The 2018 Russian GP Thead

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The 2018 Russian GP Driver of the Day

Lewis Hamilton
0
No votes
Valtteri Bottas
0
No votes
Sebastian Vettel
0
No votes
Kimi Raikkonen
0
No votes
Max Verstappen
1
100%
Daniel Ricciardo
0
No votes
Other
0
No votes
 
Total votes: 1

cmlean
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The 2018 Russian GP Thead

Post by cmlean » Tue Sep 25, 2018 6:51 pm

This is the place to discuss everything related to the 16th round of the 2018 season taking place in Sochi from the 28th to 30th of September.

To submit your 10 'n' Pole Picks for Russia click here, to register in the competition click here.

Picks for Russia close at the start of Saturday practice.

The event timetable for the Russian Grand Prix.

Friday
1st Practice 11:00 local time - 08:00 GMT
2nd Practice 15:00 local time - 12:00 GMT

Saturday
Practice 12:00 local time - 09:00 GMT
Qualifying 15:00 local time - 12:00 GMT

Sunday
Race 14:00 local time - 11:00 GMT

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Re: The 2018 Russian GP Thead

Post by cmlean » Tue Sep 25, 2018 7:11 pm

This weekend, the circus returns to Sochi, Russia. Teams have data from previous visits to the circuit however, after a couple of seasons being here in April, they are reverting back to their September date.
Red Bull are the team who are most behind the 8 ball with both cars reverting back their 'B' Spec engine and the grid penalties that come with it.
Mercedes seem to be the team that benefited from the summer break with a major form reversal.
Ferrari, who were pushing the Mercedes team prior to this break, are the team who just haven't made the expected gains. Time will tell but the world drivers championship may pass them by.
Haas are another team whose luck seems to have deserted them. They were by far the next best but Force India, Renault and even McLaren have stepped up their games.
Sauber have been the surprise packet for 2018 with Charles Leclerc the major team points contributor with points also gained Marcus Ericcson.
Toro Rosso looked reasonably good part way through the season but Gasly has had little support from Hartley. I do understand that it is basically Hartley's first season back in single seaters but I do think that his days are numbered. Shame really because he does have talent.
It was good to see Williams in the points in Monza but that was an abnormality in what has been a dismal season for what was once a great team. I do hope that Ocon gets a seat with them for 2019. He can make the difference.

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Re: The 2018 Russian GP Thead

Post by cmlean » Fri Sep 28, 2018 8:45 pm

FP1 Results

Code: Select all

Pos	Time		Driver		   Team
1	1:34.488	Sebastian Vettel   Ferrari
2	1:34.538	Max Verstappen	   Red Bull Racing
3	1:34.818	Lewis Hamilton	   Mercedes
4	1:34.999	Valtteri Bottas	   Mercedes
5	1:35.524	Daniel Ricciardo   Red Bull Racing
6	1:35.663	Esteban Ocon	   Force India
7	1:35.696	Kimi Räikkönen	   Ferrari
8	1:36.196	Kevin Magnussen	   Haas
9	1:36.274	Nico Hulkenberg	   Renault
10	1:36.712	Antonio Giovinazzi Sauber
11	1:36.816	Romain Grosjean	   Haas
12	1:36.944	Pierre Gasly	   Toro Rosso
13	1:37.022	Lando Norris	   McLaren
14	1:37.054	Charles Leclerc	   Sauber
15	1:37.183	Artem Markelov	   Renault
16	1:37.187	Stoffel Vandoorne  McLaren
17	1:37.206	Nicholas Latifi	   Force India
18	1:37.225	Sergey Sirotkin	   Williams
19	1:37.944	Brendon Hartley	   Toro Rosso
20	1:39.137	Lance Stroll	   Williams
Well, where do we start.
Haas confirmed their driver line up for 2019 by announcing that their current drivers are being retained.
5 cars will be going to the rear of the grid with engine penalties. Both Red Bulls, both Toro Rossos and Fernando Alonso.
Daniel Ricciardo's Red Bull came into the pits with some smoke coming from the rear. The gearbox was removed and we are still waiting for notification on what the problems are.
4 stand in drivers appeared in this session. Giovanazzi, Norris, Markelov and Latifi.
Charles Leclerc is having major problems with the rear of his Sauber not being stable.

