Mercedes pair can’t relax with Verstappen in their mirrors

25 comments on “Mercedes pair can’t relax with Verstappen in their mirrors”

1. 

   Mashiat (@mashiat)
   26th May 2019, 1:16

   So Ferrari are top of the speed trap, while Mercedes are near the bottom. I really wouldn’t see any reason why a team would run less downforce.
   1. 

      anon
      26th May 2019, 8:25

      @mashiat, part of that seems to be an inherent characteristic of their car, but part of it also seems to be that Ferrari are hitting the limit on the amount of downforce the car can generate and just can’t bolt anything else on (I believe there was a report from Barcelona indicating they were running their high downforce package in that race and had little left they could add to that).
2. 

   David BR (@david-br)
   26th May 2019, 1:23

   I suspect it’s going to be an incident-heavy race and the Mercedes 1-2s are going to come to an end.
   1. 

      bukester (@bukester)
      26th May 2019, 4:51

      Let’s hope. But I doubt it. zzzzz
      1. 

         Fer no.65 (@fer-no65)
         26th May 2019, 12:34

         I doubt it too. It’s fine to try to get people excited about the race but it’s impossible for a guy in 3rd to beat the guys in the front row on “race pace”. Its getting very common for all the pre race analysis to hype up the race, but specially here it’s not going to happen. Mercedes are not going to lose all their advantage so easily, the car doesn’t drop in performance on Sundays like the Haas does. And the red bull isn’t strong enough, and won’t find a way past. Heck, Riccardo kept a healthy Ferrari without ERS last year…
3. 

   papaya
   26th May 2019, 2:49

   Mercedes should be worrying for Belgium SPA and Monza races with their slow top speed and lesser engine power.
   1. 

      Dom
      26th May 2019, 3:43

      Whatever you say, Toto.
   2. 

      Sham (@sham)
      26th May 2019, 9:19

      Some people really don’t understand F1 at all.

      Monza, spa and Monaco are the most track specific aero set ups of all. The Mercedes at Monza will be a lot different to the Mercedes at Monaco.

      The Ferrari, it seems, less so due to the fundamental principle of their car.
4. 

   Guybrush Threepwood
   26th May 2019, 5:20

   Would have been good to see how much quicker Ricciardo would have been in the RBR.
   1. 

      Ace
      26th May 2019, 8:33

      Angry Verstappen fan reply in 3…2…1…
      1. 

         peter
         26th May 2019, 10:28

         Ricciardo could have shown how much faster he is that Verstappen in the RB this season if only he hadn’t left the building. How does that relate to Verstappen fans and how does it make those fans angry? If i’m correct Max is on the second row and Daniel isn’t.
   2. 

      w0o0dy
      26th May 2019, 9:46

      As Max has been quite consistent in beating Ricciardo last year in qualifying I would say about a tenth or 2 slower. Slightly faster than Gasly.
      1. 

         Oconomo
         26th May 2019, 9:57

         Frustrated Ricciardo fan reply in 3…2…1…
      2. 

         anon
         26th May 2019, 10:57

         w0o0dy, on the other hand, it could be pointed out that, during the practise sessions for the 2018 Monaco GP, Ricciardo was generally the quicker of the two drivers and usually about 0.1-0.15s faster over a single lap compared to Verstappen.

         From the trend that we have seen over the past few years, Monaco is a venue where Ricciardo seems to be fairly consistently quick at – we’ve seen it demonstrated again this year, with Ricciardo managing to get his car up to 7th whereas Hulkenberg failed to make the top 10.

         I would therefore be wary about automatically assuming, as you have, that Verstappen would automatically be ahead by a couple of tenths, given this is an atypical circuit and one which seemed to follow an atypical trend compared to the rest of the calendar.
         1. 

            Matn
            26th May 2019, 11:34

            Anon,
            Based on…? In 2017 Verstappen beat Ricciarod quite comfortably in quali by 0.5 sec… quite a gap.
            In 2018 Verstappen didn’t take part in any of the quali sessions, you base your opinion on times set in FP…wich isn’t race, but an oppertunity to set up the car. Dan set his fastest lap at the end of each session, while Verstappen did his fast runs early on in the sessions. On a small side note, during Verstappen ‘crash-lap” he was around 0.3 sec faster than Dan.

            Dan hardly ever beat Verstappen in quali… in sessions he lost there usually were reasons…at Baku Ricciardo enjoyed a good tow, at Mexico Verstappen has engine issues in his fast run… same issues hit Dan at the start.
            In Abu Dhabi Dan was really (much) faster on merit.
            1. 

               anon
               26th May 2019, 13:03

               Matn, why do I get the impression that, whatever evidence is presented in front of you, you have already decided that Verstappen would always be quicker and that there is nothing that can be presented to you to the contrary that will shake that belief out of you?
            2. 

               Matn
               26th May 2019, 13:46

               Anon,
               The evidence…? I explained it quite good I think.
               Dan hardly was ever faster over the last 2 years… why would he have been faster in Monaco yesterday?
            3. 

               anon
               26th May 2019, 14:13

               Matn, it is because your later post gives the impression you would always want to find some other reason to say that there could be no way that Verstappen could be beaten on pure pace alone. I have no doubt that, if the practise times were the other way around, you’d have been saying “well, Verstappen was faster in the practise sessions and would have been the faster driver in qualifying”.
   3. 

      Matn
      26th May 2019, 10:41

      That’s almost funny…like Dan beat Max on pace in Monaco last season….
      Dan beat Max on pace in three races last season:
      – Buku 0.084 sec (Max overtook Dan in lap 4 and lap 30-something)
      – Mexico 0.026 sec (Dan was ahead shorther than their gap in quali)
      – Abu Dhabi (Max got in front again).

      Ahead, due to circemstances:
      – Bahrain, Max crash in Q1 during calibration lap, due to wrong engine settings… both DNF-ed withing 2-3laps
      – Monaco, FP3 crash prevented him from qualifying
      – Russia, gridpenalties… Verstappen jumped Dan at the start
      – US, broken suspension in Q1

      For the sake of Dan’s good performance in Monaco, don’t compare him to Verstappen…he got beaten quite thouroughly
      1. 

         Ross
         27th May 2019, 8:24

         You haven’t included the same ‘ Ahead, due to circumstance’ list for Max.
         Makes it look like there is a bias involved in your argument.
5. 

   Jere (@jerejj)
   26th May 2019, 7:03

   Will this be a straightforward sixth one-two for Mercedes? – Yes.
   And what can Leclerc salvage after his disaster in qualifying? – Lower top-ten. A similar position to what Max achieved from P20 on the grid twelve months ago.
   1. 

      papaya
      26th May 2019, 7:23

      “And what can Leclerc salvage after his disaster in qualifying? ”
      Possibly Fastest Lap of the race award! Those Ferrari were fast!
      1. 

         Sham (@sham)
         26th May 2019, 9:21

         Fast enough to be fourth fastest. I expect Verstappen to pit for new tyres and fastest lap if he has a window for it.
6. 

   F1 in Figures (@f1infigures)
   26th May 2019, 10:10

   If there is a real threat of rain, it probably will be much like the 2012 snooze-fest I fear, when everyone is going very slowly to make the tires last as long as possible. This likely reduces Leclerc’s chances of jumping a train of cars by pitting very late as Hamilton did back in 2017. Expect someone near the back of the grid to pit early (probably Giovinazzi) and use the clear air to undercut a bunch of cars, as Di Resta did back in 2013.
7. 

   Yaru
   26th May 2019, 17:57

   Whadya know, Versteppan DID prevent a Mercedes 1-2……..though probably not in the way they expected.

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