mort Canard wrote:Have Merc decided to support Valtteri for the rest of the year to make sure that he gets second in the WDC and they can claim a WDC 1&2??? Toto looked very happy about Bottas' pole.

I think Bottas produced a good lap and Hamilton just a fair lap and that's all there is to it.

Asphalt_World · Post by **Asphalt_World** » Sat Nov 02, 2019 10:08 pm

Mort Canard wrote:Have Merc decided to support Valtteri for the rest of the year to make sure that he gets second in the WDC and they can claim a WDC 1&2??? Toto looked very happy about Bottas' pole.

Team Boss looks pleased one of his drivers got pole - is the least shocking and interesting moment of this entire F1 season. But hey, must be why LH isn't ahead of Bottas!!!!! My god..........

Invade · Post by **Invade** » Sat Nov 02, 2019 10:17 pm

It was very close in qualifying for COTA. There was less grip on the 2nd runs in Q3 (according to Bottas). The pace looked quite equal between the three teams. Vettel claims time was left on the table in high speed sections, and Leclerc was compromised with a PU with inferior performance and Max hooked up his best lap when grip was sub-optimal and so barely improved. From what I can gather, Bottas' lap was clean. This was a day where the driver makes the difference.

edit:

(This was meant for the Fer-Mer-RBR 2019 comparison thread).

shoot999 · Post by **shoot999** » Sat Nov 02, 2019 10:26 pm

Mort Canard wrote:Have Merc decided to support Valtteri for the rest of the year to make sure that he gets second in the WDC and they can claim a WDC 1&2??? Toto looked very happy about Bottas' pole.

Well Toto's smile when Hamilton has success these last few seasons has been used as evidence that Mercedes favours Ham. So you could be onto something there.

Covalent · Post by **Covalent** » Sat Nov 02, 2019 10:30 pm

Mort Canard wrote:Have Merc decided to support Valtteri for the rest of the year to make sure that he gets second in the WDC and they can claim a WDC 1&2??? Toto looked very happy about Bottas' pole.

Should he have been unhappy about the pole? I think your tin foil hat is too tight.

Invade · Post by **Invade** » Sun Nov 03, 2019 1:54 am

Bottas' pole lap is up on the official F1 Youtube channel and it looks a mighty fine lap to me. Is it possible that Mercedes had the third fastest car in qualifying today? The other drivers made mistakes or were compromised. Verstappen produced a better second lap but track conditions by then were worse, offering less grip. He needed to nail his first lap for pole but locked up into turn 1 IIRC.

Mort Canard · Post by **Mort Canard** » Sun Nov 03, 2019 3:44 am

Covalent wrote:
Mort Canard wrote:Have Merc decided to support Valtteri for the rest of the year to make sure that he gets second in the WDC and they can claim a WDC 1&2??? Toto looked very happy about Bottas' pole.
Should he have been unhappy about the pole? I think your tin foil hat is too tight.

I was not complaining about Toto being happy.

I said last year after Lewis wrapped up the championship that Merc needed to put effort into getting Valtteri up into third place in the championship. No special efforts were apparent and Valtteri finished the last 3 races in P5 each time. Season ending totals were P3. Kimi Raikkonen 251pts, P4. Max Verstappen 249pts, P5. Valtteri Bottas 247pts. Five more points would have pushed Valtteri up into 3rd place in the WDC.

Just as it didn't look like Ferrari were putting as much effort into Kimi's program, it seems that Merc has not put as much effort into Valtteri's race season for the last couple of years. Both were just sort of used for strategy to support Sebastian and Lewis.

Currently Valtteri has a 53 point advantage on Charles. Even as a Lewis fan I would not mind if Lewis' strategy was occasionally used in these last 3 races to cover off Charles, Sebastian and Max for the benefit of Valtteri.

Of course the fight for 3rd in the championship is once again heating up this year with only 16 points covering Leclerc, Vettel, & Verstappen.

Covalent · Post by **Covalent** » Sun Nov 03, 2019 9:07 am

Mort Canard wrote:
Covalent wrote:
Mort Canard wrote:Have Merc decided to support Valtteri for the rest of the year to make sure that he gets second in the WDC and they can claim a WDC 1&2??? Toto looked very happy about Bottas' pole.
Should he have been unhappy about the pole? I think your tin foil hat is too tight.
I was not complaining about Toto being happy.

I said last year after Lewis wrapped up the championship that Merc needed to put effort into getting Valtteri up into third place in the championship. No special efforts were apparent and Valtteri finished the last 3 races in P5 each time. Season ending totals were P3. Kimi Raikkonen 251pts, P4. Max Verstappen 249pts, P5. Valtteri Bottas 247pts. Five more points would have pushed Valtteri up into 3rd place in the WDC.

Just as it didn't look like Ferrari were putting as much effort into Kimi's program, it seems that Merc has not put as much effort into Valtteri's race season for the last couple of years. Both were just sort of used for strategy to support Sebastian and Lewis.