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Re: The 2018 Russian GP Thead

Post by cmlean » Sat Sep 29, 2018 5:24 am

FP2 Results

Code: Select all

Pos	Time		Driver		  Team
1	1:33.385	Lewis Hamilton	  Mercedes
2	1:33.584	Valtteri Bottas	  Mercedes
3	1:33.827	Max Verstappen	  Red Bull Racing 
4	1:33.844	Daniel Ricciardo  Red Bull Racing
5	1:33.928	Sebastian Vettel  Ferrari
6	1:34.388	Kimi Räikkönen	  Ferrari
7	1:35.122	Sergio Perez	  Force India
8	1:35.137	Pierre Gasly	  Toro Rosso
9	1:35.147	Esteban Ocon	  Force India
10	1:35.295	Marcus Ericsson	  Sauber
11	1:35.331	Kevin Magnussen	  Haas
12	1:35.341	Carlos Sainz	  Renault
13	1:35.432	Charles Leclerc	  Sauber
14	1:35.568	Nico Hulkenberg	  Renault
15	1:35.911	Romain Grosjean	  Haas
16	1:36.024	Brendon Hartley	  Toro Rosso
17	1:36.074	Fernando Alonso	  McLaren
18	1:36.617	Stoffel Vandoorne McLaren
19	1:36.861	Sergey Sirotkin	  Williams
20	1:37.001	Lance Stroll	  Williams

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Re: The 2018 Russian GP Thead

Post by cmlean » Sun Sep 30, 2018 7:05 am

FP3 Results

Code: Select all

Pos	Time		Driver		  Team
1	1:33.067	Lewis Hamilton	  Mercedes
2	1:33.321	Valtteri Bottas	  Mercedes
3	1:33.667	Sebastian Vettel  Ferrari
4	1:33.688	Kimi Räikkönen	  Ferrari
5	1:33.937	Max Verstappen	  Red Bull Racing
6	1:34.394	Daniel Ricciardo  Red Bull Racing
7	1:34.628	Charles Leclerc	  Sauber
8	1:34.809	Esteban Ocon	  Force India
9	1:34.820	Kevin Magnussen	  Haas
10	1:34.916	Sergio Perez	  Force India
11	1:34.988	Carlos Sainz	  Renault
12	1:35.125	Pierre Gasly	  Toro Rosso
13	1:35.185	Romain Grosjean	  Haas
14	1:35.213	Nico Hulkenberg	  Renault
15	1:35.370	Marcus Ericsson	  Sauber
16	1:36.033	Brendon Hartley	  Toro Rosso
17	1:36.071	Sergey Sirotkin	  Williams
18	1:36.274	Lance Stroll	  Williams
19	1:36.597	Stoffel Vandoorne McLaren
20	1:36.992	Fernando Alonso	  McLaren

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Re: The 2018 Russian GP Thead

Post by cmlean » Sun Sep 30, 2018 7:26 am

Qualifying

Code: Select all

Pos	Q1		Q2		Q3		Driver		  Team
1	1:32.964	1:32.744	1:31.387	Valtteri Bottas	  Mercedes
2	1:32.410	1:32.595	1:31.532	Lewis Hamilton	  Mercedes
3	1:33.476	1:33.045	1:31.943	Sebastian Vettel  Ferrari
4	1:33.341	1:33.065	1:32.237	Kimi Räikkönen	  Ferrari
5	1:34.078	1:33.747	1:33.181	Kevin Magnussen	  Haas  
6	1:34.290	1:33.596	1:33.413	Esteban Ocon	  Force India
7	1:33.924	1:33.488	1:33.419	Charles Leclerc	  Sauber
8	1:34.084	1:33.923	1:33.563	Sergio Perez	  Force India
9	1:34.022	1:33.517	1:33.704	Romain Grosjean	  Haas
10	1:34.170	1:33.995	1:35.196	Marcus Ericsson	  Sauber
					
11	1:33.048	No Time				Max Verstappen	  Red Bull Racing
12	1:33.247	No Time				Daniel Ricciardo  Red Bull Racing
13	1:34.383	No Time				Pierre Gasly	  Toro Rosso
14	1:34.626	No Time				Carlos Sainz	  Renault
15	1:34.655	No Time				Nico Hulkenberg	  Renault
					
16	1:35.037					Brendon Hartley	Toro Rosso
17	1:35.504					Fernando Alonso	McLaren
18	1:35.612					Sergey Sirotkin	Williams 
19	1:35.977					Stoffel Vandoorne McLaren
20	1:36.437					Lance Stroll	Williams
So, for something different, here are all the qualifying times from each session.

