@themightyant I think your right, the ability to so closely compare their car with AM has most likely prompted this bold decision. Especially with how much AM has progressed. I wonder how quickly within budget/development restrictions they can get a new body done?
@BearsEatBeets reading between the lines of a few things they said previously it sounded like they already had an alternative option as a backup plan, from when they were unsure of whether they would keep down this current route or about turn and follow Red Bull like everyone else. But I can’t imagine that will be very far along die to cost cap, so no idea!
@themightyant I suppose even if they blow a big chunk of there budget doing it now, at least they won't have wasted any more money on the current package. They might be able to do it quite quickly if they had a back up plan like you say.
If I'm remembering correctly didn't Red Bull test last year with one design then turn up at the first race with a different one?
@stvevan I think you are right. We're just clinging on to hope that this season won't be as one note as the last (it actually looks worse, based off one race). No one want's to see a de facto winner after race #1.
I think the only potential is that Red Bull's sanctions for cheating and being first (i.e. less wind tunnel time and spending) mean they can't develop the car much more and everyone else has a small opportunity to catch up.
Seems mighty unlikely, they were in a world of their own, but i'll cling onto that for now, and hope that one race isn't representative of many other tracks.
@themightyant they have such a big gap and pretty good reliability that the was it 10% ? wind tunnel decrease wont let others catch.
the fact they wrapped up the championship early meant they could focus on this years car. Merc pushed till the end for a win, its impacted this years car, pretty much negating everything they had gained.
im sure there will be closer races, but barring something big i think RB walk it.
@stvevan 37% more for Aston Martin perhaps they are the only hope. (EDIT not sure the hours below were right first time, have found a likely more reliable source but percentages were right)
63% for RBR vs 100% for AM. Same ratios for wind tunnel time, number of tests and CFD. (RBR should have been 70% but lost 7% due to cost cap breach)
Agree on RBR wrapping up the title early and concentrating on this year whereas Merc were pushing till the end. I think that's one of the reasons Merc decided to stick with last years concept initially, not to throw some of that out, but it's backfired.
Agree we will see some closer races, and agree Max will walk it, unless there is something huge it looks like he will get near to or beating his 15 wins last year, they were just THAT dominant. Which frankly would be awful for the sport. The whole point of all the regulation changes, budget cap and tiered wind tunnel, CFD time was to bring teams further together, especially at the front, not make them wider apart. Law of unintended consequences...
@stvevan I agree Merc probably should but I think due to their pride they won't and they may make the same error as last year, concentrating on this year's car to get a win and try and save some face when everyone else is already on next years car.
I realise I am being super-negative here and perhaps there is a chance for others to catch, especially if Alonso can start to compete in qualifying, it is super-early days. But those Red Bulls just disappeared into the distance once clear. Winning by 38 seconds above your rivals, with Max coasting, is more than during the first races in the 2014, 2015 & 2016 seasons when Merc were boringly untouchable. This is what some of these rule changes were meant to prevent! At least back then Nico Rosberg kept Lewis honest and gave us some entertainment, sadly I don't see Sergio doing the same
I'm pretty content with Red Bull and Max dominanting because it's more refreshing to me then Merc & Lord Sir Lewis dominanting which made F1 a dismal watch for years. It helps that I regard Max Verstappen as a once in a generational talent and the best driver in F1 since Michael Shumacher, so I take personal enjoyment from just watching him race.
@AdamNovice I think our point was we don't want to see ANYBODY dominating too much, it's just generally dull for the sport. All the talk through qualifying was hoping there would be some competition.
I agree it was dull when one team dominated. Lessons were meant to be learned to prevent the sort of dominance Ferrari (6 times running), Red Bull (4 times running) and then Mercedes (a ridiculous 8 times running) have had in the last 25 years as constructors, it's not good for the sport. The rule changes were meant to help prevent that. Instead something hasn't worked and Red Bull are further away from the opposition than they were at the start of last year.
Agree Max is super talented and it's great to watch the way he drives but he was hardly featured on Sunday as he was in a race with himself. Would be better if he had someone like Lando Norris as a teammate then at least we might see some competition there, but better yet to see many teams and drivers duking it out. At the moment it looks like F1 on easy mode for Max and RBR, that's not particularly fun to watch imo.
@stvevan only free practice but 1s in FP3 is bonkers. I’m sure it will be a little closer in Quali but that seems insurmountable.
The better news is 3-15 were all within 0.5s. Like the first race there is a good chance of someone missing out if they can’t get put it all together / get unlucky etc. so there could still be drama elsewhere
@stvevan was just saying there might be some drama but didn’t think it would be max.
That spices things up! He’ll still cut through most of the field like a hot knife through butter but it will be fun to watch. And gives a few others a chance!
@stvevan 100% anything to spice it up and not let it be a walk over 1-2 like last week will be appreciated. And an Alonso win would be amazing. I feel Fernando needs to get ahead at the start/first few corners or Sergio will be off, but who knows Fernando is a beast!
George put in an amazing final lap in qualifying and Merc race pace is usually slightly better than Quali so perhaps but feels like an awful lot would need to go wrong elsewhere for that to happen. (Stranger things have happened)
Should be fun watching Max carve through the field though too. I'm still expecting a podium for him, especially if there is a SC anywhere that plays in his favour, and there always has been at Saudi.
Also Leclerc in the midfield, in a DRS chain, could slow Max down potentially, but RBR car is just so much faster, especially on the straights.
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