Sergey Sirotkin, Williams, Silverstone, 2018

Sirotkin rues call not to pit during Safety Car

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In the round-up: Sergey Sirotkin says it was his decision not to pit during the Safety Car period in the British Grand Prix.

What they say

The second Safety Car period allowed Sirotkin to get back on the lead lap but without a fresh set of tyres he dropped back from the rear of the field.

The reason why it was my call not to [pit was] because in this case you kind of automatically give up the position.

And of course when you are a racing driver on a track like here it’s really difficult to overtake anybody in the train, you hardly can do anything. It’s kind of automatically giving up position.

I was really hoping that maybe it would [be] a bit quicker to bring back the tyres to kind of survival and that the pace after in this work-able window [would] be quick. But it was more like [what I] expected than what I could hope.

We had the discussion, it was my call not to do it. Looking backwards now for sure I would [have pitted]. At least I would be in the same position but it [would have meant] I could be right behind the field, trying to do something. But it’s easy to say looking back.

Quotes: Dieter Rencken

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Comment of the day

Now Abbey at Silverstone has a DRS zone, could other high-speed corners?

It’ll be interesting to see if they decide to have one leading towards 130R at Suzuka. Quicker, off a longer straight and with less run-off than Abbey. I’m thinking too risky, but one never does know…
Neil (@Neilosjames)

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On this day in F1

  • 45 years ago today Peter Revson won the British Grand Prix which was red-flagged after Jody Scheckter triggered a huge crash at Woodcote. John Watson and Jochen Mass made their debuts in the race.

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21 comments on “Sirotkin rues call not to pit during Safety Car”

  1. I just came across the “20 Years on/Jaques Villeneuve on Jerez 1997” put out by F1 sometime late last year? Don’t know how I didn’t see it. It was fantastic, are there more of these? I didn’t realize the full story of that race either. Well done.

  2. Since the FE first season (when all cars were the same) Di Grassi and Buemi was the real benchmarks. Birds is just ocasionally fast. Di Grassi was fast even when Audi was not the better car on the grid, Buemi is good only when he had a superior car. I can say that Di Grassi is the “finest talent” on FE. And Felix Rosenqvist as the “promissing young talent”.

  3. those damn mirrors ruining the sport

  4. What a beauty that Surtees BMW is!

  5. How do you say in Russian “you can’t give up a position when dead last”?

    1. There have been a couple of cars behind at that point that already pitted, so he just thought that maybe he could hold them off.

      But anyway, just compare this comment to the comment Lance “its teams fault” Stroll made after the race about strategy

      1. Sirotkin & Stroll were the final 2 cars on track since lap 19.

    2. Something like Вы не можете потерять позицию, когда уже последний!

      (Thank you, Bing Translate)

  6. Regarding the COTD: After the decisions to put DRS activation zones on the S/F straights of Silverstone and Hockenheim (and thus making it an option to drive through the following corner with DRS activated if the turn in question is flat-out, which could also be the case with T1 of Hockenheim), I indeed wouldn’t be surprised if an activation zone were to be put on the straight leading up to 130R, or Spa’s back straight featuring Blanchimont as well. The reason an activation zone wasn’t put on either one of those two particular full-throttle stretches for the 2013 season when the usage of DRS in practice and qualifying was limited on safety grounds was specifically the safety-risk attempting to drive through those corners with DRS activated brings, but maybe now with quite a lot more downforce, and mechanical grip than then it could be easier to do so, although that wasn’t really the case with Abbey, which is a similarly ‘sharply’ turning flat-out corner to 130R.

    1. @jerejj The DRS zone at Hockenheim doesn’t run through turn 1, It’s 2 separate zones.

      And T1 at Hockenheim isn’t going to be flat, It’s going to be a dab of the brakes & downshift 2-3 gears which is going to deactivate DRS which is why they need a 2nd activation zone.

  7. Reverse camera! get rid of the mirrors and put a screen in the cockpit somewhere.

    Like with screens on the steering wheels they’re dragging their feet on this. Cars don’t need mirrors any more and it’s safer for everyone.

