[Official] United States Grand Prix 2019: Grand Prix Weekend Thread

[Adam43]

Originally Posted by steve nielsen

If there had not been a yellow flag for the Haas Max would probably have overtaken Lewis

I’m surprised that stopped him

[bjohnsonsmith]

Originally Posted by Peter Mallett

IIRC Albon had damage on the first lap and headed for the pits. That would account for much of the 70 secs don't you think? Seems to me that Max may well have a good match in Albon.

He sustained damage at the start, when he and Sainz made contact. He has finished in the top 6 in the last 7 races, his best result was 4th in Japan. Plus his drive yesterday, from being last after the incident with Sainz to finish 5th, I think shows he is good match for Max.

[Adam43]

Originally Posted by crmalcolm

Listening on R5L, the failure, the kerb at T8 and the pace issues were all discussed.

The general consensus seemed to be:

A F1 car's suspension is either broken, or it isn't. A bit like you can't be partially pregnant, you either are or are not.
They asserted that the amount of time a car can carry a damaged suspension would be no more than one corner - definitely not a number of laps.

The pace issue that both Ferrari's had was unrelated to the failure of Vettel's car.

The warning to avoid the kerb at T8 came from a fear within the Ferrari garage that Vettel may have weakened his suspension the corner prior to it failing.

Vettel himself, when asked, said that he had never touched that kerb at T8.

I agree it is unlikely that is partially broke and then went fully, as mentioned before that is carbon fibre.

However if something else was slightly wrong it could have effected the balance and provided understeer and caused loads that were unusually large on the right rear meaning that the catastrophic failure was more likely.

[Peter Mallett]

Indeed. Let's not forget that connecting those bits of carbon fibre are simple nuts and bolts and rose joints. They can sometimes become damaged or out of alignment and that would put unnecessary strain on those carbon fibre bits.

[The Fat Clerk]

Originally Posted by bjohnsonsmith

IndyCar is unpredictable and the racing is close.

and all the cars look the same.

[bjohnsonsmith]

Originally Posted by The Fat Clerk

and all the cars look the same.

So do F1 cars these days.

[E.B]

Originally Posted by steve nielsen

Albon was more than 70 seconds behind Max at the finish, so he was a lot slower in most laps

I said in many, not most.... well over 30% according to the FIA lap by lap analysis.
Plus of course Albon spent more time in pitlane due to his 3 stop strategy, the first of which was more than just tyres.
I also said very clearly I am not claiming Albon to be faster than Max, just that he is doing a great job for a rookie. Time will tell if he becomes as fast / faster than Max in the future.

[steve_r]

If you look at the other 2 choices available to Red Bull, then I think they should give Albon the drive again next season. He has put himself in the mix during most races, has scored good points and seems to be fairly close to Verstappens pace in qualifying.

[crmalcolm]

Originally Posted by E.B

I said in many, not most.... well over 30% according to the FIA lap by lap analysis.

34:22 in Verstappen's favour for lap by lap times.

[Aysedasi]

Which is actually an impressive statistic for Albon, compared to his 'team leader'.....

[E.B]

Originally Posted by Aysedasi

Which is actually an impressive statistic for Albon, compared to his 'team leader'.....

I think what is more impressive is that since he got promoted to RBR he has scored 68 points to Max's 54 in the same period.

[JeremySmith]

Originally Posted by Adam43

I’m surprised that stopped him

Doctor Adam how could you 😊

[wnut]

Originally Posted by crmalcolm

34:22 in Verstappen's favour for lap by lap times.

The problem with lap for lap analysis is if one driver is carrying first lap damage then the whole race is compromised, also if you have different strategies let's say three stop vs one stop, the three stop car will have faster lap times for the whole race, but may not end up in front.

The only real measure is qualifying, and then the cars can still be set up very differently, or carrying an issue.

[wnut]

Originally Posted by steve_r

If you look at the other 2 choices available to Red Bull, then I think they should give Albon the drive again next season. He has put himself in the mix during most races, has scored good points and seems to be fairly close to Verstappens pace in qualifying.

It is still quite weird how people like Horner give Albon very little credit though, are they looking at Alonso, Danni Ricc or somebody else that they feel may better support Max if they are competitive enough to push for the championship?

[TrapezeArtist]

Originally Posted by wnut

It is still quite weird how people like Horner give Albon very little credit though, are they looking at Alonso, Danni Ricc or somebody else that they feel may better support Max if they are competitive enough to push for the championship?

I agree that CH has been extremely lukewarm in his praise of Albon whenever I have seen an interview. I really don't understand why.

