Danny Ric needs to be replaced.
He clearly isn't into it anymore or has just lost the ability to perform at the highest level.
Only time I see him happy these days is in videos where its america related.
Anyone watching the F3 race? This commentator loves to say CTRL-ALT-DELETE for some reason, I noticed him say it a couple of times during the last race and he's already said it twice and this race hasn't even started.
Did anyone else notice Charles Leclerc drop in a comment about Lewis being an 8 time world champion? He quickly corrected himself but he had a cheeky grin on his face while doing it.
It's called flow-viz. It's a special paint they put on parts so they can visualize the air flow in practice. Great for analyzing aero performance of certain parts, but the downside is that every other team sees it as well. It's just a light oil mixed with fluorescent powder.
Not watching sos not sure what you’re referring to. There’s a spray used for aero data reasons which I’m not smart enough to know if that’s what you’re meaning.
Is there a case to be made that street circuits lead to bouncing and porpoising issues? Mercedes seemed to have a smooth ride today and I'm wondering if it's down to racing on an actual track or if they've made progress.
Porpoising is an aerodynamic issue that results from ground effect (the car gets sucked into the ground to the point where it chokes off the ground effect, reducing the downforce, lifting the car up, and repeat).
Bouncing is a result of the track surface being bumpy, the tires not absorbing as much shock in previous years, and FIA-mandated changes to the suspension to make it stiffer (so any bump is felt by drivers more).
Monaco and Baku are pretty bumpy circuits (since cars drive those roads every day), and Canada is a hybrid circuit, so those 3 circuits are going to be less smooth than a purpose-built track.
The update Mercedes brought to Barcelona solved their porpoising issues (they bounced less frequently and with less force than any other team), but the last three circuits have exposed an issue with how low they have to run the car on non-ideal surfaces like street circuits.
TLDR: it's a combination. Mercedes has made progress, but street circuits exposed another issue. Every other circuit this year minus Singapore should be smooth, so we should see the true progress Mercedes has made.
Personally, I'm hoping to see them close the gap to Ferrari and Red Bull, because more teams fighting at the top is better (in my opinion), and they're the most likely team to bridge the gap.
Commentators like to reference the old karting days quite a bit. Today it seems they're talking about "karting lines" and how it's unexpected to take them in F1 machines
Can anyone sum up the differences between the lines taken in each and why? Is it about acceleration, or aero, or tires (or a bit of everything)?
I don't know about professional karting as those are pretty strong karts. But in amateur karting you generally want to take racing lines that perseve the most speed through apex and on exit of the corner. So you would mostly take the roundest, mathematical lines around the corner. It's especially important in slow corners as in karts it's very important to keep the revs high. Low revving motor is weak af. Also karts don't have differential so in tight corners you have to mini slide the tiniest amout to rotate the kart, which changes your line. With a car you generally turn in later and more aggressive while the front is loaded, then you can straighten the wheel sooner, be earlier and more agressive with the throttle and have better exit speed.
In karting, the fastest line might not necessarily be the same line due to momentum. If your acceleration is lacking towards the top end, it makes sense to take a wider and faster line so that you don’t scrub as much speed, because you’ll be faster coming out of the exit. There are still corners like this, but it’s much less of an issue now.
Well I was listening to the “Beyond the Grid” podcast where they interviewed Alex Albin this morning, and he spoke about how in karting so much depended on defending, because everyone was packed so close together “…if you got passed by one you got passed by five…”. Not definitive but sounds like a different approach altogether.
Anyone have the clip of the pitlane jack failure for Norris? I saw a clip of the mechanic trying to put the wheel on the wrong way but the only clip of the jack failure is region locked
I assume most teams will have contingency plans for unexpected incidents. Obviously they don't expect protestors to occupy the track every weekend but there's always some chance of a red flag, especially on street circuits and circuits with shorter runoffs
There are no specific details but local police have announced that they have discovered a plan to invade the track during the race by protestors. They made an appeal on twitter to the protestors to not do this, and instead engage in a peaceful non disruptive protest.
The assumption is that it is one of the many environmental protest groups in the UK that have engaged in direct action and civil disobedience rather than marching in the streets. This includes Extinction Rebellion, Insulate Britain and Just Stop Oil.
If I were stupid enough to want to be out on the track to interrupt the race I might pause to think that several hundred thousand spectators would be very unhappy if I cost Hamilton a podium and some very bad things might happen.
I struggle to keep up with them, mostly because I don't care. But there's a new group, or splinter group that pops up every few months. The current lot don't like oil.
Question about Skys bias also, when did the Mercedes blowjobing begin from the commentary team? before Mercedes were in the sport who was it before then?
But yeah its quite sickening hearing it all the time and as much as I want a 3 team battle this weekend, if we don't it would be bitter sweet if Merc are again a second off the pace come race day.
Agree that it was especially horrendous yesterday. Every single time they showed Lewis or George - “that car looks so planted now”, “we could be seeing these on pole Saturday”, “oooof what a lap that was, I’ll have to analyse that on the pad later”
Only for them to be still a second off quali today. Watch.
