F1

Hamilton Power Unit penalties- which tracks to take grid drops on??

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  • #324987
    sato113
    Participant

    So as Hamilton will have to start taking 10 place grid penalties later this year, surely Mercedes can strategically make them happen at tracks where it’s easier to overtake? thus nullifying the disadvantage of starting down the field in 10-12th… If Hamilton needs (at least) 3 grid drops from Belgium onwards, I’d pick:

    Spa – proven easy to overtake on with huge DRS zones. Track is strong for the Mercedes car anyway.

    Malaysia – again two long DRS zones in which to overtake. Also could be 2 or 3 stop race. So Hamilton can try a 2 stopper (or the opposite to the others).

    USA – Strong Hamilton track. Long DRS zone.

    thoughts?
    Or will Hamilton’s penalties occur randomly with no strategic input whatsoever from the team??

    #324994
    David
    Participant

    Alternatively, do they think they’ll have another disaster in Singapore? If Rosberg’s only going to finish 3rd at best, that might be a decent place to take a penalty. If Hamilton can come sixth or seventh the gap is pretty minimal.

    #325006
    marcusbreese
    Participant

    Interesting topic…they can take them all in one go, can’t they, as they are going to be taking a new ICE and ERS units.

    I would take them all at Monza personally, easiest track for Mercedes to play catch up on and their superior firepower should mean even if they start at the back, Hamilton should be able to come through to the top 3.

    Maybe try the same at Abu Dhabi?

    #325007
    Michal
    Participant

    Monza’s probably going to be a one-stop and Ferrari will be strong as well. I would go for Spa because this is a very strong circuit for them and the overtaking is ridiculously easy down the Kemmel Straight with DRS. And also pretty high chance for rain, further making grid position less important.

    #325009
    PorscheF1
    Participant

    Abu Dhabi is pointless isn’t it, because why take a fresh engine on the last race of the season? The point would be to use those new components for all races where they lack the parts of the original one.

    #325029
    sato113
    Participant

    agreed on abu dhabi being pointless. Why would hamilton risk starting 10th an rosberg on pole for a potential title deciding race!

    Also as everyone runs such low downforce at monza, it’s actually hard to overtake. Harder than spa that’s for sure.

    #325914
    Kribana
    Participant

    Monza is a bad move for LH to take the penalty. It is hard to overtake there to be honest. I am sure 100 percent, that it will be at SPA as it is just a DRS festival down there, unless… Charlie decides to change the DRS zones. Regardless of that, SPA is just a Mercedes track…. And even the classic SPA (rain on 1 part and dry on the other and even unpredictability of competitors too), could play into his hands

    #326043
    BrawnGP
    Participant

    I’m really hoping Monza for the selfish reason that I’m going and want to watch him fight his way up :-)

    #326341
    sam3110
    Participant

    It’ll be Spa and it’ll be minimum 2 new engines

    #326473
    sato113
    Participant

    spa looks good especially after winning in germany to build a gap. If not spa, then I’d choose Malaysia. With a 2 stop strategy (medium, Hard, Hard) to stand out from the rest and try something different.

    #326474
    Jabosha
    Participant

    I’d take two engines at Spa and start from the pit lane. Ham is 19 pts ahead. If he gambles with an old engine, it fails, say Ros wins. Ros would only be ahead 8 points but Ham will have enough engines to finish the season. Spa allows for easier passing, If Ham goes to 5th at Spa from pit lane instead of engine failure, he’d still be up 2 pts with enough engines to finish the season and continue fighting Ros supposedly with no engine worries.

    I say this only because passing is difficult on many of the remaining tracks and you only would want yourself to be penalised once. Later on I’ll work out if taking two 10 spaces separately works out. Keep in mind I’m trying to cover an engine failure at Spa as I have no idea how beat up the engine really is and how much it can actually take. Would it hold up?

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