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12:36

 

 

Another good day's work so far for Red Bull newbie Max Verstappen as he takes lunch with his name once again in first place at Barcelona...

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Edited 18 May, 201610 yr by lol-lol

Looking forward to qualifying in Monaco this weekend if not the race. Although Sunday might be wet so a chance of some extra drama? 

Red Bulls quick this morning, Danny R got the new engine not that is so key around here, handling is key.

 

Danny R just done 1:15 dead almost.

OMG

Danny done a 1 14.6

Thats pretty dam quick given last years was  1 16.#

 

Although not a numbers guy I seem to recall barcelona was a faster pole than last year too.

Dani did it on ultrasofts though, the mercs are still on supersoft.

 

Young dutchman is doing well too!

 

Vettel struggles with the walls, as do a lot of others.

The Toro Rossos directly behind the first 4.

Edited 26 May, 201610 yr by magic62

Verstappen, hero to zero in Q1

Excellent lap from Daniel.

Well done Ricciardo. A super pole lap.

1 13.6

 

Last sector was awesome, even up the hill, changing of the guard.

 

Max is human after all.

 

Well done Red Bull, Renault (Tag for the money) 

 

One scary place, definitely earning their pay at this circuit.    

Edited 28 May, 201610 yr by lol-lol

After last years performance, I expect Max may pass a lot of cars from back there.

While Monaco looks glamorous the race usually becomes a procession with overtaking extremely difficult.

Expect a shunt or two on the first lap.

While Monaco looks glamorous the race usually becomes a procession with overtaking extremely difficult.

Expect a shunt or two on the first lap.

 

Might be some rain showers, perhaps part way thru the race to spice things up.....

 

http://www.accuweather.com/en/mc/monaco/5174/hourly-weather-forecast/5174

Might be some rain showers, perhaps part way thru the race to spice things up.....

 

http://www.accuweather.com/en/mc/monaco/5174/hourly-weather-forecast/5174

Well that would help. With Ricciardo starting on super softs and the others on Ultra softs there could be an interesting start to the race. If Ricciardo can stay ahead on the more durable tyre and the weather holds he should win, If he gets jumped at the start he might not get the best out of the super softs. Timing pit stops for tyres is critical to try and get out into free track.  

I wonder if some of the slower teams realised there was a good chance of rain on Sunday and set their car's up accordingly. A bit surprised there was not more talk of this tactic yesterday ? Rain looks to be more persistent early in the race with a chance of it dying out as the afternoon goes on.   

Verstappen had the chance to set his new chassis up for the wet being outside parc ferme.

Someone on the podium interviews notably refusing to put his team hat on...

Edited 29 May, 201610 yr by camelspyyder

All 4 Red Bull's to run Renaults for next 2 years.

All 4 Red Bull's to run Renaults for next 2 years.

Why would you not seeing the perfomance and reliability of the Renault compared to the Ferrari choice.

And they're free to badge them up as something different, so Renault won't get any credit!

What a difference a year makes....At this time 2015 Red Bull were trying to do a deal with Mercedes, Ferrari or Honda for engines because the Renault was not delivering the power. When those options disappeared RB were at the point of pulling out of F1. Finally they had to go back to Renault along with TAG for a new deal. The problem with Renault is that they have made more comebacks that Frank Sinatra ever did. For all of Ferrari's ups and downs they have stuck in there. 

To be fair Ferrari often used to threaten to quit when Enzo wasn't getting his own way. And they missed races often during the 60's.

 

They also went as far as building an Indycar in '86 and threatening to switch series when they didn't like proposed new rules.

 

 

 

 

 

On another note - Only another 1100 miles of racing to watch today over here.

 

The Indy 500 starts in 35 minutes and then the Coca Cola 600 at Charlotte

Edited 29 May, 201610 yr by camelspyyder

And they're free to badge them up as something different, so Renault won't get any credit!

Those that know much about F1 know it is a Renault engine with Tag just a sponsor.

Goshn said go win it so the $100B R&D resources of Nissan-Renault is brought to focus. At least finally a competition. Canada will be a big test.

Yes it's a Renault engine

 

- which is being redesigned and improved by external consultant Mario Ilien (the IL of ILMOR) as far as I have read

Edited 29 May, 201610 yr by camelspyyder

Yes it's a Renault engine

- which is being redesigned and improved by external consultant Mario Ilien (the IL of ILMOR) as far as I have read

 

Redesigned is not quite the story as states below.  Article in ESPN defining the relationship by Brit Bob Bell who is Technical Director...

 

http://www.espn.co.uk/f1/story/_/id/14738671/renault-plays-importance-ilmor-engine-development

 

Renault chief technical officer Bob Bell, who is overseeing both the chassis and engine programmes, said Ilmor's resources are as important as its brainpower in the relationship.   "Mario is a very, very creative engine designer with bags of experience as well, so it's great to have his input on the creative side without question. But it's more than just trying to extract bright ideas from Mario -- Renault are not short of bright ideas of their own, they have lots of very clever people within their own organisation -- it's as much about having increased capacity -- more dyno capacity, more engineering capacity -- to just bring the level up a little bit more.  "Ilmor will only be involved with the development of the internal combustion side of the engine, they don't at the moment have expertise in the electrical side. We will be working very closely with them, as an extension of our existing capability, to develop the internal combustion engine."

Edited 29 May, 201610 yr by lol-lol