[TheBingoBalls]

Originally Posted by ///M Power-Belgium

Ferrari pushed it to the highest level and even beyond !

HONDA and Mercedes are coming too short ...

I think the takeaway after one race is this:

1. Ferrari seems to have the best set up out the gate and they can easily pull away as the season goes on and more development is made throughout the season. They weren't even pushing the car anywhere close to the limit. Look how hard VER had to push to overtake LEC WITH DRS. LEC did a lot less to re-take his P1 position.

2. RB was supposed to be up there with Ferrari but with 2 RB and 1 AT failure, is PU reliability and durability an issue now that RB themselves are looking after it? Or was this just a simple electrical issue that can be easily fixed?

3. The final results/times for Mercedes doesn't show how bad the W13 currently is but being able to keep up and not have any failures is a good sign and once they get the W13 sorted out, they will be right in it.

[GuidoK]

Originally Posted by TheBingoBalls

I think the takeaway after one race is this:

3. The final results/times for Mercedes doesn't show how bad the W13 currently is but being able to keep up and not have any failures is a good sign and once they get the W13 sorted out, they will be right in it.

I think we'll se a radically redesigned MERC car next race.
The sc situation cleared the gaps considerably, but in reality they faced to almost get lapped (that hard tyre decision was a large cause of that, loosing easily over 1sec/lap and not saving a pitstop with it.)

GAS failure indeed also looked electrical, so it seems electrical issues all over the RB PU. Maybe some components get too hot.
But it's strange that that didn't come clear during testing. Both RB as AT (mainly GAS and PER I think) did lots and lots of laps during testing (I think they were up there lapping the most in both testing sessions).
If any I expected the RB and AT to be the most reliable ones because of the extensive and trouble free testing sessions.
But testing of course isn't racing.

[TheBingoBalls]

Originally Posted by GuidoK

I think we'll se a radically redesigned MERC car next race.
The sc situation cleared the gaps considerably, but in reality they faced to almost get lapped (that hard tyre decision was a large cause of that, loosing easily over 1sec/lap and not saving a pitstop with it.)

GAS failure indeed also looked electrical, so it seems electrical issues all over the RB PU. Maybe some components get too hot.
But it's strange that that didn't come clear during testing. Both RB as AT (mainly GAS I think) did lots and lots of laps during testing.
But testing of course isn't racing.

We'll see what Mercedes does with the W13. I understand what they're trying to do but maybe this year isn't the year to be totally innovative. I hope they decide sooner rather than later - can't expect these fortunate podium finishes weekly.

Mercedes were 30+ seconds behind LEC and VER, but like you said, most of that was due to the swap to the hards - lesson learned, so while they finished P3 and P4, they were really not in it. A top 10 car, yes but not really a top 5 car in reality.

[Killed by Death]

GET SOME!!!

[M5Rick]

Originally Posted by ///M Power-Belgium

I just heard when they down-shift the car or PU sometimes locks-up ..
MAX got also something with his steering wheel (2 issues)

Note : It's not confirmed yet ..

The HONDA PU was never able to beat the best Ferrari PU from Charlie ..
No way that MAX could beat Charlie today !
The battle that we witnessed was clear enough !

Ferrari pushed it to the highest level and even beyond !

HONDA and Mercedes are coming too short ...

It's obvious Binotto 'rocket engined' Lec and gave Sainz a fail safe mode just in case.

[M5Rick]

Originally Posted by Killed by Death

GET SOME!!!

Congrats...at last!

[///M Power-Belgium]

Originally Posted by TheBingoBalls

I think the takeaway after one race is this:

1. Ferrari seems to have the best set up out the gate and they can easily pull away as the season goes on and more development is made throughout the season. They weren't even pushing the car anywhere close to the limit. Look how hard VER had to push to overtake LEC WITH DRS. LEC did a lot less to re-take his P1 position.

2. RB was supposed to be up there with Ferrari but with 2 RB and 1 AT failure, is PU reliability and durability an issue now that RB themselves are looking after it? Or was this just a simple electrical issue that can be easily fixed?

3. The final results/times for Mercedes doesn't show how bad the W13 currently is but being able to keep up and not have any failures is a good sign and once they get the W13 sorted out, they will be right in it.