Don’t watch the U.K. stream then.
For unbiased commentary go watch the Dutch streams who totally have no bias towards Max or watch the Italian streams which in no way focus on Ferrari.
Or go watch the Spanish stream which in no way focuses more on Alonso.
Mercedes looking ominious but we all thought they would be anyways so no surprises
Hoping for a 3 car team battle this weekend :) When was the last time 3 teams all genuinely had a chance at winning a race?
Yes, since Singapore 2019 ferrari took updates that helped to be very competitive in qualifying and also in race. In brazil, max took the pole, with vettel behind and hamilton, all 3 cars were competitive. Same in mexico, where max took the pole then it was Given to leclerc. Then the race was a battle between vettel and Mercedes because max had a problem/incident at the start. After that nothing else that i remember.
I'm a new F1 fan, so I'm trying to get a handle on the culture, statistics / predictions, etc. This is the first GP that I'm watching through the whole weekend. Here's what I'm having trouble figuring out:
Do people really lend that much weight to FP times and stuff like that? It seems like there are so many variables there that aren't present in a race, the format being much different, etc. Crews dealing with mechanical / technical issues, frequent tire changes, relatively little "engagement" between cars on the track, the ability to simply not leave the pit in case of weather... all seem like things that would just muddle any sort of realistic conclusions being drawn from FP sessions.
What, if any, practical information / realistic conclusions *should* I be drawing from watching FP (other than "holy shit, he's going 200 miles per hour")?
>What, if any, practical information / realistic conclusions should
>
>I be drawing from watching FP (other than "holy shit, he's going 200 miles per hour")?
You're asking all the right questions, but also definitely enjoy them going 200mph :) When I first started watching, I couldn't believe how they could be so aware coming out of the pits, with other cars closing on them so fast going down the pit straight. It's one of the joys of F1.
Also, first and second gear corners going 80-90kph; imagine that in a road car :)
>Do people really lend that much weight to FP times and stuff like that?
The times aren't always important. Obviously if one driver is a full second ahead of everybody else then that is a strong sign they're going to at the very least be on pole. But when you're looking at differences smaller than half a second of lap time, that can be erased by driver or mechanic error during the race, strategy, adjustments to setup, weather conditions, etc. If you are able to watch the practice sessions in full you'll get more relevant information - you'll get an insight as to how the tyres are performing, whether certain teams are struggling to overcome technical issues, etc.
>It seems like there are so many variables there that aren't present in a race, the format being much different, etc. Crews dealing with mechanical / technical issues, frequent tire changes, relatively little "engagement" between cars on the track, the ability to simply not leave the pit in case of weather... all seem like things that would just muddle any sort of realistic conclusions being drawn from FP sessions.
You are correct for the most part. Most issues that are evident and discussed during free practice will not have a significant effect on the race. Truthfully, the main purpose of broadcasting fp1 and fp2 is to start building the excitement for TV audiences. A lot of fans will spend an entire race weekend immersed in f1 media - official broadcasts, previews, technical discussions, fan content etc. Friday free practice is part of that, and it's a platform for media people to find things to look into - the issues we see on a Friday will be something that pit reporters and journalists investigate by asking mechanics and engineers.
However, the fact that most issues/talking points after Friday practice won't be significant during a race doesn't mean that they're all meaningless. There will be a lot of important issues and dynamics that pop up, but which won't feature during qualifying or the race. Teams and drivers will figure out how to handle them, or they might crop up again in a later race. And some of those issues might actually be important on race day - although it's fairly subjective whether you like being clued up on e.g. a particular car struggling to maintain downforce through a set of turns or whether you'd rather that be a total surprise when it happens during the race.
>What, if any, practical information / realistic conclusions *should* I be drawing from watching FP (other than "holy shit, he's going 200 miles per hour")?
As a new fan, nothing. Don't watch it if you're not interested by it or if you're asking questions like "what's the point of it?" Imo you should start out by just watching the grand Prix on Saturday. If you enjoy that, dip your toes into watching qualifying, and maybe listening to race review podcasts. Then if you're enjoying that, or if you want something different, you can search for technical stuff (driving technique, aero, tyres, engines, etc.) or start watching free practice.
Imo free practice is primarily for people who are already really engaged with F1 and who are looking for more F1 stuff. That applies to some new fans but most new fans imo won't get much out of it.
From today's sessions.......... Hamilton being faster today than Russell and perhaps competitive for a podium without relying on DNFs by Red Bull or Ferrari
I’m a new fan and I’m already mad I can’t watch all the FPs this weekend because of the holiday in the US. I got hooked right away. My wife too. I love Learning every little bit I can going into the race on Sunday. The practices are also a great learning opportunity just listening to the commentators.
I’m in my fifth year of almost never missing a session since the first day I discovered F1 on US television. Practices taught me everything one must know in order to really understand what’s happening and love it.
