[imidnightmare]

Originally Posted by nair

Is there really a special qualifying mode? I thought Lewis rejected those claims.

Toto admitted that Hamilton was on "party mode" throughout Q3. LH neatly said all his runs were on the same mode - and the press inferred he meant that there was no usage of Party mode. Clearly there was. The swing from that is undeniable and I fear that the Mercs will pretty much dominate Saturdays with Party mode coming to the rescue. The key will be how well Ferrari and RBR can come back on Sundays. That said, don't hold much hope unless the Mercs face reliability issues.

Edit: "Party mode" is how Merc refer to the special mode that unlocks more power and one-lap performance from the engines for a qualy run. Yes, it does exist - was there last season as well - and that's the reason why the Mercs would streak away on Saturdays and yet be closer to or, at times, slower than the Ferraris on Sunday.

[Sudeep_Kimster]

Originally Posted by nair

Is there really a special qualifying mode? I thought Lewis rejected those claims.

Well, the so called "party Mode" nomenclature originated when Mercedes F1 engine chief Andy Cowell said changes for 2018 were designed to improve packaging and increase horsepower.

And Hamilton himself said he loves driving in that mode as there is more power, most juice in the car including all aero working in tandem.

That lap of almost 0.6s up on Kimi would have been unrealistic.

Lewis tried to be smart by saying he didn't use that mode in Q1 & Q2, But Wolff did accept that he did.Must have felt as an egg on the face for Lewis.

Secondly he also said to wipe the smile of Vettel's face, but got his wiped instead. Classic example of Seb's quote "What goes around comes around".

Originally Posted by imidnightmare

Toto admitted that Hamilton was on "party mode" throughout Q3. The key will be how well Ferrari and RBR can come back on Sundays.
that's the reason why the Mercs would streak away on Saturdays and yet be closer to or, at times, slower than the Ferraris on Sunday.

I think Ferrari will be there to challenge for pole by Catalunya.
They have gone with an aggressive approach to this year's car, just need few more tweaks to be there with the Mercs.

As neatly observed by Karun Chandok during this weekend's AusGP, Ferrari
engined cars were fast at the speed trap than Mercs. May be they can use that advantage to challenge Mercs at Bahrain and China, which have good straights

[shibujp]

Originally Posted by imidnightmare

Toto admitted that Hamilton was on "party mode" throughout Q3. LH neatly said all his runs were on the same mode - and the press inferred he meant that there was no usage of Party mode. Clearly there was. The swing from that is undeniable and I fear that the Mercs will pretty much dominate Saturdays with Party mode coming to the rescue. The key will be how well Ferrari and RBR can come back on Sundays. That said, don't hold much hope unless the Mercs face reliability issues.

True. I think all the confusion stemmed from the 0.6 second gap that Hamilton pulled out over the nearest Ferrari in his last lap that got him the pole. Everyone jumped to the conclusion that he used party mode for that lap where-as Toto Wolff confirmed that it was on from the start of Q3 and that the 0.6 second gap was all Lewis pulling out a blinder of a lap.

That said, if Ferrari and Red Bull rely on hauling back the Mercs from pole on Sunday it is going to be quite difficult. Given the pace differential and assuming it stays more or less so, It would be an easy task for Mercedes to lock down the front row, open up a sizeable gap at the start of the race and then dial back the engine managing the pace at the front. Their weakness is following other cars and unless other teams can exploit this, Mercedes is going to be strong. Unless of course other team figure out a way to overhaul the power deficit. Reliably.

Drive on,
Shibu.

[imidnightmare]

Originally Posted by Sudeep_Kimster

I think Ferrari will be there to challenge for pole by Catalunya.
They have gone with an aggressive approach to this year's car, just need few more tweaks to be there with the Mercs.

As neatly observed by Karun Chandok during this weekend's AusGP, Ferrari
engined cars were fast at the speed trap than Mercs. May be they can use that advantage to challenge Mercs at Bahrain and China, which have good straights

Good to hope and dream, but pulling back half a second is tough. Also, the speed trap issue is that Merc doesn't use "party mode" in the race - and don't need to when they're on P1 and P2 anyway most of the time. Very similar to last year. So if you're looking at speed trap data, one should also look at the data from the Q3 laps that Merc does on party mode. They dial it up a notch and last year, nobody had an answer, though the Ferraris were undeniably quicker in race trim on multiple tracks.

