Scuderia Ferrari SF16-H Development thread.

[PURE PASSION]

So as it looks,Williams will also have a new nose!!

Williams says it remains undecided about when its definitive 2016 nose will be run for the first time.

The outfit launched its new Mercedes-powered car with a 2015-specification nose design earlier this month and stuck with it through the first Barcelona test.

However, it is understood that a tweaked concept is being readied for the start of the season - and will likely to appear at some point during next week's Barcelona test.

When asked by Motorsport.com about when the new nose would appear, Williams technical chief Pat Symonds said: “I am not completely certain yet….but this [nose] isn't it.”

Symonds said that the compact pre-season schedule had forced teams into having a different approach to testing, with last week's test more about reliability and next week's about performance.

“I think we are going to see things a bit different this year,” he said. “Not only are we down to eight days of testing but of course, the tests and first race date moved forward once we had already started the project.

“The project of building an F1 car, it is difficult to determine exactly when it starts, but certainly in the early part of the summer, you are into some quite detailed laying out because project plans are established and everything.

“We don't put much slack into the project plans, so to move everything forward a couple of weeks was tough.

“Traditionally when you have had your 12 days of testing, you go through your stuff and the last couple of days you bring your Melbourne package there.

"You spend a couple of days working there and more or less that is what you have at the first race. I don't think we will see so much of that this year," he adds.

"I think we will see new parts introduced in Melbourne on some of the cars, and we will see less of that last minute introduction of bits.”

Car progress

Although Williams avoided headline grabbing times last week, Symonds says he is upbeat about the performance of the car.

When asked if it was a step forward on its 2015 challenger, he said: “That is where our concentration has been, and the drivers and the data tend to suggest that we have picked up there.

“Now it is down to what the other guys have done as well.”

[gjoko-mkd]

Observations from todays F1analisitecnica :

- Speed is there, but reliability is not
- Car looks better on track then SF15T and very neutral, but still not as good as Mercedes
- Vettel and Kimi couldn't take line as tight as Mercedes drivers because it appears that front of the car is still not good enough
- Two reasons for that, front suspension setup and amount of downforce at the rear of the car because of much bigger space in coke bottle area and shorter nose. It means car is not aero balanced since rear gets more downforce, and front end doesn't follow.
- Can be fixed through the suspension, new front wing (since this one probably doesn't deliver enough DF on front) and skinnier RW (for now I guess)
- Vettel did his lap with 50kh of fuel and wasn't running 100%. PU didn't run 100% (thats why Vmax wasn't as good) in any practice session, still has some reliability problems but they will run it next week 100%
- Tires getting into right temperature faster then with SF15T
- Tires suffer from blistering which is odd given low track temps (merc has graining as well)
- According to their info, current gap would be around 4 tenths
- From what they have been said, from here to Australia no major PU changes unless some big reliability problems appear
- Felipe Massa says they couldnt follow Ferrari, especially in fast corners

http://www.f1analisitecnica.com/2016...pressioni.html(via Autosport)

[stefa]

http://www.f1analisitecnica.com/2016...pressioni.html(via Autosport)

[PURE PASSION]

http://www.f1analisitecnica.com/2016...pressioni.html(via Autosport)

So good and bad news!!!As it seems this car might be a Merc beater BUT it will need some time to get there.Hope president doesn't start pushing unnecessary the team,because it's almost certain that we will not win in Australia!!

[bondilad]

So good and bad news!!!As it seems this car might be a Merc beater BUT it will need some time to get there.Hope president doesn't start pushing unnecessary the team,because it's almost certain that we will not win in Australia!!

One thing is certain though. Merc wouldn't have it all their way like they used to in the past with strategies, plus they tend to screw up when they feel threatened.

[totox]

The good thing is that is easier to solve front end lack of downforce than rear end, like last years where the unbalance came from the rear

[From Treviso]

http://www.f1analisitecnica.com/2016...pressioni.html(via Autosport)

Also this season, apparently after the first four days of testing, the only team that can give "annoyance" at Mercedes will surely be the Scuderia from Maranello.

It will most definitely start by saying that Ferrari could certainly do not impose a timetable as that followed by the Germans, given the many new solutions introduced on the SF16-H. E 'was played a program that we usually define standards in the very first of a pre season test: we have obtained a lot of data that will be processed soon after factory engines and the right correlation between the track and design elements, known problem of Ferrari until some month ago.

Among the many new solutions introduced by the engineers in Maranello, already analyzed in previous articles, what is perhaps most surprised is the ingenious solution dual intercooler for cooling the compressed air fed to the engine (LINK technical analysis). On this circuit, especially on the first air-air exchanger, work was carried out during the final day which forced Kimi to stop for most of the morning.

The car seems well established although it has suffered from some reliability issues which limited mileage on the track. normal problems (and that Ferrari had reckoned) saw that during the winter, the Power Unit has been completely changed.

