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| Are McLaren back on pace with Ferrari?; Give us your thoughts | |
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| Tweet Topic Started: May 11 2008, 08:53 PM (433 Views) | |
| RJHSaints | May 11 2008, 08:53 PM Post #1 |
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Chief Engineer
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OK, on the one hand, Raikkonen may have lost some time due to tapping Kovalainen, which could have made it a Ferrari 1-2 today. But, then again, consider if Hamilton had got past Massa sooner. He could feasibly have won the race. He was ~ 0.8-0.9s a lap quicker than both Ferraris and in clear air might have been able to close down the 5-second gap to Massa at the end. Then again, maybe Massa was turning the engine down and cruising in the last few laps. Opinions. |
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| Red Andy | May 11 2008, 08:57 PM Post #2 |
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Overall I was surprised at how close McLaren were to Ferrari this weekend, but I think Ferrari will still have the overall edge on most circuits. The next two races in Monaco and Canada will definitely favour McLaren, though, so the momentum will be with them for a few weeks at least. McLaren have been inconsistent this season, sometimes mixing it up with the Ferraris and sometimes fighting with BMW. I think it's too early to say whether this inconsistency is being dialled out with time, or whether we are just seeing a peak in performance for McLaren. |
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| Monty | May 11 2008, 09:21 PM Post #3 |
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Chief Engineer
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Very close, Mclaren were clearly suited to this circuit and pretty much matched Ferrari. At Monaco it will be very close again but i fansy Ferrari to have the edge for most of the season. |
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| TheCompleteGuitarist | May 11 2008, 09:39 PM Post #4 |
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Driver
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I thought that Hamilton drove a great race, ironically, he didn't pick up driver of the day when 'I' at least thought he deserved it. I was surprised at the strategy and I almost thought it was going to work, personally I thought that they were going to do two short and one long stints which I thought might give him more chance to really push for the win. It's a shame Kovys race was compromised. |
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| Alien_SAP_Fiend | May 11 2008, 10:12 PM Post #5 |
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Chief Engineer
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More to the point, what would have happened if Kovi had not had the puncture/got a better start? |
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| John | May 11 2008, 10:31 PM Post #6 |
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Team Boss
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Ahh... what if
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| Rob | May 12 2008, 12:23 AM Post #7 |
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McLaren were reasonable close, but Ferrari are still the team to beat. Lewis' second today was down more to his skill rather than a revival with the car, after all Hekki wasn't exactly carving the field, and Lewis didn't beat Kimi by that much when Kimi had a broken front wing. I don't think McLaren will be that much closer in Monaco and Canada. The teams are the reverse of last year, with Ferrari able to do the tight slower slow turns better. |
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| Norbert | May 12 2008, 01:24 PM Post #8 |
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We don't know. Lewis was on a different strategy, and Heikki had his race knackered by the puncture, and a stupidly late pitstop. On this track, the gap looked closer, but it's only one track, and that makes it hard to judge. I'd say the gap might be a little closer than it was, but I think Ferrari still shade it by a few tenths. Had Heikki not had the puncture, we might have a better idea. |
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| John | May 12 2008, 01:34 PM Post #9 |
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Team Boss
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whereas there can be little doubt that the BMW charge hit a performance wall in Turkey... They might still get 2nd in the championship on merit, but a maiden win is looking elusive |
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| Brave_Lee_Flea | May 12 2008, 01:43 PM Post #10 |
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Chief Engineer
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Not sure how true that is. If the optimal solution was a two stop strategy (and we can safely assume is is) then Lewis had a handicap to overcome as Kimi did. Of course we will never know the relative sizes of their respective handicaps but Massa was not that far ahead. All things considered, I would say that on that circuit, in those conditions the McLaren is not far behind the Rari on terms of sheer pace. Then again it could be that Ferrari made the wrong call on running two sets of soft tyres. Who knows? |
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| Rob | May 12 2008, 03:17 PM Post #11 |
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The good new is for McLaren is when a Ferrari had a bad race they were able to beat that Ferrari instead of just finishing still behind said Ferrari, but a few seconds closer. It almost looks like the Ferrari is faster, but the McLaren is maybe easier to set up, so when both Ferraris are dialed in it is a walk, but they have to be on game or McLaren will be there. |
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| GordonB | May 12 2008, 06:06 PM Post #12 |
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Chief Engineer
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If a 3-stop strategy is not ideal, then you could argue that the McLaren was actually quicker than the Ferrari over the race distance. I can't help thinking that if McLaren had simply fuelled Hamilton for two long hard-tyre stints followed by a short soft-tyre stint then he might have won. When he overtook Massa, he was over a second a lap quicker. Obviously he was on ligher fuel at the time, but not *that* much lighter. |
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| Rob | May 12 2008, 06:46 PM Post #13 |
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He was 10 laps or so lighter, that's about 30 lbs. |
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| safc_fan89 | May 13 2008, 08:09 AM Post #14 |
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safc_fan89
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Something that a lot of people are overlooking is the fact that Hamilton had to do that strategy because of his driving style. He was the only driver to have any problem with the tyres. So for that reason alone I would say he had no right to be driver of the day, as he caused his own 'problems'. Anyway... Ferrari won, and have won 4 on the trot, so they are still the team to beat. Hamilton lost around 5 seconds between his first and final stop. Whether that was down to strategy not being as ideal, impossible to say really because hardly any teams try the 3 stop route now, presumably because you can't overtake on most tracks unless you really had to. If Massa wanted to hold Lewis I think he could have, he didn't make Hamilton work for his pass at all, he could at least have 'blocked' him to the outside. |
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| GordonB | May 13 2008, 12:16 PM Post #15 |
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Chief Engineer
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Does 30lbs equate to 1 whole second? I would have thought more like half a second, putting the McLaren very competitive to say the least. |
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