Pre-season testing 2019
#81

(18-02-2019, 02:03 PM)forzaferrari Wrote:  Turned on the telly 2 mins ago to watch a bit of testing, first voice I hear is Crofty.....not so sure about watching now Sad

I was busy this afternoon, but managed to watch bits of it on skyq app on phone (with the sound down). I wish they would fire Croft. He's a monumentaly tedious arse. Won't be able to watch any of the next 3 days (afternoons) from here on in as it's more difficult when on site  Dodgy

Have to say, even though it's nice to see the cars on track, testing is damn boring to watch!
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#82

(18-02-2019, 09:43 PM)morini Wrote:  I was busy this afternoon, but managed to watch bits of it on skyq app on phone (with the sound down). I wish they would fire Croft. He's a monumentaly tedious arse. Won't be able to watch any of the next 3 days (afternoons) from here on in as it's more difficult when on site  Dodgy

Have to say, even though it's nice to see the cars on track, testing is damn boring to watch!

Yeah, I just had it on in the background and half watching.....and what did I take away from 1st day?
1. It was nice to see/hear the cars on track.
2. Reliability was great to see/not as many red flags as I expected.
3. Anything over 10mph and its impossible to tell what fecking tyre they are on
4. Crofty (still) does my nut in!

"You live more for 5 minutes going fast on a bike than other people do in all of their life"....Marco Simoncelli
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#83

[Image: Dztzn_oWsAYevXK.png]
https://twitter.com/hlawiczka

When was the last time we saw Merc down on mileage compared to others. With Williams absent and RP having a slow day, it was all down to the works team. While I'm sure they are unfazed, I wonder if they wish they were getting a bit more data from their entirely new spec engine.

What I learnt today, is that F1 haven't paid any attention to F1FanVoice, and I'm going to have another year raging about its abysmal presentation and publication of information. Great.

My previous sig was obsolete, McLaren ain't disappointing Heshy no more.
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#84

Hesh there is no question the works Mercedes team will be pissed at their customer teams lack of running. Compare the Red Bull Honda family who are running the same engines, gearboxes and suspension, and ditto the Ferrari family and you can just begin to understand the lack of data Mercedes have compared to the other teams.

Williams are at real risk of missing the entire first test I've heard and they simply do not have the car built. Was told on Saturday rumours were they still hadn't integrated their gearbox and engine... if true they're in serious trouble. It also makes the rumours of them considering a very late switch to Mercedes gearboxes understandable, and their decision to continue making their own all the more baffling.

Whatever the truth behind Williams' woes, Racing Point, or dot or circle, or whatever the hell they're called were clearly having issues and mechanics were working round the rear of their car a lot. Hell, despite the mileage the works team pumped in, there were clearly issues with the engine there too. Nothing serious, and I'm sure Mercedes are quietly happy with their work, but the lack of data will be annoying, and if it continues throughout testing they'll be seriously concerned about having less numbers to crunch than their competitors. Early days though

I know it's early days, and I know I don't want to seem too harsh... but Albon has crashed on his first ever F1 lap. I said I didn't think he was ready, and I think he'll prove to be somewhat of a disappointment. Honestly, just puts into perspective Dan Ticktum's frustrations, and perhaps why he's so annoyed with the motorsport world, he doesn't come from "money" and has struggled to get anywhere in the sport despite clearly blistering pace, and before Red Bull signed him there was a risk he'd have not had a seat going into the 2017 GP3 series, despite having the most impression junior career of that grid. Let's be clear, Ticktum is a better driver than a few on the current F1 grid already. I feel for the lad. He needs to learn to not run his mouth so much, but given he see's the likes of Albon and others getting drives, while he struggles to scrape the cash together for new racing helmets (seriously, that's not a joke, it happened) then I get where he's coming from.
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#85

Certainly not ideal, was it his out lap? If so, then perhaps the tyre blanket ban might have had an influence, Kimi and Grosjean(no real surprise) had similar incidents.

So I found out how the "C" range tyres relate to 2018 tyres.

C1 = A slightly softer version of 2018 Hard (Blue)
C2 = A slightly softer version of 2018 Medium (White)
C3 = Is 2018 Soft (Yellow)
C4 = Don't know, one might think inbetween 2018's Supers and Ultras...
C5 = Same as 2018 HyperSoft (Pink) but designed to have less graining issues.

So it seems, they have closed performance between the harder compounds, yet have large performance gaps between the soft compounds.

