Mexican Grand Prix - Autodromo Hermanos Rodriguez

[René]

The Mexican race was a prey for Max and Red Bull in 2017 and 18 but can they challenge for the win again this year? The thin air makes engine performance less important compared to other tracks but given the big performance jump Ferrari made after the summer break, don’t expect Red Bull to be as strong as they were last year.

It will be interesting to see how fast the Ferraris are on the super long straight and maybe that tells us something on where that performance comes from. Is it a battery trick (then they should be really fast) or is it an inter-cooler trick that makes them so fast. In that case they should also ‘suffer’ from the thin air.

Lewis can theoretically wrap up the championship this weekend but the Autodromo has not been an easy track for Mercedes so far. I will spare you the ‘how Lewis can win his 6th title’ calculations. He will win it anyways.

Forza Ferrari!

[Carl]

Contrary to the norms of good sportsmanship, Sebastian Vettel voted for himself, declaring "too bad!"

Next week, he will admit his error >  

[Deleted]

I am hopeful of Ferrari maintaining their good pace... but fully expect them to some how to contrive to lose to Mercedes yet again. With Bottas winning in Japan i fail to see how this one won't fall to Hamilton should such a Mercedes win occur.

[René]

Oct 24, 2019 4:21:26 GMT Carl said:

Contrary to the norms of good sportsmanship, Sebastian Vettel voted for himself, declaring "too bad!"

Next week, he will admit his error >  

Sounds very much like Sebastian!

[René]

Oct 24, 2019 10:54:19 GMT @joe said:

I am hopeful of Ferrari maintaining their good pace... but fully expect them to some how to contrive to lose to Mercedes yet again. With Bottas winning in Japan i fail to see how this one won't fall to Hamilton should such a Mercedes win occur.

Keep the faith Joe. Ferrari will win the Mexican Grand Prix. Forza!

[Carl]

Oct 24, 2019 10:54:19 GMT @joe said:

I am hopeful of Ferrari maintaining their good pace... but fully expect them to some how to contrive to lose to Mercedes yet again. With Bottas winning in Japan i fail to see how this one won't fall to Hamilton should such a Mercedes win occur.

Hamilton was acting deprived throughout the entire race and may need to be mollified 

[René]

Not much going on yet in Mexico. Ferrari seems set for yet another pole position and probably front row lockout. But Max looks very strong as he always does on this track. He'll be strong in the race for sure. Mercedes still on the backfoot but you can never count them out.

And what about Renault, considering their future in Formula 1? The company went through a serious fall in revenue so racing activities will be discussed in the boardrooms for sure. I don't see a problem for the short term but it would be bad for F1 if Renault would leave. Let's hope not.

[René]

MAXicoooo!

Great pole for Max but the Ferraris will probably pass him before turn 1.

McLarens looking good again!

This is going to be an exciting race, mark my words!

[Carl]

"Hitto tuskallinen"!!! - Valtteri Bottas

That was one hard and sudden collision that ended everyone's final single lap.  It looked like his Mercedes was briefly balanced along the curb and then suddenly propelled hard left.

I agree with Rene that it should be an interesting race, with a mix of teams sharing each of the first three rows making coordinated blocking much harder, although Verstappen may be penalized by the stewards for not slowing. 

[René]

Yep, Max loses pole position. And in all honesty, rightfully so.

I can already hear the outrage of the Dutch media and so called experts but he should have slowed down, like Sebastian did who arrived there even earlier. Silly mistake.

[chrisb]

Rene, who are the 'experts' on Dutch TV?

I will be listening to the race on the Beeb - well I will be listening for a while until I despair of the commentators comments - but what I do enjoy is Joly Palmer, he really is a voice of reason, although he wouldn't get a job on C4 as DC is the producer as well, he would be most welcome,

[Carl]

The exhilaration of pit stop strategy and available grip levels was not enough to prevent me nodding off several times, making the choice of chair more important than in years past.

The current technology in Formula One is amazing and the drivers routinely great, but the basic elements of racing now take a back seat to banks of computers and algorithms prepared in advance on race simulators to be ready for any contingency. The two most important variables, the potential of the car and skill of the driver, are now replaced by the timing and execution of pit stops and the limit of grip provided by Pirelli.