Even on the quick circuits, the same will hold. Party mode unlocks several more horses for the Mercs and in qualy, they're devastating. Note also that because of this, they can carry more downforce onto these circuits while the Prancing Horses and the Bulls can't - since they're trying to optimize straight line speed and so they compromise on drag. What they'll really have to focus on is how to overtake on track - the one weakness of the Mercs...

Originally Posted by shibujp

True. I think all the confusion stemmed from the 0.6 second gap that Hamilton pulled out over the nearest Ferrari in his last lap that got him the pole. Everyone jumped to the conclusion that he used party mode for that lap where-as Toto Wolff confirmed that it was on from the start of Q3 and that the 0.6 second gap was all Lewis pulling out a blinder of a lap.

That said, if Ferrari and Red Bull rely on hauling back the Mercs from pole on Sunday it is going to be quite difficult. Given the pace differential and assuming it stays more or less so, It would be an easy task for Mercedes to lock down the front row, open up a sizeable gap at the start of the race and then dial back the engine managing the pace at the front. Their weakness is following other cars and unless other teams can exploit this, Mercedes is going to be strong. Unless of course other team figure out a way to overhaul the power deficit. Reliably.

Drive on,
Shibu.

Major issue there is the engine locks and the points system. Ferrari are rumoured to have unlocked an additional 10 horses already before the Aus race - and they're still well off. It won't be easy, so I think they're stuck with following what they did last season - focus on race pace and reliability while hoping for the odd slip from the Mercs (LH in particular). I won't stop hoping for more from Ferrari, but the reality is that the Merc is a complete beast and their qualy advantage looks way too significant for the others to haul them in any time soon...

[ferrarirules]

It was an amazing race!!!! Turned on its head with Haas Double DNF. Alonso now has a car to defend his position and it made good use of it. For Ferrari, the risk of delaying Seb's pitstop reaped benefits. Fitting response of "Arrogant" Lewis's qualifying press conference comment "Wipe the smile of Seb's pace".

Coming to qualifying pace difference, Seb admitted that he made a mistake in turn 13 which would have lost him a 0.1 or 0.2 second. So all in all, Ferrari was down 0.3 to 0.4 second which can be overcome in the season to come. I will still not write qualifying pace off atleast till Barcelona.

[berardo_88]

Source - Formula1.com

The much awaited BHP-thumping Formul1® season is back and back with a bang. The first race of the season the Australian Grand Prix was a testimony to the same. The weekend was full of action at the Race track - Lewis Hamilton gains pole position, Ferrari’s Sebastian Vettel & Kimi Räikkönen take podium finishes, Daniel Ricciardo of Red Bull Racing Tag Heuer records the fastest lap at 1:25.945, and a lot more!

Formul1® has always attracted automotive enthusiasts. And, why not? It’s the series like the LeMans Endurance Race that puts to test every technology & the driver. As a matter of fact, all high performance technologies are engineered and proven at the track and then put into series production for road legal cars. These race series put to test, the engineering knowledge, manufacturing techniques, driver skills, team work, etc.

Over the years, F1® has evolved with alterations to specifications for cars and new rules. The 2018 season too welcomes a lot more technical changes compared to the previous season which will make participating manufacturers to push the limits of engineering the draw necessary results.

Technical regulations:
- T-wings and shark-fin style engine covers outlawed
- Halo cockpit protection device mandatory
- Trick suspension outlawed

Sporting regulations:

- Drivers allowed three rather than four power units per season
- Simplified grid penalties for power unit changes
- Wider range of dry tyre compounds

Let’s get to know these key changes in detail.

T-wings and shark-fin style engine covers outlawed – Going by the rule books, there was nothing mentioned that said shark-finned engine covers and T-wings were not permitted on a F1® race car. This gave to an emergence of these performance enhancers. Williams introduced a double T-Wing, Renault-McLaren experimented with double planes, etc. Now, the purpose, the T-Wing was introduced was to enhance the down-force at the main rear wing by directing the airflow in a better manner. With the ban on these enhancers, the engine covers will see some sort of fins but noting as huge as the ones banned.

