Red Bull ahead but tyre failures are the main concern

35 comments on “Red Bull ahead but tyre failures are the main concern”

1. 

   SoLiDG (@solidg)
   23rd August 2013, 18:47

   It’s strange to see Hamilton so low as he looked very on it (in real life).
   He looked to take a lot of speed into the corners and was on the accelerator as one of if not the fastest.
   The red bull looked very planted and stable.

   Could the drainage on the start finish line be hurting the tires?
   1. 

      GT Racer (@gt-racer)
      23rd August 2013, 20:33

      I spent some time watching his in-car camera on sky’s ipad app during FP2 & Hamilton’s car looked horrible.

      It looked to understeer on entry & then switch to oversteer on exit, He had a couple fairly big saves.
      He was also downshifting to 6th through Eau Rouge although was remaining flat out on the throttle.

      Although I wasn’t able to see as much in-car stuff from Nico, His Mercedes looked just as bad in pretty much the same places as Lewis.
      1. 

         BasCB (@bascb)
         23rd August 2013, 22:43

         interesting. Maybe not the track for the Mercedes, or they were already running more fuel?
         1. 

            @HoHum (@hohum)
            24th August 2013, 0:12

            Maybe trying out some wet set-ups ?
      2. 

         SoLiDG (@solidg)
         24th August 2013, 0:25

         autosport is saying they are probably saving their practice engines.
         I was standing in bruxelles (the long hairpin) and Hamilton seem to take good speed into it. He was also very good in the next unnamed corner.
         He did have 2 slides.
         I’m still expecting him at the top of the time sheets come qualy.
2. 

   Suave (@suave)
   23rd August 2013, 18:51

   Interesting to see the Red Bulls so far up in the speed trap. Vettel is 4kph quicker than the next person down. Could this be a defensive tactic to make it difficult for the other to pass them on the long straights?
   1. 

      Shrieker (@shrieker)
      23rd August 2013, 19:02

      Speed trap is located right on the exit of Eau Rouge. The cars carrying the most speed through Eau Rouge will show faster trap speeds. I bet the bulls are a good 10 km/h down on top speed compared to -say- the Mercs.
      1. 

         Aaron Noronha
         23rd August 2013, 19:27

         Mercedes werent lowers revs to protect their engines
      2. 

         luc
         23rd August 2013, 21:00

         you’ve seen their rear wing yet? tiny! possible for rbr to have a nice topspeed, atleast they will not be last in top speeds this race.
   2. 

      @HoHum (@hohum)
      24th August 2013, 0:14

      Obviously now the Renault is the most powerful engine ;-))
3. 

   Latvian (@latvian)
   23rd August 2013, 18:55

   just look how flat Vettels line is
   1. 

      Max Jacobson (@vettel1)
      23rd August 2013, 21:01

      It’s very impressive consistency, although I’m fairly sure that was the run that ended in the puncture @latvian…
      1. 

         @HoHum (@hohum)
         24th August 2013, 0:21

         I’m guessing it’s Webbers set-up if it looks like a wet race and Vettels set-up if it looks like a dry race, or maybe they will use both set-ups if the forcast is mixed.
4. 

   AdrianMorse (@adrianmorse)
   23rd August 2013, 19:00

   Two years ago, Red Bull brought a very effective low-downforce configuration to Spa and Monza, and the early signs are that this year they have done it again. Vettel’s long run looks pretty solid too (for as long as it lasted, of course), so at the moment it looks like Red Bull are in the best shape.

   Mercedes’ form is a little worrying for those hoping they would challenge Red Bull for the second part of the season, and equally worrying is the fact that they are so much slower in the speed trap than anyone else, particularly Red Bull. It would be ironic if Mercedes are blown away on the straights by Red Bull. Rosberg’s long run looks good, though.

