Latest article on the tire weight : “A set of F1 tyres (minus rims) weigh 42kg when new, but can lose as much as 3kg in wear during a long stint…. On a normal cooldown lap at any other circuit, drivers stray into the run-off areas to pick up discarded rubber and debris on their hot and sticky tyres. This practice can add as much as 2kg in weight to the tyres (although that figure is dependent on how much the driver goes looking for it) and race engineers routinely remind their drivers to get plenty of "pickup" after the chequered flag.”
TBF, that was because Russell was holding Hamilton up. He was getting just enough gap (on those old tires!) in the right spot that Hamilton couldn't get a run. Russell didn't even have to cover the inside line. Watched with my daughter in a hotel room while she put on her makeup for an Irish Dance competition. Bonding moments. I thought we might watch the next one 'together' while I'm in Germany next w/e but I see the schedule is clear.
I guess he couldn't wait to see if the Max to Mercedes talk was going to be true. I'm happy for James Vowles. I think Carlos will be in a good situation. How fast will the other slots get announced?
If they are going to do this dumb post race weigh in shit they should do it with control tires. Relying on picking up enough marbles to be “legal” is just stupid.
You play with fire - sometimes you get burned. Had it been any other track (where the cool down lap is a full one) we probably are not having this discussion.
It’s on the team to make sure the car is legal…pretty sure Lewis got a DQ for having his skid plate be less than the legal limit. Rules are there for a reason.
I just do not think a win or DQ should come down to how many sticky bits you can pick up on the cooldown lap. IMO that is silly. I understand the skidplate rule as that has to do with ground clearance.
You don't think that they should take into account the absolute minimum that the car will weigh in the race when the design it? Again, they take fuel into account. They designed a car so that it still makes minimum weight when the tank is empty. What's the difference?
Mercedes is absolutely sophisticated and experienced enough that there's no valid excuse for this fuckup!
Now that's a beautiful race car, especially with the glowing rotors. What's the length difference of a modern car, 4' longer?