[jkoral]

Originally Posted by Artemis

Small consolation that the cars of Russell and Sainz complied.

How do you know when only the top 4 cars were checked:

From https://www.planetf1.com/news/merced...squalification

"Leclerc and Hamilton were two of four drivers who had their cars’ planks placed under FIA scrutineering after the race, with Lando Norris and Max Verstappen coming within acceptable levels of wear."

[HeelToeShift]

Originally Posted by jkoral

How do you know when only the top 4 cars were checked:

From https://www.planetf1.com/news/merced...squalification

"Leclerc and Hamilton were two of four drivers who had their cars’ planks placed under FIA scrutineering after the race, with Lando Norris and Max Verstappen coming within acceptable levels of wear."

What a joke that they are saying the bumpy surface cause the wear. Well, it seems RB and Mclaren were able to find a ride height setting that was legal.
They also should have checked the planks of the second driver from each team since they have good reason to believe those cars might have illegal wear too.

[Artemis]

Originally Posted by jkoral

How do you know when only the top 4 cars were checked:

From https://www.planetf1.com/news/merced...squalification

"Leclerc and Hamilton were two of four drivers who had their cars’ planks placed under FIA scrutineering after the race, with Lando Norris and Max Verstappen coming within acceptable levels of wear."

Easy: the cars of Russell and Sainz were not DSQ'ed, so for FIA and the history books, their cars officially complied.

If in reality these cars didn't comply, then both teams and drivers got lucky for not having been caught. But they can perfectly claim that the cars complied.

In his scrutineering report the Technical Delegate noted: "A physical floor and a plank wear inspection was carried out on car numbers 01, 16, 44 and 04." and "Apart from the rear skids of car numbers 16 and 44 (see Document 60), all car weights and the items checked were found to be in conformity with the 2023 FIA Formula One Technical Regulations."

And in his separate report he noted:
"A physical floor and a plank wear inspection was carried out on car numbers 16 and 44.
The skids located in the area -825 ≥ XR ≥ - 1025 are found to be not in compliance with Article 3.5.9 e) of the 2023 Formula One Technical Regulations.
I am referring this mater [matter] to the stewards for their consideration."

[M3WC]

Originally Posted by M5Rick

I used winter gloves for my cycling today though it's difficult to imagine it gets that cold in Las Vegas, at least it will keep those car brakes cooler.

If the race was held on the same date last year, race start temps would have been 40f(4c).

It starts getting cold in late November in Vegas, especially at night.

I hope everyone attending the race bring their winter jackets.

[M3WC]

Originally Posted by HeelToeShift

What a joke that they are saying the bumpy surface cause the wear. Well, it seems RB and Mclaren were able to find a ride height setting that was legal.
They also should have checked the planks of the second driver from each team since they have good reason to believe those cars might have illegal wear too.

From in car footage, Hamilton and Leclerc seem to be the most aggressive on the curbs. It wasn't just from the bumpy surface.

[Artemis]

Originally Posted by M3WC

If the race was held on the same date last year, race start temps would have been 40f(4c).

It starts getting cold in late November in Vegas, especially at night.

I hope everyone attending the race bring their winter jackets.

Las Vegas - Nov 18, 2022:

[M3WC]

Originally Posted by Artemis

Las Vegas - Nov 18, 2022:

40 degrees and 20mph gust, sounds like fun...not. Hopefully they get abnormally warm temps this year.

I said this back when they announced the race and date. It is too cold in late Nov to host a race in Vegas.

It needs to be in June before or after Canadian Grand Prix. It is in the 70's at night in June.

[M5Rick]

Just wow! Waking up to this news about the plank wear rulings and well ..rules are rules.
Rotten luck to LEW and Chas and gives Checo a mighty chance to retain second in the championship with his new 39 point lead on LEW with 4 races to go.
Roll on Mexico GP!

[M5Rick]

Originally Posted by ///M Power-Belgium

Got it and I see it now . Mate , Thanks for the info !

LEW and Charlie are 'disqualified(!) for floor-plank rules breach.

The new podium is :

P1 MAX
P2 NORRIS
P3 SAINZ

CHECO will love to hear that !

If it were not for the LEW plank wear DQ and brake bias problem for MAX then he would have finished the customary 20-30 seconds ahead.
Still not ''exactly'' clear what was the braking difficulty with the 1 car but that new pads were already fitted there I'm guessing it was a brake pump problem.
In recent races going back a bit to when Phoenix featured, boiling brake fluid was the problem.