I think that MAX and Checo had to push the HONDA PU and chassis beyond the limits ..
•MAX vs Charlie
•Checo vs HAM

Currently there's no way to beat the Ferrari , same for Mercedes . They struggled actually the whole race with traction .

The best moment of the race was the fight from MAX vs Charlie for P1 .But IMHO MAX had zero chance because he looked just too slow vs the Ferrari ..

Again : HONDA and Mercedes are coming too short . And I don't see them fix that in the coming 7 days !
But it will be a 24/7 job anyway ..

BTW : This time , Mercedes wasn't sandbagging !

[Artemis]

Originally Posted by Artemis

Yeah, would be great if KMAG, MSC or The Hulk would manage to pull off the incredible feat of ending in the top 10 today. Let's see how engine longevity reliability plays out.

• KMAG pulled it off - what an achievement, happy for him and HAAS; and the fact that he moved from P7 to P5 in the final laps because of DNF by VER and PER: in the 2016 Barcelona race VER managed to win as a rookie in a spectacular fashion partially thanks to Merc team mates/enemies HAM and ROS crashing in a dumb way into each other in the early stage of the race; so a well-deserved P5 for KMAG;
• "Let's see how engine longevity reliability plays out": RBPT = 'Red Bull Powertrains', but today it was 'Red Bull Problemtrains' unfortunately: GAS (fire), VER (loss of power) and PER (sudden engine stall) all incurring DNF because of late stage fatal engine failures; as Houston commented after the Challenger space shuttle exploded in 1986: "obviously a major malfunction"; kinda sucks for the drivers, but adversity is part of motorsport.

For the rest: looks like Ferrari is shaping up to be the team to beat in the next couple of races. Merc will work hard in remedying their gremlins - for the time being they are no competition for Ferrari. Red Bull faces a lot of homework to improve engine reliability.

[M5Rick]

Originally Posted by ///M Power-Belgium

It seems your new thread is in a state of meltdown as well => https://www.m3post.com/forums/showthread.php?p=28705411

...and J drives an M3...ough the embarrassment!

[GuidoK]

Originally Posted by TheBingoBalls

We'll see what Mercedes does with the W13. I understand what they're trying to do but maybe this year isn't the year to be totally innovative. I hope they decide sooner rather than later - can't expect these fortunate podium finishes weekly.

I think one of MERC's problems is that the problems they have, have to be solved in a wind tunnel on a rolling road. But that time is severely limited because of the regulations and track testing is already over.
So most of their problems they will have to solve in computer models.
However MERC has shown last year that they're pretty good at updating their car through the season.

The RB problems wil probably just be solved in the factory on the floor once they discover what failed.
Whether or not RB gets the edge over Ferrari, we'll see this season.
My guess it's going to be a very interesting season. Also with some of the teams that were clearly last season's worst team now being in the top 10, so the field definately has come more close by the looks of it now.

[///M Power-Belgium]

Originally Posted by M5Rick

It's obvious Binotto 'rocket engined' Lec and gave Sainz a fail safe mode just in case.

Of course . Today was Sainz and his PU mapping part of the Ferrari strategy.

In this season , Ferrari is the team to beat and that will be very hard !

As I said : This season , Ferrari has the Champions car , PU , aero and chassis !

Congrats Ferrari !!!!

[M5Rick]

Originally Posted by Artemis

• KMAG pulled it off - what an achievement, happy for him and HAAS; and the fact that he moved from P7 to P5 in the final laps because of DNF by VER and PER: in the 2016 Barcelona race VER managed to win as a rookie in a spectacular fashion partially thanks to Merc team mates/enemies HAM and ROS crashing in a dumb way into each other in the early stage of the race; so a well-deserved P5 for KMAG;
• "Let's see how engine longevity reliability plays out": RBPT = 'Red Bull Powertrains', but today it was 'Red Bull Problemtrains' unfortunately: GAS (fire), VER (loss of power) and PER (sudden engine stall) all incurring DNF because of late stage fatal engine failures; as Houston commented after the Challenger space shuttle exploded in 1986: "obviously a major malfunction"; kinda sucks for the drivers, but adversity is part of motorsport.

I agree and KMag coming 5th is some recompense for both RB reliability failures right at the end, and they know what the problem was afflicting both the cars.

