If that's their best hope I fear they have no hope! I am very surprised Honda have not improved more than they have. After their miscalculations last year, all the data they had, the extra tokens and the 'free' turbo redesign (wastegate change) they still seem quite down on power. While Mclaren are saying mods and maps to come but it seem while they may have improved reliability their top speeds did seem to be down a bit. Sadly I can't see McHonda getting further than mid field this year.
Already beaten last years quali time and it's just FP1. These cars do seem a lot fast this year, not even having to use the softer compound yet.
The talk last year was making the 2017 regs 4 seconds a lap faster than the current cars (I think). Well the 2016 cars are in places 2 seconds a lap quicker than at the same point last season, so it sounds like that 4 seconds might well be achievable by the end of this season, never mind needing new regulations to get there. Granted the development ceiling is lower, but it does seem like careful thought is needed before making sweeping changes.
The sensible thing to do is keep the regs stable, allow the teams to catch up.. Changing the regs does nothing but benefit the bigger teams with their resources (unless someone call do a Brawn again!) But.. this is F1 and they don't have a good track record when it comes to sensible! With regards to the pace today of the Mercs.. BALLS! I do hope there's loads left in the tank for the Ferrari's but if not, then I'll be spoiling a good walk by play golf on Sunday!
we have no idea of the fuel loads for todays fp1, so I'm not going to look too deeply into it, although the Mercs WILL be the fastest over a lap whether they'll be the fastest on Sunday over the whole race, I don't think so
Merc very rarely run low fuel loads, they also are unlikely to have turned the wick up on the engines either... Race pace info. for all the teams will be interesting, I bloody well hope there's only a few tenth's here and there between the Mercs, Ferrari's and even Red Bulls!
Nothing surprising here, apart from maybe Vettel's control electronics. please log in to view this image
What the heck have McHonda done? Button 3rd!!!!! OK so I know it's only 2nd practice but even so, looking much better if they can keep that up.
Refreshingly so.. False dawn, most likely, but is that an indication of the possible performance in that package, assuming they too weren't running on fumes and it was with the engine on full whick... hopefully, they'll be in with a chance to get into Q3 and maybe back some good points.
I thought that last race when McLaren were up there in Q1, it's probably a false dawn. It does show they have a bit of 1 lap pace, though whether they can keep it up lap after lap, I'm not so sure.
No matter how Button managed it be that on fumes, high engine mode or what ever it does suggest McHonda at least may have 1 lap performance. Which does show that the chassis isn't too shabby. Maybe they still have an energy recovery/storage issue to resolve but overall showing promise. I really hope McHonda can put things together, would be great to see Button and Alonso fighting towards the front.
I know I'm an Alonso fan so my opinion is biased but it just feels like he has more to offer to the sport. It's crazy that he has only spent maybe 5 years in a top car where the other years he has had trash to drive.
I know the media do like to sensationalise things but I feel Alonso's personality doesn't do him any favours at times. While he must have been very frustrated last time with McL to drop your employers in it is not very 'sporting'. Then again he went back for more at McL, so they must have berried the hatchet. Don't get me wrong I think he is an amazing driver. He can extract 0.5 sec from a poor car that very few other drivers could. Most F1 drivers personalities are not 'normal' most have spent a huge proportion of their formative years in motor sport of one form or another and been taught to think in certain ways to aid winning. I do rate Alonso as one of the best currently on the grid.
He should've won the 2007 and 2008 world championships and has only himself to blame for that. People look back on his career as a hard luck story, as if he didn't have a career before Ferrari, but he won two world championships before moving to a championship winning team and imploding completely. I agree that he has heaps of talent, no one can do this, but like you say his personality causes problems, both in terms of attracting top drives and making the most of what he has. The constant issues Ferrari had with understeer were only prevalent during the Alonso years. The 2010 car didn't have that and he struggled more relative to Massa than at any other point during their partnership. I get the impression he'd rather have a car which is half a second slower if it gives him a greater advantage over his team mate. I think Newey would hate to work with him.
