I think Lewis drove a very good race all things considered. His first stint on used Softs was always going to be compromised, compounded by Lap 1 shenanigans.
He nailed the restart and kept the pressure on Max, couldn’t do anything else given how difficult it is to follow and overtake.
Still great to come out with a Pole and Podium
However, there was a clear win on the cards if Ferrari had clearly orchestrated their drivers on the first lap.
Would’ve had track position and been able to use the pace of both cars.
Even if Hamilton was leading Leclerc after Lap 1, due to the tyre difference I believe Charles could’ve got past him anyway. No need to lose the race on the first lap.
My thoughts on Ferrari Lap 1:
Leclerc outbraked himself on the outside and had no right to keep the position.
Hamilton outbraked himself on the inside so shouldn’t have been allowed to keep Max behind even if he came out ahead.
Order should’ve been VER HAM LEC, no questions should be asked because imo this is so obvious according to the rules.
There were no mitigating circumstances alternatively for not giving a 10s penalty because Lewis isn’t the only car Charles is racing. He gained significantly on the field so should be rightly penalised.
In Lewis’ defence I think he only went off since he was reacting to Leclerc’s braking to try and stay ahead. If Ferrari had an agreement which was violated then of course he’d feel wronged. If not then it’s fair game.
But now there’s a restart it doesn’t matter, time to get on with it
This car is a death trap. Suspension failure at 300kph into one of the biggest braking zones on the calendar.
Was in excruciating pain on the radio afterwards, personally I think he should walk away.
It’s been a problem all season (wearing parts, degrading ride quality) and I think this has gone too far
What the hell is happening at Haas!?
TGR Haas F1 Team reserve driver Ryō Hirakawa will replace Esteban Ocon for the remainder of the weekend’s Mexico City Grand Prix.
Ryō participated in FP1 at the Autodromo Hermanos Rodriguez on Friday, his third free practice outing of the season driving the VF-26, finishing 15th overall.
The Japanese driver will partner teammate Ollie Bearman through final practice and qualifying on Saturday and Sunday’s 71-lap grand prix – marking Ryō's Formula 1 race debut.
No further statements will be made at this time.
#HaasF1 #F1 #MexicoGP | @ryohirakawa
The Cost Cap in the current form has arguably done as much damage to the sport as good.
It’s brought the big spenders on par with the rest (Mercedes & Ferrari), but midfield teams that are under-resourced have been having these issues for a while.
In recent years we’ve seen Williams, Haas, Alpine, Cadillac struggling with parts deficiencies and are unable to do anything about it due to being limited with development.
Noticed the same thing happened with Hamilton in Malaysia - was pinned in the esses and lost 2 tenths on the back straight from deployment.
Probably many more examples of things like this going on this season.
As for Russell it probably explains why he’s performed fine on tracks with loads of 90 degree corners (e.g Australia, Austria, Baku) because everyone more or less gets on the throttle in the same way.
🤯 ¡Russell se perjudicó por ir DEMASIADO RÁPIDO en las curvas durante la clasificación de Austin!
🪫 Anthony Davison revela que Russell aceleró más en las eses, pero eso impidió recuperar suficiente energía
📉 Al llegar a la siguiente recta sufrió un fuerte Superclipping, perdió velocidad y hasta alteró su frenada
"Esto explica lo frustrantes que pueden ser estos coches para pilotos naturalmente rápidos"
👉 La explicación se la dio el propio ingeniero de Russell, Marcus Dudley
😓 Es acojonante lo de esta F1...
Will continue posting race-by-race contributions separately.
Note - this doesn’t necessarily represent the pace at all stages of the race, just when both teammates were able to be compared on the same strategy.
Excludes laps within 1s of the car ahead due to overtake mode and dirty air/traffic effect
A very random observation I have made this year:
In the past we’re used to hearing that 10kg of fuel is worth around 0.3s per lap.
This year though, I’m finding that at every race it’s more like 0.5s per lap with these cars and engines.
I’m not really sure why that’s the case though, perhaps it’s energy related
Was completely spot on as per
Here’s the full explanation:
All year, HAM has done a phenomenal job with the early turn in and his tight lines.
With these cars, and these tyres, it’s the way forward. On traction, the cars have far less power at lower speeds out of corners, that minimising distance seems to pay off.
This weekend in COTA, it was a recipe for that to continue but for some reason HAM is doing the complete opposite of what he did on tracks like China and Hungary - as well as his peak years at Mercedes.
Images show - his lap in Q3 today at Turn 8 and Turn 15 vs his mighty pole lap from 2018. Shows exactly what I noticed from lap 1 this weekend.
He’s driving half a car width wider than he usually should, and it’s killing the fronts through the lap.
Requires a lot more steering lock to get it to the apex, and by the last corner the fronts are screaming for dear life and he’s struggled there a lot.
China, conversely, he was phenomenal at protecting the left front at turn 1 so it’s a surprise to see the inverse happening now.
Leclerc is following the lines HAM took in 2018 to a greater degree, especially through turn 15 and he seeks more comfortable in hooking up the last sector (I believe he had the outright purple S3 from his Q3 first run).
Images below
