Spain GP 2017 - Practice and qualifying thread

[f412]

Can't help but feel Ferrari are throwing a massive dummy to Mercedes. 2 seconds slower on the soft tires compared to the test times and slower race simulation as well. With a car that has evolved since then, we are clearly holding ours cards back at this stage of the weekend.

are u sure it was on the soft tires?? i think the 1.18 cam from ultrasofts..and 1.19 from supersofts... correct me if i am wrong

[nani_s23]

are u sure it was on the soft tires?? i think the 1.18 cam from ultrasofts..and 1.19 from supersofts... correct me if i am wrong

What you said is right. It was on US & SS

[ss-89]

are u sure it was on the soft tires?? i think the 1.18 cam from ultrasofts..and 1.19 from supersofts... correct me if i am wrong

http://www.skysports.com/f1/news/124...g-at-barcelona

Fastest lap per tyre

Driver Team Date Tyre Lap time
Kimi Raikkonen Ferrari Day Eight Ultrasofts 1:18.911
Kimi Raikkonen Ferrari Day Eight Supersofts 1:18.634
Kimi Raikkonen Ferrari Day Eight Softs 1:19.267
Sebastian Vettel Ferrari Day Three Mediums 1:21.609

[icedeepan]

are u sure it was on the soft tires?? i think the 1.18 cam from ultrasofts..and 1.19 from supersofts... correct me if i am wrong

Yes mate we did a 1.19.2 on softs!

[FerrariF60]

Yes mate we did a 1.19.2 on softs!

yeah but ONE may say that those times 1.19.2 are irrelevant as the temperatures back in Feb-Mar were a LOT lower as well as track temps compared to this weekend.

but all in all i still have FAITH in our team

[nani_s23]

Tyre pressures need to drop... else it will terrible everyone will be sliding around rear.

[icedeepan]

yeah but ONE may say that those times 1.19.2 are irrelevant as the temperatures back in Feb-Mar were a LOT lower as well as track temps compared to this weekend.

but all in all i still have FAITH in our team

Well when temps are cooler, isn't that supposed to favour the mercs? Different conditions definitely bit doesn't explain a 2 second difference, let's see tomorrow

[icedeepan]

Lewis said that the step forward from the upgrades is the same for Mercedes and Ferrari

[Rob]

“EVERYBODY STRUGGLED TODAY”

Difficult conditions in P1 and P2. “The car is quick, we just need to get it right”

Montmelò, May 12th – Gusty wind conditions and a hot tarmac surface turned the Circuit de Catalunya into a very different track from the one we had seen during winter testing. Kimi and Seb made the best of it to take third and fourth place in both sessions. Conditions will certainly evolve during the weekend and the fine-tuning of the SF70H car will proceed accordingly.

“Today the conditions seemed to be quite challenging, but we can improve,” said Seb. “I wasn’t totally happy as I think a lot was left in the track and I didn’t find it at the end. At the same time I feel the car is quick so I just need to get it right. Overall, the atmosphere is good, but obviously now I am more focused on what happened today. I think everybody struggled today. I don’t know who brought more updates but I think what really matters is who brings the best ones”.

Kimi is on the same page as his team-mate, in terms of his thoughts on the day: “It was pretty windy and slippery out there today. I think it was the same for everybody; the first day you find out how the track is and you go from there. The lap times from today’s practice don’t tell a lot , we were able to follow our programme and try different things. Compared to winter testing, it’s pretty normal to find different conditions, because temperatures are higher and the track status changes. As on any other Friday, there is some work to be done, so we’ll see what we come up with for tomorrow”.

[nani_s23]

Pirelli said it expects 2 stop strategy in race
---- AMUS F1

So on softs degradation will be high. Let's see whose tyres gonna last long they have the edge.

[Tony]

In looking at the Merc, it just looks really busy to me... there's turning vanes and columns/polls/whatever the hell you want to call them all over the place like they couldn't channel the air properly before because of, possibly, fundamental issues in aerodynamics and they tried to patch that up with all those extra bits.

Not sure they will be any better off now, the nose is interesting and extreme, but beyond that, it looks a bit reactionary as opposed to even evolutionary (let alone revolutionary).

Then again, I'm just a finance guy.... what do I know lol....

[Marino]

They have been panicking since the beginning of the session and will always do

Since the beginning of the pre-SEASON. It's annoying to the point that I avoid coming here because of if.