The view car at crucial points of the Montmelo circuit seems quite neutral though the inclusion in the curve still has not convinced us, then definitely to be improved; it was quite obvious that the drivers in red, they could not make the tight lines that made those Mercedes, having to widen the lines especially in the central part of the curves.

The F1AnalisiTecnica Team has tried to give an explanation to this "problem": Besides the fact that, by changing the type of front suspension, is not so immediate the correct calibration of the same, there certainly must be said that having changing aerodynamic philosophy front (short nose), and bringing much more air time to the rear, thanks to a good taper bellies, the SF16-H may be a rather unbalanced rear car. What you are saying? That the aerodynamic load is not properly distributed between the front and rear of the new Italian car, which then creates a certain imbalance front, which generates these problems of integration rightly noted by us on track.
The solutions, in addition to a refinement of the mechanical settings of the front suspension, may be that specified download the rear, perhaps using wings less loaded, or lead on the track a front wing that will succeed in generating the right front load, which the 'ala introduced in 2015 Austin GP, ​​the one used in the first four days of testing does not seem to do.

The red was one of the few teams has tested almost every compound brought on track by Pirelli. Both Vettel fact that Raikkonen tried UltraSoft, SuperSoft, Soft and Medium, leaving instead lose the harder tires that really created a lot of problems to the red in the past season.

Vettel is that Raikkonen had a good feeling with the "purple" tires, the now famous UltraSoft, appreciating the fact that the SF16-H seems to be able to portaregli tires at the right temperature range faster than the SF15-T in 2015. The lap Vettel with UltraSoft, which according to many was seen rather negatively the stopwatch, was actually path with many kilograms of gasoline, about 50, reservoir and with an output of the power unit is not 100%.

Concluding its analysis of the Ferrari that we saw in Barcelona, ​​the maximum speeds have not been very good to show that the power unit was not used at peak performance. In the next test we will prove beyond a shadow of a doubt to push to the limit the performance of the power unit as well as start working seriously even on long runs. For now, as far as he could see both the track by some pictures taken after some long runs made by Vettel, it is that the SF16-H suffer from blistering, abnormal phenomenon given the lower asphalt temperatures of Montmelo.

According to information gathered by F1AnalisiTecnica, the gap between Mercedes and Ferrari for now it would be around four tenths, thus very similar to that of the previous season. As far as we has also been said, from here to Australia, except major reliability issues, should not be any of the changes as regards the Power Unit.

p

[IulianFerrari]

We have brought in so many different things, even changes with the pullrod while Mercedes just improved here and there on the car, which was already fantastic. Ferrari have taken a gamble, this could pay off or backfire at the same time. To have problems in the first few days of testing is normal and I am sure that we will get pass them and show our strength. I don't know if this gamble will help us beat Mercedes but Allison and the others think it could otherwise they wouldn't have switched totally from a good car we had last year.
I AM GLAD we took this gamble, shows balls, shows Ferrari is not content in being 2nd best, hope it pays off, if not then 2016 should be regarded as a done project and start early work on the 2017 new car regulations.

[RedRebel40]

we should hire James Key from Torro Rosso to help Allisson on the 2017 car. That guy is very good!

[acidrain]

From Sky...

We've seen faster outright laps of course, but that time of Raikkonen's is the SECOND fastest we have seen on the medium tyres at Barcelona so far this year.

It's hard to draw comparisons because we don't know the fuel loads, but the Ferrari's 1:24.907 is within a tenth of Mercedes' best of 1:24.867 which was set by Nico Rosberg on Day Two last week. Sebastian Vettel clocked the third quickest with 1:24.9 last Monday

[gjoko-mkd]

[f300v10]

New position for tire temp sensor.

[mizf1]

Did we have any updates on the car today? It seems strange that the car we ran during these tests have been very similar to the launch car

[jragona]

I am sure we will see small aero changes in australia. I think we will also have a newer engine and fuel, but not 100% sure on that.

[Kyss4k]

Did we have any updates on the car today? It seems strange that the car we ran during these tests have been very similar to the launch car

It's been the same in the last couple of years. As I said, Ferrari does not bring much upgrades to tests. I don't know why, it's like we lacked in the development department, but it's the case. But I have to admit, I thought, we will run an S-duct in the second week of testing as our every competitor now has one as well. We'll se in Australia, but I doubt that we will se something new on the car.

[darkchild]

RBR also didn't bring anything new to the test, and they also have S duct ready but not used yet. I say, just follow Adrian, everything aero related will be fine

[killer]

But I have to admit, I thought, we will run an S-duct in the second week of testing as our every competitor now has one as well. We'll se in Australia, but I doubt that we will se something new on the car.

Not necessarily a bad thing, though. Could very well mean things work how they should as they are.

[bondilad]

Saw this testing day 3 roundup on the official F1 Website.

