2019 Japanese GP Build Up, Practice & Qualifying thread

[PURE PASSION]

Well...long run pace doesn't look impressive. Mercedes look faster, a lot faster in fact.

Any examples ??

[nani_s23]

Can Ferrari do, quali lap before end of the session ???

[tifosi1993]

Any examples ??

On average 0.4-0.5 tenths/lap faster than Ferrari

[tifosi1993]

Can Ferrari do, quali lap before end of the session ???

Well Vettel out on track, but on new mediums

[nani_s23]

Well Vettel out on track, but on new mediums

Yeah 1.1sec down...!! So it was a quali lap.

[tifosi1993]

Yeah 1.1sec down...!! So it was a quali lap.

But only 0.6 sec slower than his soft tyre quali-sim run.

Leclerc also out on new mediums, 1:28.709, personal best sector 3 and less than 3 tenths slower than his earlier quali-sim lap

[nani_s23]

But only 0.6 sec slower than his soft tyre quali-sim run.

Leclerc also out on new mediums, 1:28.709, personal best sector 3 and less than 3 tenths slower than his earlier quali-sim lap

Yups...

Wonder ferrari will go out on softs in last 5mins

[tifosi1993]

Both Ferrari's are now out on new softs.

[nani_s23]

Ferrari out on softs

[PURE PASSION]

Outtch!!!
Couldn't even pass Ves !!!!!

[nani_s23]

Outtch!!!
Couldn't even pass Ves !!!!!

Both our cars had traffic to pass... not a good place to be.

[nani_s23]

All we could hope is quali should take place..!!

[nani_s23]

So Lec vs max on Sunday...

[PURE PASSION]

Both our cars had traffic to pass... not a good place to be.

Not sure how much it cost them. Especially for Lec.
And this was something like real qualy run decause we actually want to have a better place bacause we could start from there on Sunday!!

[tifosi1993]

So P4 and P5, if the quali get cancelled again.

But I am worried about our long run, we were nowhere near of Mercedes's long run pace.

[PURE PASSION]

So P4 and P5, if the quali get cancelled again.

But I am worried about our long run, we were nowhere near of Mercedes's long run pace.

AND RedBull from the little I saw

[jgonzalesm6]

Well, P4 and P5 if quali gets cancelled on Sunday.

[PURE PASSION]

So the 1st picture, show us that we could be 3d force in Suzuka. It was a pic before summer break.

[nani_s23]

So the 1st picture, show us that we could be 3d force in Suzuka. It was a pic before summer break.

I don’t think so

1) there were couple of .ths left either from Lec/vet, as their prep lap was not good. You could see that on board.
2) Ferrari tends to optimise their car overnight n set it up for Saturday & Sunday.

So ferrari were at disadvantage this time. Still not yet over, anything can happen on Sunday.
It’s lottery for everyone.

[FerrariFan62]

Forza Ferrari

[wisepie]

If they have to accept the FP2 times for the starting grid, we'll have it all to do to keep the Mercs and Max in our sights, there was some traffic which didn't to us any favours in FP2. Maybe if we get a proper quali session on Sunday morning, we'll be in better shape but I'm not optimistic as I'm sure there will be pressure from Toto and Horner to start with those FP2 times!

[RicRac]

Mercs are going to wipe the floor with us this weekend. Their Race pace is outstanding, and their new updates are working a little too well for my liking. Lets hope to beat Max.

side note: Max really should be on Ferrari's raidar, say what you will about the guy, but he is blisteringly fast!!!

[alfaromeo]

In Singapore Mercedes on Friday was quickest.... yes they have updates but wait for quali and race. This conclusion on Friday are too fast. Ferrari updates ? this year is game over like binotto said. They are focus 100% for a car 2020. And this gp japan yes Mercedes can win they are favorites.

[Rob]

[PURE PASSION]

Asked if the team managed to complete its programme, Charles Leclerc replied: “Not absolutely everything, but I think we made the most out of our day, which was the most important. But it seems we are lacking pace this weekend, which is a bit of a surprise because at the end we were very strong in the last four races. We expected to be quite good here, but it’s less this case. We will be working to prepare at its best for qualifying on Sunday. The balance is not that bad, we are just lacking speed. There’s a little bit in driving too. I expect it to be hard to catch Mercedes in front.” – he explained.

Unfortunately according to Charles, our lack of speed is genuine. And I was afraid of it because this was a special Friday compare to any other race bacause we dont have FP3 and we could also don't have qualy ,so every team tried almost their best especially in their qualy runs. And on our race pace we where even worst.
Hope to be pleasantly surprised on Sunday but...........

[Tifoso Svedese]

If the weather is dry on Sunday morning, why would it be called off? Seriously.

Having said that, Suzuka was always going to be the most difficult track towards the end of the season because S1 is always going to kill our car, especially on degradation and on raw corner speed and make a two-stop race a virtual must. Sadly, the Spoon is a bit too long for us to properly benefit in S2 as well. If qualifying is run, however, I think Charles will get P3 with ease using the party mode and that could lead to a chance to get to Turn 1 in a position ahead of one of the two grey cars. We should try and qualify to Q3 on mediums to be able to run a longer first stint and then get track position after the stop given we're hard to pass. If there's a SC, which is a high chance given the speed close to walls, we can then attack on softs at the end.

We should have a great shot as pole with Charles in Mexico, Brazil and Abu Dhabi. Seb's race pace can also be a factor in those places.

[The Architect]

Not really surprised with the practice form so far. The last upgrade improved cornering a bit, to the extent that the reduced cornering deficits allowed the gains on the straights to tip the balance in our favour, but Ferrari were still not the fastest in any of the real corners around Sochi (or even Singapore). Suzuka, which is dominated by long corners and not much in the way of straights was always going to be a killer. Much more work needs to be done and huge gains are required to be competitive everywhere.

[Noquarter]

“The problem of doing qualifying laps in FP2”. It is better expressed as “The problem of knowing what teams were actually doing in FP2 today”. Some may have been running their Friday power unites and gearboxes, while some might not, according to one of SKY sports pundits one particular top team according to GPS traces seen had not turned-up their engines to qualifying level at all.

[Tifoso Svedese]

“The problem of doing qualifying laps in FP2”. It is better expressed as “The problem of knowing what teams were actually doing in FP2 today”. Some may have been running their Friday power unites and gearboxes, while some might not, according to one of SKY sports pundits one particular top team according to GPS traces seen had not turned-up their engines to qualifying level at all.

Better be us. If we were behind in S2 + S3 too over one lap it'd be really evident. If we got within 0.1 s over one low-fuel lap in Silverstone, I doubt we'd be 0.4 s behind now with updates.

[Schumir9]

Better be us. If we were behind in S2 + S3 too over one lap it'd be really evident. If we got within 0.1 s over one low-fuel lap in Silverstone, I doubt we'd be 0.4 s behind now with updates.

The gap to merc on Mediums was absurd. Half a second to 1.3seconds off. Renault happened to match vettel during his medium runs however leclerc did to slightly better on mediums. Having said that I'm just genuinely surprised tifosi didn't pick the soft runs of vettel.. He not only matched Hamilton on those tyres he was lapping quicker than bottas. Leclerc was off the target laptime 1:35 given to him by the engineer. Vettel lapped in 1:34s even the commentators seemed to ignore that bit. If leclerc gets to somehow put it between the mercs come qualifying I would bet on vettel being strong in race trim. It isn't too bad considering we haven't even turned the engine up yet. Just need to qualify top 4 for both cars and it will be a lottery race if it rains.