Oh man, this weekend is going to own. FP1 was so good! This track is just as amazing in Formula cars as it is sports cars and bikes. I am so excited.
Also this weekend, race fans, is the Total 24 Hours of Spa. (free to watch on YouTube) Our cups runneth over.
Alright, newbie motorsport question:
I understand, from having watched several videos that the problem with driving behind another driver is "dirty air," especially when that air can end up overheating your engine as well. But driving super-close behind another car also allows you to take advantage of its slipstream.
So how do you figure out the difference and when driving behind someone is good and when it's bad? Is it just about how close you are to them?
So the overheating is usually (for some value) not the issue with dirty air. The dirty air reduces your downforce. You need that downforce when cornering, you don’t need the downforce on a straight (which is why the DRS allows you to open your rear wing and reduce downforce).
So to;dr you want clean air and downforce in corners, up close and slipstreaming on straights.
One of the big changes with the upcoming rule set is the introduction of ground effect. This is a different way of achieving downforce which doesn’t care so much (but not totally) about the airflow over the car.
Edit: Worth pointing out is that these only really come in to play when the chasing car is faster than the other. You’re only going to slipstream for the straight and then hopefully do the overtake into the next corner. The overheating comes play if the chasing car is faster but not fast enough to complete an overtake. If overheating is your issue then you won’t slipstream on the straights (as we have seen Bottas do on occasion).
1 Hamilton (Mercedes)
2 Bottas (Mercedes) +25.592sec
3 Verstappen (Red Bull) +34.508
4 Leclerc (Ferrari) +65.312
5 Gasly (AlphaTauri) +1 lap
So, uh.... that's kinda insane, right?
Biggest winning margin of the season so far.
Given that HAM was third after a few laps, it's pretty astounding.
Bottas and Räikkönen should be ashamed that they weren't at the top of the field in FP1.
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Lance Pole.
In a car that wasn't the best, starting down the grid, in conditions that saw others pirouetting all over the place, on tyres that were 50 laps old and basically slicks, he lapped his team-mate and pulled out a 30 second on second place that was increasing all the time.
I've said it before but it bears repeating, he is truly great because he wins when he has no right to. In a poor car he can win good points, in a moderate car he can win, in a decent car he wins championships, in a good car he dominates. In any and all conditions, cleanly and cleverly.
The GOAT is an impossible calculation to make and he may share the top step, but he absolutely is on the top step.
Really fun race that would have been infinitely better without DRS. It was so much more interesting watching the drivers hunt down passing opportunities in tricky off-lines and risky breaking in the early stages of the race.
DRS makes sense at some circuits and in some conditions, but I think it really hurt this race. And I say this as a McLaren fan, whose boys benefited greatly from it today.
One of the greatest drives ever by a man who doesn't have a seat next year.
This is an amazing interview with Lewis from just before he got his seat at Maclaren.
So! The Halo!
Useful, eh?
Twice over, even.
That was terrible to see live. My heart ended up in the bottom of my foot.
At least you know going in that if there's an archive nobody died. It's still horrifying to see, to be sure, but I sat there for ten minutes or whatever until that shot of Grosjean sitting in the medical car not knowing if he was alive.
Regardless, terrible accident. But they will learn from it and make the racing even more safe.
It arguably saved Lance, as well. If not from fatal injury then at least from serious injury.
Yeah well it was completely crushed on Lance's car, so maybe they should look at images.
They need to do away with unprotected walls. Every wall should have tires or tecpro in front of it. "Not likely to hit here" isn't good enough any more.
I think that's probably what we'll see, at least on these Tilkedromes with a lot of room to make those changes.
Yeah some tracks you just can't do that, but the ones where you can it makes total sense.
If they can't then they need to find a replacement track. There are plenty of tracks around the world and F1 has plenty of money. I won't be missing Monaco.
I've said it before and I'll say it again.
Make Monaco an exhibition race, put the drivers in karts or similar. Lower speeds, ability to pass, circuit would actually be viable. The grossly-wealthy get to keep their spectacle and we'd get a better race.
BBC interview with Romain.
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