Really surprised that Wolff took a chance and allowed this low ride height to coincide with the '24 floor on the 44 car and shows that Merc may still be struggling after all.
Newey know how
https://racingnews365.com/marko-reve...en-brake-worry

[M5Rick]

Originally Posted by ///M Power-Belgium

Got it and I see it now . Mate , Thanks for the info !

LEW and Charlie are 'disqualified(!) for floor-plank rules breach.

The new podium is :

P1 MAX
P2 NORRIS
P3 SAINZ

CHECO will love to hear that !

Podium now for NOR and SAI, Max's mate must be cracking open another bottle of bubbly and Ferrari are closer to Merc in the constructors, just 22 behind.
It's a good omen.

[M5Rick]

I'm due for a 'stewards' from FIA with my amount of posts in a row hah but just want to add a BIG congrats to Lance S for bringing in those 6 points to struggling AM, should bring a smile to his dad!

[///M Power-Belgium]

Originally Posted by HeelToeShift

What a joke that they are saying the bumpy surface cause the wear. Well, it seems RB and Mclaren were able to find a ride height setting that was legal.
They also should have checked the planks of the second driver from each team since they have good reason to believe those cars might have illegal wear too.

I'm pretty sure that RUS ran with the old 2023 floor , and LEW with the new 2024 upgraded test-floor .
Too bad for the Russel Boy , think Wolff made from him a Bottas#2
That's why LEW was suddenly faster .If RUS ran with the new floor , he would be faster than LEW.

[///M Power-Belgium]

Originally Posted by M5Rick

Just wow! Waking up to this news about the plank wear rulings and well ..rules are rules.
Rotten luck to LEW and Chas and gives Checo a mighty chance to retain second in the championship with his new 39 point lead on LEW with 4 races to go.
Roll on Mexico GP!

Well ....Wolff was whining (as usal)! he pushed the FIA more than once to get new FIA floor regulations !
And finally Wolff got his new FIA floor regulations .The Red Bull had to change the RB19 floor and that wasn't cheap with the budget cap !
Red Bull changed the RB19 floor according to the new FIA regulations , that wasn't easy with Red Bull's restricted windtunnel time !
As we know Wollf , he just did it to 'screw the Red Bull Team and the RB19. And most of all : To slow down MAX in the WDC..

Yesterday Wolff and LEW cheated with new 2024 upgraded Merc test-floor !
That's why LEW was faster than usual ...
Last night we heard what followed for LEW and Wolff ...

LEW cheated and is DQ , and Wolff shot himself in the foot !

#TheBoomerangEffect !

[M5Rick]

Originally Posted by ///M Power-Belgium

Well ....Wolff was whining (as usal)! he pushed the FIA more than once to get new FIA floor regulations !
And finally Wolff got his new FIA floor regulations .The Red Bull had to change the RB19 floor and that wasn't cheap with the budget cap !
Red Bull changed the RB19 floor according to the new FIA regulations , that wasn't easy with Red Bull's restricted windtunnel time !
As we know Wollf , he just did it to 'screw the Red Bull Team and the RB19. And most of all : To slow down MAX in the WDC..

Yesterday Wolff and LEW cheated with new 2024 upgraded Merc test-floor !
That's why LEW was faster than usual ...
Last night we heard what followed for LEW and Wolff ...

LEW cheated and is DQ , and Wolff shot himself in the foot !

#TheBoomerangEffect !

At last the FIA is realising that Merc is not the fairest player in F1. Max and Lando's car were checked also and deemed to be legal.

[///M Power-Belgium]

Originally Posted by M5Rick

At last the FIA is realising that Merc is not the fairest player in F1. Max and Lando's car were checked also and deemed to be legal.

Sure . That's why the RB19 ran with a higher suspension setup and that's why the RB19 was slower than usual .

MAX's brake issues ?
The issue was his brake pads. His brake pads overheated , this cooked his tyre temps too !

[M5Rick]

Originally Posted by ///M Power-Belgium

Sure . That's why the RB19 ran with a higher suspension setup and that's why the RB19 was slower than usual .

MAX's brake issues ?
The issue was his brake pads. His brake pads overheated , this cooked his tyre temps too !

Looks like they need a better brake pad for those hot temps or the pads themselves need to be checked themselves probably with hot Mexico City coming up and it may be a similar problem that afflicted AM before.

