2018 Baku GP Free Practice Sessions and Qualifying

[Kristof_F40]

Scuderia Ferrari opted for rather High downforce compared to MB & RBR.
Is High downforce an advantage if we expect strong wind during race?

My guess is higher downforce will keep the car more stable. It will also improve tyre live (but that doesn't mean that the difference in this will make a huge difference in the race). It will however slow us down on the straight..
My guess is that the biggest problem with the wind is judging braking. One mistake can loose you a lot of places considering top 6

[Kristof_F40]

Max said yesterday having higher downforce makes it even trickier in windy conditions

I thought RIC said they got so much downforce they could let the steering wheel loose and still go straight forward...

[mizf1]

hopefully the wind does not cause Max foot to oscillate on he accelerator causing a 150bhp boost

[mwk360]

F2 GP showed how important straightline top speed is because the tow and drs is massive here. seb being about 0.2 slower on the long straight i wonder if thats not enough to pass seb easily

[mwk360]

I thought RIC said they got so much downforce they could let the steering wheel loose and still go straight forward...

let me try to find the quote better.

https://redbullracing.redbull.com/ar...ali-reaction-0

With the tyres the ultrasoft is not that easy but we qualified on the supersoft so hopefully that will give us a longer first stint. The top five cars are on the supersofts so I don’t think it will offer much except we can extend the stint for longer compared to Kimi who is on the ultra, but we’ll find out.

The wind was very tricky today and is forecast to be even stronger tomorrow for the race, so we’ll have to see what that does. Aerodynamics are very sensitive to wind, it’s the same as in a plane, you can fly fast in one direction and can go faster in the other direction. The cars are very sensitive to that, we had some struggles in the corners, and the more downforce you have the more tricky the wind can be. We are still in a good position to fight from and many things are possible on this track.”

[Larry_Cule]

Ohh God...I'm so stressed....
It's gonna be really tough

[bondilad]

F2 GP showed how important straightline top speed is because the tow and drs is massive here. seb being about 0.2 slower on the long straight i wonder if thats not enough to pass seb easily

I'm not sure passing is so straight forward here. Remember last year seb keeping Hamilton behind after the restart.

[mwk360]

I'm not sure passing is so straight forward here. Remember last year seb keeping Hamilton behind after the restart.

you right but i think mercs suffered worse from following cars last year compared to this year, in melbourne(ham) and bahrain/china(bottas) could stay very close to ferrari

[Greig]

you right but i think mercs suffered worse from following cars last year compared to this year, in melbourne(ham) and bahrain/china(bottas) could stay very close to ferrari

Erm in Aus Lewis had to keep moving out of the dirty air from Seb, could not sit close. Neither could Bottas so not sure why you seem to think they did?

[mwk360]

Ohh God...I'm so stressed....
It's gonna be really tough

im more worried fia will want a merc win so they can say 3 way championship in headlines. they could have there fingers on the sc or vsc when its convenient for them

[mwk360]

Erm in Aus Lewis had to keep moving out of the dirty air from Seb, could not sit close. Neither could Bottas so not sure why you seem to think they did?

It seemed like they could keep up better now and in china bottas was so close he undercut seb in 1 lap difference

[icedeepan]

Max said yesterday having higher downforce makes it even trickier in windy conditions

For them, not for us. The Ferrari is much more balanced performance wise between the 3 sectors.

[bondilad]

It seemed like they could keep up better now and in china bottas was so close he undercut seb in 1 lap difference

I still think they have trouble following closely..... anyway let's hope seb has a good start and pulls a nice gap in sector 2. That's where the mercs are weak. They may have to defend from RB rather than attack Seb. Nobody knows.

[mwk360]

I still think they have trouble following closely..... anyway let's hope seb has a good start and pulls a nice gap in sector 2. That's where the mercs are weak. They may have to defend from RB rather than attack Seb. Nobody knows.

[Vettel165]

My opinion is that the strong wind is better for those cars who chose the high-downforce setup. With the wind the car is more unstable in the corners, and the low-downforce setup will mean so even more rear-instability. Yes on the straights it should be better with the cars who have low-downforce in the race, but trying to get a good exit out of last turn before the long straight without oversteer effect its gonna be tought. Will see, but I would prefer a straightforward race today without to much drama.