It says that Ferrari has had massive gains on the PU side from the new fuel brought by Shell and it has more acidity compared to last years fuel. Apparently this is affecting the Ferrari customer teams (Sauber and Haas).

I wonder why it is affecting them while Ferrari seems to run without a problem. Any thoughts on this ?


http://www.formula1.com/content/fom-.../en/video.html

[harry harris]

Hi guys......... can't wait for the race to start. Must be a winning car........... cause looks don't kill

[xispas]

The ferrari SF16-H with this extra 2 tailpipes sounds very fine!



Think they said that this rule will be 10% more loud ... part of the increase in noise improves performance in some other aspect? It makes it faster or powerful?

Article 5.8.2 of the 2016 FIA Technical Regulations

Engine exhaust systems must have only a single turbine tailpipe exit and either one or two wastegate tailpipe exits which must all be rearward facing and through which all exhaust gases must pass.
I think they said that this rule will be 10% more loud ...

[GrndLkNatv]

Could be causing them to foul spark plugs, depending on the mixture and the heat range of the plug. I am sure they will have it ironed out very quickly, shouldn't be a big problem.

Saw this testing day 3 roundup on the official F1 Website.

It says that Ferrari has had massive gains on the PU side from the new fuel brought by Shell and it has more acidity compared to last years fuel. Apparently this is affecting the Ferrari customer teams (Sauber and Haas).

I wonder why it is affecting them while Ferrari seems to run without a problem. Any thoughts on this ?


http://www.formula1.com/content/fom-.../en/video.html

[medeni73]

Apparently Leo Turrini should announce today some performance increase bombshell that should appear in Australia... Anyone got the source and how was this story created if true at all???

[GrndLkNatv]

Apparently Leo Turrini should announce today some performance increase bombshell that should appear in Australia... Anyone got the source and how was this story created if true at all???

Is this the new Shell fuel?

[Teoman]

Hi everybody... I wonder why no one is saying something about aero if we are going to have of course in Melbourne.nearly all the teams revealed that they will have new aero parts coming to Melbourne except our boys.

[kraig1]

Maybe that our boys feel that the aero is just right for the beggining of the season, updates may not be nesessary if the data they have is right for Melbourne.

[PURE PASSION]

Apparently Leo Turrini should announce today some performance increase bombshell that should appear in Australia... Anyone got the source and how was this story created if true at all???

I also made the same question in the test thread and nobody answer.
And the strange thing is that i had a quick look on Leos blog and there he says that Merc should be ahead in Australia.Farrari should be quite close but the Mercs are still ahead.

[NenoX]

The ferrari SF16-H with this extra 2 tailpipes sounds very fine!

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Tu3MvfBRpiQ

Think they said that this rule will be 10% more loud ... part of the increase in noise improves performance in some other aspect? It makes it faster or powerful?

Article 5.8.2 of the 2016 FIA Technical Regulations

Engine exhaust systems must have only a single turbine tailpipe exit and either one or two wastegate tailpipe exits which must all be rearward facing and through which all exhaust gases must pass.
I think they said that this rule will be 10% more loud ...

The PU sounds mighty fine! A whole lot deeper in tone too

[ramesh]

AUTOSPORT Analysis on pre season testing

We dissect Formula 1's pre-season testing data
As F1 teams return to their bases to assess what they have learned from two weeks of testing in Barcelona, BEN ANDERSON analyses the pace of the cars and the race simulations of Mercedes and Ferrari

By Ben Anderson
Grand Prix editor


Ferrari, Mercedes

They say it's 'only testing', that you cannot read too much into what is going on and that no one really knows where they are relative to everyone else in Formula 1. 'We won't know until we get to Saturday afternoon in Melbourne', they cry.

They are right, but nobody wants to wait that long. The modern world is impatient and thirsty for information. We want to know now!

Formula 1 has spent eight of the past 12 days pounding around Barcelona's Catalunya Circuit, and although it was 'only testing' we can start to build a picture of where the various teams stand as they prepare to head to Australia.

It is not clear, and by no means definitive. Much more learning, understanding, work and development will be done before the cars next turn wheels again in Albert Park on March 18. But some interesting nuggets of information can be gleaned.

The two basic measures are naturally pace and reliability. Ideally, you want to prove (at least to yourself) that you have both these fundamental bases covered before you board the plane to Australia.
Hamilton admitted he thought Mercedes' mileage plan for the tests was 'crazy'
Hamilton admitted he thought Mercedes' mileage plan for the tests was 'crazy' © LAT

On the reliability score, Mercedes undoubtedly leads the way yet again. Last pre-season, the champion team completed 1340 laps across 12 days of testing. This year Mercedes resolved to do the same amount of work in four fewer days. The fact the W07 did 1294 laps in two weeks suggests the team got frighteningly close to achieving its target.

Lewis Hamilton and Nico Rosberg had to split driving duties for each of the final six days to cope with that punishing schedule, and new parts had to be fitted for the final day of running simply because the sheer volume of track time had worn some out to the extent they started to show drop-offs in downforce levels on Mercedes' data!

