Quote:
Originally Posted by Akrapovic
I'm not sure how anyone could argue the Mercedes didn't have a clear advantage in 2016.
They qualified 1-2-3-4-5-6. They were demoted 5 minutes and still finished on the podium on the lead. Whilst you could argue that FCY managed to claw back some of that time, they still managed to go from last, to second. That overtook literally the entire field, after locking out the first 3 rows.
Can anyone name a time when any other manufacturer in GT3 has qualified 1-6, served a 5-minute penalty, and still finished ahead of everybody but one car? If Audi qualified 1-2-3-4-5-6 then there would be cries of a VW managers head on a stake. If the only example that can be brought up is a single car (rather than an entire fleet from a manufacturer), and a penalty that's a fraction of the one Mercedes got, and a car that didn't podium, then I think that about sums it up. Nothing is even close to what happened in 2016, hence the massive fall out over it all.
Once again (since it seems to keep getting missed): SRO have made balls ups with BoP before. Turns out, BoP is hard. Who'd have thought? Saying the ACO BoP is bad doesn't mean you're an SRO fanboy. Saying the SRO BoP is bad (or was) doesn't make you an ACO fanboy. That kind of attitude is far too simple and is for simple people who think the world is black and white. You can like SRO And admit they got stuff wrong.
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So what you are saying basically, is that Mercedes just did the race with the same illegal mapping as they did qualifying? Please, for the love of God, watch the race again and you will see Mercedes wasn't faster than the other cars. In qualifying they were, but WITH the illegal mapping. I feel like I'm repeating myself. The 5 minute penalty was converted into a one lap loss after the FCY in the first lap. I was in the grandstands and I can tell you it was one lap. Not two.
Team Bernhard's dropped back to position 30 more or less after more than three hours of last year's race, and it still managed to come home in fourth. I do not see why that is so different from what Mercedes did back in 2016. It's just a matter of staying in the hunt, gaining back the lap at some point in the race, and be fast on Sunday.
Let's take a look at the fastest laps that year:
BMW #99: 2:20.054
Mercedes #88: 2:20.144
Audi #28: 2:18.793
Bentley #8: 2:19.917
Mercedes #86: 2:20.244
Mercedes #84: 2:21.339
Mercedes #0: 2:20.981
Mercedes #85: 2:20.768
Mercedes #57: 2:20.674