With all the penalties for this race, there was a lot of strategy being played.
The Renaults decided not to come out for session 2 as all there were 3 cars in the group that were assured of starting at the rear of field.
This guaranteed them positions 11 and 12 on the grid with a free tyre choice.
Brendon Hartley is still struggling to qualify close to his team mate's time and I feel his days are numbered.
McLaren and Williams were also disappointing in the Saturday sessions.

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Re: The 2018 Russian GP Thead

Post by cmlean » Sun Sep 30, 2018 7:35 am

Grid

Code: Select all

Pos	Time		Driver		  Team
1	1:31.387	Valtteri Bottas	  Mercedes
2	1:31.532	Lewis Hamilton	  Mercedes
3	1:31.943	Sebastian Vettel  Ferrari
4	1:32.237	Kimi Räikkönen	  Ferrari
5	1:33.181	Kevin Magnussen	  Haas
6	1:33.413	Esteban Ocon	  Force India
7	1:33.419	Charles Leclerc	  Sauber
8	1:33.563	Sergio Perez	  Force India
9	1:33.704	Romain Grosjean	  Haas
10	1:35.196	Marcus Ericsson	  Sauber
11	No Time		Carlos Sainz	  Renault
12	No Time		Nico Hulkenberg	  Renault
13	1:35.612	Sergey Sirotkin	  Williams
14	1:35.977	Stoffel Vandoorne McLaren
15	1:36.437	Lance Stroll	  Williams
16	1:35.504	Fernando Alonso	  McLaren
17	No Time		Pierre Gasly	  Toro Rosso
18	No Time		Daniel Ricciardo  Red Bull Racing
19	No Time		Max Verstappen	  Red Bull Racing
20	1:35.037	Brendon Hartley	  Toro Rosso
Additional penalties were taken by Red Bull with gearbox replacements to both cars.
Max Verstappen was also given an additional 3 place grid penalty for a yellow flag infringement.
Brendon Hartley took multiple engine component penalties and starts at the rear of grid.

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Re: The 2018 Russian GP Thead

Post by cmlean » Mon Oct 01, 2018 6:56 am

Results

Code: Select all

Pos	Driver		  Team
1	Lewis Hamilton	  Mercedes
2	Valtteri Bottas	  Mercedes
3	Sebastian Vettel  Ferrari
4	Kimi Räikkönen	  Ferrari
5	Max Verstappen	  Red Bull Racing
6	Daniel Ricciardo  Red Bull Racing
7	Charles Leclerc	  Sauber
8	Kevin Magnussen	  Haas
9	Esteban Ocon	  Force India
10	Sergio Perez	  Force India
11	Romain Grosjean	  Haas
12	Nico Hulkenberg	  Renault
13	Marcus Ericsson	  Sauber
14	Fernando Alonso	  McLaren
15	Lance Stroll	  Williams
16	Stoffel Vandoorne McLaren
17	Carlos Sainz	  Renault
18	Sergey Sirotkin	  Williams
DNF	Pierre Gasly	  Toro Rosso
DNF	Brendon Hartley	  Toro Rosso

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Re: The 2018 Russian GP Thead

Post by cmlean » Mon Oct 01, 2018 7:07 am

I have to say that I was impressed with Max's drive. Ha passed something like 8 cars on the first lap and then kept his head down. The strategy of starting on the yellow tyres enabled him to go long and, at one stage, was leading the race. Daniel Ricciardo was probably the next best in terms of performance starting from 18 and finishing 6th. It seem a case of 'What could have been' for the Red Bull duo. Next season's race will be their victory to end the Mercedes domination at this circuit.
Team orders were at the forefront of this race with Mercedes instructing Bottas to let Hamilton pass and the Force India team assault on the Haas Marcus Ericcson. Force India do redress their cars positions as both were unable to make the pass. This was resolved following the pitting of the Haas.

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