Watching the Mercedes juggernaut in action is a mighty sight, both in terms of operational skill and on track. The fact it was throwing new developments at the W07 during the first test, while others were still trying to make sure their new machines weren't falling apart at the seams, is a testament to the strength of Mercedes' development teams and the accuracy of its dynos.

This level of predictive testing seems beyond Ferrari right now, though it surely realises the need to invest heavily in the sort of infrastructure Ross Brawn made a priority before he left Mercedes at the end of 2013. When Mercedes chiefs talk of living through the Brawn legacy, this must be a big part of what they mean.

TOTAL LAPS COMPLETED ACROSS 2016 PRE-SEASON

1. Mercedes 1294
2. Toro Rosso 1049
3. Williams 856
4. Ferrari 854
5. Red Bull 817
6. Force India 779
7. Renault 776
8. McLaren 710
9. Manor 484
10. Haas 474
11. Sauber* 406
*Only ran its 2016 car for four days

The lap count also looks good for Toro Rosso, which faced a race against time to get its Ferrari-engined STR11 ready in time for the start of testing. McLaren-Honda was much improved, almost doubling its total from that disastrous 2015 pre-season.

But the harsh realities of F1 hit home at Haas, which struggled badly with engine and brake-by-wire problems in week two, after a solid debut at the first test. There were niggling reliability problems for Ferrari too, but it improved markedly over the final two days of running - logging more than 130 laps each day and completing full race distances with Kimi Raikkonen and Sebastian Vettel.

Taking a furtive glance at the headline times, things look good for Ferrari in terms of pure pace. It topped the table on five of the eight days of testing held.

RANKING BASED ON OUTRIGHT TIMES

1. Ferrari (Raikkonen) 1m22.765s (ultra-soft)
2. Mercedes (Rosberg) 1m23.022s (soft)
3. Force India (Hulkenberg) 1m23.110s (super-soft)
4. Toro Rosso (Sainz) 1m23.134s (ultra-soft)
5. Williams (Massa) 1m23.190s (soft)
6. Renault (Magnussen) 1m23.933s (super-soft)
7. Red Bull (Kvyat) 1m24.293s (ultra-soft)
8. McLaren (Button) 1m24.714s (ultra-soft)
9. Sauber (Nasr) 1m24.760s (soft)
10. Manor (Wehrlein) 1m24.913s (ultra-soft)
11. Haas (Grosjean) 1m25.255s (soft)

Obviously the tyres constitute a massive variable in this equation. All of Pirelli's five dry compounds were available, but the medium and hard are traditionally used at May's Spanish GP here.

Pirelli says the hard compound does not work so well in winter testing, because the conditions are much colder, which is probably why most running is done on the soft and medium rubber.

As for the quickest tyres, they are not designed for this circuit, which perhaps explains why there is so much variation in terms of laptime gain from one to the other, and why this is not consistent even between drivers of the same car.
Kvyat set Red Bull's best time, but it was only 0.2s up on Ricciardo despite being two steps softer
Red Bull is still limited by the Renault engine, badged a TAG-Heuer in the RB12 © LAT

Daniil Kvyat unsurprisingly managed Red Bull's fastest lap of the pre-season on the ultra-soft tyre during the first week, but team-mate Daniel Ricciardo was only two tenths slower on the soft tyre on the final day of testing.

When Pirelli estimates a theoretical 0.5-0.6s gap from soft to super-soft, then another 0.6-0.7s from super-soft to ultra-soft, the difference between these two drivers in the same car simply doesn't add up.

Of course there will be discrepancies between conditions and fuel loads on different days, but much else is rendered irrelevant if the tyres are not working correctly. Mercedes didn't bother to use either of the softest two compounds during pre-season, even though the ultra-soft is brand new for this year, which tells you something about the suitability of that rubber for this track in winter.

We don't have absolutely reliable data for the pace of each car on the soft and medium tyres, but we can build a rough picture from the laptimes we were able to spot throughout our spell in Spain.

RANKING ON SOFT TYRES

1. Ferrari (Raikkonen) 1m23.0s
2. Mercedes (Rosberg) 1m23.0s
3. Williams (Massa) 1m23.2s
4. Toro Rosso (Sainz) 1m23.9s
5. Force India (Hulkenberg) 1m24.2s
6. Red Bull (Ricciardo) 1m24.4s
7. Sauber (Nasr) 1m24.7s
8. McLaren (Alonso) 1m24.7s
9. Renault (Magnussen) 1m24.9s
10. Haas (Grosjean) 1m25.2s
11. Manor (Wehrlein) 1m27.0s

The soft-tyre times are probably a more accurate barometer of where each car stands on pure pace right now, and in any case it's only fair to judge them against the championship's benchmark.

