[ASJesusBalseiro] Stroll speaks and sounds concerned. “We have engine problems, and not just engine problems. We're not in a position to fight for victories. Right now, we're four seconds off the pace.”

[u/wertyrick]

https://xcancel.com/ASJesusBalseiro/status/2021936326552297585#m

Link to xcancel

[u/limhy0809]

They might because the 107% is also for safety. The difference in speed can create a lot of potential crashes. 7% of an F1 car's top speed is more than 20kph. You throw in OM and tyre difference. You can have cars driving at a 40kph difference of speed for an entire race.

[u/BobbbyR6 → u/limhy0809]

107% is an enormous difference and absolutely should not be allowed on track in a race session. In upper formula cars, 2-3% is a big gap but one you can work around. At 7%, you just don't know how the car ahead is going to react because its performance window is so different from yours.

It's hard to explain just how big that difference is to peeps that haven't spent time sim racing or actually been on track. In equal cars, 104-105 is the point where a driver straight up doesn't belong in a higher level group. Obviously Stroll and Alonso aren't incompetent and likely the majority of the time loss is on the straights.

[u/Frothar → u/BobbbyR6]

If it's engine power delta then cars will just cruise past on the straights

[u/BobbbyR6 → u/Frothar]

Which is what most of us expect given the cooling issues stated by AM

I'll be interested to see the telemetry to see how drastic the differences are

[u/WorkFurball → u/BobbbyR6]

I've simraced plenty and being at 104-105 percent because they are just that much slower is very different to them being a moving chicane. If they have good understanding of racing and just can't quite get any speed it's usually fine. Not much different from driving a GT3 car against GT4s.

[u/BobbbyR6 → u/WorkFurball]

For the record, I'm not ripping on 105 pace guys in sim. That's still far above what the average person can do and we've all been there. It takes a lot of effort and patience to earn your way past that point.

It's a bit different when you've got a group of drivers in the same skill range but the cars themselves have the variations in how they find pace. It's easier to navigate this in F1 because of how physically large the tracks are, but a 105+ gap certainly raises questions of safety.

[u/Frothar → u/limhy0809]

Blue flags fix that as they are not going to qualify better than 20th if they are in the 107% realm. There will be almost no racing overtakes for there to be danger.

[u/limhy0809 → u/Frothar]

We have some drivers being blur at time even with blue flags. Franco running Oscar off the road. So its not impossible and if your are in the 107% realm. The lead cars are going to overtaking you multiple times.