FORMULA 1 EMIRATES 70TH ANNIVERSARY GRAND PRIX--->QUALIFYING ▄▀▄▀ SPOILERS ▀▄▀▄

13 poles in 3+ seasons....(out of roughly 66 races) He will step up every now and then, but over a season he hasn’t strung together strong performances

 

Esteban Gutierrez WDC?

 

He's basically a carbon copy of Rubens Barrichello....who is probably enjoying this season more than any other human on the planet.

 

https://www.autosport.com/f1/news/151197/leclerc-eighth-realistic-picture-for-ferrari

Charles Leclerc says his eighth place in qualifying for the 70th Anniversary Grand Prix is a more realistic indication of how fast Ferrari is right now.

Just one week after Leclerc qualified fourth and finished third for Ferrari at the British GP, the Italian outfit has had a more challenging time this weekend as it has struggled with the softer compound tyres.

Speaking to Sky Sports F1 after the session, Leclerc said he was not particularly shocked that he had been unable to repeat last weekend's result.

"Surprise? No," Leclerc said. "I think it's a bit more realistic picture for us to be honest. We have been struggling more than last week here, especially with the softer tyres.

"We seem to be more aggressive on them and we don't even manage to finish the full lap in Q3 with the soft tyres. They are dropping off quite a lot in the last sector. I lost quite a lot of lap time there, so not much we can do for now. It's like this."

Leclerc suggested that Ferrari's low downforce set up for this weekend has not helped with looking after the tyres, but reckons that adding more downforce would have made its cars too slow on the straights.

Due to the tyre struggles, Leclerc said he was bracing himself for an especially tough race.

"Tomorrow will be a very difficult race," he said. "It's hard to finish the qualifying lap, and it will be very difficult to keep up with the others in the race. But we remain optimistic. I will try my best and see where we end up.

"I think there will be drivers who will take risks and try to make only one pitstop tomorrow, while others will make two. I can't say which strategy we will choose, but we have analysed the data and we are sure about which strategy to adopt."

 

Understanding that the tire selection for the race being useless, you would expect F1 to try to remedy the situation somehow instead of letting it go on as is.

In this case it seems they’re OK with it and are hoping for more tire stops and basically more of a lottery with the chance of more tire failures.

 

Well, at least the teams know the situation, unlike last weekend.

 

Hulk!!! Hope Nico bags a podium tomorrow and secured a well deserved drive for 2021!

 

We know the shelf life of an F1 tyre is only about 3-4 weeks.
We know the decision to manufacture a different set of tyres takes more than a week.
So, therefore Pirelli had already manufactured this weekend's tyres prior to last weekend's race.
And thereby, we are left with no choice--could not even change the allocations away from the red softs towards yellow mediums and white hards, because there were no enough of them in the truck to go around.

 

Stroller got massacred by a heavier, taller, rusty Hulkenberg who has only had 1 1/2 weekends of practice laps in a completely foreign car...what a waste of space.

 

Oh be careful Toto will not be pleased lol

 

All good arguments but for sure the tires are not counted to the last one. Last week’s reds are this week’s yellow and hardly anyone used the reds last week.

In any case, F1 probably hoping for a lottery of multiple tire changes and blowouts, I think to avoid the inevitable Merc 1-2 cruise to victory.

 

Esteban Ocon gets Silverstone grid penalty for impeding George Russell
Ocon to start 70th Anniversary GP from 14th after grid penalty

 

Yes, tyres are not counted to the last one because during mounting, one may turn up a blemish of some sort and the team demand a replacement. So there has to be an overstock, but not big enough to even give every car another set of <whatever>.

 

The three cars that ran a Q3 lap on mediums wound up going faster on meds than on softs.

Ferrari should have considered putting Leclerc on meds for his second Q3 run.
(But maybe they're just short of them.)

 

I suspect Pirelli is doing "damage control" from the last race, trying to force teams onto a two stop strategy, to prevent a repeat of the shredding tire scenario we saw a week ago.

 

Vettel looks like a defeated man.

 

I'd still like to have his pay check for the weekend.

 

It is like getting dumped by your s.o. for a younger guy that performs better, and having to live under the same roof.

 

Bye Kimi lol. Not happy -https://www.planetf1.com/news/kimi-raikkonen-qualifying-reaction/

 

Yes, the bad team Leclerc is in and Vettel being forced out to a better team. As always in Ferrari's history, the driver leaving the team will ALWAYS be slower and suffer mechanical failures. BTW..... I have LOVED Ferrari ALL my life. Just stating facts.

 

+1

 

The writing was on the wall last year - Charles was held back by team orders and bad strategy. Robbed of win early in season at Bahrain. This is the better driver, Charles. Vettel has failed and was failing before he arrived. Kimi was never his threat was he lol.

Charles is the better Ferrari driver last year and now.

 

It's a pity someone as talented as Charles Leclerc lands at Ferrari at a time when the team is in the dumps.

If this lasts 2 or 3 years, and with Leclerc on a long term contract, it will take the edge of his motivation and seriously damage his career.

It maybe end up being another Alesi story.

 

We do have that potential it appears!