United Kingdom: pre-qualifying 2016
The
Mercedes’ drivers have been told not to be naughty or they’ll be
punished. If they collide again and it’s one driver’s fault
rather than a racing incident that driver may miss the subsequent
race. We’ll see (if they collide) whether that actually happens as
it’d be a pretty severe sanction, albeit better than implementing
team orders.
In
more driver news, Raikkonen has, slightly surprisingly, got another
year with Ferrari. Shortly after that news broke, Force India
indicated it would retain its rather good driver lineup.
Two
or three stops (likely soft-soft-soft-medium if the latter) are
expected. I think the third compound is supersoft.
In
first practice Hamilton was a full three-hundredths of a second up on
Rosberg. Hulkenberg was nearly a second down the road, with Vettel
close behind. Ricciardo, Raikkonen, Verstappen, Perez, Sainz and
Alonso round out the top 10.
In
second practice Rosberg ran no laps at all. Uncertain what the issue
was at this stage. Hamilton was four-tenths up on Ricciardo, with
Verstappen two-tenths further back. Vettel and Raikkonen were a few
tenths down the road, with Alonso, Bottas, Grosjean, Button and Massa
following.
I
did actually catch a bit of second practice, and the Red Bulls seemed
competitive on long runs. May be worth keeping an eye on for the
race. Shade surprised the team seems to be ahead of Ferrari, but
there we are.
At
this stage the McLaren seems surprisingly swift.
Third
practice started on intermediate tyres (excepting Alonso and Bottas
who opted for the full wets to save them the inters for qualifying).
Took half an hour for the track to dry enough for times to become
representative.
Marcus
Ericsson had a substantial crash in third practice which brought out
a red flag. Uncertain if it’ll be ready for qualifying. The red
flag meant there wasn’t only five minutes of actual practice at the
end. At the very end, Vettel radioed that he thinks the gearbox
failed (again, he lost another earlier, I think, but suffered no
penalty).
In
P3, Hamilton again led Rosberg by just half a tenth. Ricciardo was
half a second back, leading Verstappen by a tenth. Vettel was half a
second down the road but gearbox woe may make it a tricky weekend for
the German. Bottas, Alonso, Hulkenberg, Raikkonen and Sainz.
Weather
forecast for qualifying is to be overcast, but probably dry. Rain’s
possible, though.
I
hadn’t been planning on betting on qualifying, but then saw
something which seems value to me.
I’ve
backed Alonso, with Betfair, at 2.04 to reach Q3. He’s been 6th,
7th and 10th in the practice sessions so far. I
think more or less evens is a bit long, given that.
Morris
Dancer
Rosberg's problem in P2 was a water leak:
ReplyDeletehttp://www.autosport.com/news/report.php/id/125195
Ah, cheers.
DeleteOne suspects the conspiracy theorists may attribute that to managerial vengeance.