[Race] 2017 FORMULA 1 VTB RUSSIAN GRAND PRIX - Grand Prix Weekend Thread

[Richard C]

Originally Posted by mikuni

There wasn't really a situation where a faster car was behind someone in a slower car to create a situation where a pass could be made.

Hopefully that speaks for itself, but I'll give a couple of examples. Hamilton had pace at certain times, but was never consistently faster than Kimi.
Max is the go to guy for passing, but he only had "the fast four" in front of him, so a passing opportunity never presented itself.
There were perhaps a couple of examples further back, but really with Massa, Perez, Ocon and Hulkenberg in that order I can't see who was going to go for the pass. Massa's tyre woes created an opportunity, but realistically put him too far behind too late in the race to make any real go at it.
The Saubers and McLaren were at the back, so no easy picking for the field either.

Add in very durable tires, so you don't have massive performance drops during a single stint. All of the above can result if race results that closely mirror qualifying. Position changes happen due to the standing start, significant driver errors and pit stop errors.

Richard

[crmalcolm]

Originally Posted by fieldodreams79

I'm still watching the race, but why would Alonso be classified ahead of Palmer and Monsieur Crashy if he didn't even start the race? Not that it really matters...

Technically, only those cars completing 90% race distance are classified. After that, they are listed in order of completed laps - so 0 for all three. Alonso's grid position was higher, so gets placed higher in the results.

[crmalcolm]

Originally Posted by Sodemo

How come Williams ran without Martini logos but there was Heineken logos littered around the trackside?

FI ran with Kingfisher sponsorship, so could it be Martini's choice to not advertise in Russia?

[chillibowl]

forgot or never had a chance to change it after Bahrain?

well spotted Sodemo!

[fieldodreams79]

Originally Posted by crmalcolm

Technically, only those cars completing 90% race distance are classified. After that, they are listed in order of completed laps - so 0 for all three. Alonso's grid position was higher, so gets placed higher in the results.

Cheers.

[crmalcolm]

Originally Posted by chillibowl

forgot or never had a chance to change it after Bahrain?

well spotted Sodemo!

Their garages only had Williams Racing on the FIA signage, not their full Williams Martini Racing.

[mikuni]

Originally Posted by Neppatsrev Xam

cars lose downforce at a larger distance than before, that's why cars behind don't seem to be consistent , when they get closer they start losing downforce.

What about Melbourne, Bahrain and China where they had no trouble following closely and even making some good passes?

[steve_r]

Originally Posted by mikuni

What about Melbourne, Bahrain and China where they had no trouble following closely and even making some good passes?

Bahrain and China are big wide circuits with very long straights heading into very slow corners, meaning that overtaking was possible. Lots of tracks will not have this, so expect to see a quite few more boring races like this one.

Cant remember much overtaking in Australia.

[F1Guy]

2017 Russian Grand Prix: Race Highlights
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xtHt...wshVEAqI2JtAje

More videos from Russia HERE. Loved the final lap onboard with Vettel.

[Adam43]

Originally Posted by steve_r

Bahrain and China are big wide circuits with very long straights heading into very slow corners, meaning that overtaking was possible. Lots of tracks will not have this, so expect to see a quite few more boring races like this one.

Cant remember much overtaking in Australia.

There wasn't much and it was a better example of being stuck behind due to aero. Russia may also have been, but it was difficult to tell due to the large gaps.

[wnut]

Originally Posted by Adam43

There wasn't much and it was a better example of being stuck behind due to aero. Russia may also have been, but it was difficult to tell due to the large gaps.

In the drivers' cool down room Vettel and Bottas were discussing how the cars were becoming loose behind other cars, Vettel was demonstrating understeer and how the car was just ploughing straight on behind another car 2 seconds ahead with no blue flag shown yet.

3 mins 40 here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=02ud2RA0ozI

[Adam43]

Yes. And for a lot of the race the gaps between drivers were double or more than the 2s mentioned.

I'm not disputing the effect, just the premise that we'd have seen loads of overtaking in Russia if it wasn't there. A race with no overtakes might have become a race with two.

[F1Guy]

F1 Russia highlights.

https://www.formula1.com/en/video/20...ssia_2017.html

[Sodemo]

Originally Posted by Adam43

Yes. And for a lot of the race the gaps between drivers were double or more than the 2s mentioned.

I'm not disputing the effect, just the premise that we'd have seen loads of overtaking in Russia if it wasn't there. A race with no overtakes might have become a race with two.

(For me) its not always about the overtakes themselves, more the possibility of an overtake, the ducking, the weaving, the planning, showing your nose to an opponent. Monaco 1992 and Imola 2005 are two such examples I can think of. You can't always "engineer" such a battle of course, however when it happens its great. Simply allowing cars to follow closer would make this kind of racing more common.

[S griffin]

Originally Posted by Sodemo

(For me) its not always about the overtakes themselves, more the possibility of an overtake, the ducking, the weaving, the planning, showing your nose to an opponent. Monaco 1992 and Imola 2005 are two such examples I can think of. You can't always "engineer" such a battle of course, however when it happens its great. Simply allowing cars to follow closer would make this kind of racing more common.

+1

[Adam43]

Again I agree (e.g. Alonso Schumacher at Imola). However people were just falling further away from the car ahead because they were just slower. At first Vettel was just slower than Bottas. Through the race, Kimi was slower than Seb and Lewis slower than Kimi. Etc... Vettel at the end was the exception and that was exciting to see him close and have the potential. Would have been nicer to get closer, but the lack of time and backmarkers stopped this before the frustration of aero could kick in.