OFFICIAL F1 2018 LIVERIES + PRE-SEASON TESTING THREAD

They have, they've also been bigging up Red Bull. It makes you wonder why.

Mercedes trying to goad Ferrari into fast times?

 

All sorts of caveats. But you assume similar fuel loads if they're doing uninterrupted race sims.

 

If like for like, its very hard to confirm, but that would also indicate RB are miles off - which is the opposite to what Merc are saying. If the final stint is to be believed then Merc are over 1 second up the road. The middle stint looks like a Ferrari is the better car?

It’s been confirmed that the medium is the all round best tyre here in testing and Merc did all 3 stints on the medium, I’m not sure the others did.

There was confirmation in that article that fuel loads were unknown and assumed - I als found this interesting

“There were excited gasps around the media centre as Vettel continually improved his lap time, finding a few additional tenths after each cool lap on his hypersoft tyres. The four-time F1 world champion’s best lap came in at 1:17.182 - and given he appeared to be easing off crossing the line, there may be even more time on offer.”

 

More and more comments from people in the know suggesting Ferrari have fallen back. It seems to be gathering more and more substance, and sits with Hamilton’s confident demeanour and Lauda’s comments.

Then you get comments like this:

Bottas laughs off "one second clear"...

"We think we are nowhere near 1 second ahead of everybody else"

 

When was the last time Ferrari had the best car on the grid 2004? they had some decent cars but never better then the 2nd best car in a year. Since the Schumacher years Ferrari have been poor.

 

MERCEDES

Hypersofts N/A

Ultrasofts 1:18.400 Hamilton, Day Six

Supersofts 1:18.752 Hamilton, Day Six

Softs 1:20.596 Bottas, Day Five

Mediums 1:18.945 Hamilton, Day Six

FERRARI

Hypersofts 1:17.182 Vettel, Day Seven

Ultrasofts 1:18.079 Vettel, Day Seven

Supersofts 1:18.298, Raikkonen, Day Eight

Softs 1:19.541 Vettel. Day Six

Mediums 1:20.000 Vettel, Day Six

Red Bull

Hypersofts 1:18.047 Ricciardo, Day Six

Ultrasofts 1:18.961 Ricciardo, Day Six

Supersofts N/A

Softs 1:19.842 Verstappen, Day Seven

Mediums 1:19.955 Ricciardo, Day Six

 

Alonso quickest , then time wiped out for cutting a chicane .

 

I would say 2008, Massa was too eratic and Kimi not interested but they still go the WCC.

 

Yeah, the McMerc and Ferrari were at least about even that year.

 

So right now alonso's time imo says a lot about Ferraris time.

Says to me that while Ferrari gave us a little bit they've not given us everything.

Merc never opened the wrapper.

So who knows in first q3.

 

I've always thought the McLaren was faster in 2007, and the Ferrari faster in 2008.

Ferrari seems a very up and down team which suggests issues at the very top. With all the advantages they are afforded they should be top 2 every year. They've been well off it a good few years since 2009.

 

Pretty much every "expert" has ranked the top teams as
Mercedes
Red Bull
Ferrari
Haas / Renault

Good going for Haas to be right up There, suggests the Ferrari PU is alright. But then how sure can people be after testing...

 

the only thing we really know is that the Honda isn't as crap as it was, and even that might change come chequered flag in Aus

 

I don’t get where the dismissive attitude towards Ferrari is warranted, but then again I’m no expert - obviously. They have followed exactly the same run plan as last year? I don’t doubt that Merc are favourites based on their alleged 1000bhp engine alone and that’s before the chassis improvements are made.

The Merc race runs were done on 3 stints of mediums (they were the only team to do so) where RB and Ferrari used a race scenario of tyres, ie quali tyres and then their rac3 tyres and used between 2 and 3 different compounds. Ferrari and RB often garaged between stints so there is unknown variable on changes in set up, or for that matter fuel loads. I don’t see this as a viable like for like, and the medium tyre (effectively last years Soft which was the fastest compound on race weekend) was confirmed by multiple sources as the best tyre for the tests overall.

It all seems to be based around the medium performance, and we all know that historically Merc have favoured them over the softer compounds. They have always had a performance advantage in this area, so for me there is nothing new here. Lewis’s sub 19 on the medium tyre was at the end of his 3rd stint and tyre corrected at Pirelli suggested deltas would have been approximately 1.2 seconds - equating to a mid to high 17. Obviously there is tyre wear and engine modes to consider in this factor. Vettels best set of laps were rumoured to have a theoretical best due to the lift etc of a mid 16, and whilst I would assume he was very light, we don’t know if he had an in lap only at coast or 3 laps reserve or so either.

Merc have been very dismissive of the hyper soft, probably due to the fact that it will hardly be used and only in warmer conditions- makes sense. But Ferrari have also had a 4/10ths advantage on the SS and US. Vettels Delta to the Hyper is 1 second, so he can’t have been light on all 3 compounds.

 

It was strange that Merc didn't bother with the other tyres, considering their only real weakness (other than a bit of foot shooting strategy wise) has been the softer compound tyres.

 

Also they are not so fast when behind others. Maybe if Ferrari got ahead with one lap pace in qualifying then they have a good chance.

 

All I'm really sure of is that the Williams (drivers?) looks a bit of a dud.
The Honda looks massively improved.
Red Bull seems bullish.

Everything I'm sure of is certainly wrong.

 

According to Buxton Hass are within 0.5 seconds of Ferrari and McLaren are nowhere. I don’t know which ones crazier?

 

Paddy Lowe already saying it may take until well into the season to understand the car .

If ever they needed an experienced driver to provide information , it is this season . There is only so much Kubica can do .

 

World champions Mercedes say the only doubt they have over their new car is how well it can perform on Pirelli's softer tyres. (Autosport)