Each driver has his own feeling of a car, just in the way he is physiologically wired up, how all the various sensors for lateral g and rotation are feeding into his inner ear. So the surface has to be prepared delicately and only then leant upon – and the handling balance of the car is obviously critical to this. It takes a lot of preparation to get the required energy into the core of the tyre to allow it the bending hysteresis that gives it its grip.
#MONTREAL F1 2017 PATCH#
Although they are nominally softer than last year for any given compound, the effect over a contact patch that is much larger is that of a significantly harder compound than before. “What the hell is happening with these tyres?” he demanded at one stage after lightly brushing the Turn 4 wall. Räikkönen was finding it slow to respond to his inputs, taking him out wide on the exits, fighting to keep it out of the wall. The increased grip had changed the car’s balance towards mild understeer, giving Vettel all the confidence he needed to properly commit and get the feel for the car into the corner that he needs. The Ferrari was still an easier 1m12sec than the Mercedes, but Räikkönen had lost his balance and Vettel was more comfortably into his groove. Saturday morning and the track had gripped up and the sun was shining more brightly. But he was in better shape than the Mercedes W08, which – though fast and grunty and loaded up with slightly more wing – was a car that required a lot more manhandling, Hamilton and Bottas frequently intervening with emergency responses to keep them out of the wall. Vettel wasn’t quite so at ease, comparably quick at his peak, but locking brakes more frequently and having a few more moments generally. Kimi was straight into the groove he’d been in during much of Monaco, the front of the SF70H responding faithfully to just the smallest steering angle, allowing him to be hard on the gas confidently early into the many slow, wall-lined turns. That which is more usually just a hard definition snapshot was this time revealed as a continuum of how – with these super-sensitive 2017 tyres – each car and each driver is affected by whatever the track temperature happens to be.ĭuring the cooler and dusty conditions of Friday it was Ferrari all the way and Räikkönen in particular. Fernando Alonso was running the McLaren in the points late in the race but the engine – almost inevitably – let go.Īs the sun steadily warmed up the track through Saturday morning and into qualifying, so it gave us a great picture of the dynamic driving the traits of the Mercedes and Ferrari and the varying form of their drivers. Lance Stroll took his first two points after a solid race for Williams, Romain Grosjean secured a point after a remarkable drive on what was effectively a zero-stop strategy, the Haas having been forced to pit for a new nose at the end of lap one after being assaulted by Carlos Sainz, this having triggered a big accident that took himself and Felipe Massa out. Räikkönen limped home seventh after a late brake-by-wire problem that cleared a path through for the recovering Vettel. This left the rookie vulnerable to a super-aggressive Vettel into Turn 1 with a few laps to go.īottas was almost 20sec behind his team-mate at the end, his dealing with Vettel into Turn 1 also a crucial part of how Hamilton’s race panned out. His team-mate Daniel Ricciardo could thank Force India that he was able to get a podium, as an intra-team battle between Sergio Pérez and Esteban Ocon – with the two-stopping Vettel catching them – was not resolved from the team’s pit wall as Pérez refused to comply with Ocon’s request to be allowed to attack Ricciardo on his newer tyres. Verstappen’s Gilles Villeneuve-like shining role was not rewarded, the Red Bull an early retirement with lack of battery power. Vettel staged a superb two-stopping comeback in a floor-damaged Ferrari that salvaged fourth place and kept him leading the championship, but Hamilton was never challenged, heading a Mercedes 1-2 the day after equalling Ayrton Senna’s 65 pole positions with a stunning lap. Sign-up now for access to a limited number of articles.
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