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This season is swings and roundabouts I have NO IDEA what's going on. Ham was massively faster than the Red Bulls but lost a lot of time compared to them in S3. Red Bulls suddenly turned up the wick massively. Ferrari looking THIRD fastest.

Help!

So by no means a Ferrari cert, that's for sure. Both had very poor banker laps.

Vettel has it all to do on his final run. Kimi will probably make a mistake and drop to 6th!

Pretty monster lap by Hamilton. Didn't see that coming

Very strange. My guess is that neither the Ferraris could hook up their laps. The Redbulls is just better than the Merc in S3 so that solves that dilemma for me.

I have no idea who will get pole, but that was a strong lap by Lewis.

So it seems Ham made SS work - lost time in S3 because the tyres maybe started giving up? But got enough out of them for it to still work.

Wow, front row lockout for merc. I guess F1ernie is truly shocked right now? LOL

So Ferrari really couldn't make those SS tyres work. Such a strange qualifying session.

wow those Mercs look much too strong. Got their mojo back? Or tyres helped them out?

shocked but happy

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PF1 Pick 10 Competition

2016: 24th place
2017: 4th place
2018: 12th place

Wins: Spain 2016, Canada 2017, Malaysia 2017
Podiums: 2nd Germany 2016, 3rd Mexico 2016, 3rd China 2018, 3rd Japan 2018, 2nd Mexico 2018

OK. So the only explanation I have here is that Ferrari saved their ultimate power for the final runs, which is something they did a lot in 2017. Merc was able to make the SS work and not Ferrari, and Vettel put it a very fine lap?

Not surprisingly the new tyre spec mercedes somehow got changed suits them down to a tee. Unless there is a SC/VSC this could be a real yawn fest of a race.

Tyre's are rubbish, tyres which don't lose performance in one race to using the slower tyres to go faster in the next.

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PF1 Pick 10 Competition

2016: 24th place
2017: 4th place
2018: 12th place

Wins: Spain 2016, Canada 2017, Malaysia 2017
Podiums: 2nd Germany 2016, 3rd Mexico 2016, 3rd China 2018, 3rd Japan 2018, 2nd Mexico 2018

One thing I would say is that the pecking order in testing has been replicated quite closely in Q3. Merc with the advantage over Ferrari and RBR and Haas very strong.

Vettel did a 16.8 in Q1 on the SS. Both Ferrari drivers made big errors on the first runs in Q3 on the SS

Bottas only 0.04 off. He has upped his game tremendously this year.

Difficult to tell with the tyres being so strange but don't forget Mercedes looked a lot stronger here in testing and the grid being Merc-Merc-Ferrari-Ferrari-Red Bull-Red Bull would indicate that it's pretty reflective of car performance.

I imagine it will be similar to last year where Mercedes will be better at some circuits and Ferrari at others. I'll be surprised if Ferrari don't blow Mercedes away in Monaco and vice versa in Silverstone for example.

It seems like Mercedes were the only team to be able to get the most out of the SS tires. Very strange season this one. I think each race weekend is like a puzzle and whoever does the best job of solving it between the big three teams can win the race. Very exciting for us fans IMO! To think that Ferrari set those times on the slower tire suggests that they should be in really good shape for the race. Red Bull also look very competitive here. Hamilton getting pole is a huge thing though and that's definitely where you want to be here. This is not the best track for passing.

On a side note, I'm impressed with Bottas so far this year. He has been steady and fast. Hopefully he can actually get a good result tomorrow.

Mercedes will most likely be the 3rd best car in Monaco.

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PF1 Pick 10 Competition

2016: 24th place
2017: 4th place
2018: 12th place

Wins: Spain 2016, Canada 2017, Malaysia 2017
Podiums: 2nd Germany 2016, 3rd Mexico 2016, 3rd China 2018, 3rd Japan 2018, 2nd Mexico 2018

Yes, you showed them who is fastest, Lewis. Now we just need Bottas to stay inbetween them in the race.

He did 16.8 on Q2 on Softs.

I think it's just a case of Ferrari not being able to make the SS work, just like Merc has trouble making the US work. Monaco we will see the Hyper Softs? So I don't think we really know which car that tyre will suit best. Stay tuned.

