Here we go again.
Power track, expect to see all the Renaults outgunned.
Will we see Kimi outpace/outluck Fred or will we finally see some decent on-track action from the two of them?
Can Sauber rebound from the massive ass rape Bianchi gave them?
Will Maldonado have a race?
Low Downforce venue, Does it mean that Macca can get away with their understeer issue?
Speaking of Bianchi, as he Kamui'd Kobayashi in the final stages of Monaco, will the Banzai master, and one of the most entertaining mofos out in Ile de Notre Dame in the last few years, let it rest or does he have something in store for Jules?
When the lights go out, who will gain the more places, is it going to be Alonso (again)? My boy Guti (seems that's the only skill the dude's got untarnished)? or Can Massa surprise?
Will The Smile prevail over the Finger?
And once again, can Twat beat Nob in the title race?
Some Tech preview, from around the web:
More here.Most teams have – apparently – been running pretty much maximum downforce at every race this year. So what does that tell us? Yes, they have less downforce but not necessarily drastically less than last year. The power units produce three times more torque than the V8 predecessors and the tyre compounds are far harder. This means that tyre surface temperature is easily generated under acceleration, which is good for a race start but not really what you want in the corners.
The teams will be looking to boost core temperatures as this allows the driver to lean on the car a lot more, increasing cornering speed. The best way to increase core temperatures at the rear is increasing rear downforce and, because the torque levels are so high, this is no surprise. However to balance the car you need to ramp up the front wing angle or find performance at the front end, otherwise you will just have heaps of understeer.
This is evident on a number of cars, except Red Bull who probably have the best chassis – just. Mercedes has a hint of understeer which shows that they still have performance to find from the front wing area. By contrast, McLaren have been having big issues with front tyre temperature all season and this is why the drivers want more front downforce because they can’t balance the car by reducing rear downforce as this decreases core rear tyre temperatures.
And on the subject of the "Red Bull Team" secret test, Sommerfield had this to say:
To me it is clear that providing the aerodynamic implications of 5.2 are followed any team conducting this type of test could do so without consequence. The use of such a test would also correlate with both Renault and the Renault powered teams getting a better handle on some of the issues they encountered during the pre-season test. As we know issues surrounding the actual installation of the powerunit within the chassis had led to some issues that hadn't showed up on Renault's dynamometers. I would suggest that as works teams both Mercedes and Ferrari had already conducted such tests complete with their chassis, the regulations permit it and so it would be foolhardy not to take advantage.
and I think this illustration is by Craig Scarborough:
frm-pu.jpg
Now, on to the poll...
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Originally Posted by FaultyMario