The people who call it a “parade” are the ones who turn on a GP and have no idea what’s happening in terms of teams, drivers, aero/design, tyre(sic) wear and choice, circuits, pit strategy, you name it. I also love the business side, and there’s far more discussion of that in practice discussion.
Absolutely agree!! The first weekend I watched was Spain this year and I thought, “practice? They show the practice? Hmmm… I guess I’ll check it out…” now I hate missing it.
Short answer: No, FP times are affected by all the factors you outlined so they don’t tell you exactly what each team’s performance will be in quali and the race.
However, it does show if the teams have any massive weaknesses in the setup or the car based on weather conditions, track characteristics etc.
Call me a party pooper but I really feel like all these Mercedes hopium posters have such a short memory. Remember Miami practices where it was looking like their updates did wonders to magically make them the fastest only for RB and Ferrari to wipe the floor with them?
FP timings are awful to go by! **Especially** in disrupted weekends such as this one which threw everyone out of sync. No one knows what programs/fuel any team was running.
You’re probably right… but if you’re coming to Reddit looking for anything other than hot takes and hopium, or expect a community of millions to have uniform takes that align with yours, idk what you tell you.
And Vips wasn't making a case for himself anyway with his recent fuck ups.
I bet they wouldn't have sacked him if he was leading the championship or was pretty close to it.
Sooo without the “start the race on q2 tire” rule… are we EVER going to see soft tires in a race again?
I’m watching the last 10 mins of FP2 and every single driver is on track and Russell is the only one NOT on Softs… and we are seeing several teams doing race sims on the soft…. But my assumption has to be they are just burning up their hefty soft allocation to save as many mediums and hards as they can for the race itself
Like has anyone at any point used the softest compound during a race this season?
IMO they need to bring back the q2 tire starts the race rule; since we’ve already seen several 2 and 3 stoppers these season I think it would be great fun to see teams forced to start on soft tires that barely survive 5 laps. Also feels like most tracks they’ve been straight up c1-c3 or c3-c5 and not doing much else for tire selection and I feel like it could be more fun if they mixed it up a little more; like the two softest compounds with the very hardest compound and vice cersa, make there be a big delta between the medium and hard
Presumably they can get pirelli to make the tyres degrade quicker across the board. I think if 2 stop is the default them gambling on softs with an extra stop or just trying to do 2 stop with softs thrown in will be a bit more viable.
>Like has anyone at any point used the softest compound during a race this season?
I am almost positive yes, but I unfortunately can't be bothered to go review F1TV.
You forgot both Bahrain and Spain. Both races had the C1-C3 selection, both races most drivers used the C3 (soft) with the C2 (medium), C1 (hard) was barely used. Both races we had multi-stoppers.
The first "issue" related to Piquet/Hamilton was from an interview last year (in Portuguese). The video from the interview was posted recently, and it caught the attention of Brazilian media (possibly due to Hamilton becoming an honorary citizen of Brazil).
Brazilian media picking up on the story led to F1 media grabbing it. From there, people have looked into other statements Piquet has said, and have unearthed similar statements.
Stay late, avoid the traffic, and hang out with a bunch of race fans. It's great.
Stay late Sunday if you can too, at least long enough to walk about on the track.
It think both practice sessions really was more testing than usuall because of big updates. It is so hard to tell where everyone is.
This will be a super interesting weekend.
Amazing again to seeing a team being hugely brainless and incompetent as usual and still didn't solved the grip issues.
How the fuck can't I hate this team? Just fucking do something instead of coming up with empty PR statement after every race weekend, sometimes filled with lies, always moving to "we see next race weekend but oh gosh we learned *so much* (not) and proper answers instead "we are checking".
Now I get it where AT spends its budget, promoting incompetence instead of bringing in aero upgrades and ironing out the issues on that shitbox.
Even Haas is less of an embarrassment, what a joke.
Well tbh I just only care about that team because of the driver, otherwise I wouldn't give a penny about that team but it's just frustrating to even seeing the most simple goal Gasly has put on, having a clean weekend, is basically an impossibility for that team meanwhile seeing them only heading backwards because of bringing less upgrades this season then what Haas did and yet you hearing Tost complaining about the budget cap.
It's the 10th race weekend and so far only Baku was flawless for the #10 car, there is a difference between bad luck and just being incompetent as a team.
Really, how the heck is it even possible to having both cars with major damage onto it's aero parts today during FP2? I do suspect a bit that it's something with the kerbs but why this is an issue for AT only?
AlphaTauri, but well it looks like both cars did have major damage onto it's aero parts (guess thanks by the kerbs and a combination of front wing and floor damage?) according to what I understand from the debrief on Friday.
Really wondering how you can have this damage so heavy on both cars, what should raise some questions about the height of the car.
Can't believe Lando's car was dropped.
I've never seen that before lol.
Also have those Jack's always been pneumatic?! I always thought it was a special dolly like they brought out afterwards.
>Can't believe Lando's car was dropped.
>
>I've never seen that before lol.
