Congratulations on your victory guys!
I leave this here, have a little fun...
Woooooooooooohaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaahaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaa, DIEK!
-Lou(is)
Forza Ferrari 16/15
Totus Tuus
Hero's come and go, but legends never die!
All the pre-season technical articles have praised and drooled over how detailed and complex the Mercedes was in the front wing, bargeboard area. My opinion is that they out-detailed themselves. They've made the car so intricate in how it deals with vortices and air flow under the front of that car and through the sides that it costs them dearly when they are behind. Ferrari has a more simple front wing and front bargeboard area.... maybe this is why they aren't bothered so much by turbulent air from cars in front.
Motor racing: F1 opener puts overtaking in the spotlight
Formula One entered a bold new era in Sunday's Australian season-opener with bigger tyres, faster cars and a winning Ferrari but the lack of overtaking is causing concern.
"What overtaking?," said Brazilian veteran Felipe Massa when the Williams driver was asked how difficult it had been to get past rivals.
Melbourne's Albert Park has never ranked high on the list of circuits with the most overtaking manoeuvres but fans saw hardly any after the opening lap.
Force India's Sergio Perez took both Toro Rossos while team mate Esteban Ocon was in a three-car battle that saw him and Renault's Nico Hulkenberg sweep past Fernando Alonso's McLaren.
But they were rare highlights of a race without crashes or a safety car.
"It was hard to follow and drive close behind others," complained Red Bull's Max Verstappen, who has built up a reputation as one of the sport's most exciting overtakers.
The problem came as no surprise to the likes of triple champion Lewis Hamilton, who had flagged up in testing that the new aerodynamic regulations had a downside and could lead to processional racing.
The cars are creating far more downforce, taking some corners flat out and throwing out more turbulent air that makes it harder for followers to get close.
TURBULENT AIR
"Even in the years before its been difficult to follow once you get within one and a half, or one second, just because of the turbulent air which messes up the aerodynamics of the car and that way we dont have that much grip," explained Mercedes's Valtteri Bottas.
"Now, as more of the grip from the car is relying on the aero, its a bigger effect.
"And the cars are wider so I think theres more turbulent air so now its more like two seconds or even two and a half because you actually feel quite a big effect from the car in front and that way in the corners its more difficult to follow."
The next race is on April 9 in Shanghai, a circuit that last year saw more overtaking than any other with 128 passes. Hamilton alone made 18 of them -- more than the entire 20 driver grid produced in Melbourne.
If there are far fewer cars overtaking there, then Formula One has a problem.
"Its always generally been tough to follow... I hope that doesnt mean for the rest of the year that its more of a train," Hamilton said on Sunday.
"I dont know if it was exciting for you guys to watch, but for me personally I want to be closer up with the cars and (doing) more close wheel-to-wheel battling.
"Its really through strategy and pitstops that we are racing right now."
source:http://in.reuters.com/article/motor-...6Y29L?rpc=401&
Overtaking "almost impossible" during Australian GP
Renault's Nico Hulkenberg described overtaking as "almost impossible" in the Australian Grand Prix, as the first race with Formula 1's new cars left several drivers concerned.
The 2017 cars are faster and wider than their predecessors, with more aerodynamic performance and more grip from bigger Pirelli tyres.
Hulkenberg was quicker than Force India's Esteban Ocon in the closing stages of the race but said he could do nothing to get past.
"I was hoping he would have a little bit of a problem on the soft and I was obviously on the ultrasoft," said Hulkenberg. "But quickly I understood that it wasn't going to happen.
"And these cars, the dirty air is huge, so overtaking – almost impossible. I probably could have gone more than a second quicker, but it's just not in there."
Hulkenberg and Ocon were involved in a spectacular three-wide moment on the run into Turn 1 during a battle with Fernando Alonso's McLaren-Honda.
However, Ocon said it was only made possible by an unexpected error from Alonso.
"Me and Nico were a lot faster than Fernando, but we couldn't get close so that was very tough," he said. "He did a small mistake out of Turn 12 and I managed to get close and get my shot."
Hulkenberg said that was the highlight of his race, adding: "It was bloody fast there, it was like flying because these cars give quite big tows.
"I had a double tow, DRS, and full-power mode on – it was like 'ahhh!'."
Perez joins list of critics
Sergio Perez passed Daniil Kvyat on the first lap and Carlos Sainz round the outside at Turn 3 when the Toro Rosso was on an out-lap.
The Mexican said you could follow cars closely but drivers would need a huge pace advantage to overtake in normal conditions.
"It's harder to overtake because you have shorter brake distances, shorter grip-limited zones, less degradation," he said. "If before 1.5 seconds was enough, probably now you need two seconds."
Drivers at the front joining the midfield runners in voicing their concerns.
Lewis Hamilton said the overtaking problem is "probably worse now than it's ever been" and fears it will stay the same for the season.
Red Bull driver Max Verstappen caught Kimi Raikkonen over the final third of the grand prix but started to struggle as soon as he got "within two seconds" of the Ferrari.
Raikkonen, Horner urge patience
Raikkonen called for patience and perspective, saying it was "never going to be easy" to overtake in F1.
"It's only one race and this circuit is far from let's say a normal circuit," he said. "Some circuits will be more easy, some more harder in a year.
"We have to see how it goes in the next races."
Red Bull team boss Christian Horner agreed, adding: "There's never been a lot of overtaking here. Let's wait for China and Bahrain, which are two of the more easier circuits to overtake at, before drawing any judgement."
source: https://www.motorsport.com/f1/news/o...gp-887102/?s=1
It's been like that for awhile, but looking at Hamilton who couldn't even get close to Max with fresh tires, compared to Vettel who could at least run within DRS range for some time, I'm just saying that maybe there is a reason why Ferrari's front wings are always a little more simple.
yup, both Lewis and Seb were on UltraSofts(purple banded)....at the most, at least by last year standards, those tyres were good for maybe 5 laps. Lewis did'nt pit till lap 17 and Seb pitted on like on lap 22 I believe. These tyres, in all categories, have a harder compound and are wider.
Ya. Vettel was able to run a lot closer to Hamilton than Hamilton was able to with Max... and still had life left in his tires for 6 more decent laps. Just saying that, despite all the fawning over Mercedes intricate detail on their bargeboards and floor, maybe Ferrari's design is better.
It's kind of strange cause i read an article on motorsportf1 that quoted SV as saying he was struggling to keep up with LH and was hanging on... then LH pitted... I'm assuming it got better after that, the quote stopped there but that highlights my concern... if Ferrari can't qualify first and second they may get stuck behind the Merc...
Rest in Peace Leza, you were a true warrior...
I can see some people saying Ferrari has the fastest car. However, i'm still not 100% confident because of our qualifying performance. Nevertheless, it looks very promising. That 8 second gap sure looked nice.
I'm gonna say they are equal and so sensitive to aero that neither one is gonna be able to get close enough for the overtake. Lewis said on team radio while on fresh tyres and behind Max, who was on old tyres, " there is no way I can pass this guy." then team radio said, "okay lewis, we need you to pressure Max" and Lewis response was, " how do you expect me to do that" meaning he could not get close enough.
Hamilton joking around with Vettle.
Didn't look that way, TBH. That's just from visuals though. At any rate, it was either Lewis couldn't pull out a big enough gap to gain anything on strategy or Seb being able to hang around just close enough to prevent this. That's a good advantage to have this early on, I hope we capitalize on it and keep improving further.
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If I were Hamilton, I would fire his barber.
-Lou(is)
Forza Ferrari 16/15
Totus Tuus
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