Here we see that Ferrari and Mercedes are neck-and-neck with Raikkonen and Rosberg doing almost the same laptime two days apart, both set during what we presume to be qualifying simulations in the morning.

Williams will be massively encouraged by the time Felipe Massa set on the Thursday of the second test, which puts the FW38 within striking distance of the top two and well clear of the chasing pack. The rest of the order tallies with trackside observations, which place Toro Rosso's 2015 Ferrari-engined car as likely best of the rest, but not too far clear of Force India and Red Bull, which is clearly still lacking performance from its TAG-Heuer-badged Renault engine.

There is a significant gap to the works Renault team, which has struggled with a few reliability issues throughout pre-season and hasn't reached the same level of chassis and engine integration as the customer squad. The RS16 also clearly lacks downforce compared to the RB12.

Sauber looks in slightly better shape than both Renault and McLaren right now, which is perhaps surprising given Sauber's new C35 did not appear until the second test. The drivers were confident it would be a decent step forward over last year's effort, though, and so it appears to be.
McLaren and Honda are clearly well ahead of this time last year, but still adrift of the front runners
McLaren-Honda is clearly well ahead of its 2015 position, but still down the order © LAT

McLaren has endured another difficult start. Honda has undoubtedly found more power and improved the Energy Recovery Systems, but it seems this has only raised the alliance to somewhere approaching Renault levels of performance.

On top of this, McLaren has struggled to get the MP4-31 chassis working properly during the final part of testing, which the team says is the result of some 2016 aerodynamic parts not being ready in time.

The full 2016 aero package is expected for Melbourne, where McLaren will hope to cure the chronic oversteer that plagued its car over the final three days of the second test. The new parts introduced on Wednesday did not work properly in isolation, which explains why McLaren actually got slower as the test progressed.

Haas has paid the price of limited mileage during the second test, but with a bit more refinement the car is basically fast enough to cling on to the Sauber, Renault, McLaren group, while the Manor-Mercedes - though eminently respectable - is cut adrift slightly when you discount 'glory' runs on the softest rubber.

PURE PACE RANKING ON MEDIUM TYRES

1. Mercedes (Rosberg) 1m24.1s (Thursday)
2. Ferrari (Vettel) 1m24.6s (Thursday)
3. Williams (Massa) 1m24.8s (Thursday)
4. Toro Rosso (Verstappen) 1m24.9s (Thursday)
5. Force India (Hulkenberg) 1m25.2s (Thursday)
6. Red Bull (Ricciardo) 1m25.2s (Wednesday)
7. Renault (Magnussen) 1m25.8s (Wednesday)
8. Haas (Gutierrez) 1m26.6s (Tuesday)
9. Sauber (Ericsson) 1m26.8s (Friday)
10. McLaren (Button) 1m26.8s (Wednesday)
11. Manor (Wehrlein) 1m28.4s (Wednesday)

The fastest medium-tyre times, usually set during the mornings, suggest Mercedes has a significant advantage over the rest, with Ferrari only fractionally ahead of Williams, and Toro Rosso not far behind.

But the basic order is fairly similar to the soft tyre ranking, except for Renault and Haas being a little more relatively competitive. But F1 is not only about pure pace of course, and fortunately Mercedes and Ferrari provided us with race simulations during the afternoons of this week's final test. Hamilton and Rosberg went first, on Tuesday and Wednesday, before Ferrari (having overcome those earlier reliability gremlins) went for it with Raikkonen on Thursday and Vettel on Friday.

They all did a very short stint on softs to begin with, which is discounted on account of being too small to be meaningful.

Mercedes then did three full stints (to complete a race distance) on mediums. Ferrari split strategies, with Raikkonen completing the final stint of his race simulation on hards, Vettel on mediums.

First stint race sim

AVERAGE LAPTIMES (11 laps)

1. Raikkonen 1m29.464s
2. Hamilton 1m29.618s
3. Vettel 1m30.082s
4. Rosberg 1m30.091s
5. Ricciardo 1m30.290s

Both Rosberg's and Vettel's opening stints were quite inconsistent and messy, perhaps because conditions were at their worst on Wednesday and Friday afternoons. Hamilton and Raikkonen were much more competitive and consistent.

Ricciardo's stint is not directly comparable, but the Australian completed his own race run on Wednesday afternoon, which featured a long stint on medium tyres, so that has been used to give a reference to the rest of the pack.

Second stint testing

AVERAGE LAPTIMES (12 laps)

1. Vettel 1m28.800s
2. Hamilton 1m28.858s
3. Raikkonen 1m28.917s
4. Rosberg 1m29.075s

The second stint was much closer, with Vettel fractionally faster than Hamilton overall and Raikkonen not too far behind. Rosberg was closer overall but still quite inconsistent.