Currently Valtteri has a 53 point advantage on Charles. Even as a Lewis fan I would not mind if Lewis' strategy was occasionally used in these last 3 races to cover off Charles, Sebastian and Max for the benefit of Valtteri.

Of course the fight for 3rd in the championship is once again heating up this year with only 16 points covering Leclerc, Vettel, & Verstappen.

No but you used his happiness as some sort of evidence for your ridiculous theory that Bottas got pole because of favoritism.

TheGiantHogweed · Post by **TheGiantHogweed** » Sun Nov 03, 2019 10:40 am

Invade wrote:Bottas' pole lap is up on the official F1 Youtube channel and it looks a mighty fine lap to me. Is it possible that Mercedes had the third fastest car in qualifying today? The other drivers made mistakes or were compromised. Verstappen produced a better second lap but track conditions by then were worse, offering less grip. He needed to nail his first lap for pole but locked up into turn 1 IIRC.

The surface is just so rough! It looks like any driver could loose it easily here. Regarding Bottas's lap, I didn't think his first sector was perfect. As with Hamilton, his first sector was faster than Bottas despite going very wide in turn 1. So either it wasn't brilliant for Bottas in this sector, or the rest of that sector for Hamilton must have been a pretty good recovery from the mistake at turn 1. I think Bottas made it all up in the last sector. He looked very good there.

Mercedes-Benz · Post by **Mercedes-Benz** » Sun Nov 03, 2019 1:20 pm

I missed yesterday but nice to see the gap at the top is so tight. I wonder if Ferrari have compensated their qualifying for race by using more wings than normal to help in tyre degradation.

Mort Canard · Post by **Mort Canard** » Sun Nov 03, 2019 2:27 pm

Covalent wrote:
Mort Canard wrote:
Covalent wrote:
Mort Canard wrote:Have Merc decided to support Valtteri for the rest of the year to make sure that he gets second in the WDC and they can claim a WDC 1&2??? Toto looked very happy about Bottas' pole.
Should he have been unhappy about the pole? I think your tin foil hat is too tight.
I was not complaining about Toto being happy.

I said last year after Lewis wrapped up the championship that Merc needed to put effort into getting Valtteri up into third place in the championship. No special efforts were apparent and Valtteri finished the last 3 races in P5 each time. Season ending totals were P3. Kimi Raikkonen 251pts, P4. Max Verstappen 249pts, P5. Valtteri Bottas 247pts. Five more points would have pushed Valtteri up into 3rd place in the WDC.

Just as it didn't look like Ferrari were putting as much effort into Kimi's program, it seems that Merc has not put as much effort into Valtteri's race season for the last couple of years. Both were just sort of used for strategy to support Sebastian and Lewis.

Currently Valtteri has a 53 point advantage on Charles. Even as a Lewis fan I would not mind if Lewis' strategy was occasionally used in these last 3 races to cover off Charles, Sebastian and Max for the benefit of Valtteri.

Of course the fight for 3rd in the championship is once again heating up this year with only 16 points covering Leclerc, Vettel, & Verstappen.
No but you used his happiness as some sort of evidence for your ridiculous theory that Bottas got pole because of favoritism.

Any number of very small things can shift the balance between two drivers. Things like who get to go out first (or second to benefit from the tow) in qualifying. Clearly with three tenths of a second between Valtteri and Lewis favoritism did not make the difference this weekend for the pole.

What I am saying is that Merc would benefit by being more invested in Vlatteri's success this year than they appeared to be last year. If that means that Lewis strategy in a race or two is geared to support Valtteri, I have no problems with that.

While Toto always appears fairly happy about any success Bottas has, he (over the years) seems more invested in Lewis triumphs. There is a long tradition in F1 of teams supporting the number one driver sometimes to the detriment of the number two.

Asphalt_World · Post by **Asphalt_World** » Sun Nov 03, 2019 3:51 pm

Mort Canard wrote:
Covalent wrote:
Mort Canard wrote:
Covalent wrote:
Mort Canard wrote:Have Merc decided to support Valtteri for the rest of the year to make sure that he gets second in the WDC and they can claim a WDC 1&2??? Toto looked very happy about Bottas' pole.
Should he have been unhappy about the pole? I think your tin foil hat is too tight.
I was not complaining about Toto being happy.

I said last year after Lewis wrapped up the championship that Merc needed to put effort into getting Valtteri up into third place in the championship. No special efforts were apparent and Valtteri finished the last 3 races in P5 each time. Season ending totals were P3. Kimi Raikkonen 251pts, P4. Max Verstappen 249pts, P5. Valtteri Bottas 247pts. Five more points would have pushed Valtteri up into 3rd place in the WDC.

Just as it didn't look like Ferrari were putting as much effort into Kimi's program, it seems that Merc has not put as much effort into Valtteri's race season for the last couple of years. Both were just sort of used for strategy to support Sebastian and Lewis.

Currently Valtteri has a 53 point advantage on Charles. Even as a Lewis fan I would not mind if Lewis' strategy was occasionally used in these last 3 races to cover off Charles, Sebastian and Max for the benefit of Valtteri.