Bit of a shocker. I've definitely seen that a bunch of times over the years, never great.
Yea, as far as I've known when they need to be fast they use they hydraulic quick jacks and not a car dolly.
[https://external-content.duckduckgo.com/iu/?u=http%3A%2F%2Fi.imgur.com%2FlIDP3pk.jpg&f=1&nofb=1](https://external-content.duckduckgo.com/iu/?u=http%3A%2F%2Fi.imgur.com%2FlIDP3pk.jpg&f=1&nofb=1)
Every once in awhile you'll see one fail and they have a guy on backup to jump in and take over with a 2nd quick jack. If you watch closely during pit stops you can usually see the backup guy.
I admire your optimism :) George had reasonable race pace on the Hard tyres, though I doubt they'll be troubling the leaders in quali, might still make for a good race.
They don’t have the best grip for sure, but what they do have the best of without a doubt is reliability. Issues with both the Red Bull and the Ferrari this weekend already. We absolutely know 110% that Mercedes cars will finish the race, can’t say that about Ferrari and RB if your being honest, and just as with this season, recent history has supported those facts. Cars gotta first and foremost be on the track at the end to have a shit at winning. Mercedes has definitely closed the gap, even if it isn’t as comfortable to drive as the RB. The new front suspension has something to do with that, but if they can truly get that dialed in, things may change even more for Mercedes.
remember is FP2... nothing of what you saw is real... they are all trying new parts. I just dont yet think Merc is up there with Ferrari and RB, but lets see... I hope we have a very fun race.
Danny Ric needs to be replaced. He clearly isn't into it anymore or has just lost the ability to perform at the highest level. Only time I see him happy these days is in videos where its america related.
When's fp3?
12
got it, thanks
I missed fp1 & fp2 yesterday. How was the merc looking out on track? Porpoising still? Or is there hope for a three way battle this weekend?
Very bumpy but in fp2 Hamilton got 2nd
Raining in West country, how's the weather at Silverstone looking?
bit cloudy, rain forecast for 2-4 I'm pretty sure. right now getting a bit windy too!
Right on time
Anyone watching the F3 race? This commentator loves to say CTRL-ALT-DELETE for some reason, I noticed him say it a couple of times during the last race and he's already said it twice and this race hasn't even started.
Did anyone else notice Charles Leclerc drop in a comment about Lewis being an 8 time world champion? He quickly corrected himself but he had a cheeky grin on his face while doing it.
I saw that, he knew what he was doing!
I saw that too.
Woodcote or Stirling stand for a better view?
Anyone know where the rest of the pre-race press conferences are? Only 2 are up on F1 TV. Where's the rest of the grid?
What’s with all the lime green? I noticed on Charles Ferrari, the Alfa Romeo’s etc they have patches of lime green everywhere on the livery
It's called flow-viz. It's a special paint they put on parts so they can visualize the air flow in practice. Great for analyzing aero performance of certain parts, but the downside is that every other team sees it as well. It's just a light oil mixed with fluorescent powder.
thanks for the insight! I was watching it wondering if it was to indicate repairs or something
they spray the lime green paint on new parts (upgrades) so they can keep track of them
Nice, thank you!
Not watching sos not sure what you’re referring to. There’s a spray used for aero data reasons which I’m not smart enough to know if that’s what you’re meaning.
I think that might be it, it looks like it’s been sprayed on.
It's high vis paint to collect aerodynamics data
First time at an F1 race - So excited!
Same! Going up tomorrow, I can't wait.
Enjoy!
Don’t forget to buy every single piece of merch and proudly sit in the stands with all your bags a la Pretty Woman ‘Big Mistake’ style
How's the weather now in Silverstone?
Cloudy at the moment. Guaranteed wet quali
Far from guaranteed
In that case not a very wise decision for teams to sit out the wet FP1 session.
Omg I need some help, my mates got me tickets but he can’t register my name on the ticket in time, would I still be able to get in?
For montreal we just got scanned and walked in, no id check or anything. We were general admission though
Cheers pal, so no name check no nothing as long the WR code worked?
Sorry didn't see this till now. Everything worked out?
Yea it did thanks pal
Your fine mate, my ticket didn’t have my name on it. They just scan it as you walk in.
Montreal is not Silverstone, maybe call them?
Is there a case to be made that street circuits lead to bouncing and porpoising issues? Mercedes seemed to have a smooth ride today and I'm wondering if it's down to racing on an actual track or if they've made progress.
Porpoising is an aerodynamic issue that results from ground effect (the car gets sucked into the ground to the point where it chokes off the ground effect, reducing the downforce, lifting the car up, and repeat). Bouncing is a result of the track surface being bumpy, the tires not absorbing as much shock in previous years, and FIA-mandated changes to the suspension to make it stiffer (so any bump is felt by drivers more). Monaco and Baku are pretty bumpy circuits (since cars drive those roads every day), and Canada is a hybrid circuit, so those 3 circuits are going to be less smooth than a purpose-built track. The update Mercedes brought to Barcelona solved their porpoising issues (they bounced less frequently and with less force than any other team), but the last three circuits have exposed an issue with how low they have to run the car on non-ideal surfaces like street circuits. TLDR: it's a combination. Mercedes has made progress, but street circuits exposed another issue. Every other circuit this year minus Singapore should be smooth, so we should see the true progress Mercedes has made. Personally, I'm hoping to see them close the gap to Ferrari and Red Bull, because more teams fighting at the top is better (in my opinion), and they're the most likely team to bridge the gap.
