1st Winter Testing 27th Feb - 2nd March 2017, Barcelona

[stefa]

Hopefully run out of fuel

[mizf1]

I have a feeling this was planned, probably doing a dry run test.

If it is technical issue then it's the best time to have it in the dying minutes of the test because we don't lose much of the day fixing it.

[mizf1]

Who is this bloke pushing our car in the bright jumper.

I thought it was Gary Anderson at first

https://mobile.twitter.com/petegillF...rc=twsrc%5Etfw

[Zerocool]

22:23 Nothing too dramatic about that by the looks of things. Could be a fuel run, where teams deliberately run the cars out of fuel to help with calculations for when it's time to race.

[sxviper698]

marconni

[Grimlock]

Who is this bloke pushing our car in the bright jumper.

I thought it was Gary Anderson at first

https://mobile.twitter.com/petegillF...rc=twsrc%5Etfw

I think those are yellow overalls and thus this looks to be a marshal.

[PadGeT]

Already an Onboard footage from W08 Hamilton (Full Lap) today!

https://youtu.be/s59VEPVw7No

[Tony]

Looked like a very tidy lap, no major corrections...

[phsyklone]

Ferrari driver Sebastian Vettel says Formula 1's technical regulation overhaul has acted "like an aspirin" in improving all areas of car performance.

Formula 1 cars have been tipped to be three to five seconds per lap faster in 2017, depending on the track, as a result of overhauled aerodynamics and much wider tyres.

Vettel got his first taste of Ferrari's new SF70H during this week's opening pre-season test in Barcelona, finishing second to a Mercedes on Monday and Wednesday.

On Monday, Vettel's Medium-shod time was a tenth slower than Lewis Hamilton's effort on Softs, while on Wednesday, his lap on Softs was 0.247s down on Valtteri Bottas, who used Ultra Softs.

Asked to assess the key differences between 2016 and 2017 F1 machinery, Vettel said: "I think from a driver's point of view it's pretty much better everywhere.

"Braking is better, cornering is better, you've got much more grip, and then also in low-speed, where the downforce effect is less, you have the wider tyres, so more grip from them.

"It works pretty much like an aspirin, it fixes everything!"

Vettel says Ferrari is very much focused on itself during the pre-season, with World Champion team Mercedes using softer tyre compounds over the first three days of running.

"There's a lot of work ahead of us, the team is pushing very hard," he said.

"I think we had a quiet winter where we really tried to focus on what's important, and same here [in testing], we try to do our job – the list that we have to do is very long.

"We've had a good three days. It could have been better, but we did a decent number of laps.

"I didn't really pay much attention to what the others were doing.

"At the end of the day everybody is looking at one lap time, but it's much more important what happens throughout the day, so it's very difficult to read."

Pushed on whether he feels Ferrari has more potential in 2017, over 2016, he joked: "I don't have a crystal ball. I have two other balls, but they don't tell you much…"

Kimi Räikkönen will be back in action for Ferrari on Thursday, which has been set aside for Intermediate/Wet tyre running on an artificially watered track.

[mandzipop]

Seb's comments

http://www.planetf1.com/news/vettel-...ix-everything/

[Bonecrasher]

Would it be just great if Hammys engine just went boom now

I don't understand this mentality.

[bondilad]

Any idea why we stopped on track just before the session ended ?

[GrndLkNatv]

Ran out of fuel on purpose..

[bondilad]

Ran out of fuel on purpose..

Is that confirmed? I tried searching but nobody seems to report it.

[phsyklone]

More from Seb

Ferrari finally broke its silence on Wednesday as Sebastian Vettel spoke to the media at the end of the third day of Barcelona testing, after the Italian team had kept quiet for the first two days.

Vettel was second fastest on Wednesday, but he was only two-tenths shy of the pace setting Mercedes of Valtteri Bottas – and was using soft rather than ultra soft tires. Inevitably the German has reserved judgment on the potential of the car.

“Two days, well we’ve had three days, but I’ve had two days in the car,” he said. “I won’t get much more, another two days. But I think it’s impossible. We’re not really trying to look at other people, obviously you see the times, but we’re focusing on ourselves.



“I think by the looks of it the car is working, we don’t have any major issues, which is the most important thing. It was reliable already at Fiorano last week, when we shook the car down, but in terms of performance it’s still too early to tell. We have a lot, a lot, of work to do.”

Vettel said he’s enjoying the new rules so far.

“Faster is always better, at least for us. I think for all the drivers, if you can go faster, which we can with these regulations, it’s more fun. You have higher corner speeds, you enjoy it more. It’s more or less like it was 10 years ago.

“The cars are different, so obviously a big change, the tires are different, more consistent, but in terms of preparation you always try to do the best, that’s for me, that’s for the team, that’s for all of us, trying to be in the best shape possible. That’s still four or three and a half weeks or whatever away from now, so we’ve got a lot of work between now and Australia.”

[PadGeT]

Seb

“In terms of performance it’s impossible to tell but by the looks of it we still need to find a decent chunk, so there’s a lot of work ahead.
“We need more [downforce], we’re working very hard on that and I think we will see big improvements from everyone throughout the whole season.”

So the rumours were right. Ferrari lacks df compared to the rest of the big 3! Doesn't surprise me.

[Greig]

Seb


So the rumours were right. Ferrari lacks df compared to the rest of the big 3! Doesn't surprise me.

Not sure how you get that, everyone will be adding downforce.

[ClaudiuCojo]

Seb


So the rumours were right. Ferrari lacks df compared to the rest of the big 3! Doesn't surprise me.