Halo cockpit protection device mandatory – At high speed isn’t the helmet not enough? Not really! The major difference every F1 enthusiast will notice on the race car is the introduction of the halo. Now this halo is designed to protect the driver from flying debris in an event of an accident. The introduction of the halo has resulted in an increase of the overall weight of the vehicle by 6kgs which might even go up to 14kgs to accommodate the mountings and fitments. Since the manufacturers cannot alter the design of the halo, there would be some scope for teams to modify its surface.

Trick suspension outlawed – during the last year’s season, multiple teams used suspensions with a small link in the front set-up. This performance enhance was believed to alter the ride height of the vehicle depending on the steering angle which was a key factor in aero performance. In 2018, F1® has outlawed any sorts of usage of trick suspensions.

Drivers allowed three rather than four power units per season – Maintaining the fine line between high performance and durability is very difficult. To take engineering to the higher level, this season’s contest will see one driver getting one less engine for the championship – 3 instead of 4. The manufacturer who best manages their development programme over the course of the year could stand to reap even bigger rewards.

Simplified grid penalties for power unit changes - Under the previous system, drivers changing multiple power unit elements could rack up multiple grid drops, often in excess of the number of cars at the event.
With the new rules, any driver who earns a grid penalty of 15 places or more will have to start from the back of the grid. If more than one driver receives such a penalty they will be arranged at the back of the grid in the order in which they changed elements.

Wider range of dry tyre compounds – Pirelli the official F1® tyre supplier will offer a wider range of tyre compounds which includes a new pink-marked hypersoft at one end of the spectrum and the orange-marked superhard at the other. In total, now manufacturers will have access to seven compounds rather than the previous five. The 2018 range now is as follows: hypersoft (pink), ultrasoft (purple), supersoft (red), soft (yellow), medium (white), hard (blue), superhard (orange).


With the introduction of technical & sporting regulations the F1® season for 2018 is set to be more exciting. Will it be Mercedes for the 4th time in a row or will Ferrari’s Legacy Rule? Well, the first race proved Ferrari’s legacy over Mercedes’ recent track record. But, it’s too early in the season to arrive at a conclusion.

[rohitoasis]

While most of us are in agreement of the phenomenal pace in Qualifying due to the party mode in qualifying. We cannot rule out Mercedes race pace.

Lewis overcooked the chicane towards the end and was 3 seconds behind Seb. The way he caught up to reach within DRS range again within 4 laps was scary to see. It was as good as catchup being on in video games. I did not notice any serious mistakes by Seb during this duration(I might have missed something, if there were any my below theory could be wrong). So looks like Lewis opened up the taps with the party mode in these laps. Then tried to protect the engine in the latter laps when he realised there was no way he would be able to overtake in the tight circuit. Imagine a more overtake friendly circuit and Lewis just opens up the taps just to catch up and overtake.

[sharktale]

Originally Posted by berardo_88

The much awaited BHP-thumping Formul1® season is back and back with a bang.

Reply

Not trying to be the mod here but I am thinking you have just copied from some article. We don't really use the copyright / registered sign for writing posts.
You're a newbie. It's understandable you want to weigh in. I guess stick to being and expressing yourself, than copy paste articles for more "thanks". It's what makes this forum unique.

[narayans80]

Originally Posted by rohitoasis

We cannot rule out Mercedes race pace.

If they did, Lewis would have pulled off a 10+ second gap by the pit stop and Bottas would have been challenging Riccardo or Raikkonen

Originally Posted by rohitoasis

So looks like Lewis opened up the taps with the party mode in these laps. Then tried to protect the engine in the latter laps when he realised there was no way he would be able to overtake in the tight circuit.

I remember he was asked to use Strat-14 if he got closer to Seb enough to pass. I guess this should be the 'party' mode

[shibujp]

The Haas performance was outstanding and given the fact that they are running the current generation Ferrari engine, they should be competitive in the following races as well. This year FIA has mandated that the engines should be accompanied by the software used by the works team as well which should be an additional boost.

