2017 Formula 1 VTB Russian Grand PrixFormula 1

[SVT Cobra GT]

F1 in 2017 is shaping up to be rather entertaining, we definitely have two teams fighting for the title with the Mercedes being quicker over a lap and the Ferrari being quicker in the race. The talk from the last race is that these two teams may already need to start thinking about team orders which has left a sour taste in the mouths of fans. Bottas got his first pole position in Bahrain so will be looking to continue his improvements. Fingers crossed that this race provides some good entertainment like the last race so here we go for the Russian Grand Prix.

SOCHI AUTODROM

FIRST RACE
2014

NUMBER
OF LAPS
53

CIRCUIT LENGTH
5.853KM (3.637 Miles)

RACE DISTANCE
310.209KM (192.791 Miles)

LAP
RECORD
1:39.094, Nico Rosberg, Mercedes, 2016

TYRE ALLOCATIONS
Ultra Soft, Super Soft & Soft


SKY SPORTS CLASSIC RACE SCHEDULE
Tuesday - Germany 2009
Wednesday - Brazil 2009
Thursday - Abu Dhabi 2010
Sunday - Monaco 2011

2016 RESULT

1 Nico Rosberg (Mercedes)

2 Lewis Hamilton (Mercedes)

3 Kimi Raikkonen (Ferrari)

2016 Fastest lap - Nico Rosberg (Mercedes) 1:39.094 (lap 52)​

 

[LMSCorvetteGT2]

This will be an interesting one, because if there was a track that Bottas has been consistent at since it's been on the F1 calander it's this one. And that was with a Williams, now the more superior Mercedes is in his hands. If anything I feel this is the track in the nearest future that he can get a win at. Lewis is good at this track as well, Vettel is the most hit or miss, if he wasn't taken out by a red bull last year it might be more easy to know how good he is.

I mean Sebastian is really good at tracks like Singapore and this one reminds me of that somewhat.

 

[psychoazubi]

Rather cold temperatures, tires are not an issue, Very long straight until the first corner, so the start is very important. Hamilton will come back after some mistakes in Bahrain and will win after a long battle with Seb.

 

[spyrrari]

The nature of this track should bring Redbull closer to Merc and Ferrari ... lets hope for a 3 team thriller here



Spy.

 

[RX-7_FD3S]

The nature of this track should bring Redbull closer to Merc and Ferrari ... lets hope for a 3 team thriller here



Spy.

Umm care to explain more ? I dont see Red Bull closer on this track than on Bahrain.

 

[LMSCorvetteGT2]

Rather cold temperatures, tires are not an issue, Very long straight until the first corner, so the start is very important. Hamilton will come back after some mistakes in Bahrain and will win after a long battle with Seb.

Like I said, I think this time his fight is with Bottas

 

[psychoazubi]

It's really hard to say, because unlike the last years, Ferrari made some good strategy calls and especially in the first part of the race, Ferrari is better. They should be able to at least split the Mercs. Even though Bottas might do well, Mercedes might not be able to defend both cars from an undercut.

Honda will bring an engine update for more reliability, it's the spec that was running so well on the second day of the Bahrain test.

 

[LMSCorvetteGT2]

It's really hard to say, because unlike the last years, Ferrari made some good strategy calls and especially in the first part of the race, Ferrari is better. They should be able to at least split the Mercs. Even though Bottas might do well, Mercedes might not be able to defend both cars from an undercut.

Honda will bring an engine update for more reliability, it's the spec that was running so well on the second day of the Bahrain test.

Ferrari making one good call in one race doesn't mean things have spun around, you're bound to hit the target at some point. Not to say Ferrari isn't good, but considering how much the screwed over Vettel in the past with bad calls or ill timing, Bahrain doesn't automatically erase that. Also not seeing how Ferrari is better in the first part of the race, we've yet to have a race that from lights out to the end isn't filled with chaos that either hurts Ferrari or Mercedes or one of the two teams hurts their own chances. When we get one of those then we can hash out who is better than who so far.

The spec they were running on the second day or the Bahrain test was the same spec the used in the GP. They're still working on the new engine that will come out probably at Russia or the Spanish gp.
http://www.autosport.com/news/report.php/id/129068/mclaren-confused-by-sudden-honda-reliability

 

[psychoazubi]

Ferrari making one good call in one race doesn't mean things have spun around, you're bound to hit the target at some point. Not to say Ferrari isn't good, but considering how much the screwed over Vettel in the past with bad calls or ill timing, Bahrain doesn't automatically erase that. Also not seeing how Ferrari is better in the first part of the race, we've yet to have a race that from lights out to the end isn't filled with chaos that either hurts Ferrari or Mercedes or one of the two teams hurts their own chances. When we get one of those then we can hash out who is better than who so far.

