"Cato Batista" 21/07/2016 23:24:27 ID #975

Ladies and Gentlemen,

To round up the first half of the season we have a double header with the Hungarian GP coming up this weekend and the German GP on the next one. The 11th and 12th rounds of the 21-race calendar.

From the eight drivers with Mercedes-powered cars only HAM is in his last unit  (turbo & MGU-H). He installed his 5th and last in Austria, and with half a season still to go sooner or later he’ll have to take a new engine and assume the 10 grid penalty.  HAM is suggesting the weekend they have to face the inevitable he should take 2 engines instead to increase his pool of components, as drivers incurring in multiple penalties simply drop to the back of the grid. Problem is he would not be able to benefit from the constant improvements that will end in ROS’s car only.

Only one point separates them at half season, it is indeed an 11-round Championship race between them starting from scratch. Advantage: ROS.

High temperatures are expected in Hungary, which means, some teams will be very fast and some will suffer, and nobody quite knows who they could be. The Hungaroring is a full downforce circuit -same aero package as Monaco-, so expect Red Bull to close on Mercedes, but then, every team is still lost in understanding the tyres, as Williams technical chief Pat Symonds explains: “When Force India is fast, we (Williams) are fast  and Red Bull struggles (Baku, Montreal), but then Red Bull has problems in a low temp-high speed track like Montreal, and in the same conditions in Austria they were very fast, and Force India and us were struggling (...) It is all down to tyres, they continue to catch us out, all of us, even Mercedes”

But of course this has made for better racing, even if Mercedes are almost unbeatable almost every GP this year has been really good. We are seeing many different strategies with the mid-field teams challenging close to the front. And good racing means unpredictability...and low success rates for the Premier F1 forecasting association. Last year after 10 races Maria was in the lead with 114 points, this year Fredrik in first place has 92 points! Up to Silverstone this season we had scored 317 triples, last year...447!  

So let’s enjoy the ride, there’s nothing better than good F1 racing.

A quick round of the latest news:

Red Bull’s chief Horner is saying his ex-driver VET will move to Mercedes by 2018 if Ferrari doesn’t deliver a winning car by next year. And the rumors coming from the Scuderia are that the all-mighty Sergio Marchionni is ready to show James Allison the door as early as this year if the team keeps losing ground to Mercedes and Red Bull.

The FIA has imposed new restrictions to the already controversial radio communications. Now if there’s any urgent message (like mechanical or software issues) all the team can do is call the driver to the pits and once stationary in his box he is open to get all information he needs (!). VET's response to this new rules?: That's complete bullshit..."

And last but not surprising, ALO is hinting at leaving F1 and move to another form of racing. In yesterday's press conference he was very open expressing his displeasure of the current state of F1: "I'm not at all happy for some things that are happening: we can never drive the cars to their real limit; we can never attack as much as we would like because the tyres don't allow you to. To be quick in today's F1, you must not attack too much, that's the secret, but that's something against a driver's instincts” Things were better in the old days, he says: "Before, after 10 laps you had to have a two-hour massage, while now you can drive 150 laps and barely sweat by the end." I wonder if he would feel the same way if was driving for Mercedes...

Until tomorrow

Cheers

Cato