[Alonsofan06]

Just wondered what you all thought might happen on race day? 

1= Mercedes 1-2
2= Ferrari first win
3= McLaren to fulfil their practice potential 
4= Another driver error by Vettel
5= A crash on turn one 
Or add your own thoughts......

[morini]

Just wondered what you all thought might happen on race day? 

1= Mercedes 1-2
2= Ferrari first win
3= McLaren to fulfil their practice potential 
4= Another driver error by Vettel
5= A crash on turn one 
Or add your own thoughts......

I've only seen P2 so I wouldn't like to predict anything based on a Friday. Jody has said Merc look strongest race pace wise (I had to go out just before the end of P2 so I didn't see any of the reporting / analysis on race stints). Hamilton has had a pretty scruffy weekend so far and normally I would say that puts him on the back foot compared to his teammate. However, he's had a quite a few scruffy Fridays (and quali's too) this year and still maximised the weekend overall.

I'd go for :-

Valterri pole and win (he just looks like he need it so badly this weekend)
Lewis with a "WDC head on", solid second
McLaren (Lando) first podium in ages

I know this will not happen, but I can dream! Really want both McLaren boys to get a good result this weekend.

[PapaofGags]

3= McLaren to fulfil their practice potential 

McLaren (Lando) first podium in ages

^^^ This please! 

[Monster Hesh]

I'm trying my damnedest to get McLaren into my dream team.
Which could mean two things:
That McLaren really are in for a good weekend, as the signs are positive, just like the Merc's, and need to be in your team : P
or they will fall prey to my midfield selections doing terrible...

However, I'm always a few 100k shot!

I called McLaren doing well in the race, early in the race thread. However, I think should the opportunity arise, we'll see Renault pick up a stray top result.

[morini]

I'm trying my damnedest to get McLaren into my dream team.
Which could mean two things:
That McLaren really are in for a good weekend, as the signs are positive, just like the Merc's, and need to be in your team  : P
or they will fall prey to my midfield selections doing terrible...

However, I'm always a few 100k shot!

I called McLaren doing well in the race, early in the race thread. However, I think should the opportunity arise, we'll see Renault pick up a stray top result.

Bugger off Hesh. You have two Mercedes AND Lewis Hamilton in your DT and everyone hates you already!     Don't buy McLaren while they are on the up!!  

Rant over 

[Jody Barton]

On single lap pace I expect Lewis will close that gap up to Bottas, prior to his "off" it was nip and tuck between the two of them and Hamilton clearly was unhappy with his set up, whereas Bottas seemed spot on. So I guess he has less work to do, but also less time to find. I would also say on ultimate pace unless Ferrari were seriously sandbagging Mercedes have probably at least 0.4 in hand over the red cars. So I expect an all Silver car front row come close of qualifying barring disasters.

On race pace... it's a Mercedes 1-2. Hamilton had roughly 1.1 seconds in hand over Bottas on the mediums, but we didn't get to see a Soft run from him, although I doubt Mercedes will touch the Softs in the race, they'll qualify on the Medium, then switch to the hard and just drive off with it. So on race pace I think Hamilton might shade it, given Bottas was 0.9 seconds a lap ahead of Max, who was 1 second or thereabouts ahead of Vettel... and... Lando bloomin' Norris!!! What the hell was that all about? You then had Leclerc and Gasly showing up awfully with Sainz looking like he might be in amongst their race pace. I think the McLaren pace must come with the health warning of not knowing the fuel loads nor the engine modes. However, if they're running normally like they have all season then today was genuinely encouraging for them. However, I think they'll just prove best of the rest this weekend, they might pick off Gasly and maybe Leclerc if they don't sort his set up out, but it's a long shot.

As to Vettel spinning out? No. He'll have a tidy weekend I think, and I'd put him third ahead of Max. Don't think there will be any turn 1 incident this year either.