The spec they were running on the second day or the Bahrain test was the same spec the used in the GP. They're still working on the new engine that will come out probably at Russia or the Spanish gp.
http://www.autosport.com/news/report.php/id/129068/mclaren-confused-by-sudden-honda-reliability

I'm not only talking about Bahrain, but also Melbourne. They knew what they were doing with their tactics, whereas in the past they often paniced and would have called Vettel in straight after Hamilton. I just see more confidence in their work.
About the first part of the race: Vettel was capable of pushing Hamilton (Melbourne) and Bottas (Bahrain) so hard that their tires overheated. Ferrari is better with fuel tank and in both races they used exactly that advantage. He followed them <1 second without ruining his own tires, whereas you here both Mercedes drivers having problems following other cars, Lewis for example left a gap between him and Vettel in Bahrain compared to Vettel - Bottas.

Yes it is the same spec from Honda (on the power side), but with some changes for more reliabilty, mainly on the MGU-H.

 

[LMSCorvetteGT2]

I'm not only talking about Bahrain, but also Melbourne. They knew what they were doing with their tactics, whereas in the past they often paniced and would have called Vettel in straight after Hamilton. I just see more confidence in their work.
About the first part of the race: Vettel was capable of pushing Hamilton (Melbourne) and Bottas (Bahrain) so hard that their tires overheated. Ferrari is better with fuel tank and in both races they used exactly that advantage. He followed them <1 second without ruining his own tires, whereas you here both Mercedes drivers having problems following other cars, Lewis for example left a gap between him and Vettel in Bahrain compared to Vettel - Bottas.

Yes it is the same spec from Honda (on the power side), but with some changes for more reliabilty, mainly on the MGU-H.

I haven't seen anything suggesting that the MGU-H got a major rework, only thing I could fine was simple safety nets for reliability. I even posted the article to show you.

As for Ferrari Melbourne wasn't all that special really Mercedes strategy put them behind Verstappen, and with the difficulty in passing, Hamilton could not make up the ground needed to make sure Ferrari stayed behind. Also like in Bahrain (for bottas), Hamilton was plagued by a set up that took out tire life faster than expected. So once Ferrari saw that Lewis wasn't going to get out from behind slower cars, all they needed was to figure out when to pit to still maintain the margin and that was that.

It wasn't something that amazing. In reality the only amazing thing being done is by Vettel putting the car where it needs to be to fight for wins, making it up to his team to execute on basic strategy to get him in to position to the end. Though I find it funny how people interpret these things, "Vettel is so fast he's pushing the Mercedes drivers to ruin their tires"

When a more simple explanation is that Mercedes are trying to make a safety net, by creating a faster single lap pace on Saturday with it compromising Sunday. Probably because Mercedes feel if the car is in clean air, it wont nearly have these problems. Also if Vettel was pushing Bottas to over heat his tires (something that is hard to do with these new compounds) then why did Bottas still burn them up when Vettel had the lead after the first stop.

 

[spyrrari]

Umm care to explain more ? I dont see Red Bull closer on this track than on Bahrain.

Its a little less of a power related track,so the disadvantage of the renault engine should be even less than in Bahrein...

That and and all my fingers crossed that i am right about this...




Spy.

 

[RX-7_FD3S]

Saw this little Ricciardo clip on reddit, not sure where to put it, so I'll post it here.



I can see Ricciardo joining a TV show about cars,when he's done with f1. He really seems like a cool guy. Imagine Button and him, would be kinda awesome.

 

[Jimlaad43]

It's not relevant to Russia, but from the Spanish GP onwards, cars must have the driver's name and number clearly visible, or they will not be allowed to take part in the Grand Prix
https://www.motorsport.com/f1/news/fia-reveals-plan-for-bigger-driver-numbers-and-names-898408/

 

[DGuzmanG]

Ferrari making one good call in one race doesn't mean things have spun around, you're bound to hit the target at some point. Not to say Ferrari isn't good, but considering how much the screwed over Vettel in the past with bad calls or ill timing, Bahrain doesn't automatically erase that. Also not seeing how Ferrari is better in the first part of the race, we've yet to have a race that from lights out to the end isn't filled with chaos that either hurts Ferrari or Mercedes or one of the two teams hurts their own chances. When we get one of those then we can hash out who is better than who so far.

