Red Bull fastest in the dry but rain expected tomorrow (FP2 analysis)

52 comments on “Red Bull fastest in the dry but rain expected tomorrow (FP2 analysis)”

1. 

   Icthyes (@icthyes)
   8th October 2010, 9:48

   Rain could really mess up Red Bull’s party. McLaren are strong in the wet (though it will be difficult with the limited running with the upgrades) and Alonso isn’t exactly the world’s worst wet-weather driver (Spa notwithstanding).

   But I don’t think their advantage in today’s dry will be the same as in a dry race. Alonso usually sandbags in practice and we have little idea of where Hamilton is.
   1. 

      Adrian
      8th October 2010, 9:52

      Hadn’t Hamilton just set the fastest time so far for Sector 1 before he went off?
      1. 

         AK
         8th October 2010, 10:13

         yes but it was early and RB hadn’t really been running much up to then.
      2. 

         DaveW
         8th October 2010, 14:21

         He finished fifth in the session, I think, and still ahead of Button. So that makes the plot thick.

         We saw the same scenario in Germany with the upgrades and in England. Hamilton and Button were going off trying to get a handle on EBD behavior. I suspect that the off-throttle behavior, which you would see as you come out of the first Degner and try to settle the car for the tight second part, gave the McLaren guys fits. You could hear Hamilton’s car moaning dramatically off-throttle again, while Button’s car sounded normal.

         Clearly Button is not comfortable or willing to run the overrun setting and probably the different floor package it is designed to apply to that Hamilton is. If Hamilton can come to terms with the new spec I think he might be very quick.
   2. 

      F1iLike
      8th October 2010, 11:35

      Neither are Vettel who took pole and won in a Torro Rosso… Pretty strong achievement.
      1. 

         Icthyes (@icthyes)
         8th October 2010, 15:19

         That car was insanely good in the wet. I mean, Bourdais qualifying 4th?

         Vettel is good in the wet but I think the cars contributed a lot to the premature “new Regenmeister” tag.
         1. 

            dragon
            8th October 2010, 23:47

            ridiculous. The TR was performing strongly before and after Monza as well, but not enough to warrant the kind of performances Vettel was putting in, the kid definitely was outdriving the car. If it was Hamilton in his place at STR, you’d be gushing about how much HE was outdriving the car.
   3. 

      BasCB (@bascb)
      8th October 2010, 11:52

      I am not too sure about that, i suppose that with really stable wet conditions Red Bull will be able to use their Downforce advantage.
      Only in the changable weather with a narrow balance between slicks and intermediates i see a weakness.
      1. 

         US_Peter (@us_peter)
         8th October 2010, 18:25

         That’s kind of what I was thinking, and it sounds indeed like it will be wet wet. Will Buxton was tweeting about 2″ of rain forecast.
   4. 

      Patrickl
      8th October 2010, 18:57

      Alonso doesn’t sandbag in practice. He doesn’t have the engines to go full speed on friday.
2. 

   Chris P
   8th October 2010, 9:56

   I am very surprised at the news that Liuzzi is to stay with Force India for 2011. Has he finished many sessions above Sutil? Maybe only when Sutil has parked it in the barrier early in the session perhaps?
   1. 

      Daffid
      8th October 2010, 10:18

      There’s no such news, just Liuzzi saying he has a contract… we’ve heard that sort of thing before. Doesn’t mean it’s a contract to race or a contract that Force India will honour. More likely FI are just hedging their bets in case Sutil jumps and they can’t get Heidfeld to partner Di Resta.
      1. 

         manB
         8th October 2010, 10:36

         FI’s Szafnauer in interview told
         “We never talk about contracts…”
         He also said, there is a seat available in FI for 2011.

         I really hope petrove do well in next 2 races, so that we can see Sutil and Heidfeld and in FI 2011.
         1. 

            Dan Thorn (@dan-thorn)
            8th October 2010, 11:04

            Gotta feel sorry for Liuzzi. Apparently a lot of his problems come from the F-Duct, which he hates. He seemed closer to Sutil at the beginning of the season and it will be a shame if he loses his drive off the back of something that wont be in the sport next year, but hey that’s racing and you’re only as good as your last race.
            1. 

