he backed off on main straight! Next lap was 0.7secs quicker in the last sector easily making a 1.18 #sandbagging on the supersoft!
Lovely.. we need at least a 2 team battle this year.. I don't think Merc or Redbull have unleashed their cars yet, maybe tomorrow but Ferrari seem to have some real pace!
McLaren management need a working relationship with Honda but Alonso and fans can be totally honest. Honda need to know they are perceived as a useless outfit. That will destroy the team morale at Honda or make them really question why they have failed to deliver. There are no excuses, not in the third year. Honda need to speak and tell the fans what the issue is, silence is very worrying, implies they don't know what the problem or fix is. Come on Honda, surprise us!! There are F1 fans wanting answers, it is not the corporate world you are dealing with.
Sky sports: So just to stress the key points so far: Hamilton is three tenths down on Ferrari on the same ultrasoft compound that Vettel set the fastest time of testing so far on - but Vettel appeared to ease off in the final sector The McLaren has twice broken down on its first lap out of the pits And Ferrari are also the only team to break the 1:20 mark on soft tyres but are fractionally slower than Bottas' best yesterday on supersofts.
Only today and tomorrow left!!! They are supposed to be using OZ spec PU in this test. Looking worse and worse by the day.......
They are using Oz spec. Its just the one from 2015.... We are still to see the true power!!!!!.....#PRAY4MCLAREN
I think the vital issue is that williams did a 1:19:4 there on ultras too so only 4 tenths off that ferrari time. If williams can do that there must be a lot of time in the merc. Ferrari clearly have time i nthe pocket too.
It shouldn't do, anymore than Lotus, HRT and Manor put off new teams from entering. If you get the right people in, it will work. Honda's issue is doing everything in house, with their own ideas, cultures etc, and not listening to those who actually know what they're talking about with these things, hence Simon's departure from their setup.
The current engines appear too hard to get up to speed on and too complex to come in on. I think it would put them off. I think for now we are caught between two stools and really the REAL future is not turbos but some more electric/petrol hybrid but we have to say hang on we are racing here and its ok to have a big engine.
The turbo's themselves are just a small part of the package. The main issues previously that Renault and Ferrari had was making the petrol-hybrid systems work effectively and reliability together. It's that aspect that is the complex one. Honda though have just got it plain wrong across the board it seems.