Ham and his team always seem to get it wrong when there's a safety car. He never seems to benefit from it, others seem to have a better pre-plan for safety cars. Strange.

Just bad luck so far this season. Sometimes it goes the other way.

I think it has to do with any braking or cornering force changing the loading of the suspension enough to overpower the cyclic loading from the aerodynamics. Ferrari had horrendous porpoising this weekend, didn't really see it so much on the RB.

I'm very happy for Leclerc (and Ferrari after their long dry spell, and I like both their young drivers), but I can't help thinking it's not gonna last. They've been known to falter in the development race and there are 20 more races this year! I think their only chance is if it becomes a 3 way battle with Mercedes coming back and taking points from redbull and they can ride their point cushion to the end, like Brawn did back in the day.

The coolest thing of the w/e to me was Alonso almost nabbing Pole if not for the car breaking down on him...Ok and Albon, good for him! Another Helmut Marko casualty making a comeback.

This season is very topsy turvy, based on setup I guess... Haas goes from Q1 to nowhere, McLaren from nowhere to Q1, Alpine vies for Pole but nowhere special in the race, Mercedes flatters in the race with safety cars but otherwise would be so much further back, alfa is similarly up and down... interesting new rules seem to have teams roll the dice on setup race after race...

It is nice to See Russel beating Hamilton. It keeps the British announcers happy sine it is still a Brit doing well.

Redbull really has to get more reliable. Poor Max will have a long hard journey to the end if his car keeps breaking.

His excuse in interview was pitiful. It was totally his fault and he can't see it.

It only took Hammy 3 races to start blaming the team. He did the same at McLaren after the 2008 WDC.

http://forums.pelicanparts.com/uploa...1649705677.jpg

And they put him the BEST seat and best position of all of them for 8 years straight. Gotta whine about it now.

I thought for a second, and the announcers said the same, that Hammy was going to want George to give up position.

Somehow I don't see George going quietly into the night in the same way as Bottas did.

He might just tell James; "you are coming in broken and stupid" and continue racing.

It would be a different situation if it was later in the season, and Lewis was chasing points to stay in championship contention. But right now, three races in, Hamilton is 5th in the points, with Russell chasing LeClerc. So, from a points perspective, Russell was in the right position.

https://uploads.tapatalk-cdn.com/202...d4f43e0e0f.jpg


-rb

The other reason you don't see as much porpoising in corners is it is speed related. Drop below 120mph and the aerodynamic forces are reduced.

Best
Les

Really enjoying watching Ferrari winning again!

At Ferrari the pressure to win is unlike any other team, anything less than a win is considered failure.

In no way a sign of arrogance but just the passion everyone in the team brings to their job as winning is what the whole of Italy expects

Talked to a friend there today and he remarked there is more pressure in the team now than when they were trying to get back to the front of the grid

Yeah, I can imagine the pressure is immense at Ferrari. They finally have a decent car, one that’s capable of winning a championship, if they can just keep the advantage they have.

Right now, I’m pretty happy that the engine rules are static for a while. Maybe Ferrari can be competitive for more than one year.

This guy is the "Bill Nye science guy" of F1, with a spanish "rhaccent", I love his demos each time. This one is about the F1 fuel tanks and pumps/cavitation, very nicely explained:

https://youtu.be/YQsvU8_bb4Q

Anyone else thinking this is Vettel's last year?

I used to dislike the "kid Vettel" (mostly because I liked Webber, multi 21, etc), but have grown fond of him as he aged and since he left red bull - seems like a genuinely nice guy and funny too... But he's been outclassed at Ferrari in his last years, and aside from one flash in the pan race at Aston (that didn't count if I recall?) he seems to do no better than - gasp - Stroll jr...

Combine that with all you hear about papa Stroll running Aston F1 wrong (Otmar is too careful or scared of a suit to say it out loud but he hinted), and spending piles of cash with no results - you don't see their season getting better... I expect this is his last year, especially as the car seems to be a POS providing little motivation, I would not be shocked if he even quit mid season to be replaced by Hulkenberg, or another.

Alpine is trying to place Piastri (seemingly a true talent) somewhere, until Alonso retires, so they may pay for some of that and use him instead if Aston will have him for free?

For that matter, if Mercedes doesn't recover, will Hamilton stay after a year of 5th places and the annoyance of his loss to Verstappen last year? Not sure..
Seems that with the budget cap, recovering from a crap car and spending more $$$ might be more difficult... I could see Mercedes shifting to a 2023 car early with their research $ instead of trying to make this dog better (irrespective of team loyalties, I like that this ugly mercedes car is not competitive and that the very pretty Ferrari is - we suffered enough ugly cars)

Vettel’s contract is up this year. Hamilton’s contract goes through 2023. Vettel deserves better than what he has now. He did well at Ferrari alongside Kimi, and then Ferrari got caught cheating, and Ferrari sucked after that.

Vettel’s race win record is really due to having four years in a dominant Red Bull. Just like Lewis had eight years in a dominant Mercedes. If Red Bull remained dominant after the switch from V8s, Vettel would have 100+ race wins, and more championships.

I think he still has what it takes to drive a top car to many wins, and maybe another championship. But the likelihood of him getting a contract for such a car is pretty slim now. If Lawrence Stroll would just hire a quality team and then get out of the way, Aston Martin has the potential to be a dominant car.


-rb

I can't imagine that Vettel wants to stay with AM past this year . The car is crap and top level management/owner are in a tailspin on how to fix the turd they developed. They may make it better but it will be a painful year .

I can't imagine he needs the money and if he wants there are a variety of series that would welcome him . He is a skilled driver. I just think he has lost motivation to be a F1 driver. I wish him the best on whatever he decides for his driving career.

I’ve gone hot and cold about Vettel through the years. I thought he gave up in his last year at Ferrari so that has left a bad impression on me. He has more personality than most on the grid. I enjoyed his scooter stunt in Melbourne.

That is pretty cool. I always wondered how they can supply full flow of fuel when the F1 cars are cornering left and right and stopping at 5G and then hit the go pedal. The doggie door like flaps are a simple solution if the tank has multiple fuel pumps. I figured they used the foam in the tank to help slow the sloshing of the fuel.

The other end of high tech is the fuel tank on my 1986 El Camino. I converted it to fuel injection myself 20 years or so ago. If I am in a sustained left hand turn like a 360 degree on ramp and my tank is down to under 1/4 full the pump will starve and the engine does not like that for some reason.

I don't think I will try baffles and multiple pumps however, just keeping the tank full is easier.

Oh come on man, now you know exactly what to do, doggie doors, baffles, foam, collector, 3 pumps, come on !!! ;-)

Yea, spend several grand on fuel tank mods to solve an issue I solved by keeping the tank above 1/4 tank. I am often amazed how well my 911 tank works. I was at Eagles Canyon race track flogging my 911 and having a blast getting 7 MPG. I looked at the gas gauge after one 25 minute session and saw it was just at E but the light had not come on. Not one hiccup. I had to pay the high price of track gas premium for the last session. Now all gas costs more than what I bought at the track last year.