Testing the limits, Testing the tyres, Testing the cars on a new circuit while testing the circuit as well! Somewhat what the teams had on the To – Do List for the 2 Free Practice sessions on a sunny Friday in Portugal. It was reported that not many teams have brought in any major developments to the circuit, where all teams were present as a F1 constructor for the first in over a decade, as the last time F1 visited this circuit was in 2009 for practice and Lewis Hamilton was the only driver who was a part of that who is still driving with a permanent contract in the 2020 F1 season.
This is what the Friday Sense tells us:
- Mercedes have gotten a simple pace advantage over the rest of the field. Even with their being slight heating issues, no DAS present as Mercedes understand what changes they need to make and how the car may behave in 2021 when using the respective system will be formally banned by the FIA, still Mercedes lead the two Free Practice sessions.
- Mercedes have gotten the best of everything and a car which is made using the abundance of the best resources, is bound to be good, but even then. This is a new track, Valtteri Bottas has never been to this track even for any other racing series but still topped the timing charts in FP1.
- What is very crucial is that both the drivers that Mercedes has and the simulations and everything also helps them avoid the hassle of you know damaging their car, not knowing the required information etcetera. Valtteri Bottas and Lewis Hamilton are fast learners and they both do work on different strategies with the car tailored to a great extent to both their needs and wants. This helps both drivers perform better and focus on understanding the intricacies rather than just fighting the car.
- Ferrari are getting faster. Progress shows that Ferrari are getting faster. They are working the aerodynamics of their cars to get that advantage even with their present engine, The developments they brought to their floor and the way they keep working their rear wing almost every race is very noticeable and so is the effects of the same. Portimao is a circuit where all cars are coming for the first time in the turbo – hybrid era and Ferrari have a chance to capitalise on this opportunity and get some points, They are not fighting for the Constructors or the Drivers Championship but get some valuable points to get the image cleared as to what progression they have actually gotten and their potential.
- When Ferrari revisit the same circuits that they have visited in 2020, in the 2021 season, their real progression will be seen which will again mostly be focused around reducing drag, yet increasing grip and get those tyres to not be a problem by working out the aerodynamics.
- Track limits are always an issue on a new circuit and hence, they are sometimes decided after at least one practice session or a few laps in the first practice session but on this new circuit in Portimao, the track limits are already decided and they are tricky to abide by especially the Turn 1 track limits. There might quite a few lap times deleted in the qualifying sessions as well as their needs to be complete control and as cars go faster and faster, there are prone to errors but the room for error in the Qualifying Sessions is very very less.
- Alpha Tauri got some serious issues they need to fix with Kvyat, his understanding of the track, and both the cars because they aren’t fit for points at the moment. Alpha Tauri are a great team with some good drivers but they have been facing some great troubles with their car. This is very damaging for them.
All in All, Less time. More Drama and a lot to work out for all the constructors and drivers.
|A GREAT WEEKEND IS DEFINITELY GUARANTEED|
spielens 