2015 Russian Grand Prix

[AndyL]

Session times for Sochi:

Friday 9 Oct
Free practice 1 starts: BST 8:00 AM, local 10:00 AM
Free practice 2 starts: BST 12:00 PM, local 2:00 PM
Saturday 10 Oct
Free practice 3 starts: BST 10:00 AM, local 12:00 PM
Qualifying starts: BST 1:00 PM, local 3:00 PM
Sunday 11 Oct
Race starts: BST 12:00 PM, local 2:00 PM

[jens]

Let's see what happens. For one I find it amazing, how close Vettel still is to Rosberg in WDC, considering the car differences... Reminds me 1992, when Patrese barely finished second in the championship despite a dominant car.

If I recall 2014, Sochi very much reminds me Valencia... So unless somebody hits barriers and brings out a safety car, I don't expect a very exciting race.

[AndyL]

Very little running in practice... a diesel slick left behind by a cleaning vehicle put paid to most of P1 and there was rain for P2.

[The Black Knight]

Ridiculous practice sessions today. They may as well have not happened. I would be rightly pissed off were I a fan that made it to this race today. I honestly believe that, unless the conditions are unsafe to run, or barring reliability issues, then every car must be forced to run a minimum number of laps in every FP session on Friday as this was just embarrassing for F1 today.

[AndyL]

It's a side effect of the tyre and engine restrictions I guess. Given unlimited tyres, engines and gearboxes, I bet they'd all be out there wearing a groove in the tarmac come rain or shine. Maybe the best way to make sure the Friday fans get their money's worth would be to apply the engine restrictions to Saturday and Sunday only, and allocate some extra tyres for Friday-only use (including wets).

You know what, I'd let them run non-homologated prototype engines on Friday too. Might help some of the struggling manufacturers catch up.

[rjbetty]

it's a side effect of the tyre and engine restrictions i guess. Given unlimited tyres, engines and gearboxes, i bet they'd all be out there wearing a groove in the tarmac come rain or shine. Maybe the best way to make sure the friday fans get their money's worth would be to apply the engine restrictions to saturday and sunday only, and allocate some extra tyres for friday-only use (including wets).

You know what, i'd let them run non-homologated prototype engines on friday too. Might help some of the struggling manufacturers catch up.

this is far too sensible!!!

[truefan72]

oh dear
Carlos Sainz has had a massive impact
I seriously hope he is ok.

It looks absolutely terrible

dear me

[truefan72]

session will not be restarted
condition of Sainz still unknown

this entire weekend has been strange and ominous

[truefan72]

ok some good news

on a stretcher entering the ambulance and gave a thumbs up.
was able to answer some basic questions

Official announcement from the FIA
Carlos is conscious and appears to have no serious injuries

They are now showing replays of the incident.
Still not clear as its only one camera view and after initial impact.

[truefan72]

ok 2 angles of the crash now. pretty tough initial impact.
Seems like he lost it under breaking on turn 13 and hit the left wall which pretty much destroyed the left sided of the car and it went uncontrolled into the barriers at some speed