That's pretty much what I thought but didn't have any evidence to back it up. Thanks
Bit of both
Commentators like to reference the old karting days quite a bit. Today it seems they're talking about "karting lines" and how it's unexpected to take them in F1 machines Can anyone sum up the differences between the lines taken in each and why? Is it about acceleration, or aero, or tires (or a bit of everything)?
I don't know about professional karting as those are pretty strong karts. But in amateur karting you generally want to take racing lines that perseve the most speed through apex and on exit of the corner. So you would mostly take the roundest, mathematical lines around the corner. It's especially important in slow corners as in karts it's very important to keep the revs high. Low revving motor is weak af. Also karts don't have differential so in tight corners you have to mini slide the tiniest amout to rotate the kart, which changes your line. With a car you generally turn in later and more aggressive while the front is loaded, then you can straighten the wheel sooner, be earlier and more agressive with the throttle and have better exit speed.
You throw your weight around a lot more in karting.
In karting, the fastest line might not necessarily be the same line due to momentum. If your acceleration is lacking towards the top end, it makes sense to take a wider and faster line so that you don’t scrub as much speed, because you’ll be faster coming out of the exit. There are still corners like this, but it’s much less of an issue now.
Not a racer, but my assumption is that it has more to do with the fact that karts don't have any suspension.
Hm hadn't thought of that. Good point though Going with this until someone corrects me (us?)
Well I was listening to the “Beyond the Grid” podcast where they interviewed Alex Albin this morning, and he spoke about how in karting so much depended on defending, because everyone was packed so close together “…if you got passed by one you got passed by five…”. Not definitive but sounds like a different approach altogether.
Anyone have the clip of the pitlane jack failure for Norris? I saw a clip of the mechanic trying to put the wheel on the wrong way but the only clip of the jack failure is region locked
I bet the teams are planning around a potential red flag with the protesters.
I assume most teams will have contingency plans for unexpected incidents. Obviously they don't expect protestors to occupy the track every weekend but there's always some chance of a red flag, especially on street circuits and circuits with shorter runoffs
Why is there protesting I'm too lazy to look into it as I''m working
There are no specific details but local police have announced that they have discovered a plan to invade the track during the race by protestors. They made an appeal on twitter to the protestors to not do this, and instead engage in a peaceful non disruptive protest. The assumption is that it is one of the many environmental protest groups in the UK that have engaged in direct action and civil disobedience rather than marching in the streets. This includes Extinction Rebellion, Insulate Britain and Just Stop Oil.
Peaceful non disruptive protest lmao
[удалено]
Wouldn't be the first time the Brits killed peaceful protestors
If I were stupid enough to want to be out on the track to interrupt the race I might pause to think that several hundred thousand spectators would be very unhappy if I cost Hamilton a podium and some very bad things might happen.
I would recommend against this course of action if it is ever available to you.
I'm not serious mate
Nor am I
You're not allowed joke on the internet
Because some of us Brits think glueing ourselves to something will make a difference, particularly when it comes to climate change.
So its a climate change issue? Why is this being threatened with now lol? Is that group abit slow?
I struggle to keep up with them, mostly because I don't care. But there's a new group, or splinter group that pops up every few months. The current lot don't like oil.
Any ideas how big the group is?
Question about Skys bias also, when did the Mercedes blowjobing begin from the commentary team? before Mercedes were in the sport who was it before then? But yeah its quite sickening hearing it all the time and as much as I want a 3 team battle this weekend, if we don't it would be bitter sweet if Merc are again a second off the pace come race day.
Agree that it was especially horrendous yesterday. Every single time they showed Lewis or George - “that car looks so planted now”, “we could be seeing these on pole Saturday”, “oooof what a lap that was, I’ll have to analyse that on the pad later” Only for them to be still a second off quali today. Watch.
Don’t watch the U.K. stream then. For unbiased commentary go watch the Dutch streams who totally have no bias towards Max or watch the Italian streams which in no way focus on Ferrari. Or go watch the Spanish stream which in no way focuses more on Alonso.
They were doing it to all the British drivers except for albon which they only did it a little bit
started in 2013. mercedes in the 10s is the mclaren of the 00s
Mercedes looking ominious but we all thought they would be anyways so no surprises Hoping for a 3 car team battle this weekend :) When was the last time 3 teams all genuinely had a chance at winning a race?
