Mercedes used some of their Friday running to work on developments for the W09 car they will race next year.
But as the track warmed up in second practice it showed one of the key aspects of car performance in 2017 remains unchanged: this being that the Mercedes isn’t quite as strong in hotter conditions.
Neither Mercedes driver improved on their best time from first practice in the second session. Their performance advantage over the rest of the field in second practice shrunk from more than half a second to just two-tenths.
Usually the silver cars can rely on their potent engine performance modes to increase their advantage in qualifying. But if the forecast rain arrives it could take that advantage away, putting them at a disadvantage for the race.
The rain which was expected to hit the track during practice today didn’t arrive, save for a few drops towards the end of the second session. It was a concern teams took seriously: Haas even swapped which session Antonio Giovinazzi would run in to ensure Kevin Magnussen wasn’t disadvantaged too greatly. But he ended up missing a dry second practice session which offered conditions which are likely to be more representative of what the teams will encounter on Sunday.
If qualifying is wet teams are going to face some interesting set-up questions. Sunday is expected to be dry and warm, so they will be unwilling to crank up the wing angles.
Red Bull has been, for want of a better word, bullish about its race pace of late. But both Max Verstappen and Daniel Ricciardo were wary of the W08’s performance on Friday. “The long runs looked OK,” said Ricciardo, “but the Mercs looked really strong.”
Ricciardo, who hasn’t finished in the last two races because of technical problems, is already on the back foot heading into this race as he has a power unit change penalty. “I’d like some rain for qualifying tomorrow and I can try and fight for pole,” he said. “I know if I get it I won’t start there because of my penalty, but anyway it would be good to start 11th for the race. That’s my target.”
In an ordinary weekend Mercedes would expect to stick their car on pole position and keep the opposition at arm’s length in the race. But if Red Bull or Ferrari are able to take advantage of a wet qualifying session that might just be enough to dislodge the silver cars from their habitual front row positions and give us a close race.
Keep an eye on the performance of the McLarens too, especially if the rain arrives, as their recent front wing upgrade has bolstered their claim to having one of the most effective chassis on the grid. And, as yet, neither of their drivers has picked up a power unit penalty.
Longest stint comparison – second practice
This chart shows all the drivers’ lap times (in seconds) during their longest unbroken stint. Very slow laps omitted. Scroll to zoom, drag to pan, right-click to reset:
Combined practice times
Pos | Driver | Car | FP1 | FP2 | Total laps |
---|---|---|---|---|---|
1 | Lewis Hamilton | Mercedes | 1’09.202 | 1’09.515 | 78 |
2 | Valtteri Bottas | Mercedes | 1’09.329 | 1’09.563 | 88 |
3 | Daniel Ricciardo | Red Bull-TAG Heuer | 1’09.828 | 1’09.743 | 75 |
4 | Kimi Raikkonen | Ferrari | 1’09.744 | 1’10.117 | 77 |
5 | Max Verstappen | Red Bull-TAG Heuer | 1’09.750 | 1’09.886 | 69 |
6 | Sebastian Vettel | Ferrari | 1’09.984 | 1’09.875 | 80 |
7 | Felipe Massa | Williams-Mercedes | 1’10.102 | 1’10.373 | 70 |
8 | Esteban Ocon | Force India-Mercedes | 1’10.454 | 1’10.306 | 85 |
9 | Nico Hulkenberg | Renault | 1’11.608 | 1’10.396 | 74 |
10 | Stoffel Vandoorne | McLaren-Honda | 1’10.402 | 1’10.902 | 64 |
11 | Fernando Alonso | McLaren-Honda | 1’10.476 | 1’10.655 | 55 |
12 | Lance Stroll | Williams-Mercedes | 1’10.632 | 1’11.064 | 86 |
13 | Carlos Sainz Jnr | Renault | 1’11.467 | 1’10.685 | 74 |
14 | Sergio Perez | Force India-Mercedes | 1’10.695 | 43 | |
15 | George Russell | Force India-Mercedes | 1’11.047 | 29 | |
16 | Romain Grosjean | Haas-Ferrari | 1’11.188 | 1’11.300 | 68 |
17 | Pierre Gasly | Toro Rosso-Renault | 1’14.034 | 1’11.422 | 49 |
18 | Kevin Magnussen | Haas-Ferrari | 1’11.463 | 30 | |
19 | Charles Leclerc | Sauber-Ferrari | 1’11.802 | 32 | |
20 | Brendon Hartley | Toro Rosso-Renault | 1’11.821 | 56 | |
21 | Pascal Wehrlein | Sauber-Ferrari | 1’11.857 | 43 | |
22 | Marcus Ericsson | Sauber-Ferrari | 1’11.898 | 1’11.989 | 45 |
23 | Antonio Giovinazzi | Haas-Ferrari | 1’12.417 | 37 |
2017 Brazilian Grand Prix
- 2017 Brazilian Grand Prix Predictions Championship results
- 2017 Brazilian Grand Prix team radio transcript
- 2017 Brazilian Grand Prix Star Performers
- 21 podiums without a win: Raikkonen extends his record
- “We lost it in the start”: Brazilian GP team radio highlights
Adam Cocker
10th November 2017, 21:50
I’m pretty sure the last time we had a wet qualifying session at monza Mercedes still got pole position. The Mercedes also looked pretty handy in wet conditions in Singapore as well.
Egonovi
10th November 2017, 22:36
Singapore quali?
5th & 6th!
Daniel
11th November 2017, 0:27
Quali there was dry
McLaren
11th November 2017, 1:52
@Egonovi Qualy was dry, race was wet.
The Skeptic
11th November 2017, 6:29
I think that its fair to say that Wet + Mercedes + Hamilton is very challenging to beat. Verstappen seems to be the only driver who can genuinely challenge Hamilton in the wet.
Vettel’s recent performances in the wet haven’t been as strong. Hamilton used to eat Rosberg alive whenever it rained (his pass around the outside of Rosberg in Suzuka turn 1 was particularly memorable in the tragic race of 2014).
x303 (@x303)
11th November 2017, 15:16
Yes it was! And I agree with you about Verstappen. I would add that Ocon is pretty strong in the rain too (saw him on TV explaining that he trained a lot when it rained as a child when others kids would stay warm at home) – remember his race last year, although he doesn’t have the car to fight for the win.
Sonics (@sonicslv)
11th November 2017, 8:24
Monza yes, but Singapore its more like Hamilton magic. Bottas really struggling there. In Interlagos, I think wet qualy/race could make both Red Bulls challenges Hamilton and Bottas I expect to be left behind. I’m not sure if Ferrari could gain some advantage in wet though.
PhillySpur
10th November 2017, 22:09
The lap times graph doesn’t really tell the complete story. If you included Hamilton’s final 10 lap stint on the soft tires he was running at least on average 5 tenths quicker than his super-soft stint you have plotted.
anon
10th November 2017, 22:24
PhillySpur, and, in general, it looks like the very high track temperatures – reportedly well over 50ºC – meant that the supersoft tyres were suffering from blistering, suggesting that it might not be a particularly good race tyre. So far, the results suggest the soft tyre is a far better race tyre – so the gamble by Williams and Renault to take more of the supersoft tyres looks like a bit of a mistake.
altitude2k
11th November 2017, 0:17
Because the Mercedes has proven to be so horrible in the wet…