[GuidoK]

I just can't shake the thought that both Ferrari and MERC took a deliberate gamble with the ride height settings here.
There are so many excusing explanations out there that it's a bumpy track and it was a sprint weekend so very little time to set the car up etc.
But Bakoe was also a bumpy track and a sprint weekend, and there there were no DQ's

Both Ferrari and MERC were fast all weekend on what is otherwise a pretty fast track (RB and Mclaren favoring normally). That's no coincidence if you ask me.
And MERC not meeting ride height requirements after they pushed so hard to raise the ride height because they were so far behind RB with their floor design....call it karma!

That said I think they also should've checked SAI and RUS cars (ideally all cars, but that may take way to long as they obviously have a very long checklist).
SAI especially as he's now on the podium (they checked the podium and the polesitter, not a random check).

Checo has all the luck in the world with first Hammy going off in Qatar and now this...

[M5Rick]

Originally Posted by ///M Power-Belgium

I'm pretty sure that RUS ran with the old 2023 floor , and LEW with the new 2024 upgraded test-floor .
Too bad for the Russel Boy , think Wolff made from him a Bottas#2
That's why LEW was suddenly faster .If RUS ran with the new floor , he would be faster than LEW.

Wolff had better 'unBottas' Russell as he's just 8 points behind Chas now, we're seing more worry lines on Wolff for putting his foot in it yet again and after this monumental cook up is he considering retirement..he has mentioned it before.

[3798j]

from Lando's Facebook page..."P2. A nice little 100th GP gift ❤️"

[Artemis]

Originally Posted by M5Rick

If it were not for the LEW plank wear DQ and brake bias problem for MAX then he would have finished the customary 20-30 seconds ahead.
Still not ''exactly'' clear what was the braking difficulty with the 1 car but that new pads were already fitted there I'm guessing it was a brake pump problem.
In recent races going back a bit to when Phoenix featured, boiling brake fluid was the problem.

According to Marko: "We had changed the brake pads and somehow they deteriorated rapidly during the race. That didn't give him the right feeling. Sometimes he braked predominantly with the front of the car, sometimes predominantly with the rear. It made it very difficult for him to drive at the limit, but he worked around those problems masterfully."

He still managed to get from P6 to P1, with Hamilton progressively approaching, with a chance to reel him in.

No 'grace under pressure' inside the Verstappen cockpit this time. The brakes issue must have utterly frustrated him: the brakes don't operate the way these usually do, so you got to find a workaround to manage both the brakes issue and the tire degradation. Makes you lose precious time and the smallest brake lock-up can cost you the race win. Bothering. But you got to stay level-headed and prioritize to get the job properly done.

His race engineer did his job. It's highly unpleasant to be yelled at, but emotions can run high inside the cockpit in a high-stress situation in an extreme environment. Race engineers comfortably sit at their pit walls, but the pilot inside the car is left to his own devices 'in the arena', busy with priorities, fully focused.

Also shows the sheer determination to win. Verstappen could have settled for a P3 podium finish. But that's not his line of thinking.



Kimi "Iceman" Räikkönen rants and stress compilation:

[3798j]

more disqualification happiness...both in the points...Logan's first time....

[dfox]

Originally Posted by GuidoK

I just can't shake the thought that both Ferrari and MERC took a deliberate gamble with the ride height settings here.
There are so many excusing explanations out there that it's a bumpy track and it was a sprint weekend so very little time to set the car up etc.
But Bakoe was also a bumpy track and a sprint weekend, and there there were no DQ's

Both Ferrari and MERC were fast all weekend on what is otherwise a pretty fast track (RB and Mclaren favoring normally). That's no coincidence if you ask me.
And MERC not meeting ride height requirements after they pushed so hard to raise the ride height because they were so far behind RB with their floor design....call it karma!

That said I think they also should've checked SAI and RUS cars (ideally all cars, but that may take way to long as they obviously have a very long checklist).
SAI especially as he's now on the podium (they checked the podium and the polesitter, not a random check).

Checo has all the luck in the world with first Hammy going off in Qatar and now this...

The sprint race was incredibly boring. I'd have rather watched more FP, honestly. Go back to the old format or get rid of it.

Checo lucked out in the end for sure, but if three of the 5 people that finished above him were running an unfair advantage, including one who is still finishing above him because the car was never checked for wear (Sainz), was it really luck, or would he have actually been on podium with all legal cars?