Of course the fight for 3rd in the championship is once again heating up this year with only 16 points covering Leclerc, Vettel, & Verstappen.
No but you used his happiness as some sort of evidence for your ridiculous theory that Bottas got pole because of favoritism.
Any number of very small things can shift the balance between two drivers. Things like who get to go out first (or second to benefit from the tow) in qualifying. Clearly with three tenths of a second between Valtteri and Lewis favoritism did not make the difference this weekend for the pole.

What I am saying is that Merc would benefit by being more invested in Vlatteri's success this year than they appeared to be last year. If that means that Lewis strategy in a race or two is geared to support Valtteri, I have no problems with that.

While Toto always appears fairly happy about any success Bottas has, he (over the years) seems more invested in Lewis triumphs. There is a long tradition in F1 of teams supporting the number one driver sometimes to the detriment of the number two.

What you said initially inferred that a smiling team boss appeared to indicate a switch in focus within the team. Perhaps they have switched focus to help Bottas, but no smiling from a team boss is evidence of that.

FormulaFun · Post by **FormulaFun** » Sun Nov 03, 2019 5:07 pm

Why does there have to be an excuse? Bottas did a great lap (look at the onboard) and hooked it up at the first time of asking when the track was at its best. Just pay the man his dues, he won pole fair and square, he is a good qualifier and driver in general, he doesn't need special help

Flash2k11 · Post by **Flash2k11** » Sun Nov 03, 2019 5:13 pm

Great lap from Bottas, pretty average from Hamilton, who is readily admitting that to all and sundry. Quite how much more anyone needs to read into that is beyond me.

Covalent · Post by **Covalent** » Sun Nov 03, 2019 9:15 pm

Indeed

F1_Ernie · Post by **F1_Ernie** » Mon Nov 04, 2019 11:21 am

I never realised Hamilton accidentally knocked off the cover for the brake bias switch so the brake bias kept winding itself rearwards causing rear instability.

pokerman · Post by **pokerman** » Tue Nov 05, 2019 2:25 am

F1_Ernie wrote:I never realised Hamilton accidentally knocked off the cover for the brake bias switch so the brake bias kept winding itself rearwards causing rear instability.

That happened in qualifying, maybe cost him the race win then?

Covalent · Post by **Covalent** » Tue Nov 05, 2019 7:07 am

F1_Ernie wrote:I never realised Hamilton accidentally knocked off the cover for the brake bias switch so the brake bias kept winding itself rearwards causing rear instability.

That issue was present in the second runs where no one was improving anyway, the cause for his poor quali was that he couldn't get good exits in the first run.

Mort Canard · Post by **Mort Canard** » Tue Nov 05, 2019 1:01 pm

Asphalt_World wrote:
Mort Canard wrote:
Covalent wrote:
Mort Canard wrote:
Covalent wrote: I was not complaining about Toto being happy.

I said last year after Lewis wrapped up the championship that Merc needed to put effort into getting Valtteri up into third place in the championship. No special efforts were apparent and Valtteri finished the last 3 races in P5 each time. Season ending totals were P3. Kimi Raikkonen 251pts, P4. Max Verstappen 249pts, P5. Valtteri Bottas 247pts. Five more points would have pushed Valtteri up into 3rd place in the WDC.

Just as it didn't look like Ferrari were putting as much effort into Kimi's program, it seems that Merc has not put as much effort into Valtteri's race season for the last couple of years. Both were just sort of used for strategy to support Sebastian and Lewis.

Currently Valtteri has a 53 point advantage on Charles. Even as a Lewis fan I would not mind if Lewis' strategy was occasionally used in these last 3 races to cover off Charles, Sebastian and Max for the benefit of Valtteri.

Of course the fight for 3rd in the championship is once again heating up this year with only 16 points covering Leclerc, Vettel, & Verstappen.
No but you used his happiness as some sort of evidence for your ridiculous theory that Bottas got pole because of favoritism.
Any number of very small things can shift the balance between two drivers. Things like who get to go out first (or second to benefit from the tow) in qualifying. Clearly with three tenths of a second between Valtteri and Lewis favoritism did not make the difference this weekend for the pole.

What I am saying is that Merc would benefit by being more invested in Vlatteri's success this year than they appeared to be last year. If that means that Lewis strategy in a race or two is geared to support Valtteri, I have no problems with that.

While Toto always appears fairly happy about any success Bottas has, he (over the years) seems more invested in Lewis triumphs. There is a long tradition in F1 of teams supporting the number one driver sometimes to the detriment of the number two.
What you said initially inferred that a smiling team boss appeared to indicate a switch in focus within the team. Perhaps they have switched focus to help Bottas, but no smiling from a team boss is evidence of that.

A simple smile is not evidence of a shift in focus, I will grant you that. I would also invite you to scan the race thread to quite a number of folks who argued back and forth if the Mercedes tire strategies meant the team was favoring Lewis or Valtteri. A number of folks suggested that Mercedes was deciding the outcome of the race.