2019 Russian Grand Prix: Free Practices & Qualifying

[Tifoso Svedese]

In defense of Vettel, also Hammy is not very good in adversity either, like those losses to Button and Rosberg prove as well as his frequent struggles over one lap versus Bottas of all people. The 2007 McLaren was high-downforce and gripped really well in corners, not to mention it was the last generation of traction control, which evened out the incredible timing on the throttle Alonso has always had thereafter when he ended Piquet's, Massa's and Vandoorne's careers. Had it not been for those factors, Alonso would've trounced him just like he did in 2010-13 when our car was arguably worse than what Hammy was sitting in. Hammy is something in between Alonso and Vettel in raw ability, but for people who thinks he's better than Fernando, it's just absurd. Hammy could never ever have fought for the title in the 2010 and 2012 Ferrari's, cars in which Massa got lapped quite often. Let's keep it real. There are a lot of titles between Hammy and Seb, but none of them are on the level of the true all-commanding greats. I don't think Alonso is in the top six (Schumacher, Fangio, Senna, Prost, Clark, Ascari) but he's seventh for me, Lauda in eighth and Hammy may be ninth or tenth depending on where to put Sir Jackie.

It's a great shame we didn't get to keep Alonso on alongside Vettel because the 2017-18 cars might have given us that WDC and WCC would've been won twice for sure with that pairing.

[Infi24r]

Thats two races in a row that in years gone by Merc would have edged Ferrari to pole.

But now Leclerc is showing what the car is actually capable of.

[Infi24r]

Seb is old and cannot change his style any more while the youngster Charles has far troubles with this issue.
Seb is 32. Hardly old.

[Infi24r]

Like I suspected, Seb still struggling in some way with the car. Yes the car is a little bit more planted with the new updates, but he still hasnt got the same good feeling with the throttle and braking, as he had in his best years. I have been following him since 2007.

Today this is what happened. Seb vs Charles lap comparision.

Leclerc doens't lift completely the throttle, and is much earlier accelerating from turn 4.

This is also the cause for the slightly higher speed on the back straight and and the performance in Sector 2.

Both drivers have to do some corrections in Turn 16 and they lose time.

Every time Vettel exits a corner, he has to modulate the throttle, he can't just floor it, this is the major problem vs Leclerc, he seems to have no confidence on the rears.

https://f1ingenerale.com/f1-gp-russia-ecco-perche-vettel-non-va-come-leclerc/

I know when Ferrari and the whole team can add a little bit more rear stability and downforce to the car he will be back with a bang also in qualy. But dont know that will happen soon, and until than I expect Charles to be faster in the qualy than him. Race is an another story. This is the reality.

Seb and high drag + high downforce car Red Bull style= Much better for him
Seb and low drag + low downforce cars 2019 style= Would never suit him, as he is sensitive in this department.


Its the drivers job to adapt and the engineers job to build the fastest car. If this rocketship on the straights is what continues to deliver poles and the drivers have to modulate the back in the low/medium corners then keep doing that.

[WS6TransAm01]

I was skeptical but Charles is proving to be the read deal. If Ferrari can build a car, the team will have a bright future.

[FerrariF60]

I was skeptical but Charles is proving to be the read deal. If Ferrari can build a car, the team will have a bright future.

skeptical???? are you ^&^%$%^ kidding me??? have you not seen that he gave class to his teammate last year and how well he was driving the Alfa???

OR have you NOT seen any of the races he was doing in 2016 in Formula 2??? the skill and racecraft he has even in teh lower series

i personally NEVER doubt him when he came to Ferrari and in fact i can't thank Ferrari enough for believing in him and bringing him on board.....

yes, HE IS THE REAL DEAL!!!! AND MANY MORE GOOD THINGS ARE YET TO COME FROM THIS YOUNGSTER...

[KimiBot]

https://twitter.com/F1/status/1178026589356879872

[paolo lalli]

Says it all I TOTALLY agee.Remember the name CHARLES.

[paolo lalli]

Lewis Charles LECREC is stealing no pole positions.He is simply beating you at your own game.one has to say that he is bloody good at it.Lewis you now have a serious player that has entered the game and like you Lewis he loves to win and go fastest of all enjoy the ride Lewis and mercedes because Charles is going no where .So you better get used to it.

[Brembo]

As long as Lewis finishes 65 or more points ahead of Bottas at the end of this and the next races; he's WDC. It would take some bad DNFs to do other wise. That has to keep Charles safer from any tough moves by Lewis hat could cause anything bout say a 2,or 3rd. place finish for Lewis. I hope that Seb can do his part to hold of Bottas and R Bull if needed.

[Rishu]

https://twitter.com/F1/status/1178026589356879872

Charles had relatively poor S3, I’m sure he could’ve gone couple of tenths faster still. Incredible talent

[Tony]

Yeah, watching that video, Charles was fighting the car through a couple of the last corners... the lead would have been much bigger....

With that said, let's see the race pace... I still think Ferrari has a qualifying mode they can't reproduce in race... or maybe they just burn through their tyres faster....

[Rishu]

Yeah, watching that video, Charles was fighting the car through a couple of the last corners... the lead would have been much bigger....

With that said, let's see the race pace... I still think Ferrari has a qualifying mode they can't reproduce in race... or maybe they just burn through their tyres faster....

I’ll take Monza win as hope, Mercs had no answer on long straights.

[tifosi1993]

https://pbs.twimg.com/media/EFkUweEXoAA9D0Z.jpg

Car is now as fast as the Merc and Red Bull in slow speed corners. :clap

[tifosi1993]

skeptical???? are you ^&^%$%^ kidding me??? have you not seen that he gave class to his teammate last year and how well he was driving the Alfa???