Final stint analysis

AVERAGE LAPTIMES (12 laps)

1. Hamilton 1m27.383s
2. Rosberg 1m28.150s
3. Vettel 1m28.217s

This is where the news is bad for Ferrari fans. Hamilton's final stint on the mediums was absolutely stunning - significantly quicker than anything Ferrari and even his own Mercedes team-mate could manage.

One would expect Rosberg to tidy up his act when it comes to the real thing, because the gap to Hamilton should not be well over 0.7s. Raikkonen's last stint is discounted, on account of him running the harder tyre. But Massa's Williams also did a long run on the hard rubber on Thursday afternoon, which makes for an interesting comparison.

Williams Ferrari

Massa was fractionally faster on average than Raikkonen over a 14-lap run on the hard tyre, to the tune of about 0.03 seconds. This, combined with Massa's eye-catching soft tyre effort over a single lap, is probably why Williams feels confident of challenging Ferrari.

What we don't know is the absolute fuel loads of each car, or the exact engine modes they were running, but it still looks pretty close between Mercedes, Ferrari and Williams, depending on how much they have all left on the table.

[PURE PASSION]

AUTOSPORT Analysis on pre season testing

We dissect Formula 1's pre-season testing data
As F1 teams return to their bases to assess what they have learned from two weeks of testing in Barcelona, BEN ANDERSON analyses the pace of the cars and the race simulations of Mercedes and Ferrari

By Ben Anderson
Grand Prix editor


Ferrari, Mercedes

They say it's 'only testing', that you cannot read too much into what is going on and that no one really knows where they are relative to everyone else in Formula 1. 'We won't know until we get to Saturday afternoon in Melbourne', they cry.

They are right, but nobody wants to wait that long. The modern world is impatient and thirsty for information. We want to know now!

Formula 1 has spent eight of the past 12 days pounding around Barcelona's Catalunya Circuit, and although it was 'only testing' we can start to build a picture of where the various teams stand as they prepare to head to Australia.

It is not clear, and by no means definitive. Much more learning, understanding, work and development will be done before the cars next turn wheels again in Albert Park on March 18. But some interesting nuggets of information can be gleaned.

The two basic measures are naturally pace and reliability. Ideally, you want to prove (at least to yourself) that you have both these fundamental bases covered before you board the plane to Australia.
Hamilton admitted he thought Mercedes' mileage plan for the tests was 'crazy'
Hamilton admitted he thought Mercedes' mileage plan for the tests was 'crazy' © LAT

On the reliability score, Mercedes undoubtedly leads the way yet again. Last pre-season, the champion team completed 1340 laps across 12 days of testing. This year Mercedes resolved to do the same amount of work in four fewer days. The fact the W07 did 1294 laps in two weeks suggests the team got frighteningly close to achieving its target.

Lewis Hamilton and Nico Rosberg had to split driving duties for each of the final six days to cope with that punishing schedule, and new parts had to be fitted for the final day of running simply because the sheer volume of track time had worn some out to the extent they started to show drop-offs in downforce levels on Mercedes' data!

Watching the Mercedes juggernaut in action is a mighty sight, both in terms of operational skill and on track. The fact it was throwing new developments at the W07 during the first test, while others were still trying to make sure their new machines weren't falling apart at the seams, is a testament to the strength of Mercedes' development teams and the accuracy of its dynos.

This level of predictive testing seems beyond Ferrari right now, though it surely realises the need to invest heavily in the sort of infrastructure Ross Brawn made a priority before he left Mercedes at the end of 2013. When Mercedes chiefs talk of living through the Brawn legacy, this must be a big part of what they mean.

TOTAL LAPS COMPLETED ACROSS 2016 PRE-SEASON

1. Mercedes 1294
2. Toro Rosso 1049
3. Williams 856
4. Ferrari 854
5. Red Bull 817
6. Force India 779
7. Renault 776
8. McLaren 710
9. Manor 484
10. Haas 474
11. Sauber* 406
*Only ran its 2016 car for four days

The lap count also looks good for Toro Rosso, which faced a race against time to get its Ferrari-engined STR11 ready in time for the start of testing. McLaren-Honda was much improved, almost doubling its total from that disastrous 2015 pre-season.

But the harsh realities of F1 hit home at Haas, which struggled badly with engine and brake-by-wire problems in week two, after a solid debut at the first test. There were niggling reliability problems for Ferrari too, but it improved markedly over the final two days of running - logging more than 130 laps each day and completing full race distances with Kimi Raikkonen and Sebastian Vettel.

Taking a furtive glance at the headline times, things look good for Ferrari in terms of pure pace. It topped the table on five of the eight days of testing held.

