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Thread: 2015 Japanese GP @ Suzuka

  1. #1
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    2015 Japanese GP @ Suzuka

    Drivers
    Championship Points
    Lewis Hamilton 252
    Nico Rosberg 211
    Sebastian Vettel 203
    Kimi Raikkonen 107
    Valtteri Bottas 101
    Felipe Massa 97
    Daniel Ricciardo 73
    Daniil Kvyat 66
    Sergio Perez 39
    Romain Grosjean 38
    Max Verstappen 30
    Nico Hulkenberg 30
    Felipe Nasr 17
    Pastor Maldonaldo 12
    Fernando Alonso 11
    Carlos Sainz 11
    Marcus Ericsson 9
    Jenson Buton 6

    Constructors
    Championship Points
    Mercedes 463
    Ferrari 310
    Williams 198
    RBR 139
    Force India 69
    Lotus 50
    Toro Rosso 41
    Sauber 26
    Mclaren 17
    Manor 0



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    I love the back-to-back GP weekends. Really hoping for another Williams podium at Suzuka.
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    Quote Originally Posted by BoldUlysses View Post
    I love the back-to-back GP weekends. Really hoping for another Williams podium at Suzuka.
    +1. It will be interesting to see how Merc responds, and more importantly, how Ferrari follows up after its victory at Singapore.
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    I have a feeling the rest of this year will be back to business as usual with the Mercs up front since Singapore is so different from other tracks, but Ferrari look like they have genuine pace to keep up with Mercedes. They're at least as good now as Mercedes was prior to the Monza upgrade.

    Ferrari still have engine tokens to use too...
    Last edited by gary88; 09-23-2015 at 11:55 AM.

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    Lotus haven't paid their hospitality suite bill and are therefore locked outside unable to enter and get setup.

    autosport.com Source

    Renault's getting Lotus cheaper and cheaper by the day.

    - - - Updated - - -

    Side Notes:

    Jenson refuses/sidesteps answers about what he's doing next year.
    Force India have signed Perez for 2016.
    Hulk has apologized to Massa saying he was at fault for the crash at Singapore.
    Madonado has been signed with Lotus for 2016 (they badly badly need the money as evidenced).
    Grosjean going to Haas for 2016.
    RBR will not be getting Mercedes engines next year

    Rumor:
    Perez almost signed with Renault. It means that Renault is looking for "another" driver which means that buying Lotus is more than likely a foregone conclusion.
    Guiterrez has been telling people he's driving for Haas next year.
    RBR may be getting Ferrari engines but RBR says they don't want Ferrari engines if the engines are not full specification engines. Ferrari is not sure anymore about supplying RBR with power units because they fear RBR could beat Ferrari if they used the same spec PUs. So RBR's demands could still leave them without an engine for 2016 which would make them leave the sport.

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    What about the rumor going around that VW/Audi is looking to buy RBR, diesel scandal notwithstanding?
    Quote Originally Posted by Ryan M3 View Post
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    Don't think that's going to happen now.



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    Yeah I don't think VAG's focus is necessarily motorsport at the moment. Maybe after the dust has settled.

    Going to be verrrry interesting if RBR has Ferrari PUs next season.




    Does anyone know if the Merc PUs supplied to Williams, Lotus and FI are full-spec or downrated? I assume full-spec, right, since they have to be homologated?
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    Let's discuss this tire pressure issue. Merc suddenly can't get a handle on the tires immediately after Pirelli changes the required pressures (and another rule comes out). Evidently, Merc liked the pressures lower and then can't get the surface temps and carcass temps to play nicely. I believe the announcers on NBC said that the carcass temp gets good and the surface is too hot, so they had to back down. In addition to that, they may have the car sprung too stiffly with higher tire pressures. I'm not sure the specifics of the rules, but it seems a bit unfair to change the regulation based on the tire supplier's recommendation 2/3s of the way through the season. I say that, and I am a Vettel fan, so it isn't just some LH love.

    Gotta love Suzuka though. That first sector is fantastic to watch with high downforce cars.

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    The tire pressure was a non-issue. It was the bumpy track/curbs and Merc not being able to find a fast setup. They found setups where the car felt balanced to the drivers but it didn't result in a fast time. So they reverted to testing setups again and ran out of time - resulting in a driveable but not fast setup. I think the suspension limitations of the chassis (you can only allow so much travel before hitting the bump stops and then you've got to tune the dampers etc) given that they run the softest setups in Singapore was the limiting factor. They just couldn't get it right and keep heat in the tires. But I don't really know, just guessing.

    FP1 was rain - rain a little less - rain again.

    Rosberg was out at the same time as Seb/Kimi and he set a 1 second fast lap on full wets just during the little less rain part.

    Other teams were out at various times using Full wets and/or inters and the track was drying/getting more wet. I honestly think that the times set in the middle of the session were more indicative of overall pace. Massa/Bottas didn't show because they were the first on inters when the track still had rivers flowing across it at 3 corners.

    I haven't watched FP2 but, to me, it looks like Merc is back on form. Shame really. but due to the rain I perhaps shouldn't be reading too much into the times.

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    I'm having withdrawals: I cannot find FP2 in HD anywhere!