               BasCB (@bascb)
               8th October 2010, 11:48

               It might be just that fact saved him from being dropped after being so far behind on Sutil at most races.
   2. 

      Daffid
      8th October 2010, 12:11

      What I find interesting, is that Liuzzi looked better than Klein in the old Red Bull days, and Klein comes back after years, jumps in a dog of a car and absolutely hammers Senna. Senna’s trading on a convenient name at the moment.

      Whatever, I’m looking forward to seeing Di Resta drive, I’m hoping Sutil gets the Renault (or Merc…) drive so we can see how good he is, and Nick returns somewhere – he’d be a better FI bet than Liuzzi I reckon.
      1. 

         Sound_Of_Madness
         8th October 2010, 15:15

         There is a possible explanation to that. Maybe that Klien put his head down as a test driver in various teams and worked hard, and so knows really well to set-up a car. On the other hand, Liuzzi spent less years as tester (and these on the non-testing years and in a lower team) and knows better car setuping. Or maybe that Liuzzi is just more plain lazy.
         1. 

            Sound_Of_Madness
            8th October 2010, 15:16

            Sorry, where “knows better car set-uping” I meant “doesn’t know better car set-uping”
      2. 

         David-A (@david-a)
         8th October 2010, 18:26

         I seem to remember Klein doing quite well in 2005. In 2006, he was lacklustre.
3. 

   Damon
   8th October 2010, 9:58

   Spa/Suzuka + rain = fantastic race weekend.
   1. 

      BBT
      8th October 2010, 10:50

      Why are you dividing Suzuka into Spa ;-)
      1. 

         RaulZ (@raulz)
         8th October 2010, 11:51

         He’s not dividing. I think it’s just an OR.

         Otherwise I don’t understand. If he could show all the math demostrations we could study the formula deeply. ;)
         1. 

            US_Peter (@us_peter)
            8th October 2010, 18:36

            He needs to show the work on his proof. ;-)
            1. 

               HounslowBusGarage
               8th October 2010, 21:46

               Spa/Suzuka = max x fun

               or maybe that should be

               (Spa + Suzuka + Montreal) – (Valencia + Bahrein + Abu Dhabi) = (fun)2
4. 

   Rahim RG
   8th October 2010, 10:59

   I’ve before about but i’m still not clear….
   One thing i’m a bit surprised is this year…Red bull haven’t been that Great in the Wet as they were in Last year in Rain and in Cold Weather….
   Does anyone know why is that…..there’s no doubt Vettel and webber are pretty Good in Rain…..
   It wasn’t only the RB5…but the previous cars were strong too….including torro rosso….
   U Need more downforce in Wets…well they’ve got enough….so what else do they need….?
   1. 

      Rahim RG
      8th October 2010, 11:04

      i mean i’ve asked before
   2. 

      BasCB (@bascb)
      8th October 2010, 11:50

      Actually they are probably pretty good in heavy rain. Just nothing special in changing conditions and on intermediates (seems that is one area where McLaren are top notch this year).
   3. 

      Enigma
      8th October 2010, 12:06

      There was some talk at the beginning of the season that they’re not so good in rain because of the tyre wear EBD produces. But now McLaren and Ferrari both have EBD, so not sure how fast they will be. McLaren certainly seems the best at decisions in wet and the drivers can read the conditions very well.
      1. 

         US_Peter (@us_peter)
         8th October 2010, 18:37

         Although the tire wear with the EBD didn’t seem to hamper Vettel in the dry at Monza.
5. 

   RioF
   8th October 2010, 11:30

   Possible outcomes:

   Rain for Qual: hammy, vettel, Alonso.
   Wet but not raining for qual: Alonso (as shown in Singapore), Hammy, Vettel
   Dry for qual: Vettel, Webber, Alonso
6. 

   Alex Bkk (@alex-bkk)
   8th October 2010, 11:32

   Rain might help Ferrari with their used engines. For Q in wet conditions I think I favor Alonso, Hamilton and Kubica if everything were consistent, but I don’t think that will happen. There are just too many variables to contemplate in the wet for me to have any confidence in my predictions.
   1. 

      RioF
      8th October 2010, 11:36

      To me, I just hope it was not just a RBR 1-2 from start to finish…..
      1. 