[vetalo]

People look at all the noise Mercedes added to their car and people think that is what makes a car great, the raw pace of a formula 1 car will always excite me. If all the gismos they added only gives .5 sec; what a waste of time and money. I prefer what Red Bull is doing always making their car go fast without all the attachment that makes Mercedes car look "Not a Car" Ferrari should avoid such pit-fall.

I wonder How Mercedes car would look at the end of the years because there would be no space again to attach any thing again

[mizf1]

Pirelli said it expects 2 stop strategy in race
---- AMUS F1

So on softs degradation will be high. Let's see whose tyres gonna last long they have the edge.

At least it would allow more variation in the strategy

[Stormy]

If all the gismos they added only gives .5 sec; what a waste of time and money.

Gaining 0.5 is not a real waste of time and money in my opinion. It's not who knows what but pretty solid nevertheless.

[fmatiasii]

Lewis Hamilton believes Ferrari and Mercedes have made near identical progress with the updates they have brought to their cars at the Spanish Grand Prix.

Mercedes took the wraps off a major update in Barcelona this weekend, with a revised nose and floor as well as new power units on both cars. In second practice the gap stood at 0.3s to Kimi Raikkonen in the fastest Ferrari, but Hamilton thinks the reality will be much closer in qualifying.

"It is definitely a step forward," Hamilton said of the upgrade. "Everyone worked very hard to bring the upgrade here, as every team did but they have done a great job to put the car package to move forward in this fight to make us stronger for this battle.

"I think we've all stepped forwards so I don't think it's really changed anything, the gap looks like it's within a tenth between us and Ferrari which is the same as last race, we've both made pretty much an identical step."


http://www.espn.co.uk/f1/story/_/id/...rcedes-ferrari

[KimiBot]

"I think we've all stepped forwards so I don't think it's really changed anything, the gap looks like it's within a tenth between us and Ferrari which is the same as last race, we've both made pretty much an identical step."


http://www.espn.co.uk/f1/story/_/id/...rcedes-ferrari

Fix it for you

Gap is 0.1 between Kimi and them and Seb is 0.2 ahead, when he get car in balance....today in FP3. Also Kimi has some fine tuning left, so gap can be bigger...

Anyways, really tight. I believe. Should be fun quali and race.

[nani_s23]

Tyre pressure will be set to lower values on Saturday &sunday. Pirelli director isola.
Drivers raised concerns over high pressures.

[Ferrarichamp]

so some teams will try a one-stopper? redbull perhaps

[nani_s23]

so some teams will try a one-stopper? redbull perhaps

On softs degradation is high it seems. So 1 stopper will be risk. Until n unless their aero is very good. Interesting note is that mediums too degrading to an extent this is really funny.

[Kristof_F40]

Interesting thing from pre-season testing was that we spend a lot of time on the mediums, optimizing them (I assume).. Now it's time to use them?

[fmatiasii]

so some teams will try a one-stopper? redbull perhaps

that would be too risky for any team including us but i guess if someone tries is then it's worth the gamble.

[mwk360]

what happened to the merc car? i missed the start

[mwk360]

one of the mercs cars had a problem, they putting the car back, almost done though

[jgonzalesm6]

one of the mercs cars had a problem, they putting the car back, almost done though

Bottas car

....An electrical issue was detected on his power unit last night, leading to the team breaking the curfew, as it carried out a fix. However, in putting the power unit back in, mechanics discovered a water leak. Bottas' first power unit has thus been put back in the car, with the second to be used as a spare/for future races

skysports

[mwk360]

Bottas car

skysports

Thanks!

[vcs316]

Mercedes has had a busy night after discovering an electrical problem on Bottas's Mercedes power unit. The curfew was broken, but Mercedes is still hard at work on his car.

[vcs316]

Raikkonen is among the drivers who have headed straight out onto track.

[vcs316]

Mercedes have clarified that although the original problem on Bottas' car was a detected electrical fault, they found a 'small water leak'.

"It's looking highly doubtful," Ted says. "I can tell you it's actually two separate problems. So there's the electrical problem that kept the team at the circuit overnight trying to fix. They put a new engine in, a new complete power unit. But then they tried that out this morning and it wasn't working, there was a problem with that power unit. They've had to change their power unit again this morning. That's why the gearbox as just gone on.

"What was looking like, as Mercedes were admitting, Valtteri Bottas wasn't going to make the start of this session, it's now doubtful he's going to get out at all."

[mwk360]

hows the temperature? did they say anything about the tyre pressure problems yet?