    Oh well, it'll soon be time for FP3 and Quali.

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    Jenson Button dead last. I just......yup....nothing to adc.

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    Glad Kyvat is okay. From what I heard his shunt was a humdinger.

    Quali:

    1 Nico Rosberg Mercedes 1m32.584s
    2 Lewis Hamilton Mercedes +0.076s
    3 Valtteri Bottas Williams +0.440s
    4 Sebastian Vettel Ferrari +0.661s
    5 Felipe Massa Williams +0.753s
    6 Kimi Raikkonen Ferrari +0.763s
    7 Daniel Ricciardo Red Bull +0.913s
    8 Romain Grosjean Lotus +1.383s
    9 Sergio Perez Force India No Q3 time
    10 Daniil Kvyat Red Bull No Q3 time
    11 Nico Hulkenberg Force India +1.806s *has grid penalty
    12 Carlos Sainz Toro Rosso +1.869s
    13 Pastor Maldonado Lotus +1.913s
    14 Fernando Alonso McLaren +2.201s
    15 Max Verstappen Toro Rosso No Q2 time
    16 Jenson Button McLaren +3.080s
    17 Marcus Ericsson Sauber +3.089s
    18 Felipe Nasr Sauber +3.176s
    19 Will Stevens Marussia +6.199s
    20 Alexander Rossi Marussia +14.530s
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    Yeah, it was a huge shunt. Luckily he lost a lot of energy prior and into the tire wall before the rebound and flip on the gravel.

    With only a hour's worth of setup prior to the quali session the results are as expected. Nothing out of the ordinary except to say that Ferrari may be a little bit closer to Merc but not huge.

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    Is it too early to say that next year Ferrari will be close or almost on par in terms of performance to Mercedes? We could probably have an even more exciting 2016 season.



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    Quote Originally Posted by auaq View Post
    Is it too early to say that next year Ferrari will be close or almost on par in terms of performance to Mercedes? We could probably have an even more exciting 2016 season.
    Well, it's possible Ferrari will be closer due to the fact that they have engine tokens to spend. However, I still think they are a second off the Merc's pace (and Merc has zero tokens left) so it will get closer. The issue being RBR next year - if/when they get the Ferrari PU. Obviously they don't get the engine maps but still. RBR has a lot of resources to play the game on equal footing with Ferrari.

    Merc obviously has the most resources to pull from. With the new Regulations next year I can see them making the best of the chances.

    With VAG likely needing to pay the billions in fines (not to mention recall costs) I doubt we'll see them anywhere near F1 in the next 5 years, if not longer. Hence RBR will have to spend a lot resources working with the Ferrari PU instead of going with VW/Audi engines in 2017/18.

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    Quote Originally Posted by janders211 View Post
    Jenson Button dead last. I just......yup....nothing to adc.
    And Alonso 14th after claiming he turned one of his best laps ever at Suzuka....

    Button's comments about Lauda were hilarious, though.

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    Quote Originally Posted by auaq View Post
    Is it too early to say that next year Ferrari will be close or almost on par in terms of performance to Mercedes? We could probably have an even more exciting 2016 season.
    With Ferrari having essentially unlimited wind tunnel testing right now due to their partnership with Haas I have a feeling they're going to be incredible next year.

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    Quote Originally Posted by gary88 View Post
    With Ferrari having essentially unlimited wind tunnel testing right now due to their partnership with Haas I have a feeling they're going to be incredible next year.
    That's what I'm thinking. I haven't kept up with the new Ferrari wind tunnel but after witnessing recent Ferrari's pace to the Mercs, despite of Merc's new spec B engines, and with leftover engine tokens still to use, I have a feeling that Ferrari are going to be much closer next year. However, let us not get ahead too much ourselves, as we can't underestimate Merc's performance yet, even for next year. And who knows what new, mighty tricks and secrets may lie ahead that we may have yet to see and witnessing another dominant year for them. Let's just not underestimate zhe Germans! Reminds me of the 1930s Silver Arrow days.



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    Good lord the McHondas are pitifully slow.

    Edit: "This is like a GP2 engine." Ouch.
    Last edited by Stuttgart951; 09-27-2015 at 01:51 AM.

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    Quote Originally Posted by gary88 View Post
    With Ferrari having essentially unlimited wind tunnel testing right now due to their partnership with Haas I have a feeling they're going to be incredible next year.
    That loophole was closed 3 months ago.

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    I watched the GP live last night and couldn't get up the effort to post a response till now.

    Rosberg threw away the race at turn 2. He just allowed Lewis to push him off the track. He's not a fighter and doesn't deserve the WDC. He's the only chance we've got at someone making a show of the WDC and he cannot even do that.

    Otherwise Merc have just proven their dominance yet again. Hamilton just walked away from Vettel the first few laps. Much like Seb did in Singapore. Except that the Merc's didn't have tire issues like Ferrari had.

    I was really hoping for a race up front. But Nico denied us that.

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    Yeah, I don't blame him. 2016 will be another struggling year for them.



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    Yep - 2016 AND potentially 2017 too. I really wish Bernie would open up engine development again.
    Quote Originally Posted by Ryan M3 View Post
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