They do have the potential to throw a spanner in the works of the top three should they get a jump on them at the start. Red Bull looks particularly vulnerable to their pace. I just hope their performance at Melbourne was not a flash in the pan.

Originally Posted by narayans80

If they did, Lewis would have pulled off a 10+ second gap by the pit stop and Bottas would have been challenging Riccardo or Raikkonen

There is little doubt about their race pace looking at how fast Hamilton was able to close down the 3 second gap to Vettel after his spin. However their pace is no good once they encounter dirty air from the car ahead. It's just like they hit a wall. Prior to Vettel's pitstop, Hamilton was in fact running in clean air and could have put the hammer down if only Merc had let him know.

Drive on,
Shibu.

They don't seem

[Yusha]

Lewis Hamilton used the same engine modes for both his qualifying runs in Q3. The only difference is that his second lap in Q3 was spot on with the rear tyres switched on and he drove an amazing lap.

Have you guys seen the onboard of his final Q3 run? You should, if you have'nt. Lewis's statement was factually correct when he said that he was in the same mode during Q2 and Q3.

Now this mode is being referred to as the Party Mode which is actually a qualifying mode which has existed on the Mercedes cars since 2014.

Toto Wolff has clarified that Lewis's lap time was down to his driving and not entirely the engine mode. The qualifying mode is not worth 6 tenths. Even Sebastian Vettel has attributed Lewis Hamilton's massive gap to Kimi to his lap rather than the engine mode. This is what Vettel had to say.

"Vettel said that in Australia Mercedes "didn't do anything special - not more than they did last year, probably even a bit less by the looks of it".

"I think they did turn it up for Q3 but not by seven-tenths," said Vettel, who turned the tables on Sunday thanks to a fortunately timed pitstop during a virtual safety car period.

"Probably if you look at qualifying carefully, it's fair to say they were quick in Q1, quicker than us, Lewis was quick in Q2 and then his second run, I don't know, something happened.

"So, his last run in Q3 was the only proper run at the end, and he had a clean run, and I don't think the gain that he had in time was down to engine.

"Probably a tenth, a little bit more, but not seven tenths. So, the credit is for his lap that he did and not for the engine power."

Links:

https://www.autosport.com/f1/news/13...pecial--vettel

https://www.racefans.net/2018/03/24/...olff-confirms/

Lewis Hamilton Pole Lap

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=i20YjED5gTc

[Nikhs]

Kimi vs Hamilton Lap Times. Seems Ferrari is Close to Merc on Race Pace. Kimi's hot lap was faster than Lewis Hamiton's party mode lap when he was catching Vettel Aggressively.



2018 vs 2017 Lap Times. Mclaren gained most because of Renault Engine. Ferrari gains were not impressive.



Source : https://www.ferrarichat.com/forum/th...572291/page-22

[arun_josie]

Force India and McLaren want the Haas Formula 1 team's technical relationship with Ferrari investigated after its "magic" Australian Grand Prix performance.

Source: Force India, McLaren want 'magic' Haas-Ferrari F1 car investigated

[CaptainPrice]

I find it strange when I see Mercedes race because they seem to be inherently toying with the others. I believe there is a "party mode" that yields more power, but at the cost of engine life, so we'll just have to wait and watch its endurance when running too much in dirty air.
That also explains why Mercedes need to ace qualifying, because they require clean air more than the others.

Coming to another point, Bottas overtook Raikkonen so many times last year that it left me wondering how bad Ferrari were or how good Mercedes were, because it certainly wasn't sloppy driving from Raikkonen, who set quick times during Free Practice and also Qualifying. There also seems to be some form of favour for Vettel over Raikkonen.

However, as Uncle Ben says great power comes with great responsibility, and that's where Hamilton shines over Bottas : he has greater car control, and greater experience with the circuits.
Something similar is when Harvey Specter mentions in Suits S01E09 that it's not just about skill:

Harvey: Do you know who's watched more game film than anybody?
Mike: No. Who?
Harvey: Michael Jordan

[aim120]

Originally Posted by Nikhs

2018 vs 2017 Lap Times. Mclaren gained most because of Renault Engine. Ferrari gains were not impressive.

Mclaren gained the most but Toro Rosso with honda engine is .162 slower then their 2017 Renault engine lap.