    1. I remain surprised that so few car manufacturers have gone for camera-mirrors (concepts only I believe), @skipgamer.
      Functions better and looks better, and we can finally get rid of the stupid ‘objects in mirror are closer than they appear’ warnings.

      1. Darrell Gaudette
        14th July 2018, 15:02

        It is actually harder to use cameras due to needing to keep the camera clean, which then requires a system to do so. Every drive in winter in Canada blocks my far less critical rearview camera; fortunately this camera is not critical for driving. The same problem on any camera I need to use while driving on the other hand is a major issue.

        1. Which is probably why quite a few countries seem to ask for a physical mirror in their regulations.

    2. A camera and screen won’t give a 3d image like a mirror and there is also latency which a mirror doesn’t have. Low tech is superior for this purpose.

    3. Another screen (because the screen on the steering wheel is used all the time) will add weight. F1 cars don’t need/want more weight. You think cameras are the future, yet most road cars still use mirrors. Why because they just work. No power needed. So long as the glass is there it works.
      Sometimes re-invention of something is retro grade. Why hasn’t anyone re-invented the wheel? I mean it is thousands of years old. Answer: because mirrors and wheels are fine as they are.

    4. If you put a screen on a road car’s steering wheel it will kill you in an accident. That is why nobody has put a screen in the steering wheel. Why will it kill you? There is an airbag with an explosive charge that goes off in the event of an accident. Having electronics thrown in your face behind that force will likely blind you or embed itself in your skull. Good job nobody is rushing forward with this idea, they thought about it for 0.1 seconds and abandoned it as really stupid.

  8. I can’t see putting DRS in places like 130R, Blanchmont etc… been that feasible given how only 1 team could even consider trying Abbey flat with DRS open at Silverstone & come the race not even they were able to even think about it so I just don’t see it been that worthwhile.

    I also don’t see why more DRS is even needed at a track like Spa where the DRS zone it already has on the kemmel straight has tended to be a bit too powerful as it is. They don’t need & should not be putting DRS zones everywhere they think they can as all that will do is start ensuring the only passing we see is DRS which I just have zero interesting in seeing.

    And TBH if they do start throwing DRS zones everywhere I can’t see myself making it to 2021 because i’m sick of the stupid thing already & all more of it is going to do is completely kill what love & passion for F1 I still have left & that’s been eroded enough since 2011.

    1. @stefmeister I guess it’s just ‘each to his/her own’ type of thing, but I’ve never really had any problems with DRS. I don’t have any hatred towards it like some people (in general) over the years seem to have had.

      1. @jerejj For me I just cannot stand it when it makes things too easy because i’ve always enjoyed seeing good battling where the driver ahead is able to use his skill to fend off a car behind leaving it upto the driver behind to find a way to make an overtake happen. Even though no overtakes occurred I absolutely loved those 2 races at Imola in 2005/2006 because watching 2 of the very best drivers on the grid at the time pushing one another hard & fighting for the win over 20 odd laps had me on the edge of my seat.

        I know that not every DRS pass is a push of a button highway pass but when they are & even when they aren’t but the DRS assist makes the eventual pass a bit too easy it just takes all the excitement out of it for me because that simply isn’t something I find that fun to watch. I also hate it on days where DRS is too powerful & you see one driver catching another & know what’s going to happen when he gets there, No decent battle & an easy DRS pass.

        I fully understand that following/overtaking was harder than it ideally could be & that something to help was probably needed but the thing that irks me with DRS more than anything & the reason I do have a lot of hatred towards it is the fact that I don’t see it as the best solution they had available. They could have introduced something like P2P which is a far better solution IMO, It’s far fairer as everyone starts with the same amount available (Be it number of uses or seconds) & it’s far more in the drivers hands as they decide when/where they use it which makes it more of a strategic option.
        With DRS drivers are told when/where & how they use it which makes it far more artificial & gimmickey & with only a following car having it it’s unfair & leads to the sort of easier stuff which a P2P type system tends not to.

        I feel the same with the high-deg tyre philosophy. When you have situations where a good battle isn’t possible because of the performance difference between compounds or tyre life & the overtake is inevitable I just don’t find that fun. Big part of why I don’t bother watching F2 so much now, The tyre deg along with DRS took away a lot of what I enjoyed about that series.

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