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The Russian GP 2019


The Circuit

• The Russian GP was first held in 1913. Only one GP was held after that ins 1914.
• The inaugural race of the modern F1 era was held in 2014.
• Mercedes is the only constructor to have won here both in the current era as well as in 1913 and 1914.
• The Sochi Autodrome as it is known, is built around the Sochi Olympic park.
• Borders the Black Sea
• Contracted as a GP venue till 2020, extension beyond that seems uncertain.

Car Setup

• Cars are full throttle for 60% of the time.
• Given the two long straight, straight line speed counts for facilitating overtaking in the two DRS zones.
• Around 40 gear changes per lap
• Given a mix of straights and a fair bit of slow 90 degree turns the setup aims to maximise straight line speed without compromising cornering grip.
• Reduced levels of downforce are run but it is important not to compromise braking and traction performance.
• The circuit is not particularly hard on brakes with only two major braking events into Turn 2 and Turn 13.

Tyres
The circuit is quite easy on the front tyres with only the rear tyres coming in for a little more wear than the front.


Weather
The weekend looks set for the first wet qualifying and race in Sochi. There is an over 80% chance of rain predicted.


2018 Race
Team orders were in force as Mercedes asked Bottas who was set for a victory to move over for Hamilton. Hamilton qualified for pole and a quick starting Vettel got a better start but ran out of space at the first corner to remain second. Eventually pit strategy and team orders saw Mercedes finish 1-2 with Ferrari making up 3-4, another dent if Ferrari's hopes of a WDC. The current sensation Leclerc finished 7th in his Sauber.

Drive on,
Shibu

I had stopped watching F1 for some time now but Leclerc has got me excited again. With 6 races to go would be interesting to see how he does vis-a-vis Hamilton.

The qualifying starts at 17:30 today?

Posting the race timing since it is different from the usual time.

Ferrari's look strong in the practices, Leclerc more so than Vettel who really came into his game in FP3. However the Red Bulls seems to have found there mojo with Verstappen trading places with Leclerc in FP2.

What also seemed interesting to me was that the Mercs locked the second row afte Ferrari in FP1 on harder compounds while Ferrari did so on softs. Would it be a pointer to the fact that the Silver Arrows are stronger on race pace?

Drive on,
Shibu.

Four poles in a row for Leclerc!!!
Brilliant setup for a great race tomorrow.

This guy is on a roll!

I agree. Hope Mercs spoil the Ferrari party tommorrow!


PS: The last time Ferrari got 4 poles in a row, Leclerc was seven years old! :D 2001 with Michael Schumacher

Not 7, make that 3 years old. That feels so long back!

Unless something dramatic happens, Ferrari should have this in bag. They start on the softs unlike Mercedes who will be on mediums, so they will be playing catch up once again.

The Ferrari engine advantage seems incredible this year. They are probably making 50-100 HP more than others in qualifying looking at the sector times in Q1 where they are 0.4s faster than anyone else. That is a ridiculously crazy achievement and their engine guys deserve a raise.

Leclerc is a generational talent. My bet is he will be WDC before Verstappen at this rate.

As per Leclerc's admission the last sector was slow because he had taken so much out of the tyres in his first two sectors. It was a smashing lap. Ferrari would have locked the front row if it had not been for the bit of oversteer that caught out Vettel. As it stand even Q1 caused some anxious moments for Vettel.

But Norris! That guy is out qualifying Sainz on a regular basis and that too in a McLaren. I love the way he races too. Russel too looks great. Pity he is on the worst car on the grid!

Both Ferraris start on the cleaner side of the track. Should be interesting.

I wouldn't quite bank on that. Ferrari would be on mediums in the second half of the race while the Mercs would be on softs. Mercedes would certainly look to play the long game. But I wonder whether this would make them vulnerable to the under-cut.

Drive on,
Shibu.

I do think Q2 LEC was on the mediums. I could be wrong, but i distinctly heard the commentator saying LEC was on the mediums.

Nope, except for the Mercedes all the top runners are on softs.
This will ensure Mercedes will be on softs in the final stint with lower fuel loads.

Leclerc and Vettel were both on mediums in Q1. Leclerc's time was good enough to get through to Q2, but Vettel had to bolt a set of softs to be safe.

Good to see Mercedes back on top with a 1-2. Sad that Vettel had a DNF, and that pitstop from Ferrari was far from ideal. But at least he will ensure that Leclerc won't have it easy for the last few races of the reason.

I'm a Ferrari supporter but I think Ferrari and Leclerc got exactly the result they deserved. Vettel clearly caught Leclerc sleeping and took 1st place fair and square. If Leclerc truly felt that he deserved that 1st place back from Vettel, he should've shown that he was faster. Instead, he got gapped. There is no way Ferrari are winning the drivers championship so I don't think team orders were necessary. Ferrari might have the best cars right now, but their strategy falters more often than anything.

Ah, Ferrari and their strategies!

Instead of focusing on maximizing results for the team, they start focusing on how to switch Vettel and Leclerc right for lap 1. For what? Their pit stops played right in to Mercedes's hands. They focused so much on getting the undercut for Leclerc over Vettel, whereas if they were really smart, they could have delayed the pit stops as long as possible. It's ironic that Vettel himself caused the pitstop that benefited Mercedes!