RANKING BASED ON OUTRIGHT TIMES

1. Ferrari (Raikkonen) 1m22.765s (ultra-soft)
2. Mercedes (Rosberg) 1m23.022s (soft)
3. Force India (Hulkenberg) 1m23.110s (super-soft)
4. Toro Rosso (Sainz) 1m23.134s (ultra-soft)
5. Williams (Massa) 1m23.190s (soft)
6. Renault (Magnussen) 1m23.933s (super-soft)
7. Red Bull (Kvyat) 1m24.293s (ultra-soft)
8. McLaren (Button) 1m24.714s (ultra-soft)
9. Sauber (Nasr) 1m24.760s (soft)
10. Manor (Wehrlein) 1m24.913s (ultra-soft)
11. Haas (Grosjean) 1m25.255s (soft)

Obviously the tyres constitute a massive variable in this equation. All of Pirelli's five dry compounds were available, but the medium and hard are traditionally used at May's Spanish GP here.

Pirelli says the hard compound does not work so well in winter testing, because the conditions are much colder, which is probably why most running is done on the soft and medium rubber.

As for the quickest tyres, they are not designed for this circuit, which perhaps explains why there is so much variation in terms of laptime gain from one to the other, and why this is not consistent even between drivers of the same car.
Kvyat set Red Bull's best time, but it was only 0.2s up on Ricciardo despite being two steps softer
Red Bull is still limited by the Renault engine, badged a TAG-Heuer in the RB12 © LAT

Daniil Kvyat unsurprisingly managed Red Bull's fastest lap of the pre-season on the ultra-soft tyre during the first week, but team-mate Daniel Ricciardo was only two tenths slower on the soft tyre on the final day of testing.

When Pirelli estimates a theoretical 0.5-0.6s gap from soft to super-soft, then another 0.6-0.7s from super-soft to ultra-soft, the difference between these two drivers in the same car simply doesn't add up.

Of course there will be discrepancies between conditions and fuel loads on different days, but much else is rendered irrelevant if the tyres are not working correctly. Mercedes didn't bother to use either of the softest two compounds during pre-season, even though the ultra-soft is brand new for this year, which tells you something about the suitability of that rubber for this track in winter.

We don't have absolutely reliable data for the pace of each car on the soft and medium tyres, but we can build a rough picture from the laptimes we were able to spot throughout our spell in Spain.

RANKING ON SOFT TYRES

1. Ferrari (Raikkonen) 1m23.0s
2. Mercedes (Rosberg) 1m23.0s
3. Williams (Massa) 1m23.2s
4. Toro Rosso (Sainz) 1m23.9s
5. Force India (Hulkenberg) 1m24.2s
6. Red Bull (Ricciardo) 1m24.4s
7. Sauber (Nasr) 1m24.7s
8. McLaren (Alonso) 1m24.7s
9. Renault (Magnussen) 1m24.9s
10. Haas (Grosjean) 1m25.2s
11. Manor (Wehrlein) 1m27.0s

The soft-tyre times are probably a more accurate barometer of where each car stands on pure pace right now, and in any case it's only fair to judge them against the championship's benchmark.

Here we see that Ferrari and Mercedes are neck-and-neck with Raikkonen and Rosberg doing almost the same laptime two days apart, both set during what we presume to be qualifying simulations in the morning.

Williams will be massively encouraged by the time Felipe Massa set on the Thursday of the second test, which puts the FW38 within striking distance of the top two and well clear of the chasing pack. The rest of the order tallies with trackside observations, which place Toro Rosso's 2015 Ferrari-engined car as likely best of the rest, but not too far clear of Force India and Red Bull, which is clearly still lacking performance from its TAG-Heuer-badged Renault engine.

There is a significant gap to the works Renault team, which has struggled with a few reliability issues throughout pre-season and hasn't reached the same level of chassis and engine integration as the customer squad. The RS16 also clearly lacks downforce compared to the RB12.

Sauber looks in slightly better shape than both Renault and McLaren right now, which is perhaps surprising given Sauber's new C35 did not appear until the second test. The drivers were confident it would be a decent step forward over last year's effort, though, and so it appears to be.
McLaren and Honda are clearly well ahead of this time last year, but still adrift of the front runners
McLaren-Honda is clearly well ahead of its 2015 position, but still down the order © LAT

McLaren has endured another difficult start. Honda has undoubtedly found more power and improved the Energy Recovery Systems, but it seems this has only raised the alliance to somewhere approaching Renault levels of performance.

On top of this, McLaren has struggled to get the MP4-31 chassis working properly during the final part of testing, which the team says is the result of some 2016 aerodynamic parts not being ready in time.

The full 2016 aero package is expected for Melbourne, where McLaren will hope to cure the chronic oversteer that plagued its car over the final three days of the second test. The new parts introduced on Wednesday did not work properly in isolation, which explains why McLaren actually got slower as the test progressed.

Haas has paid the price of limited mileage during the second test, but with a bit more refinement the car is basically fast enough to cling on to the Sauber, Renault, McLaren group, while the Manor-Mercedes - though eminently respectable - is cut adrift slightly when you discount 'glory' runs on the softest rubber.