What did you except him to say? We are the fastest, the championship is in the bag?
I think everything he said is very logical, specially as we don't know yet what the real pecking order really is!
You cannot really go wrong by chasing more performance right?

No one is expecting that Ferrari will leave Mercedes in the dust, but if we are in the same ball park as them, then we'll have a good starting point for the season.
The development race will be even more critical this year, new cars, new rules and a massive amount of performance still left on the table.
Only an idiot would say that the job is finished already.

[From Treviso]

I usually come out of the woodwork in preseason testing and disappear once the dust settles. Going by Ferrari's consistent testing performance and Gary Anderson's comments, I'm more hopeful that Vettel and Kimi finally have a car underneath them that they can push hard both in qualy and the races rather than just outright pace. I'd like to see them take the fight to the Mercedes Benz team because of their well deserved arrogance and to bring back some proper competition at the front end. And if we lose the WDC, then I'd be happy to see Valteri take the crown from Lewis!

Getting back to the tyre testing: I'd still think that sorting the car out with just over half a tank (around 60 to 70 litres) of fuel is the proper baseline to dial the car in, which will mean it will still be reasonable at the extreme ends of tank levels. Having said that, they will need to consider the point where they'd normally pitstop during a race, which may be just past half way at this venue. That would mean putting on new tyres on with around 55 litres of fuel (tank limit is 105 I believe). On the other hand, they would also want to simulate 2 stops and try new tyres with 70 litres of fuel and with 40 litres of fuel. The temptation of doing a tank-fume's run is great, but I would hazard that neither MBenz or Ferrari have done neither; I believe that their best times were done with around 40 litres of fuel and new tyres to simulate the last run. Going by what we know, these new tyres can be pushed quite hard, so we would see some interesting lap times when new tyres are fitted rather then seeing the drivers nursing them at the beginning of the stint.

So Valtieri may gone out with around 40 litres of fuel on the new ultrasofts, and Vettel may gone out on used set of softs on low fuel - it's all just speculation but part of the fun!

[Rob]

Seb’s first test of 2017 comes to an end

1 Mar 2017
139 laps today: “Too early to draw any conclusions”

Three days of testing so far, with Sebastian Vettel at the wheel for two of them, therefore not enough for the driver to have a clear picture of the current situation. That will only happen in Melbourne. For now, Seb can take heart from some statistics: 139 laps completed today, to be added to the 129 from Monday, giving a total distance covered of 1247.54 kilometres in the cockpit of the SF70H at the Catalan track.

“A lot, but never enough. That’s what testing is for, to give you an idea. And the idea is that these cars, as a result of the new regulations, are very different to last year, in the way they look and in the way of driving them. We are more or less at the performance levels of ten years ago, with a lot of aerodynamic downforce, but also with quite a lot more weight. They are also more physical and at the end of the day, you feel tired, but this is normal for the first outing since the winter break. The tyres are also different and they behave more consistently. We have seen more or less what we expected: the cars are quicker in the corners and slower down the straights, because of the drag. But they are also great fun to drive.”

Conclusions? “It’s too early to understand the available potential: we focused on our programme, without paying the slightest attention to what the other teams were doing. All winter we have prepared so as to get here in the best possible shape. But there are still around four weeks to go to the first race and there is much work to do, so much in our programme. The stop towards the end doesn’t bother me: we were trying something that didn’t work, that’s all.”

Tomorrow, Thursday, it will once again be Kimi Raikkonen’s turn. The track will be watered so that the drivers can try the wet weather tyres.

[DIEK]

https://www.hasstrollcrashedyet.com/

https://www.hasstrollcrashedyet.com/

[SilverSpeed]

[GrndLkNatv]

Seb


So the rumours were right. Ferrari lacks df compared to the rest of the big 3! Doesn't surprise me.

“In terms of performance it’s impossible to tell but by the looks of it we still need to find a decent chunk, so there’s a lot of work ahead.
“We need more [downforce], we’re working very hard on that and I think we will see big improvements from everyone throughout the whole season.”

take [downforce] out and put in [performance]. If you look at the lap times and watch the car on the track, its obvious they are doing fine for downforce. Also, I can tell you that the mechanics love working on this car, as well the drivers love to drive it. I can say that, as I am friends with the mechanics.

[jgonzalesm6]

Hitler Reacts to the McLaren-Honda Testing Debrief

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JZWzWp5yPkk

[Nick Singer]

Hitler Reacts to the McLaren-Honda Testing Debrief

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JZWzWp5yPkk

Ausgezeichnet!

[JPBD]

In addition to the new rear wing - did it look to anyone else as if we introduced a decidedly more "stepped" nose during this test? It may be the angle of some pictures I've seen - but I could swear two different noses were run. I'd post pics but I'm using an iPhone and frankly I don't know how

[mizf1]

I don't understand this mentality.

Same mentality Senna/Schumacher had when they drove their rivals off the circuit or when rival football players try to get a player booked.

Winning is everything, sportsmanship can take a back seat as far as I'm concerned.

[Rishu]

Already an Onboard footage from W08 Hamilton (Full Lap) today!

[video]https://youtu.be/s59VEPVw7No[/url]

Looks like a very nice lap, this car will be fun to drive

[stefa]

Hitler Reacts to the McLaren-Honda Testing Debrief

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JZWzWp5yPkk

This is the old one, allreaduy been shown with some older McLaren engine. But it is good

[Super M]

So today is wet weather testing! What would one really look out for today, Would it be long stints, would it be how hard one can push these tyres, Would it be how quick they get heat into them ???.......... Any input here ?