There is no way Alonso or Danni Ricc are going to play second fiddle to Verstappen. Alonso has an ego the size of the Iberian peninsula and Ricciardo left RBR precisely because he couldn't take the heat of Verstappen and his acolytes. Red Bull will need a solid Number 2 rather like the Bottas role at Mercedes. Unfortunately I can't see them taking such a democratic approach as Mercedes, but are likely to function with more like the Ferrari/Schumacher MO. That could suit Alex Albon for a year or two before he moves on to bigger and better things.

[Peter Mallett]

[Off Topic] I still contend that these cars are far too easy to drive, but I also accept that they are all the same so it really is just about who is best. This year we have some really good rookies in Albon, Norris and Russell. Albeit the the latter doesn't have a great car to play with. It bodes well for the future and what's more they all seem really grounded, nice guys.[/off topic]

[E.B]

Originally Posted by Peter Mallett

[Off Topic] .....what's more they all seem really grounded, nice guys.[/off topic]

I concur
Its nice to have a batch of rookies who dont arrive with the "Im in F1, I know it all and my crap doesn't stink attitude. And they are all have great maturity, say all the right things yet are having fun in the PR and sideshow stuff. Plus they are all genuinely talented.

[S griffin]

Yes, those rookies have seemed like a breath of fresh air. Hope they have a long and successful career in the sport

[wolfhound]

I have just looked up some stats of Lewis Hamilton v's Michael Schumacher


Lewis is now just 8 wins behind Michael has more poles and front row starts than Schumacher.
However Hamilton is way behind on fastest laps 77 : 46 and on laps led km led etc.

The latter are probably down to less GP competed in for Hamilton.
What are the odds of Hamilton overhauling Schumacher's 91 wins by the end of next year and equaling his 7 championships?

[wnut]

Originally Posted by wolfhound

I have just looked up some stats of Lewis Hamilton v's Michael Schumacher


Lewis is now just 8 wins behind Michael has more poles and front row starts than Schumacher.
However Hamilton is way behind on fastest laps 77 : 46 and on laps led km led etc.

The latter are probably down to less GP competed in for Hamilton.
What are the odds of Hamilton overhauling Schumacher's 91 wins by the end of next year and equaling his 7 championships?

Guaranteed.

I would say.

Lewis has however been beaten and out qualified by his team mates far more often than the likes of Senna and Schumacher.

[wolfhound]

Originally Posted by wnut

Guaranteed.

I would say.

Lewis has however been beaten and out qualified by his team mates far more often than the likes of Senna and Schumacher.

Lewis has had 5 team mates most of whom were top line drivers 3 world champions and the all the others have won GP's while team mates (Kovalinen and Bottas).



Schumacher only had one team mate who was a world champ and that was Rosberg.
Senna had Damon Hill and Prost who was very competitive with Senna while they were team mates.

Most of the time Senna and Schumacher had team mates who were not as fast as they were.

[Anyopenroad]

Originally Posted by wnut

Lewis has however been beaten and out qualified by his team mates far more often than the likes of Senna and Schumacher.

You are knowledgeable enough to realise you're not comparing like with like. If Mercedes had the same approach to drivers as Ferrari did during Schumacher's time (ie, an outright #1) then Hamilton would already be on 7 championships and would be past 100 wins because he would not have had to go toe-to-toe with Rosberg.

[wnut]

Originally Posted by Anyopenroad

You are knowledgeable enough to realise you're not comparing like with like. If Mercedes had the same approach to drivers as Ferrari did during Schumacher's time (ie, an outright #1) then Hamilton would already be on 7 championships and would be past 100 wins because he would not have had to go toe-to-toe with Rosberg.

And you are knowledgeable enough to realise that never in the history of the sport have we seen domination like that displayed by Mercedes.
From 119 races in the last 5 seasons they have won 88 Grand Prix (74%)and Lewis has won 61(51%) and his team mates have won 17(14%).

By any absolute measure Lewis has outperformed anyone over this period, however losing 4 wins to Bottas for instance this season is a troubling statistic when measuring GOAT (greatest of all time).

[bjohnsonsmith]

Some more stats:

Hamilton
248 Starts
First entry 2007 Australian Grand Prix
First win 2007 Canadian Grand Prix

Schumacher
306 starts
First entry 1991 Belgian Grand Prix
First win 1992 Belgian Grand Prix

[Adam43]

There is a lot of knowledge around here. I’ve learnt that two things. Firstly Schumacher beat his team mate a lot, but never had a good one challenge him and secondly Hamilton’s team mates have been better and he occasionally loses to them.

The conclusion is pretty obvious.

Oh and as well as that Jim Clark is better than both.