The spec they were running on the second day or the Bahrain test was the same spec the used in the GP. They're still working on the new engine that will come out probably at Russia or the Spanish gp.
http://www.autosport.com/news/report.php/id/129068/mclaren-confused-by-sudden-honda-reliability

I'm not only talking about Bahrain, but also Melbourne. They knew what they were doing with their tactics, whereas in the past they often paniced and would have called Vettel in straight after Hamilton. I just see more confidence in their work.
About the first part of the race: Vettel was capable of pushing Hamilton (Melbourne) and Bottas (Bahrain) so hard that their tires overheated. Ferrari is better with fuel tank and in both races they used exactly that advantage. He followed them <1 second without ruining his own tires, whereas you here both Mercedes drivers having problems following other cars, Lewis for example left a gap between him and Vettel in Bahrain compared to Vettel - Bottas.

Yes it is the same spec from Honda (on the power side), but with some changes for more reliabilty, mainly on the MGU-H.

And in China Vettel strategy was also a good call until the Safety Car came out, in every race this year, Ferrari have been the ones calling the shots, always forcing a decision from Merc only in China it didn't pay off because how could they imagine a Safety Car would come out while under VSC period?

If Giovinazzi hadn't crashed then Vettel would have been in front after the pitstops... (Speculating beyond that is pointless)... But Ferrari is making good strategies, and Mercedes choices always seem to depend on what Ferrari does.

After FP2 the long runs seems that Ferrari has the advantage, specially in Sector 2.

 

[Tired Tyres]

Ouch. Vandoorne gets a 15 place penalty for a new engine. I take it that will be for basically every Grand Prix this season then.

 

[Infinital-NG]

FP2 Results

 

[LMSCorvetteGT2]

New lap record, and it only took to fp2 to do so

 

[DesertPenguin09]

I like Lance Strolls helmet. The all black reminds me of James Hunt.

 

[mister dog]

Ouch. Vandoorne gets a 15 place penalty for a new engine. I take it that will be for basically every Grand Prix this season then.

How crappy, I'm rooting for him as he's from my region so the first races have been disappointing to say the least. The way he sucks it all up and keeps on comporting himself professionally given these circumstances is quite admirable.

Wish he would be able to finally demonstrate his talent to the world...

 

[Dennisch]

How crappy, I'm rooting for him as he's from my region so the first races have been disappointing to say the least. The way he sucks it all up and keeps on comporting himself professionally given these circumstances is quite admirable.

Wish he would be able to finally demonstrate his talent to the world...

He needs to be patient, and try to keep his seat at Mclaren, Mclaren will bounce back to the top.

 

[Bram Turismo]

He needs to be patient, and try to keep his seat at Mclaren, Mclaren will bounce back to the top.

That's a bit optimistic. The first step is for Mclaren to have a fast and reliable car.
The difference between a fast car, and the fastest car is a huge leap.

 

[mister dog]

:

 

[Dennisch]

That's a bit optimistic. The first step is for Mclaren to have a fast and reliable car.
The difference between a fast car, and the fastest car is a huge leap.

I'm an optimistic person. Renault got their crappy engine back up there. Bit down on power still but it's there. I don't see why Honda can't do the same.

And I want a Netherlands vs Belgium WDC Title fight.

 

[Dotini]

FP2 Results

Kudos to Magnussen in 9th. Sour lemons award to Grosjean for his incessant whining about brakes. He needs a new shrink.

Midfield awesome! 6th (Ricciardo) through 13th (Palmer) is covered by a lot less than a second.

 

[mister dog]

And I want a Netherlands vs Belgium WDC Title fight.

That was my wet dream too.

 

[DesertPenguin09]

What are you guys' thoughts on the track itself? Like or dislike?

 

[LMSCorvetteGT2]

Kudos to Magnussen in 9th. Sour lemons award to Grosjean for his incessant whining about brakes. He needs a new shrink.

Midfield awesome! 6th (Ricciardo) through 13th (Palmer) is covered by a lot less than a second.

Its FP2 so it doesn't mean anything really

 

[DesertPenguin09]

FP3 they might show some signs of full pace but FP2 is more of a long run race simulation session.

 

[prisonermonkeys]

What are you guys' thoughts on the track itself? Like or dislike?

It's got a few nice parts, like the corner at the medals plaza and the tricky Turn 13, but there was so much more that could have been done with the design.

 

[Peter.]

What are you guys' thoughts on the track itself? Like or dislike?

Pobably the worst track in recent years if not for Baku. I can see that it's probably a good drivers track though. The limitations of the Olympic Park I get, but it doesn't make the track any less mediocre.