My previous sig was obsolete, McLaren ain't disappointing Heshy no more.
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#86

Kimi's issue was a detached front wing... and to be fair to Grosjean his was caused by the throttle sticking apparently, and I'm not normally one to let him off the hook. Albon just drove into the gravel. Of course there might be mitigating circumstances, but he's looked shakey since and 3 of his 5 laps after getting up and running again included running very wide in places / going off track and a near spin at the final chicane. I think F1 cars might prove a step too far for him, no matter what Franz says. Giovinazzi looking real good out there so far, as is Leclerc. Ferrari have really hit the ground running.

Lando also looking good now too, he's a damn fine driver. Hope McLaren finally have a good car after the wilderness years.

OK, are we seeing Mercedes pace finally? Lewis is clocking in a fairly long stint of laps on the harder tyres all in the very low 1:20's and some high 1.19's including a PB of 1.19.9. Not exactly blistering pace, but on one of the slower compounds, into double figures and a car that looks "heavy" with fuel? That's a pretty tasty stint.

That was a near 15 lap stint all in the high 1:19's / low 1:20's. Is that the best "stint" so far? actually he's straight out of the pits again to continue on his way. So that was what? a telemetry check in the pits?

Oh, and by the way, his car has aero sensors all over the rear of his car in front of the rear tyres and one out back by the diffuser.

Leclerc is looking mighty today. Seb has a real fight on his hands.

Thanks for the tyre info Hesh, really useful to know.
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#87

Pleased to see LeClerc is doing so well. As usual, I don't believe any of this is actually meaningful. Look at last year's pre season, Merc didn't show anything at all. They were 8th if my memory serves? Then, they rolled up at Melbourne and dominated the opening weekend (yes, I know LH didn't win it but that was down to circumstance).

Mercedes will be most worried about lack of Williams running meaning less overall PU data. Not much they can do about that though.
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#88

Wouldn't say the wilderness years are over just yet, Jody. Of course only day one of on track testing so alot of time to optimise the car, but this onboard lap shows an unstable, and understeer issued car.
https://twitter.com/McLarenF1/status/109...4622850049

There was another tweet I saw yesterday, that track side engineers were saying McLaren has shown no improvements, and could very well be propping up the rear. Staying optimistic though and hope to see an improved onboard lap at the end of the 2nd week. As I said, all I hoped for from McLaren at this test was a good lap tally.

One thing that I have seen from McLaren that I like is their sector 1 speed trap figures. Its no DRS zone, with acceleration though fast corners starting from T1 exit. They have always been quickest, or very close to the fastest speed just before T4. whether this trend continues when they load up with heavy fuel loads, or how they match up with other heavy teams may dampen my spirits a bit : P


All Leclerc best sectors give a 1:17.96

My previous sig was obsolete, McLaren ain't disappointing Heshy no more.
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#89

Morini, I'm taking all this with a fistful of salt. But winter testing does show us something, it's about getting through programs and laps, that's the real indicator, and yesterday Ferrari got through everything they had programmed and more apparently. there lap count is impressive. As too is Mercedes I'll note, and Honda actually. Can't take anything out of the "headline" times. But stints? You can take some things away from the stints, like drop off for one. RBR have virtually zero drop off over a longer stint, and neither do Mercedes, we couldn't say that last year about Merc. Ferrari are the ones with drop off so far, not HUGE, but certainly noticeable. When getting into the double figure stints their times begin to tail off. Not as sharply as say Renault, but it's there.

Hesh, my "wilderness years" comment was more wishful thinking / being hopeful rather than a statement of fact that they're over. I'm a McLaren fan, so it's painful to watch. I'd place them around Racing point and Toro Rosso at this point. I think Haas and Sauber are both looking really good, and rear wing failure aside I'd still place Renault above McLaren.
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#90

(19-02-2019, 12:10 PM)Jody Barton Wrote:  Hesh, I'm taking all this with a fistful of salt. But winter testing does show us something, it's about getting through programs and laps

That is exactly the point. As Toto said during one of the interviews yesterday, it's about bolting parts on the car and gathering data, swap bits, rinse, repeat. That is all that will concern Mercedes at this point. They clearly aren't chasing lap times and appear to be fat with fuel (well it looked like that to me when I watched a few Hamilton laps yesterday afternoon).

Ferrari lap count was very impressive, can't deny that. But I bet the times don't concern Mercedes, as it was exactly the same last year.
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