   I also find it surprising that Mercedes, and Hamilton in particular are currently opting for the high downforce approach. In both of the past two events in Spa Hamilton complained about being too slow on the straights, culminating in last year’s infamous telemetry tweet. If they keep their current setup, Mercedes will struggle to overtake anyone on the straight, and they will be sitting ducks if anyone manages to get within 1s of them.
   1. 

      mantresx (@mantresx)
      24th August 2013, 1:33

      Yep, I remember in 2011 in Monza the Red Bulls with the DRS on had literally no angle on the rear wing, it was the magic of the blown diffuser because in 2012 the wing was more conventional and they were quite uncompetitive.
5. 

   Rigi (@rigi)
   23rd August 2013, 19:05

   strange how mercedes is now the slowest and red bull the fastest in the speed trap
   1. 

      Shrieker (@shrieker)
      23rd August 2013, 19:11

      Speed trap is located right on the exit of Eau Rouge. The cars carrying the most speed through Eau Rouge will show faster trap speeds. I bet the bulls are a good 10 km/h down on top speed compared to -say- the Mercs.
      1. 

         BJ (@beejis60)
         23rd August 2013, 19:58

         In addition to this, I saw HAM downshifting through Eau Rouge which is not what most do… I seriously doubt they’re running a high-downforce configuration like someone mentioned above.
         1. 

            Shrieker (@shrieker)
            23rd August 2013, 20:09

            Yes i do think they re running a low df setup as well. In addition to that, someone on sky broadcast (Ant iirc) mentioned the engine situation. They had a used(very) engine on the car and Ant said the gears were too long and that the team can’t get it so wrong regarding the gear ratios. So what he thought was that they weren’t pushing the engine and blow it up because they would like to use it in another fp session elsewhere.
            1. 

               hunocsi (@hunocsi)
               23rd August 2013, 20:29

               Or they might have just used an old engine today and will use a brand new one for the rest of the weekend.
6. 

   hunocsi (@hunocsi)
   23rd August 2013, 19:16

   The speed trap is just after Eau Rouge, at the beginning of Kemmel straight – the highest top speed probably belongs to the Force India and Willams drivers as had the highest speed at the end of S1 which is at the end of Kemmel. We know Vettel used a very low downforce setup (or at least rear wing), but I didn’t expect him to be that much faster than anyone else on top of the hill, and it means he doesn’t even have to worry about anyone overtaking him there because he’ll get a big advantage by this. The weird thing is that on a whole lap the RB9 has the same pace with even more downforce as it is shown by Webber’s lap time – so far it looks like whichever way they will go, nobody will have a chance against them.

   Just a few more interesting stuff from these data:
   – Pic was the fifth fastest after Eau Rouge – which means he got through there very quickly and helping him by a lot for the long straight – and still only had the 18th fastest S1
   – Williams and Force India going for low downforce, high top speed, which is great for overtaking in the race but pretty bad in qualifying and no chance of going after someone who is fast in the slower middle sector
   – Rosberg’s and Hamilton’s top speed are very slow, that is pretty unusual by Mercedes as usually they are the ones with the higher top speed, tho it might work out for them because they seem pretty quick in S2, and if I remember right, they haven’t really used DRS in either FPs so far, maybe they are hiding their real pace – but they still have to work on stability as Hamilton looked very uncomfortable in the car today
   1. 

      hunocsi (@hunocsi)
      23rd August 2013, 19:32

      I forgot one thing – as well as they didn’t use DRS, Merc drivers always lifted in Eau Rouge and changed back to 6th gear, are they just playing with us and have they got it in them again?
7. 

   ECWDanSelby (@ecwdanselby)
   23rd August 2013, 19:27

   Can anyone find me a diagram showing where the DRS is?
   1. 

      hunocsi (@hunocsi)
      23rd August 2013, 19:30

      Here you go.
8. 

