Lewis Hamilton revealed Mercedes are tackling the ultra-quick turns 11 and 12 at Albert Park without touching the brakes.
“Obviously the car is quicker here than it was last year, so it feels better everywhere,” said Hamilton. “Turns 11 and 12 are crazy, we’re not even braking into that corner, it’s insane.”
Hamilton headed both of Friday’s Australian Grand Prix practice sessions and said the world champions had “started on the right foot.” However second practice ended with Mercedes, Red Bull and Ferrari separated by less than three-tenths of a second.
“It closed up a little bit in FP2 in terms of the gap between us all, but that’s exciting. It’s more challenging for me to try and eke out a little more from the car.
“The tyres definitely didn’t seem to have the same issue that we had in Barcelona where they were blistering, so it felt a lot more normal,” he added.
However Hamilton said tomorrow’s final practice session and qualifying will be a step into the unknown for him if the weather in Melbourne turns wet as forecast.
“It’s going to rain tomorrow and on Sunday as far as I’m aware,” he said. “I’ve not driven in the rain yet on these tyres, so that will be interesting.”
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BasCB (@bascb)
23rd March 2018, 10:11
That really must be a roller coaster ride there!
kpcart
23rd March 2018, 11:50
It has always been a great sequence. Sounds boring if it’s flat now, too easy for the driver. Kubica recently gave an interview (not in western media) he said the cars now feel about 60kg too heavy. He was comparing to v10/V8 generation cars and said even though these cars take turns quicker, it doesn’t really feel like it because of the extra weight. Alonso last year when asked if Kubica would find this generations cars harder to drive, he said no because you have more grip available in turns. So there was a lot of talk about these new cars being heavy and needing to be manhandled, turns out it is not the case at all, they have become easier to drive, and we can see it,not as much wheel spin like in 2014 when the new engines with more torque were introduced. G force has increased but not that much, not to fighter pilot levels, 18 year Olds and crippled drivers can drive these cars fast. Maybe it’s time to set limits on amount of power steering available to drivers??
Hugh (@hugh11)
23rd March 2018, 10:16
Not braking? Wow… I wonder what G’s they’re getting
Joao (@johnmilk)
23rd March 2018, 11:03
I thought they had a small lift on 11 and 12 was flat. Is he saying 11 is flat as well?
rpiian (@rpiian)
23rd March 2018, 11:24
Man, flat at the end of that huge “straight” is hard to believe. I can’t imagine not at least lifting or braking for 11. They’re fast turns but they’re still turns! These drivers have huge cojones.
Hugh (@hugh11)
23rd March 2018, 11:24
He’s saying they aren’t braking, which means that there is a lift off the throttle, but they aren’t applying the brakes at all like they’ve had to in recent years
erikje
23rd March 2018, 11:34
Lifting the throttle on a F1 car is more “braking” then your roadcar has available.
But still…
Joao (@johnmilk)
23rd March 2018, 12:31
@hugh11 that is the thing, I though they didn’t brake last year either, that’s why I was questioning. Also they haven’t been quicker yet compared to last year
kpcart
23rd March 2018, 11:30
12 seems to be flat for everyone on low fuel, not much braking or just lift off gas for 11. Lifting off throttle gives about 1g deceleration.
frood19 (@frood19)
23rd March 2018, 19:30
that’s something that the sport doesn’t really communicate that well – 1g is ridiculous for braking force, you would lock your brakes in a road car. perhaps these forces are just too difficult to describe.
jenc (@jens)
23rd March 2018, 11:33
“Obviously the car is quicker here than it was last year”
Well, HAM’s #1 FP2 time this year is slower than last years FP2, where he was also #1.
– how does that match up to a quicker car?
Has the track been changed?
Steve
23rd March 2018, 11:49
My guess would be that, with engines having to last longer this year, they’re running significantly detuned in practice. So the cars could well be faster through the corners, but – so far, at least – slower over a full lap.
sethje (@seth-space)
23rd March 2018, 20:15
Pjotr (@pietkoster)
23rd March 2018, 11:42
Huh, and how did the tyres liked that? And how will they hold after a couple of rounds? Guess it is only a qualifing advantage. That could be enough though to lead from start to finish.
StephenH
23rd March 2018, 17:30
Weren’t they going to change that corner and make it tighter to turn it into a passing spot ??
Kenny Schachat (@partofthepuzzle)
23rd March 2018, 19:56
Bottas talked about the increased grip and downforce during testing, saying that during that the G forces were so high during the some of the now flat out turns that he could feel and hear the whole chassis bending and flexing a bit. Wow.