[Christopher]

hopefully the wind does not cause Max foot to oscillate on he accelerator causing a 150bhp boost

It will happen when Kimi trys to pass him

[Hornet]

I'm still trying to let it sink in... that Merc had to go for lower downforce setup in order to maintain straight line speed advantage.
You would need to check your mental health if you said this last year, but here we are today

Anyway, Vettel just need to maintain a gap to Lewis going into the final straight.
Hopefully the strong winds will cause more instability for the Merc around the corners, and they won't be able to stay close to Vettel for DRS down the straight.

[FF1]

Anyone has the straight line speed comparison of Ferrari and Mercedes on the long straight

[barzini77]

Kimi will win this. US/SS/US strategy will bring him 25 points. That'll be great.

He'll jump both Bulls during the first lap and then brings pressure to Mercs and undercuts TOP3 and runs away.



If only

[mwk360]

Anyone has the straight line speed comparison of Ferrari and Mercedes on the long straight

It was posted yesterday in this thread i believe, Mercedes have about 0.2~0.3s advantage in Sector 3 so basically the straight, none of the ferrari's were in the top ten speedtrap in Q3 either, Ferrari match Mercs in Sector 1 , faster in Sector 2 downforce section and lose time in Sector 3 mega long power straight

[mwk360]

For them, not for us. The Ferrari is much more balanced performance wise between the 3 sectors.

I hope so man

[Kristof_F40]

Such a huge slipstream here... It will be a very though race.. let's hope we can stay out of trouble

[nani_s23]

If vettel gets good start, then game is on.

Wt Ferrari can do is, disturb the mercs & RB pack with kimi aggressive strategy. That will give vettel some buffer & also if kimi has strong 1st stint mercs or RB will react promptly if there’s any chance of undercut.

So it all comes down to that start.

Kimi needs to be more effective & aggressive in the race. His best chances with those US tyres are S1, S3 coming out of T1 & T15. He will have superior grip

[mwk360]

Such a huge slipstream here... It will be a very though race.. let's hope we can stay out of trouble

Yes , I saw some clips on twitter and the slipstream is insanely powerful already in F2

[mwk360]

If vettel gets good start, then game is on.

Wt Ferrari can do is, disturb the mercs & RB pack with kimi aggressive strategy. That will give vettel some buffer & also if kimi has strong 1st stint mercs or RB will react promptly if there’s any chance of undercut.

So it all comes down to that start.

Kimi needs to be more effective & aggressive in the race. His best chances with those US tyres are S1, S3 coming out of T1 & T15. He will have superior grip

In a perfect world, Vettel has a clean smooth perfect start in P1, Max and Dani get between Mercs and Kimi's strategy has The others not sure about what to do early on giving Kimi p2 later on and Seb in P1

[Kristof_F40]

Yes , I saw some clips on twitter and the slipstream is insanely powerful already in F2

Yeah, we need to hope it is difficult for the other cars to follow, like in China.. But even then SC restarts will be a huge trouble.. Every race there seems to be a moment with 3 or more cars wide going into T1

[nani_s23]

In a perfect world, Vettel has a clean smooth perfect start in P1, Max and Dani get between Mercs and Kimi's strategy has The others not sure about what to do early on giving Kimi p2 later on and Seb in P1

Right now what we don’t need is RB jumping mercs at the start. If it happens, be prepared for the worst any one of RB can dive into vet’s Ferrari.

[mwk360]

Yeah, we need to hope it is difficult for the other cars to follow, like in China.. But even then SC restarts will be a huge trouble.. Every race there seems to be a moment with 3 or more cars wide going into T1

Yesterday the restart cost the leader in F2, cars couldn't turn into turn 1 and a lot was slipstreamed passed as well, getting the heat and energy into tyres after slow down will be huge factor. Max said Starting on US with a huge fuel load is going to cause massive deg on this circuit or something like that, i hope Ferrari pitwall is awake and ready to give Kimi the best strategy here.

[mwk360]

Right now what we don’t need is RB jumping mercs at the start. If it happens, be prepared for the worst any one of RB can dive into vet’s Ferrari.

..you right, but it could buy some time for seb to get out of drs im so nervous now flashback of china and singapore

[FerrariF60]

If vettel gets good start, then game is on.

Wt Ferrari can do is, disturb the mercs & RB pack with kimi aggressive strategy. That will give vettel some buffer & also if kimi has strong 1st stint mercs or RB will react promptly if there’s any chance of undercut.

So it all comes down to that start.

Kimi needs to be more effective & aggressive in the race. His best chances with those US tyres are S1, S3 coming out of T1 & T15. He will have superior grip

we're talking about kimi here.....he sleeps most of the reaces, remember?? he only wakes up near the end or 15 laps to go....lol