   Max Jacobson (@vettel1)
   23rd August 2013, 19:52

   If Red Bull choose to run the low downforce set-up that Vettel was running (and I assume they will) then it looks to be they’ll have a strong set-up in race – not too much energy through the tyres in S2 and they won’t be sitting ducks on the straights – and they look very quick over one lap, but then we said the same in Hungary!

   Since it’s highly probable there’ll be at least some rain though, I’m just looking forward to a good race! That also may tend them towards a slightly higher downforce set-up however.
9. 

   GT Racer (@gt-racer)
   23rd August 2013, 21:33

   Its now suspected that Van Der Garde’s accident was also caused by a tyre failure.

   Pirelli have told teams/Drivers they believe tyres are been damaged by a kurb (As I understand it the Kurbs have not been changed for this year), However earlier Pirelli insisted the damage was caused by a piece of debris.

   The teams/Drivers are not buying Pirelli’s explanation & have asked Charlie Whiting to investigate the matter.

   As I said in an earlier article, There were ‘damaged’ tyres which hadn’t actually failed on other cars & there were no problems at all on the GP2/GP3 cars.
   1. 

      Max Jacobson (@vettel1)
      23rd August 2013, 21:56

      @gt-racer I’m surprised more didn’t immediately jump to that conclusion – having just witnessed Vettel’s failure in around the same area I believe (one in which you never usually see cars going off, especially in the dry) I immediately suspected it’d been another tyre failure.

      If this is going to be a genuine problem during the race I hope Charlie just red flags it this time for intergity’s sake but I’m remaining hopeful that it’s just coincidental and that there are no problems so we can have a problem-free weekend and Pirelli can retain some dignity :)
10. 

    OmarR-Pepper (@)
    23rd August 2013, 21:55

    I know statistics experts will kill me for this, because especially in F1 things are not so easy to predict, but if you observe Vettel’s season so far, he has.
    Race 1: 3rd
    Race 2: 1st
    Race 3: 4th
    Race 4: 1st
    Race 5: 4th
    Race 6 : 2nd (a first would have make my logic perfect!)
    Race 7: 1st
    Race 8: DNF (without the problem probably 4th or 5th, well, just an “if”)
    Race 9: 1st
    Race 10: 3rd

    My point is, that almost perfectly, this year Vettel has won every 2 races. Guess which race comes? The second after his last victory in Germany. Cheers on Vettel!!! (But my bet on the Predictions Championship goes for Kimi for some historic reason)
    1. 

       Max Jacobson (@vettel1)
       23rd August 2013, 22:07

       Yea it’s just a fairly nice pattern and nothing more that that really! Vettel wouldn’t be looking a bad bet for a win though, mind you we also said that in Hungary…
11. 

    JackySteeg (@jackysteeg)
    23rd August 2013, 22:20

    I would be shocked if Red Bull kept Vettel on the low-downforce setup. As Webber has proven, the high-downforce can be just as quick in the dry, and it’ll no doubt be more ideal in the wet. I know there’s a long way to go in terms of how the weather develops, but surely Red Bull will put Vettel on the safer option.
12. 

    TMF (@)
    23rd August 2013, 22:40

    Mercedes didn’t reveal how fast they are – but it seems they lost confidence in their engines.
13. 

    karter22 (@karter22)
    23rd August 2013, 23:35

    It´s going to be another tough weekend…
14. 

    Chris (@tophercheese21)
    24th August 2013, 1:01

    The speed trap positioning is a bit misleading, as its at the top of Eau Rouge.
    It really suggests that Redbull are the quickest there. Not rip necessarily that they have the fastest car in a straight line.
    1. 

       erix
       24th August 2013, 4:04

       Fastest at eau rouge means RBR gonna be fastest in most corners.
    2. 

       Max Jacobson (@vettel1)
       24th August 2013, 9:33

       What it suggests was what Brundle pointed out that they get an incredible exit from La Source and can nail it through Eau Rouge easily. That would suggest that they’ve got good stability and traction, which is usually achieved by a good set-up and a bit of downforce.

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