Agree completely. The suspension components especially are not designed to take lateral impacts, so even a small brush against the wall normally results in snapped/bent wishbones etc. That there was hardly any visible damage at all to any part of the car (all tyres looked like they were all inflated as well) suggested McLaren are hiding something. When was the last time you saw a car hit a wall at 150kph and there was no damage at all!?
I'm beginning to wonder if the tests at the hospital unearthed a previously unnoticed medical problem, unrelated to the accident, but spotted because of it. Obviously that's just a feeling.
The lengths they went to hide Alonso after the crash suggests the issue was there immediately after the crash and they knew something wasn't right, hence the helivac to hospital as well rather than a quick check over in the medical centre. Another electrical pun in there too. top marks.
Hamilton already down to the 1:24's on Medium. Season over? Will they bolt on a set of super softs to really scare the opposition before the end of the test, or will Bernie pay them not too in the hope people won't switch off before the season has already started!?
That would be quite strange. To be fair though why wouldn't they pick up an underlying medical problem before? Probably going too far in another direction. He had a little shock and he will be back in Australia tip top.
I think the amount of medical test and physical monitored training the drivers do, any underlying health problem would have been noticed in the past. I still believe something happened in that car that directly caused the accident which is related to Alonso's health. I just hope it's nothing too serious, but the longer he is out of the seat the less positive it looks!
In the midst of all this uncertainty it's nice of McLaren to give us all some normalcy by continuing to be ****.
Worrying possibility of an even bigger Merc domination it seems. I guess we'll only truly know in Melbourne but these times on the mediums are very impressive. Lets hope Ferrari, Renault and Honda have got some performance to come. Or that Williams are sandbagging beyond belief. Haha.
Wow, the W06 starting to flex its muscles , i'm sure if not for rain and it being overcast in Barcelona we would be seeing the 2014 Wdc in the high 1.23's. Nico V Lewis again in 2015, I cant wait.
Oh dear... Is mclaren worse than red bull last year (Pre season) at least the red bull had promise of speed. Why did Honda not iron out some of these issues in a mule last season?
Exactly. Can't believe two respectable engineering companies are having so many unforeseen problems. OK so dyno testing isn't great at recreating in car temps but with the transient dynos they must have, they should have ironed out mechanical issues.
Massa just posted second fastest time of anyone on medium tyres. Maybe Mercedes will have a challenge?
1:23.5! Was that still on medium edit: Autosport says that was on softs. Will Mercedes want to respond with a soft lap of their own?
Hybrid system problem for Mercedes means they are stuck in the garage. I think we'll probably see a quick lap in the last two days from them.
Pure conjecture… Mercedes obviously still top dog, albeit that reliability is clearly still a weakness. Williams seem to have maintained momentum from the strong finish to last season, and, if one imagines all drivers exactly equal*, may genuinely have closed the gap to Mercedes. Red Bull and Ferrari appear to have made similar gains in performance and perhaps with Lotus alongside (now with a much improved aero-package), theses four teams should provide some very interesting, season-long battles, both on and off track. I'd put Sauber next, and can envisage some on-track loneliness because I think they are adrift of all the above. That said, they may battle with Force India, but I can see the latter falling adrift as the season continues, with its drivers being the last to take Chequered Flags before McHonda overcomes a multitude of disadvantages even to reach one! …McLaren, with the brand new Honda power unit, are a long, long way back and I can see teething problems continuing well into the season. With no other team using their units, Honda are not only on the back foot in terms of it being 'first season' but also by virtue of having so few cars for development – even if one ignores the extra difficulties created by the FIA's clumsy handling of a Ferrari led farce. That 'loophole' is more than a token gift to all other teams… *Impossible, of course. Drivers most certainly do make a difference! –Incidentally, if I had the luxury of choosing a drive for this season other than Mercedes, I'd choose Williams. In my opinion, Mercedes has a stronger driver line up and I believe this is contributing at least 0.3 secs, probably more, to any other advantage the team holds over Williams.
Pretty sure we are as we are from what I have seen. Merc have the extra gear when they need it, Williams are improving and have good race pace. Red Bull are decent. Ferrari are the potential springer and I hope that their Power Unit is much improved. Honda are on a big journey and its hard to say when it will click into hear with so little data. I do think they'll have a very good car though.
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