"Cato Batista" 21/06/2014 0:17:06 ID #603

Ladies and Gentlemen,

Day one in Austria and the picture looks like this: Mercedes at the front -nothing new there- but

Ferrari and Williams are next ahead of Red Bull.

Mercedes power is definitely the unit to have in this layout: 9 of the top 10 cars in P1 have the german engines. The session was wet at times with the best lap times registered in the early-dry running. By P2 the surface was not as green and on the options (super-soft) both Mercedes lapped under the 70 seconds mark, almost 2 seconds faster than the morning session.They were clearly superior on both compounds as well as on the long-run stints and on the QF simulations. The silver machines are 6 tenths over the rest, a huge advantage considering how short the lap is around here. So we know where the money is going for the top 2 spots with the balance inclining toward Lewis over Nico.

P1- ROS (1.11.295) HAM ALO MAS BUT PER HUL BOT MAG VER

P2- HAM (1.09.542) ROS ALO BOT MAS VET BUT RIC MAG VER

Comparative analysis shows that Williams is the ‘best of the rest’ on the prime compound (soft) followed by Ferrari with this order reversed on the Super-Soft. RAI is fighting more than driving the F14T, still uncomfortable with its handling, ALO looks more at ease with it as reflected by his lap times. The problem with Ferrari this year is that they always shine on Friday and disappoint on Saturday!. The surprise today has to be the underperforming Red Bull. Both VET & RIC had high speed offs in the last corner and both lost time to the get their undertray floor replaced as  consequence. They were not the only ones exploring the surroundings, many drivers ran wide trying to find braking points, something very critical in this circuit with most of the stopping either on uphill or downhill zones. McLaren showed up with a much revised MP4-29 but it seems they will be again behind the Force India that showed much promise in P1 and on the high-load simulations.

Weather forecast is partly cloudy for QF...with high chances of rain during the race on Sunday.

Time to get to work: QF picks please.

No change in the QF ranks from last race: Santiago leads with 12 points, I’m second with 11, Tim & Uwe third with 9.

Cato -HAM ROS BOT

Good luck!