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GreenThing

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That alternative qualifying would have worked with one simple change. If the laptimes were reset for each lap, it would have taken tyre degradation out of the equation, which was the factor which made it unworkable as each consecutive lap was slower than the previous one.
 

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MickyD":3sexemlt said:
All the dimmer of them not to have thought of that themselves, then!

Yeah, on reflection they probably did think about it and my version is flawed in a way I haven’t thought of. :)
 
Dec 30, 2004
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:greensmile:

I notice in that Express article I found that they seem to think that this new sprint format is due to be trialled this very weekend, but as far as I can see that's not the case. Everything I've seen elsewhere so far says it won't be happening until Silverstone.

And in other news: The Canadian GP in June has been cancelled due to a coronavirus surge, to be replaced by Turkey... which is just about to go into its first (!) full lockdown due to a coronavirus surge, with the highest infection rates in Europe. :crazy:
 

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Thinking to the reasoning behind the soft tyre qualifying for the sprint races and can’t see any. Would they be using this as an opportunity to try other things as well? Maybe an end to starting the race on the qualifying tyres?
 
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GreenThing":17mm3v2l said:
Thinking to the reasoning behind the soft tyre qualifying for the sprint races and can’t see any. Would they be using this as an opportunity to try other things as well? Maybe an end to starting the race on the qualifying tyres?
Yes - it's only softs in quali, according to that BBC article. Then they get a free choice for the start of the two "races" - the first one is officially called "sprint qualifying". I imagine that their rationale is that softs produce the fastest times, so that should make for maximum drama in quali with no tactical worries clouding the issue in Q2.

Hamilton misses out on pole number 100 by .007 - ouch! I think he's won a few by that much and less, mind. It was all a bit messy with the wind, though - and is that why the Red Bulls was so (relatively) far behind?

Pretty amazing stats for Merc - 71st pole in 141 turbo hybrid era weekends, and tying WIlliams for third in the all time pole list - 128, but in over 500 fewer races.
 

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Micky, I was thinking that the use of the soft in qualifying and free choice in the race might be a trial to bring this in for all races, rather than a rule for the 3 sprint races only.

As for yesterday’s qualifying, the wind definitely affected the final runs and made it an anti-climax. Max’s deleted time would have given him pole and the track limit issue appeared to lose him some time, rather than be an advantage. Makes for a good race today as the wind seemed to affect the high raked cars more than the mercs, so a faster car starting 3rd should be fun.
 
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You've got to hand it to Mercedes and Hamilton - that was a superb win, even if it looked like many others by the end.

It was a bit sad that the main focus of interest later on was the extra point for fastest lap, but on the other hand it just shows what a worthwhile innovation it's been. I didn't know until this morning that Verstappen had had his point-winning time deleted, but I can't be doing with all the moaning about track limits and how unlucky someone supposedly was - "brutal," in Christian Horner's words.

I'm right with Martin Brundle, who always has his head screwed on: when gaining an advantage in speed or overtaking you're either on the legal track surface or you're not, just as a ball crossing the line by a millimetre or two is still a goal. I remember a while back when this started becoming a thing, you'd hear people saying: well, there should be some leeway given - maybe ten centimetres or so. Ridiculous! That would have been just be the same as moving the line 10cm further outwards - except now you can't actually see it - and it would inevitably have led to endless disputes because it's is no longer set in a fixed place and clearly visible to all. It's no coincidence that there are cameras placed exactly in line with all the track edges that the stewards announce they're going to be keeping a close eye on.
 

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Yep, good race with overtaking up the front to determine the win. It did peter out towards the end, but the fastest lap scenario gave us something to watch. I’m not a Hamilton fan, but I don’t mind him winning if it makes for a good race.

The track limits thing is annoying. Max crossed the line so rightly lost the fastest lap. However, Hamilton was constantly running wide in Bahrain which was gaining lap time and also less scrub on the tyres yet was allowed for a fair chunk of the race. Like you say, it needs to be consistent and the boundaries need to be the same. Why have the line as the limit on one corner but the edge of the kerb on another, then take any line you fancy on the rest??? I think the white line should be the limit and you are penalised unless it’s obvious that you made a mistake and lost time (you need this as an exception as a penalty wouldn’t be right if you have just had a trip through the gravel).
 
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Surely the rationale for varying lines for enforceable limits (and most areas of track with no limits) is that the stewards, going by their own previous experience in racing and maybe on advice from others too, will know those small areas that are advantageous to the driver if exceeded. In most places you unquestionably lose time if you go off the track, so they don't need to be monitored.
 

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I see that, but it’s the inconsistency that grates with me. At Portamao there were a few inconsistencies that jumped out. Max exceeded track limits in qualifying and lost his lap time, rightly in my opinion, but it appeared that he lost traction which would have lost a little bit of lap time. At the same corner in the race, Norris exceeded track limits, got a good run on Perez and overtook him (same corner I think, although could be wrong).

Let’s have consistent rules over the track limits. The driver’s are good enough to stick to it.
 

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Red Bull had 2 options. Respond to the merc second stop the following lap or pit 12-15 laps from the end for some soft tyres and reel him in. They did neither. It seems like Red Bull were happy to take a risk to win the race when they were looking at a few wins only and the championship was out of reach. Now the championship is a possibility, they’ve lost their bottle.
 
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For all the talk of a classic season in the making, it's interesting to read that this is Hamilton's equal best ever start - three wins and a second. It is still looking good for a close fight, of course, but I wonder if we'll soon see the cumulative effect of Red Bull and Max being just sliiiightly less brilliant all round than Merc and Lewis, and continuing to make the small mistakes that the latter so rarely make. (You feel that Hamilton's one big mistake of the year was at Imola, when by great good fortune - for him - he still finished second.) They may be very evenly matched, but if Merc just edge it time and time again it could still end up looking like another comfortable double championship come the end of the season.

Then there's the perennial problem of the RB second driver. Perez looks the best bet in a long time, but he's not quite there yet and it's already costing them. Merc have had the perfect combination for years, meaning among other things that they can often try different strategies at the front and provide a buffer to their leading car, which RB rarely have the luxury of doing. Barring some exceptional development, I think the constructors' championship is already as good as over.

Anyway... I can't wait for Monaco!