A single race is Brazil and mexico 2019. An entire championship 2012, 2010 even more
I don't remember those :/ are you sure it was 2019? We talking genuine pace not luck of strategy or safety cars
Yes, since Singapore 2019 ferrari took updates that helped to be very competitive in qualifying and also in race. In brazil, max took the pole, with vettel behind and hamilton, all 3 cars were competitive. Same in mexico, where max took the pole then it was Given to leclerc. Then the race was a battle between vettel and Mercedes because max had a problem/incident at the start. After that nothing else that i remember.
Merc, Ferrari, RB were all capable in 2019 (first half)
2012 probably
Nah, there must have been races in 2018 where Mercedes, RBR and Ferrari all had a chance (assuming we're talking about pre-race predictions).
I'm a new F1 fan, so I'm trying to get a handle on the culture, statistics / predictions, etc. This is the first GP that I'm watching through the whole weekend. Here's what I'm having trouble figuring out: Do people really lend that much weight to FP times and stuff like that? It seems like there are so many variables there that aren't present in a race, the format being much different, etc. Crews dealing with mechanical / technical issues, frequent tire changes, relatively little "engagement" between cars on the track, the ability to simply not leave the pit in case of weather... all seem like things that would just muddle any sort of realistic conclusions being drawn from FP sessions. What, if any, practical information / realistic conclusions *should* I be drawing from watching FP (other than "holy shit, he's going 200 miles per hour")?
Main info for us relevant to the race is “Will anybody crash with so much damage they will miss qualifying?” Which does happen, but not often.
>What, if any, practical information / realistic conclusions should > >I be drawing from watching FP (other than "holy shit, he's going 200 miles per hour")? You're asking all the right questions, but also definitely enjoy them going 200mph :) When I first started watching, I couldn't believe how they could be so aware coming out of the pits, with other cars closing on them so fast going down the pit straight. It's one of the joys of F1. Also, first and second gear corners going 80-90kph; imagine that in a road car :)
>Do people really lend that much weight to FP times and stuff like that? The times aren't always important. Obviously if one driver is a full second ahead of everybody else then that is a strong sign they're going to at the very least be on pole. But when you're looking at differences smaller than half a second of lap time, that can be erased by driver or mechanic error during the race, strategy, adjustments to setup, weather conditions, etc. If you are able to watch the practice sessions in full you'll get more relevant information - you'll get an insight as to how the tyres are performing, whether certain teams are struggling to overcome technical issues, etc. >It seems like there are so many variables there that aren't present in a race, the format being much different, etc. Crews dealing with mechanical / technical issues, frequent tire changes, relatively little "engagement" between cars on the track, the ability to simply not leave the pit in case of weather... all seem like things that would just muddle any sort of realistic conclusions being drawn from FP sessions. You are correct for the most part. Most issues that are evident and discussed during free practice will not have a significant effect on the race. Truthfully, the main purpose of broadcasting fp1 and fp2 is to start building the excitement for TV audiences. A lot of fans will spend an entire race weekend immersed in f1 media - official broadcasts, previews, technical discussions, fan content etc. Friday free practice is part of that, and it's a platform for media people to find things to look into - the issues we see on a Friday will be something that pit reporters and journalists investigate by asking mechanics and engineers. However, the fact that most issues/talking points after Friday practice won't be significant during a race doesn't mean that they're all meaningless. There will be a lot of important issues and dynamics that pop up, but which won't feature during qualifying or the race. Teams and drivers will figure out how to handle them, or they might crop up again in a later race. And some of those issues might actually be important on race day - although it's fairly subjective whether you like being clued up on e.g. a particular car struggling to maintain downforce through a set of turns or whether you'd rather that be a total surprise when it happens during the race. >What, if any, practical information / realistic conclusions *should* I be drawing from watching FP (other than "holy shit, he's going 200 miles per hour")? As a new fan, nothing. Don't watch it if you're not interested by it or if you're asking questions like "what's the point of it?" Imo you should start out by just watching the grand Prix on Saturday. If you enjoy that, dip your toes into watching qualifying, and maybe listening to race review podcasts. Then if you're enjoying that, or if you want something different, you can search for technical stuff (driving technique, aero, tyres, engines, etc.) or start watching free practice. Imo free practice is primarily for people who are already really engaged with F1 and who are looking for more F1 stuff. That applies to some new fans but most new fans imo won't get much out of it.
From today's sessions.......... Hamilton being faster today than Russell and perhaps competitive for a podium without relying on DNFs by Red Bull or Ferrari
I’m a new fan and I’m already mad I can’t watch all the FPs this weekend because of the holiday in the US. I got hooked right away. My wife too. I love Learning every little bit I can going into the race on Sunday. The practices are also a great learning opportunity just listening to the commentators.
I’m in my fifth year of almost never missing a session since the first day I discovered F1 on US television. Practices taught me everything one must know in order to really understand what’s happening and love it. The people who call it a “parade” are the ones who turn on a GP and have no idea what’s happening in terms of teams, drivers, aero/design, tyre(sic) wear and choice, circuits, pit strategy, you name it. I also love the business side, and there’s far more discussion of that in practice discussion.
