in the W11 there are … treasure maps!

09/04/2020 World

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‘It’s only Friday’, copyright Kimi Raikkonen, is one of the phrases uttered (but rarely with conviction) by those who insist on leaving open possibilities that logic sees zero on Friday nights.

It’s only Friday, it’s true, but the findings that emerged from Monza’s ‘Friday’ already look like verdicts.

We are on the eve of the first qualifying without party mode after almost seven years of supermaps, so there is a small bit of hope left, but the times seen today at Monza are at odds with the expectations of Mercedes rivals.

We came to Brianza with the conviction that the abolition of the qualifying maps would cut the legs of the world champion team a bit, but the reality seems to be different.

The times obtained today by Hamilton and Bottas show an impressive superiority: 0 “897 of margin on Lando Norris, who obtained his time with the fastest track five minutes from the end and 0” 929 on the surprising Pierre Gasly, and 1 “036 in Max Verstappen.

Obviously the question is which map Mercedes used to get its times (1’20 ”192 for Hamilton, 1’20” 454 for Bottas), and that’s the ‘strat-11’.

Not very reassuring news for the competition, because it is the map used by Mercedes in Q1 and especially in the race, the next in the power scale, the strat-5, was used in FP1 by Bottas to get the time of 1’20. ”703, but with less rubber track.

Therefore, there are no scenarios that risk being reduced tomorrow, because Mercedes really anticipated what we will see on the track in qualifying and in the 53 laps scheduled for Sunday, the ball now passes to the opponents.

The race simulation pace of the two W11s was also excellent, with Bottas covering the long races at a faster and more consistent pace than his teammate. The Finn particularly impressed on the ‘hard’ tires, with a long sequence of times at the foot of 1’23 ”8, which was then the fastest stint of the afternoon.

The white tire is a strong candidate to become a race tire, even if there are still doubts about the compound that will be used in Q2.

“The car seems to be working well – confirmed the head of track operations Andrew Showlin – we have optimized the speed in a straight line better than in Spa, and the traction has been confirmed to be excellent. We still need to improve the settings on the front axle and some things on the rear.

Mercedes sacrificed some cavalry in favor of downforce that allowed Hamilton and Bottas to fight less than expected in the two corners of Lesmo and in Parabolica, but compared to last weekend the gap in the first and third sectors It was kept within acceptable limits, even compared to the aerodynamically weaker cars.

“I was a bit surprised by the lap times and performances we had today compared to our rivals, Bottas admitted, but I’m sure all teams will progress and get closer tomorrow.” And the Finn is not the only one who is a firefighter.

“Tomorrow will be a very interesting day to evaluate the values in the field in terms of power in qualifying after the new Technical Directive – Showlin concluded – Mercedes-powered teams will probably be the most affected in the single lap, but our overall package It looked pretty good, so we hope we don’t have any unpleasant surprises. “

Ugly surprises that few, on the Monza evening, want to bet on …