Mercedes are arguably even further ahead than they were last year on one lap. BUT..... It must be said on long run pace, Kimi looked absolutely mighty. Was consistently pumping in laps on a par with the Mercs and 6 tenths quicker on (albeit) softer tyres than Vettel, but most impressively telling, he was still doing those lap times at that same pace when Vettel's harder tyres had worn out in the same distance! He just had nowhere near the same degradation as Vettel and was in the end pulling a second a lap+ on tyres that should have been dead long before Vettels. When the gap in times should have been slowly closing in Vettels favour, it was actually getting wider in Kimi's. Impressive was an understatement, that was pretty stunning.....and eye opening. We'll see what the race brings, but to me, that was the first genuine hint that actually, Ferrari might not have been showboating quite as much as suspected. Still absolutely nowhere on 1 lap pace compared to the Mercs, but seemingly where they need to be around Williams, Red Bull etc.
Kimi looked mighty quick on the long runs! Rosberg looks to have the edge too, Mclaren though :/ If they do somehow finish then they could be last. Ouch.
Interesting race pace by Ferrari on both drivers. Vettel almost as fast as Kimi on the prime tyre but Kimi with the tyre preserving skills on the soft. Pirelli: So far we have a performance gap of around 1.4 seconds between the compounds but this is set to evolve: we look forward to seeing the true performance of the 2015 cars throughout the rest of the weekend.” So from this it seems Vettel is much faster against Kimi than it looks at the moment. Being 1 second slower towards the end, while still being 0.2- 0.4 a lap faster than the believed norm is nothing when he was roughly a second a lap faster than Kimi for the majority of the race sim. If Vettel slowed down a bit, he would probably go longer than Kimi, much longer.
Have anyone noticed that Rosberg is still having this fuel saving problem? The team kept telling him he needs to do a better job saving fuel. How will that affect him during races? We will see. Good pace from Ferrari. Still waiting to see what Williams has..but McLaren could probably borrow my Honda civic.
Kimi looks heavily involved and dedicated this year. His unexpexted upbeat team radio says it all. Exciting race ahead.
I've been pretty lax at keeping up to date with testing this year :/ For those like me, bitesize vids of, FP1 - http://www.bbc.co.uk/sport/0/formula1/31865521 FP2 - http://www.bbc.co.uk/sport/0/formula1/31865524 For comparison. 2014 - FP1 = 1:31.840 *** FP2 = 1:29.625 2015 - FP1 = 1:29.557 *** FP2 = 1:27.697 Just over 2s a lap faster
Oops please log in to view this image please log in to view this image Hopefully we'll see these guys soon. Although that front wing looks very last minute. please log in to view this image
That is back to front if anything! Kimi was 5 tenths faster almost every single lap early on, 6 tenths faster half way through the stint and over a second of a lap faster at the end of it! In other words, had that been a race, Kimi would have pulled out 8-9 seconds on Vettel over 1 stint, despite being on the less desirable race tyre. If Vettel had slowed to protect them, sure he may not have burnt through them at the same rate, but Kimi was still going strong on the softs at the end and would have pulled the gap all the same, plus who knows how much life he still had in them? he was still comfortably lapping within 2 tenths of his fastest of the stint at the end of practice!! He still had several laps in hand, he was only just starting to get them to drop off. While it's true there is a gap of 1.4 seconds between the tyres, that is in quali spec. Kimi was on average 6 tenths faster over the stint, which suggests he had the pace in his pocket and was just protecting the tyres when Vettel chewed threw the more durable ones in the same distance, he actually can't afford to slow down to protect the tyres much more. And here's to what Kimi can possibly do on the hards if he was protecting the softs like that! Vettel looks (much) faster over 1 lap, Kimi looks to have set up for the race (Very Lotus style, with a James Allison Chassis and him looking strong over a distance..... not a coincidence). And there is also a side note that Kimi was not far off the pace of the Mercs over stint, and Rosberg was using too much fuel. Make no mistake, Ferrari, Kimi especially, are a major threat for the podium this weekend.
Changed my fantasy F1 team on badger to include a Ferrari and Vettel... Hopefully Ferrari can bring the fight to Merc... Maybe I'm being too optimistic?
Just remember that for the past 5 years at least Ferrari have been really quick in practice. I think they're just trying to scare the others. I wouldn't be surprised to see them 6th/7th on the grid tomorrow but then I wouldn't be surprised if they were near the front either.
So after a season with Vettel, Webbers car has found a new home with Ricciardo :/ Australian GP: Daniel Ricciardo already onto second F1 engine Impressive! In other news (and I have no idea how he came to this figure but..): Andrew Benson @andrewbensonf1 17m17 minutes ago A little observation on McLaren-Honda. Time deficit to Mercedes on Friday was equivalent of 230bhp. Clearly something is very, very wrong
*laughs* It's hard to say how they'll do... but we can live in hope that they'll compete again. Vettel looks super relaxed there though. I guess we'll have a better idea after this weekend
