2017 Pre-Season Testing: Barcelona

Think someone is taking the pith

 

There'll be a few Honda engineers performing Harikiri if they keep up this level of shambolic-ness!

 

Could Ferrari's protest actually hamper teams in challenging Mercedes? Well Mercedes suspected closest rival.

 

Was just reading this. Although Merc appear to be implicated (and Toto was questioned yesterday about their system) it seems RB appear to the primary focus.

 

Raikkonen is back out and instantly goes faster again with a lap of 1:21.198, putting him within two tenths of Hamilton.
And here's the thing: that time was set on soft tyres.
In fact, it was the fastest time we've seen so far on the soft compound - albeit on a three-lap run.

13:41

Ferrari have just run the soft tyres for the first time this week and Raikkonen immediately improves with a 1:22.012.
Hamilton is currently fastest with a 1:20.983 registered on supersoft tyres after earlier this morning lapping in 1:21.766 on the softs.
Which thus puts Ferrari about three tenths behind on face value comparison - but without knowing fuel levels, engine modes etc

 

If on a true race sim, high 25's low 26's would put a quail time on the softest compound and full engine mode in the high 19's

 

RBR definitely not showing up well at the moment.

Williams will be cursing Stroll for a wasted day after showing good pace yesterday.

 

'Jumping to conclusions is dangerous'

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Andrew Benson


Benson crapping himself that his Hamilton novelty buttplug may not get so much use this year.

"Let's not get too excited about Kimi Raikkonen's lap time on the soft tyre just yet. Yes, it is only 0.2secs off Lewis Hamilton's best, which was set on the super-soft, and, yes, Hamilton's best on the soft is 0.6secs slower than the Ferrari's.
But... a) on his super-soft lap, Hamilton was 0.3secs slower in the last sector than on his best soft lap, which suggests there is at least that much more time in the car; b) we don't yet know the accurate tyre off-set between compounds for these new 2017 tyres; c) we won't have a decent idea of what each car could have done on that lap until we see the length of the run and can correct for fuel up to a point; d) even then, we still won't know the actual fuel load; e) only the teams know what engine mode the cars are running in, or anything else about the spec.
For now, jumping to conclusions is dangerous. More evidence is needed before we can even try that."

 

He missed the fact kimi used DRS and Lewis didn't. As a forum I think we could help Benson get excuses all the way up to z.

 

I honestly don't know how Andrew Benson still has a job, he should be writing Lewis Hamilton fan fiction, as he has no place calling himself a F1 journalist.

 

Not paying too much attention to the Super Soft or the Soft time when on a short run..
What has been missed slightly is the time that Hamilton did on a set of Softs at the start of a long run 19laps, without DRS, in the mid 1:21s...
That for me is the stand out time so far..

 

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Marc Priestley @f1elvis
Merc attempting full race sim on day 2 of #F1 testing! That would’ve been unthinkable a few years ago. In fact for most teams it still is!

1 1/2 days in and they're doing Race sims already..
What's the bloody point!

 

I agree. I also think Vettels medium runs were comparatively competitive and the fact that Ferrari focused much later on the softer compound bodes well for their performance. I still don't think it will be enough though!

 

Last year, Merc's main weakness was firing up the softer compounds, they know, given their machine they can get the Mediums and Hards into their operation window.
So... could be why they are focusing their runs on the Softer compounds? Get enough data on them to ensure they can fire up the softer compounds too?

 

well, I saw a clip from the beginning of testing, Botttas was out 3rd or 4th and the firs thing he did was pull up to the side in the pit-exit and, I assume from the sound (camera's annoying pulled away) that he did a practice start. Is it ominous or hubris.

The only thing I'm willing to say is Honda have ****ed it up again, lets not forget Williams outstanding pace in testing a few years ago, only to struggle to make points during the season.

 

If Mercedes are having issues getting heat into the tyres, then at least where there are cooler races it may provide some interest.

 

Not saying they are having warmup problems this year, but last year they couldn't switch on the super and ultra softs as well as Red Bull and Ferrari, which is why in races involving those tires, they were "closer" than at the races where the main tires were Medium and Hards.. Therefore I was just guess that this years testing work maybe more focused on the softer compounds?

 

The tyres are harder this year, so depending on the compound time differences the likes of the hard tyre could become almost redundant.

 

Only time will tell about the tyres, they're going to be doing a lot more work this season and be put through more stress, yes they've been tested on a mule, but how accurate is the mule? It might be as useful as Honda's dyno.

 

Given the times Bottas is pumping in, they do appear to be pretty durable, we could see more 1 stop races..
And overtakes more on merit (if any) than down one car having tires in better condition than the other..