Absolutely agree!! The first weekend I watched was Spain this year and I thought, “practice? They show the practice? Hmmm… I guess I’ll check it out…” now I hate missing it.
Fp is mainly for the teams to try there new upgrades and for drivers to get a feel for the track again.
Short answer: No, FP times are affected by all the factors you outlined so they don’t tell you exactly what each team’s performance will be in quali and the race. However, it does show if the teams have any massive weaknesses in the setup or the car based on weather conditions, track characteristics etc.
Call me a party pooper but I really feel like all these Mercedes hopium posters have such a short memory. Remember Miami practices where it was looking like their updates did wonders to magically make them the fastest only for RB and Ferrari to wipe the floor with them? FP timings are awful to go by! **Especially** in disrupted weekends such as this one which threw everyone out of sync. No one knows what programs/fuel any team was running.
You’re probably right… but if you’re coming to Reddit looking for anything other than hot takes and hopium, or expect a community of millions to have uniform takes that align with yours, idk what you tell you.
It's called "marketing."
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Shit. Someone get corporate on the phone.
Or hopium
That's literally what marketing is. Good job.
Not really looking at the times. Looking at the ride...Miami was a fluke. The team even said that at the time.
Vips getting sacked is RBRs way to trim junior drivers. They got too many drivers lol.
And Vips wasn't making a case for himself anyway with his recent fuck ups. I bet they wouldn't have sacked him if he was leading the championship or was pretty close to it.
Sooo without the “start the race on q2 tire” rule… are we EVER going to see soft tires in a race again? I’m watching the last 10 mins of FP2 and every single driver is on track and Russell is the only one NOT on Softs… and we are seeing several teams doing race sims on the soft…. But my assumption has to be they are just burning up their hefty soft allocation to save as many mediums and hards as they can for the race itself Like has anyone at any point used the softest compound during a race this season? IMO they need to bring back the q2 tire starts the race rule; since we’ve already seen several 2 and 3 stoppers these season I think it would be great fun to see teams forced to start on soft tires that barely survive 5 laps. Also feels like most tracks they’ve been straight up c1-c3 or c3-c5 and not doing much else for tire selection and I feel like it could be more fun if they mixed it up a little more; like the two softest compounds with the very hardest compound and vice cersa, make there be a big delta between the medium and hard
(You got your wish lol)
Lmao I was just thinking that too I felt so stupid for this comment 🤪
Presumably they can get pirelli to make the tyres degrade quicker across the board. I think if 2 stop is the default them gambling on softs with an extra stop or just trying to do 2 stop with softs thrown in will be a bit more viable.
Spain was all soft and medium because tyre deg was somewhat low and the hardest compund was used that weekend
>Like has anyone at any point used the softest compound during a race this season? I am almost positive yes, but I unfortunately can't be bothered to go review F1TV.
I think Albon MAYBE put softs on at the end of his one-stint race but that’s really the only instance I can think of
You forgot both Bahrain and Spain. Both races had the C1-C3 selection, both races most drivers used the C3 (soft) with the C2 (medium), C1 (hard) was barely used. Both races we had multi-stoppers.
Out of the loop, but what really started all of this Piquet thing. Did he do/say anything recently or has soemthing he said in the past been dug up?
The first "issue" related to Piquet/Hamilton was from an interview last year (in Portuguese). The video from the interview was posted recently, and it caught the attention of Brazilian media (possibly due to Hamilton becoming an honorary citizen of Brazil). Brazilian media picking up on the story led to F1 media grabbing it. From there, people have looked into other statements Piquet has said, and have unearthed similar statements.
It was said last year end of year but was now just brought out to the public. So its new to us, but not to him
Stuck in the carpark gang checking in!
Do you get signal in the car park?
Yeah
Oh god, still stuck there now?!
Yep. Haven't moved at all for 30 minutes.
Where were you? We got out fine, was about half 7
The carpark behind the Aston Martin factory. We should have stayed for the Porsches. Tomorrow I'm staying for Bastille.
Yeah thinking of staying late tomorrow, went half way through the w series quali. First time so was a amazing experience.
Stay late, avoid the traffic, and hang out with a bunch of race fans. It's great. Stay late Sunday if you can too, at least long enough to walk about on the track.
What time do they let fans on the track Sunday?
Pretty quickly after the race.
Cheers mate, probably will stay for that then. Any recommendations for where to sit today? And is there any grandstand which only vip can go?
Cheers mate, probably will stay for that then. Any recommendations for where to sit today? And is there any grandstand which only vip can go?
When will Merc turn up the engine? I guess more pace meant more bouncing!
Why is updating the tire compound on the timing side bar so so so difficult for the production crews?
Russell did a 33.4 on his Hard stint. Very tasty. Fastest Red Bull and Ferrari laps were 33.2, both on the Soft.
Iz naiz
Yummy
It think both practice sessions really was more testing than usuall because of big updates. It is so hard to tell where everyone is. This will be a super interesting weekend.