         Alex Bkk (@alex-bkk)
         8th October 2010, 11:55

         Just another nerve racking Sat and Sun in the world of F1 :)
7. 

   dgilles
   8th October 2010, 12:11

   Since Martin spoke about the crash boy: Hamilton´s Monza, Hamilton´s Singapur; Hamilton´s Suzaka!!!!!!!!!
   1. 

      Mike
      8th October 2010, 12:59

      So Hamilton is crash boy?
      And Vettel is crash kid?

      It sounds just like two competing super hero side kicks…..
      1. 

         Dan Newton
         8th October 2010, 16:59

         So…..don’t put both of them in the same team. Unless said team is called internal implosion.

         I’m only messing, both good drivers – with a few ‘off days’ (no pun intended!)
         1. 

            US_Peter (@us_peter)
            8th October 2010, 18:40

            They could form their own team and call it “The Supercrashers.”
            1. 

               MattW
               9th October 2010, 3:12

               and bring Sato back as reserver driver
            2. 

               jerry b.
               9th October 2010, 10:19

               right, and nakajima could be their team principal
   2. 

      Patrickl
      8th October 2010, 19:00

      Didn’t Alonso crash more often?

      What’s he called? Crash senior?
   3. 

      RFB
      8th October 2010, 19:35

      You can add Germany to that list.
8. 

   Rahim RG
   8th October 2010, 13:44

   Rain or Shine i hope its Vettel…
9. 

   Steph (@)
   8th October 2010, 14:35

   If there’s any wet weather then Mclaren will 1-2. In Spa Button and Hamilton were the only ones who could improve their laptimes during qualy when the rain began to fall, they won at Aus and 1-2 at China. With a car as good as that in the wet and those two anyway then it’ll be a slice of cake for them. I imagine Scribe is doing the F1f cliche rain dance :P
   1. 

      Glenn (@glenn)
      8th October 2010, 16:19

      I’m rain dancing too!! Macca’s like it Wet.
   2. 

      Red Andy (@red-andy)
      8th October 2010, 16:58

      It’s annoying, McLaren being so good in the wet really ruins my enjoyment of wet races.
   3. 

      Becken
      8th October 2010, 23:05

      Scribe is dancing a lot, I suppose:

      Emlyn Hughes via Twitter:

      Soggy #suzuka Saturday #f1: 06:45 JST, daylight breaking & finally starting to rain properly. Radar says we have hours of the stuff to come
10. 

    Sebas
    8th October 2010, 17:17

    Viva la Vettel!!!
11. 

    LC Coelho
    8th October 2010, 18:07

    I expected Ferrari to use Massa to run most of the tests, specialy due to engine limitation (and Massa used one extra last race). But Alonso is matching his lap count and moreover using all the power of it.
    1. 

       Santi
       8th October 2010, 21:22

       maybe they used engines that have already been used twice for Alonso’s car in order to avoid unnecessary risks?
12. 

    DaveW
    8th October 2010, 18:28

    Hamilton ran the old wing in FP2 because Button had the only other non-wrecked new design. And McLaren have some guy schlepping from England to bring Hamilton a new wing. Even if that guy got very brisk ride to Heathrow (MP4-12C taxi?)and got the first non-stop to Narita, making it to Suzuka for Q1 seems pretty dicey.

    If there is only one upgraded wing for qualifying, will Jenson Button be asked to give up that wing for qualifying?
    1. 

       Glenn (@glenn)
       8th October 2010, 19:12

       24 hrs is a long time in the Air Freight business. I am sure they should not have any problems moving the piece from two of the busiest airports in the word.

       If it does happen though, Id say it would end up being a call, Especially when the qualifying will be in the wet. And possibly some showers in the Wet. Which wing is better for the wet conditions?
    2. 

       Younger Hamilton
       8th October 2010, 21:36

       Team Radio: Jenson we’re giving up the new wing to Lewis
       JB:Why?? what happenned to his
       Team Radio:He broke his,im sorry Jenson but you’re now out of this title hunt we were going to tell you eariler
       JB:How can you do this to me i thought you guys were much better than this.You embarassed me in front of my Girlfriend and my Dad I HATE YOU ALL!!!

       P.S. Just a Parody and a Joke!!

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