Will probably be incredibly tight between the top 3 there. Ferrari have a much longer wheelbase now themselves and tyres are apparently a lottery and a riddle but Ferrari and Merc still have a big engine advantage over Renault.

My bad, it was a 17.0 and Ferrari 1-2 on the Q1 SS runs.

I am not sure why everybody is saying Ferrari couldn't make the SS work. Both drivers made big errors into T1 on the Q3 SS runs and ruined there runs. We don't really know how they would have done on the SS if they went again or didn't make mistakes.

One key thing - Hamilton went out in Q2 and got a free trial run on the SS. That practise lap is really under rated and he was the one who made no mistakes on the first Q3 run on SS. Whilst Vettel, Bottas and Raikkonen all ruined there laps with errors. Once you blow your first flyer, you 2nd lap has to be that little bit more conservative. Bottas did a great 2nd lap to get that close.

Tyres are rubbish. It really doesn't matter which tyres you are on times are pretty similar.

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Sir Stirling Moss "Quite frankly, Kimi Raikkonen is the fastest driver in the world"

Exactly, and we all know Lewis can extract that little bit of extra that no one else can.

Then why would they not bolt on the super softs for their final run? They had super softs to spare.

The engine difference will be much less effective at Monaco. Red Bull and Ferrari should both beat Merc there.

_________________
PF1 Pick 10 Competition

2016: 24th place
2017: 4th place
2018: 12th place

Wins: Spain 2016, Canada 2017, Malaysia 2017
Podiums: 2nd Germany 2016, 3rd Mexico 2016, 3rd China 2018, 3rd Japan 2018, 2nd Mexico 2018

Apart from Bottas who basically matches him.

Mercedes was the fastest car today, the desire Hamilton fans have to downplay his car to make him look better doesn’t change that.

The same reason Red Bull did. Apparently there was very little between the two tyres.

Yeah, tyres are weird. And its clear that only 1 team from championship and race win contenders really benefited from these new construction tyres and it was Mercedes.
Rest all did their best times on Softs.

I disagree, I think there are 4 other drivers who could give Hamilton a run for his money in qualifying.

He's one of the best no doubt and I don't think anyone could convincingly beat him over the course of a season but I don't believe he can extract more one lap pace from the car than everyone else.

You're right, being 0.040 ahead of Bottas isn't anything special. In fact its underwhelming. Likewise, Vettel misses pole but finally has the 1 lap gap to Kimi that is expected of a driver of his calibre.

I believe Hamilton can extract more one lap pace than everyone else.... on a few specific tracks. And the same could be argued for several drivers over history. How about Vettel at Singapore? He looks unstoppable.

Drivers with specific indiosyncrasies may just have greater potential pace than the rest on some layouts, in some cars. Ham, Vettel, Alonso, Schumacher, Senna, all had their quirks and identity which wasn't emulated.

Lewis consistently gets the most performance from his car though. That cannot be denied. He has only been outqualified one season in his career? I mean the car is only going to do what it can do, but the best qualifiers are the ones who can get the most out of it the more often. Right now I'd say Lewis and Fernando are the ones that are doing that. Anybody else alongside Lewis I'd be confident to say that Lewis would outqualify them over a whole season. In my opinion he has not come to full grips with this year's car yet, but he's still beating Bottas but I suspect he will somewhere down the line.

did max better his time on his last run or not

Wet F2 race just about to start guys - this should be good, get tuned in

Who's doing that?

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PF1 Pick 10 Competition

2016: 24th place
2017: 4th place
2018: 12th place

Wins: Spain 2016, Canada 2017, Malaysia 2017
Podiums: 2nd Germany 2016, 3rd Mexico 2016, 3rd China 2018, 3rd Japan 2018, 2nd Mexico 2018

Was very impressed with Alonso today. Definitely owned Vandoorne and so very nearly put that McLaren in 7th. Difficult to say exactly where the McLaren is in the pecking order due to the large gap between the two drivers but the upgrades certainly appear to have helped

I doubt. They're in the same position on the grid as before. They were hoping to match Red Bulls but were beaten by both Haas cars. Ouch!

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Feel The Fourth

I think Alonso is just mighty round this track. He put the Mclaren 7th on the grid last season.