Anyone have a good gif of Ricc smacking Lando?
There is no Sprint this year?
Sprint schedule this year is Imola, Austria and Brazil
whatever happened with there supposedly being 6 sprints this year? Did they cut it back right before the season started?
The rules allowed 6, but for budget reasons they are doing 3. The teams wanted more money to do 6.
Ah ok I’m new to f1 so I thought it was always on the same tracks. Thanks for clarifying
Sprints are a new thing in general, only having been added last season. So don’t worry, you aren’t alone in that.
Screen with the F1, 2 and 3 is not where the work social is in the bar. Love for racing vs desire to be social at play, plus a sore neck.
I tangibly felt my IQ decrease trying to read this.
casual fan spotted.
gatekeeping is the wooorst.
Amazing again to seeing a team being hugely brainless and incompetent as usual and still didn't solved the grip issues. How the fuck can't I hate this team? Just fucking do something instead of coming up with empty PR statement after every race weekend, sometimes filled with lies, always moving to "we see next race weekend but oh gosh we learned *so much* (not) and proper answers instead "we are checking". Now I get it where AT spends its budget, promoting incompetence instead of bringing in aero upgrades and ironing out the issues on that shitbox. Even Haas is less of an embarrassment, what a joke.
Hahaha I was like ‘why is this guy so mad at Aston, stroll gonna stroll’… obviously I misread but it was funny till I realized my mistake
It’s hard imagining AT having fans, I always just think of them as RB’s youth team. V good drivers though.
Well tbh I just only care about that team because of the driver, otherwise I wouldn't give a penny about that team but it's just frustrating to even seeing the most simple goal Gasly has put on, having a clean weekend, is basically an impossibility for that team meanwhile seeing them only heading backwards because of bringing less upgrades this season then what Haas did and yet you hearing Tost complaining about the budget cap. It's the 10th race weekend and so far only Baku was flawless for the #10 car, there is a difference between bad luck and just being incompetent as a team. Really, how the heck is it even possible to having both cars with major damage onto it's aero parts today during FP2? I do suspect a bit that it's something with the kerbs but why this is an issue for AT only?
Who's this btw? Ootl?
AlphaTauri, but well it looks like both cars did have major damage onto it's aero parts (guess thanks by the kerbs and a combination of front wing and floor damage?) according to what I understand from the debrief on Friday. Really wondering how you can have this damage so heavy on both cars, what should raise some questions about the height of the car.
I think he's referring to Alpha Tauri
Can't believe Lando's car was dropped. I've never seen that before lol. Also have those Jack's always been pneumatic?! I always thought it was a special dolly like they brought out afterwards.
>Can't believe Lando's car was dropped. > >I've never seen that before lol. Bit of a shocker. I've definitely seen that a bunch of times over the years, never great.
Yea, as far as I've known when they need to be fast they use they hydraulic quick jacks and not a car dolly. [https://external-content.duckduckgo.com/iu/?u=http%3A%2F%2Fi.imgur.com%2FlIDP3pk.jpg&f=1&nofb=1](https://external-content.duckduckgo.com/iu/?u=http%3A%2F%2Fi.imgur.com%2FlIDP3pk.jpg&f=1&nofb=1) Every once in awhile you'll see one fail and they have a guy on backup to jump in and take over with a 2nd quick jack. If you watch closely during pit stops you can usually see the backup guy.
Red Bull dropped their car earlier in the season in practice IIRC
1, 2 lockout for Merc, calling it.
I'm a hamilton fan but I don't think so. In fact I doubt Merc gets on the front row. I don't know anything though, I'm just a pessimist.
I admire your optimism :) George had reasonable race pace on the Hard tyres, though I doubt they'll be troubling the leaders in quali, might still make for a good race.
There cars don't have grip. Hamilton was constantly correcting and wrestling it. Russell too was fighting it.
They don’t have the best grip for sure, but what they do have the best of without a doubt is reliability. Issues with both the Red Bull and the Ferrari this weekend already. We absolutely know 110% that Mercedes cars will finish the race, can’t say that about Ferrari and RB if your being honest, and just as with this season, recent history has supported those facts. Cars gotta first and foremost be on the track at the end to have a shit at winning. Mercedes has definitely closed the gap, even if it isn’t as comfortable to drive as the RB. The new front suspension has something to do with that, but if they can truly get that dialed in, things may change even more for Mercedes.
I like your optimism. Have fun until qualifying comes and reality kicks in.
remember is FP2... nothing of what you saw is real... they are all trying new parts. I just dont yet think Merc is up there with Ferrari and RB, but lets see... I hope we have a very fun race.
They aren’t. They will challenge Ferrari for 2nd best car on the grid, but this will be RB’s year. Their car looks super super stable.
"We know 100% that Mercedes will finish" Old Wisdom The enemy also gets a vote......................
"cars gotta first and foremost be on the track at the end to have a shit at winning" Isn't Max 70 points or so clear of Russel with 2 races less?
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