Kimi probably has a 1 year deal being that Williams wanted a bunch of money to let go of Bottas. Unless Bottas signs another multi year deal the Williams he'll be free to go to Ferrari next year.
They've added some new curbs to Raidillon. Could make for some changed approaches to Eau Rouge - Raidillon.
Well, since you can't start any further back than last now, it's a 'might as well" sort of weekend for them. It would be something if they can finish in the points tho, at a track they don't think they'll be good at. I think McHonda will be a force next season
I'm watching FP2 right now, and McLaren is between 2.5 (Button) and 3 (Alonso) seconds off the lead. Only Marussia is behind them. Rosberg is running a 1.49.385 right now.
Today's McLaren's penalties. 25 Grid place penalty for Jenson, 30 for Alonso. No in-race penalties will be applied (no drive-through or stop-gos), and there will likely be another 10 or 15 places assigned tomorrow. Can't go any further back, so it really is just a testing weekend. Also, Nico just had his right rear tire explode at full speed around turn 16, before Blanchimont. Spun off the road, but he's OK with no impact. Practice is red-flagged
It will be interesting to hear what the tire engineers say about Nico's exploding tire. He was lucky to escape unharmed.
The video looked like it just structurally unwound. There were parts of the carcass flapping long before it went. Marin Brundle was speculating that it had something to do with the high-downforce that Mercedes has vs some of the others, that the Merc was just putting way to much pressure on it. He was running softs at the time. One interesting observation that he made though was that if there were no restrictions on the cars for design, the limiting factor would always end up being the tire, and that current tires go through far less testing than in years past. Also, even with testing, it will always be the front runners that will potentially exceed the limits, so even if they have a test car put more miles on them, the fact is that a Merc will blow a tire before a Marussia. Perelli would have to have current Mercs to test with, and that won't happen.
Speaking of front runners and downforce, have to wonder whether Merc's interesting new rear wing had anything to do with it.
Could be the rear wing. To me at first I thought we were seeing a cord unwinding, but another couple of looks at it makes me think it might have been a wisp of smoke? Very troubling & if that might happen again in Eau Rouge.... Yikes!!!
For those who missed it (like me), some good video here: FP2 breaking news: Rosberg's big moment at Blanchimont
It was definitely smoke coming off of the tire........either something got caught up on the body work or the body work itself was a bit loose and cut the tire down.
Pirelli have already decided tire construction wasn't to blame, looking for an external cause. Pirelli: No obvious source for “cut†in Rosberg’s tyre (motorsport.com) There was a situation like this a couple years ago (?) and I think I remember they did a track search and decided there was some curbing likely to blame. Can't remember anything specific, though.
Trying to get my brain wrapped around what's happening here. :eek6: Caption is "This is how a rear tyre suffers through Eau Rouge."
F1 tyres are incredibly light, particularly the sidewalls, so that wrinkling deformation isn't that surprising. I was going to say they are 'high' aspect ratio, though the actual sizes are 270/55 R13 front and 325/45 R13 rear, so not exactly 70-series....
I thought the race was entertaining, some good fights back in the field. The race was for 3rd place, I feel sorry for Vettel & happy for Rogro all at the same time.