I thought it would be wise to start one general thread for this grand prix instead of seperate ones for all the FP's, qualy and race.

So lets see how this pans out.

You want to feel old? Sainz, Magnussen and Verstappen will embark on their 50th grand prix this weekend. Already their 50th Grand Prix.

My favourite to win the race? Lewis "I need a vacation" Hamilton.

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It's a sombre build up, what with the news of Silversone at croaking point with the Bernie era contract killing them financially, and Lewis for giving his loyal fans a smack in the face by being the only driver (at his home country!) not to turn up. Was telling that when Nico asked who the crowd wanted to win, him or Vettel, even with Seb's villain role in our parts the crowd barely cheered more for Lewis. If the man wants to express his patriotic love for the UK, he can do that' by turning up when his team requested him to. Shot in the foot.

Edit: 'snack in the face'... Oh dear.

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You can only get over your fears if you attack them head on - Mika Hakkinen



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 13/07/2017 11:59 by MartiniSalad.

At least this way all the discussion will be in one thread. About this weekend I expect to see us up the order and the upgrades to start being understanded and set up in the most profitable way.
So for me it will be for now the same battle for best of the rest with FI expecialy.

I don't know. The car seems to have the same weaknesses as the 2016 car. It was worse in Austria than 2016. Silverstone was a very poor race for us last year.

There's an article on the Autosport forums about teams cheating with hydraulic suspension - well, 'cheating' or doing 'super clever stuff that gets around the rules'. Williams isn't one of the teams doing super clever stuff. FI is, however.

Quote:

Gunk
I don't know. The car seems to have the same weaknesses as the 2016 car. It was worse in Austria than 2016. Silverstone was a very poor race for us last year.
There's an article on the Autosport forums about teams cheating with hydraulic suspension - well, 'cheating' or doing 'super clever stuff that gets around the rules'. Williams isn't one of the teams doing super clever stuff. FI is, however.

It is Mercedes that is doing the clever stuff.

Fi is using the gearbox and rear suspension from Mercedes.

Force India is bringing their biggest update package of the season so I can't see how we should beat them this weekend too.

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Dylan's Together Through Life Hits The Stores.

Quote:

Mehryar
Force India is bringing their biggest update package of the season so I can't see how we should beat them this weekend too.

If they work as well as our updates did last weekend we will mate.
Updates take time to work.

Quote:

TerraNova19
It is Mercedes that is doing the clever stuff.

Fi is using the gearbox and rear suspension from Mercedes.

You are so right.

I think now that the FI / Haas business model is far better for a customer team. Why do we spend all this time and money building a gearbox, for example . . . when it may only be just as good as Mercedes' box at best.

I am not behind your idea Gunk.
If we think we get same spec of gearbox, suspension and engine from Mercedes, then there only remains lubricants and fuel and aero to do better than them to beat them.first 2 (lubricants and fuel) for sure the company which builds the engine is ahead so we will be already in backfoot to makeup the loss on aero which is so hard to think with 40% of their budget we can come out with such a superior aero package compared to them.
This philosophy works for Haas, they want be considered as a serious team with some points, may work for Force India, their goal is to finish 4th, best of midfielders but not for a team who dreams to be a regular top3.We need to build our own parts in hope we can make up the lost ground we have compared to Ferrari and Mercedes because of their inside data on engine side and then see if there's a chance to come out with a better aero package or not.

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Dylan's Together Through Life Hits The Stores.

Another thing I am looking forward to is Alonso performance this weekend.
He's going to revert to spec3 engine and takes penalty.under his hands you can see if Honda has made a good step ahead or not.

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Dylan's Together Through Life Hits The Stores.

It did surprise me to find out that Force India has the trick hydraulic suspension that Ferrari are complaining about. I guess if they buy their rear end from Merc this would explain why but I'm not sure Merc would hand it to them. Talk on Autosport / AMUS was that Merc use the gearbox to heat the oil in the rear suspension shock absorbers. Maybe this is what Paddy is working on as part of the new gearbox and rear suspension.

Quote:

Mehryar
I am not behind your idea Gunk.
If we think we get same spec of gearbox, suspension and engine from Mercedes, then there only remains lubricants and fuel and aero to do better than them to beat them.first 2 (lubricants and fuel) for sure the company which builds the engine is ahead so we will be already in backfoot to makeup the loss on aero which is so hard to think with 40% of their budget we can come out with such a superior aero package compared to them.
This philosophy works for Haas, they want be considered as a serious team with some points, may work for Force India, their goal is to finish 4th, best of midfielders but not for a team who dreams to be a regular top3.We need to build our own parts in hope we can make up the lost ground we have compared to Ferrari and Mercedes because of their inside data on engine side and then see if there's a chance to come out with a better aero package or not.

Well, you can argue it both ways. (And I did say the business model worked for customer teams, which Williams could well be for the forseeable future.)

Force India say they put all their efforts into the go faster bits, rather than duplicate parts that have already been optimised for a given engine. I used to debate this with Mayhem Funkster some time ago. We have more personnel and resources than FI but rarely seem able to capitalise on it. In fact, the overhead often compromises our ability to hire go faster drivers, only those with some spare change.

Of course, you can argue that we never hired top talent of any kind until Paddy, so I guess we won't know for sure until 2018.

Quote:

Mehryar
Another thing I am looking forward to is Alonso performance this weekend.
He's going to revert to spec3 engine and takes penalty.under his hands you can see if Honda has made a good step ahead or not.

I think he has to start at the back anyway for an 8th replacement MGU- something?

Well, I agree, it will be an interesting race with Honda's future at stake . . . and maybe we get some insight into all the conflicting rumours about the Sauber deal. Then there's the future of Silverstone too, which surely can't continue under the onerous conditions of Bernie's accelerator fee structure.

Seems there will be more going on off-track than on. Fun for all the family.

Why have we reverted to old sidepod vanes if the updates were working as expected?!

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Dylan's Together Through Life Hits The Stores.

Massa just destroyed another floor by running wide over the kerbs at Copse...

Geez.

Quote:

Francesc
Massa just destroyed another floor by running wide over the kerbs at Copse...

I think he will have to revert to the old floor with the old bardgeboards as I don't think we have any spares of the new one.

Why not
They should have spares not that complicated and they are small bits.

The floor may be another matter but I still think they should have 2 spare floors also.



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 14/07/2017 09:27 by gpl.

Quote:

gpl
Why not
They should have spares not that complicated and they are small bits.

The floor may be another matter but I still think they should have 2 spare floors also.

You're right. Just seen Felipe inside the car about to go out with the new bardgeboards fitted.