[Killed by Death]

Sorry, couldn't help myself

[TheBingoBalls]

Originally Posted by GuidoK

I think one of MERC's problems is that the problems they have, have to be solved in a wind tunnel on a rolling road. But that time is severely limited because of the regulations and track testing is already over.
So most of their problems they will have to solve in computer models.

The RB problems wil probably just be solved in the factory on the floor once they discover what failed.
Whether or not RB gets the edge over Ferrari, we'll see this season.
My guess it's going to be a very interesting season. Also with some of the teams that were clearly last season's worst team now being in the top 10, so the field definately has come more close by the looks of it now.

Not saying their side pod or lack of side pod is the main culprit but I think they might have a good set up with the W13 they brought to Barcelona that would be on par with the RB and Ferrari. What I think their problem is that they're trying to be flat out faster than everyone else with their current set up if they're able to figure out how to tune it correctly. Now whether or not that's really the case, we don't know.

I think Mercedes really have to ask themselves if it's worth trying to figure out the W13 and prey that they're able to catch up once they do figure it out or revert back to working design and just be competitive every week.

[///M Power-Belgium]

Originally Posted by Killed by Death

GET SOME!!!

Remember my words my friend from during the winter break !

Big congrats to you and Ferrari !!!

As for today ?
Ferrari played the game safe today and with succes ! So even more will come from that Ferrari SuperFast PU ...
Currenty Ferrari can't lose it !!!

#JetMode !!!

[M3WC]

Originally Posted by TheBingoBalls

This bodes well for Mercedes. If they ever get their car sorted out, it's going to be a fight.

Merc was 50+ seconds off of 1st when Gasly's car retired.

They have a long way to go.

Ferrari clearly way out front and RB a very close second.

[M5Rick]

Originally Posted by ///M Power-Belgium

Of course . Today was Sainz and his PU mapping part of the Ferrari strategy.

In this season , Ferrari is the team to beat and that will be very hard !

As I said : This season , Ferrari has the Champions car , PU , aero and chassis !

Congrats Ferrari !!!!

So we now know for sure what they were burrowing away at all those years losing lol keeping in mind the coming of the E10 fuel reg for this year. What a price to pay!

[M5Rick]

Originally Posted by Killed by Death

Sorry, couldn't help myself

That's a woman err ...it's Toto!!!

[///M Power-Belgium]

Originally Posted by Killed by Death

Sorry, couldn't help myself

Kelly Piquet as well !

[M3WC]

Originally Posted by GuidoK

I think one of MERC's problems is that the problems they have, have to be solved in a wind tunnel on a rolling road. But that time is severely limited because of the regulations and track testing is already over.
So most of their problems they will have to solve in computer models.
However MERC has shown last year that they're pretty good at updating their car through the season.

The problem is the budget. They better be sure the upgrades they bring work, there is a cap on development.

Also Merc engines are cleary down on power, at one point the last 6 cars were Merc powered. Engine unit development is freezed now.

[E92inNC]

Originally Posted by ///M Power-Belgium

Of course . Today was Sainz and his PU mapping part of the Ferrari strategy.

In this season , Ferrari is the team to beat and that will be very hard !

As I said : This season , Ferrari has the Champions car , PU , aero and chassis !

Congrats Ferrari !!!!

I have to disagree on the Ferrari PU having a noticeable advantage over the others. When in clear air, RB has had a higher top speed on the straights and the way Max caught and passed Charles on those three laps on the main straight was something to see. I think even in qualy the difference was Ferrari was stronger than everyone else in the slow corners of sector 2.

That being said, it looks to be at least while to see if Mercedes can even catch up to Ferrari and RB. Looks to be a great two team fight for the near future. I’m just excited that finally one of the two is red.

[///M Power-Belgium]

Originally Posted by M5Rick

So we now know for sure what they were burrowing away at all those years losing lol keeping in mind the coming of the E10 fuel reg for this year. What a price to pay!

It took Ferrari actually 2 years . And it looks Binotto completely nailed it !
The clown in him is gone now ! Binotto said : Ferrari will not race for P2 ever again !
So..Only podiums for Ferrari in 2022 ! IMHO. Everything on this car looks so damn right !

Of course the Italians are going cazy now ...MAMA MIA !!!