PURE PACE RANKING ON MEDIUM TYRES

1. Mercedes (Rosberg) 1m24.1s (Thursday)
2. Ferrari (Vettel) 1m24.6s (Thursday)
3. Williams (Massa) 1m24.8s (Thursday)
4. Toro Rosso (Verstappen) 1m24.9s (Thursday)
5. Force India (Hulkenberg) 1m25.2s (Thursday)
6. Red Bull (Ricciardo) 1m25.2s (Wednesday)
7. Renault (Magnussen) 1m25.8s (Wednesday)
8. Haas (Gutierrez) 1m26.6s (Tuesday)
9. Sauber (Ericsson) 1m26.8s (Friday)
10. McLaren (Button) 1m26.8s (Wednesday)
11. Manor (Wehrlein) 1m28.4s (Wednesday)

The fastest medium-tyre times, usually set during the mornings, suggest Mercedes has a significant advantage over the rest, with Ferrari only fractionally ahead of Williams, and Toro Rosso not far behind.

But the basic order is fairly similar to the soft tyre ranking, except for Renault and Haas being a little more relatively competitive. But F1 is not only about pure pace of course, and fortunately Mercedes and Ferrari provided us with race simulations during the afternoons of this week's final test. Hamilton and Rosberg went first, on Tuesday and Wednesday, before Ferrari (having overcome those earlier reliability gremlins) went for it with Raikkonen on Thursday and Vettel on Friday.

They all did a very short stint on softs to begin with, which is discounted on account of being too small to be meaningful.

Mercedes then did three full stints (to complete a race distance) on mediums. Ferrari split strategies, with Raikkonen completing the final stint of his race simulation on hards, Vettel on mediums.

First stint race sim

AVERAGE LAPTIMES (11 laps)

1. Raikkonen 1m29.464s
2. Hamilton 1m29.618s
3. Vettel 1m30.082s
4. Rosberg 1m30.091s
5. Ricciardo 1m30.290s

Both Rosberg's and Vettel's opening stints were quite inconsistent and messy, perhaps because conditions were at their worst on Wednesday and Friday afternoons. Hamilton and Raikkonen were much more competitive and consistent.

Ricciardo's stint is not directly comparable, but the Australian completed his own race run on Wednesday afternoon, which featured a long stint on medium tyres, so that has been used to give a reference to the rest of the pack.

Second stint testing

AVERAGE LAPTIMES (12 laps)

1. Vettel 1m28.800s
2. Hamilton 1m28.858s
3. Raikkonen 1m28.917s
4. Rosberg 1m29.075s

The second stint was much closer, with Vettel fractionally faster than Hamilton overall and Raikkonen not too far behind. Rosberg was closer overall but still quite inconsistent.

Final stint analysis

AVERAGE LAPTIMES (12 laps)

1. Hamilton 1m27.383s
2. Rosberg 1m28.150s
3. Vettel 1m28.217s

This is where the news is bad for Ferrari fans. Hamilton's final stint on the mediums was absolutely stunning - significantly quicker than anything Ferrari and even his own Mercedes team-mate could manage.

One would expect Rosberg to tidy up his act when it comes to the real thing, because the gap to Hamilton should not be well over 0.7s. Raikkonen's last stint is discounted, on account of him running the harder tyre. But Massa's Williams also did a long run on the hard rubber on Thursday afternoon, which makes for an interesting comparison.

Williams Ferrari

Massa was fractionally faster on average than Raikkonen over a 14-lap run on the hard tyre, to the tune of about 0.03 seconds. This, combined with Massa's eye-catching soft tyre effort over a single lap, is probably why Williams feels confident of challenging Ferrari.

What we don't know is the absolute fuel loads of each car, or the exact engine modes they were running, but it still looks pretty close between Mercedes, Ferrari and Williams, depending on how much they have all left on the table.

So again he made a conclusion over 1 single stint.On the others where Ferrari was slightly faster then Mercs,he find excuses and because Ham had a very good last stint he persume that they are faster.He see that Ros last stint is as bad as Vet and he simply says that he will tidy up his act when it comes to the real thing while Vets and Kimis is just that they are slow!!!!!!!
I dont know what will happen when the actual races start,but i get furstrated when i see a patern:Is Merc in front->They are the fastest,the true champions etc , is Ferrari in front -> its not the real deal -something must have happened- Merc are hiding etc.I'm full of this sh....!!!!If this is the case and Mercs are trully the unbelievable dominate force in F1 in and out of the track then why are we bother deal with this farce!!
Because the way i see it, this has nothing to do with what we have seeing till now in F1.Mclarens domination late 80s early 90s,Ferrari domination early 00s and RBRs in 2010-13 was some else.Then every year there was the anticippation that another team could beat them and they where actuall fights for wins and the championships.
Now its like they are all politics.Merc MUST win by all means!!
Anyway i truly truly hope that this is not the case and its just that they made better job in the start of these new regulations,and the other team have a real chance to reach and beat them.

[ramesh]

Yes Thats true