OR have you NOT seen any of the races he was doing in 2016 in Formula 2??? the skill and racecraft he has even in teh lower series

i personally NEVER doubt him when he came to Ferrari and in fact i can't thank Ferrari enough for believing in him and bringing him on board.....

yes, HE IS THE REAL DEAL!!!! AND MANY MORE GOOD THINGS ARE YET TO COME FROM THIS YOUNGSTER...

2017 in F2. :-)
And of course, those of us who watched him in F2 always knew him to be the real deal.

Now we have another protégé in out rank. Shwartzman absolutely dominated the F3 this year, and he is definitely going to F2 next year. It would be good to have him at Prema in F2.

[Arcana]

skeptical???? are you ^&^%$%^ kidding me??? have you not seen that he gave class to his teammate last year and how well he was driving the Alfa???

OR have you NOT seen any of the races he was doing in 2016 in Formula 2??? the skill and racecraft he has even in teh lower series

i personally NEVER doubt him when he came to Ferrari and in fact i can't thank Ferrari enough for believing in him and bringing him on board.....

yes, HE IS THE REAL DEAL!!!! AND MANY MORE GOOD THINGS ARE YET TO COME FROM THIS YOUNGSTER...

I was doubtful too. Actually I imagined Seb will wipe the floor with him. Who was his team mate ? Marcus Ericsson ? Hardly a benchmark. Even if you excel in lower competitions, it's not a guarantee that you will do great in F1 - see Bourdais...

Good thing that I was completely wrong though...

[stefa]

Lewis Charles LECREC is stealing no pole positions.He is simply beating you at your own game.one has to say that he is bloody good at it.Lewis you now have a serious player that has entered the game and like you Lewis he loves to win and go fastest of all enjoy the ride Lewis and mercedes because Charles is going no where .So you better get used to it.

:clap

[From Treviso]

translated page:

https://www.translatetheweb.com/?from=it&to=en&dl=en&a=https%3A%2F%2Ff1ingenerale.com%2Ff1-gp-russia-ecco-perche-vettel-non-va-come-leclerc%2F

[chinmay]

Its the drivers job to adapt and the engineers job to build the fastest car. If this rocketship on the straights is what continues to deliver poles and the drivers have to modulate the back in the low/medium corners then keep doing that.

It is not the drivers job to adapt, the team must adapt the car to the driver. You can build the fastest car out there but if the driver can't drive it, it is useless. Ferrari adapted SF90 to suit Leclerc's driving style.

Charles Leclerc:

I started the year trying to adapt myself to the car. After a few races I understood that maybe that wasn’t the right way to go forward and I asked the team to maybe adapt a little bit more the car to my driving. Then we did quite a big step forward.

Vettel has an entirely different driving style and with current lack of downforce and rear stability, team can't do anything about it in 2019.

[Vettel165]

It is not the drivers job to adapt, the team must adapt the car to the driver. You can build the fastest car out there but if the driver can't drive it, it is useless. Ferrari adapted SF90 to suit Leclerc's driving style.

Charles Leclerc:


Vettel has an entirely different driving style and with current lack of downforce and rear stability, team can't do anything about it in 2019.

Interesting. Its quite easy now to see the real picture. They probably changed the car massively after Canada. Because before that Seb was slightly faster than Charles in qualy, but after that race something big must have happen in terms of the car. Its more suited to Leclerc style, but this is why because he has shown more potential even before than Seb this year. Both made some crucial mistakes also.

Have a strange feeling about today, worried about the start. And Seb attacking even Charles with the double slipstream. Hope he will stay behind and take it easy.

[darkchild]

Lack of downforce :rolleyes*

Now I understand whar Lewis and Alonso meant back in 2013 with "Vettel doesnt even hit apexes, yet he goes faster".

[Vettel165]

Major crash in f2 race start today.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dE5lRWgcyr0

[nani_s23]

Lack of downforce :rolleyes*

Now I understand whar Lewis and Alonso meant back in 2013 with "Vettel doesnt even hit apexes, yet he goes faster".

Lewis was never there during that period. It was Alonso.
That’s why everyone rated Alonso as the best driver of the grid by team principles even though vettel won championships. Not ham.

Also I said earlier & repeat it again. MS & Alonso are the drivers who extracted everything out of the car even if it’s not to their liking.
Ham & vettel would never match those two above, no matter how many championships they win.

One more point to be added, RB is known to produce strong chassis & more DF dependent cars. Less drag philosophy is never a concept for them.You can see that in current RB line up, every driver apart Max couldn’t handle the car well. They finding it tough to get their act. This is what happening with vettel currently Who is more dependent on car rather than his driving style.
When in 2014 DR outclassed Him, he took a move on from RB. At such situation everyone thought DR is the main deal.
But when Max arrived at RB, he’s shown Wt he’s up to Then DR made a move. Tomorrow if someone arrives at RB, who outclasses Max, the same formula goes on. It’s just RB car Design philosophy.
This is the main reason I never rated his championships so high. But when we are nowhere in 2014, he got us few pole positions & wins in 2015, 2017.

He said during an interview that 2017 car was his best choice, because it’s more DF oriented without powerful engine as now.

Yes he did mistakes, everyone accepts it. But he’s not a ordinary driver, as everyone project here.

Before arrival of Charles at Ferrari, everyone thought vettel is delivering the maximum at quali.
Now, Charles Leclerc set the barrier between himself n vettel.

Since 2007 I think at Ferrari no team-mates we’re close in points & performances. In 2019 we have it n next year too if we have a strong car, there are two drivers who can bring WDC & WCC. That’s what I as a Ferrari fan believe it.
Forza Ferrari, Leclerc, vettel. This combo can deliver much wanted title for us.