Shame about Bottas penalty for gearbox. A Merc lockout at front row would have been a pain for vettel. Look forward to the race. Sukuza is in top three race tracks in current calender alongside Spa and Canadian one.
Ferrari defo rushed the new engine, and have paid for it in lack of reliability. RedBull have the best chassis on the grid. Hamilton will be taking a engine penalty in next race or two. He's on engine number 4.
On a side note, apparently Renault are hoping to have a qualifying boost mode on their engine next season ala Mercedes. That could be huge for RedBull and McLaren.
The qually boost as I understand it is only for a few laps. To use it in a race would affect the fuel loads and I guess if it was used then the consequences would be running in lean fuel mode for longer than you probably would want to. Also increased wear on engine parts? It's suppose to give you an additional .250 of a second so that could have an impact on grid position and subsequent race hence Renault want it desperately for their cars.
Not sure, I guess if you think you'll get to Q3 without it, then you keep it in the bag until Q3 so your competitors can't see your true flat out pace until it's too late?!?
Also tyres in Q2 are race tyres and Q3 are a set you return, so maybe it damages the tyres more?
a qualy 'boost mode' is not something exclusive to merc, it's just that basically their engine is better than the others. they don't have a dial that goes to 11, it's just that their 10 is better than the other's 10.
This article is good, talks about oil burning initially but goes on to the engines and damage cycles etc. and how they use the different modes. https://www.jamesallenonf1.com/2017/09/weekend-debate-oil-burning-in-f1-engines-a-fans-view-and-an-engineers-view/
Channel 121 on sky have live officially backed by FIA F1 E-sports series. Its weird, they are playing F1 2017. Interviewing players and have Chandook in studio doing the analysis of the races.