Before this sea change, an advanced chassis design, smart set-up and a driver able to adapt to track conditions would always be in with a chance, given good luck. Sometimes several teams were equally competitive, at other times one team or driver dominated. The enjoyment for fans was paying attention to the ebb and flow, sometimes five cars nose to tail from start to finish, other times one driver was faster while another fell behind, only to catch and pass for the lead on the penultimate lap.

There were exciting moments today, cars and drivers taking center stage, several extended duels over several laps and some great passes, all overshadowed by swarms of mechanics changing tyres in 2.2 seconds.  Nodding off can be more interesting.

[mikael]

I agree with Carl in that the space mission-like approach to Grand Prix racing does not add to the excitement. Quite on the contrary, it would add considerably to the excitement if the drivers were left alone out there, save for pitboard communication, just like the riders in MotoGP are left alone.

But at least F1 GP's continue to have a proper Grand Prix length/duration, that is, about 1h 30min. One can find reports of old motorcycle GP's, to see that, in the 1960's for example, the premier motorcycle class (500cc) also raced for about 1h 30min, while the smaller classes (350cc and below) raced for about 1h.

Now the premier motorcycle class (MotoGP) races for just 40min. Max Oxley wrote some time ago in MSM that "this is the perfect duration for a race". It might be, but in my opinion, if it's all over in just 40min then it's more a sprint race than it is a Grand Prix.

So for F1 I would, after all, still prefer a mission control-supported one-and-a-half-hour Grand Prix, rather than a single 40 minutes sprint race.

[robmarsh]

Points to ponder
Max lost this race through his own arrogance on Saturday.
Carlos Sainz started his 99th race, the same as JYS. He is yet to win a GP, JYS had won 27. Doesn't say much for competitiveness in modern F1.
LH's bleating on the radio about his tyres and the strategy is tiresome at best, cheap gamesmanship at worst.
Ferrari's strategy team still have a lot to learn.
Danny Ric is wasted at Renault. I wonder if Renault will even be in F1 in 2021.
A promising race once again nullified by tyres and aero and yet the teams don't want to change anything.

[Carl]

Oct 28, 2019 7:24:04 GMT mikael said:

I agree with Carl in that the space mission-like approach to Grand Prix racing does not add to the excitement. Quite on the contrary, it would add considerably to the excitement if the drivers were left alone out there, save for pitboard communication, just like the riders in MotoGP are left alone.

But at least F1 GP's continue to have a proper Grand Prix length/duration, that is, about 1h 30min. One can find reports of old motorcycle GP's, to see that, in the 1960's for example, the premier motorcycle class (500cc) also raced for about 1h 30min, while the smaller classes (350cc and below) raced for about 1h.

Now the premier motorcycle class (MotoGP) races for just 40min. Max Oxley wrote some time ago in MSM that "this is the perfect duration for a race". It might be, but in my opinion, if it's all over in just 40min then it's more a sprint race than it is a Grand Prix.

So for F1 I would, after all, still prefer a mission control-supported one-and-a-half-hour Grand Prix, rather than a single 40 minutes sprint race.

Mikael,
             I agree entirely about race distance and leaving drivers alone, but there are solutions. One would be to restrict steering wheels to ten dials and buttons per side. Another crying out for enactment is to stop playing games with 5 different dry tyres and provide one soft compound and one hard enough to go the distance. The earliest Grand Prix races could last several days, but eventually a distance of about 200 miles became the traditional standard. Modern tyres can easily go fast and go the distance.

             Somehow, Formula One embraced a frantic emphasis on single laps rather than race distance. The emergence of special qualifying compounds to allow 1200 turbocharged horsepower enough traction for about one and a half laps was wasteful and indulgent by definition, and therefore adored by the runt ecclestone. Brief spectacle has come to define Formula One, with some soft race compounds lasting only 15 laps. Grand Prix races are now essentially several short sprints in between pit stops. Why not further degrade the concept by having qualifying heat races and reverse order grids, as was recently suggested?

             The rules governing tyres are a glaring weakness that can easily be discarded. Eliminate the requirement to use more than one compound. Drivers on the soft compound would need a fresh set at some point during the race. Hards could easily be designed to last the distance. That would be far more honest than allowing mission control and computer algorithms to make decisions that should be made by drivers.