Barcelona Testing 2018

[JPBD]

Can’t help but be a bit concerned, but I am confident times are not representative. Vettel has already been faster than he went today. Albeit our fastest lap is on softs Vs Mercedes on mediums, but if Ferrari are content going slower overall than they have on previous days, it really does demonstrate that they’re not trying for laptime.

Also, Gary Anderson said that he is surprised merc are using mediums so much as the soft tyre will appear at the most races throughout the season. So Ferrari is doing the most running on what will be the most common tyre. Very good thinking and, again, has nothing to do with wanting to look fast vs merc on mediums. Encouraging signs.

Anyone have a link to the Gary Anderson/Autosport Podcast? Finally a good amount of running to dissect! And/or teds notebook. Cheers!

[Christopher]

That's the new one? It's hideous.

Luckily there will be a pole in the way to block it.

[kraig1]

I think that Ferrari are just going through they’re tests, there is no need to show speed at this test. Next week may show something, but maybe years of leading testing has taught them something to just work on they’re program and not show much. Mercedes has done that in the past and we should have learned. Testing is to figure out your car and get it ready for the championship, not to wow our forum with great lap times.

[PURE PASSION]

Clearly we didn't go for lap times today .Not that the others did qualy runs ,but today Sed was clearly that he had a completely different programme. It's k
just to soon to run into conclusions.Maybe we are the the fastest, maybe not. And i think we will not learn it even next week,and we will have to wait for qualy in Australia.

[JPBD]

Tbh, my main concern is that we’re top of the speed trap. This generally shows that we’re using more engine power than the others, or generating less downforce. Both would be bad signs. Here’s hoping I’m wrong

[jgonzalesm6]

Toro Rosso Honda completed 324 laps during the pre-season test, the most of any team.

https://pbs.twimg.com/media/DXPB4yxW4AA2WdW.jpg

Toro Rosso racked up a modest 324 laps, more than any team in the first test, does this mean Honda has finally turned a corner with its engine?

https://www.autosport.com/f1/feature...s-f1-nightmare

[Aberracus]

Attachment 7380

Honda Toro Rosso same speed than Ferrari and Merc 330 kph that’s good news


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

[jgonzalesm6]

Honda Toro Rosso same speed than Ferrari and Merc 330 kph that’s good news


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

I know where your going with this Aberracus, but these speeds are "not" a true representation of what these engines can do during testing. They have been dialed down. Plus during the GP season, some teams have straight line speed (more than Ferrari) but can't make up for it in the corners plus aero, suspension setup, etc. etc.

I don't take straight line speed seriously during testing. MAYBE with Mercedes given their history during testing but even then, I'm just leary about it. I have to watch quali in several GP's before making a determination of where Mercedes will be for 2018.

[Aberracus]

I know where your going with this Aberracus, but these speeds are "not" a true representation of what these engines can do during testing. They have been dialed down. Plus during the GP season, some teams have straight line speed (more than Ferrari) but can't make up for it in the corners plus aero, suspension setup, etc. etc.

I don't take straight line speed seriously during testing. MAYBE with Mercedes given their history during testing but even then, I'm just leary about it. I have to watch quali in several GP's before making a determination of where Mercedes will be for 2018.

I’m with you on this one, but recent Honda powered cars where very slow on straights. Easy pass for the quickest cars. It looks like isn’t going to be a GP2 engine anymore. :)


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[mardyrt]

Can’t help but be a bit concerned, but I am confident times are not representative. Vettel has already been faster than he went today. Albeit our fastest lap is on softs Vs Mercedes on mediums, but if Ferrari are content going slower overall than they have on previous days, it really does demonstrate that they’re not trying for laptime.

Also, Gary Anderson said that he is surprised merc are using mediums so much as the soft tyre will appear at the most races throughout the season. So Ferrari is doing the most running on what will be the most common tyre. Very good thinking and, again, has nothing to do with wanting to look fast vs merc on mediums. Encouraging signs.

Anyone have a link to the Gary Anderson/Autosport Podcast? Finally a good amount of running to dissect! And/or teds notebook. Cheers!

Notebook! Development Corner, it has nothing about how the cars did today.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DtQwgik8fIk

[jgonzalesm6]

I’m with you on this one, but recent Honda powered cars where very slow on straights. Easy pass for the quickest cars. It looks like isn’t going to be a GP2 engine anymore. :)


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[mardyrt]

Tbh, my main concern is that we’re top of the speed trap. This generally shows that we’re using more engine power than the others, or generating less downforce. Both would be bad signs. Here’s hoping I’m wrong

I dont think we should be concerned. Our car has a very narrow sidepods, it reduces drag from the sidepods. Also, the start finish line kph is that it shows our car has good corner exit speeds, get up to speed faster. Top end speed is also good, we are not so far behind Mercedes in terms of laptime. Also, if you look at Vettels laps, he ran very deep into the first corner almost every lap he did, so it was not his ultimate pace, Mercedes was running the same corner, perfectly.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oywVs3xVlvE
Look around 6 hours 25 minute mark.

[FerrariF60]

I dont think we should be concerned. Our car has a very narrow sidepods, it reduces drag from the sidepods. Also, the start finish line kph is that it shows our car has good corner exit speeds, get up to speed faster. Top end speed is also good, we are not so far behind Mercedes in terms of laptime. Also, if you look at Vettels laps, he ran very deep into the first corner almost every lap he did, so it was not his ultimate pace, Mercedes was running the same corner, perfectly.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oywVs3xVlvE
Look around 6 hours 25 minute mark.

well maybe Ferrari has a problem with reattaching downforce after they close the DRS and almost every time Seb overshot the apex at turn 1....just saying....

[JPBD]

I dont think we should be concerned. Our car has a very narrow sidepods, it reduces drag from the sidepods. Also, the start finish line kph is that it shows our car has good corner exit speeds, get up to speed faster. Top end speed is also good, we are not so far behind Mercedes in terms of laptime. Also, if you look at Vettels laps, he ran very deep into the first corner almost every lap he did, so it was not his ultimate pace, Mercedes was running the same corner, perfectly.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oywVs3xVlvE
Look around 6 hours 25 minute mark.

Yeah ultimately no one knows right now except the drivers who have a feeling in the car. I’m not being a doomsayer, I’m just saying... these are the things I’ll be looking out for in next weeks test and moving forward. Hoping for the best, of course, but these are just the little tidbits I’ve identified as a total amateur.

[mwk360]

Seeing you after a long time ....

hehe it has been long, nice to see you here too bud, Its almost time again

[darkchild]

Im slightly worried as we have car with different dimensions then last year. Its not easy go lenghten the car because COG changes

[DIEK]

It's a boring morning without f1 testing...

[mardyrt]

Autosport Podcast
https://www.autosport.com/f1/news/13...become-clearer

Can anyone post the Gary Anderson's article on the car ranking?? PPPLLLLEEEAAASSSEEEE, THAN YOU!!!

[PURE PASSION]

Autosport Podcast
https://www.autosport.com/f1/news/13...become-clearer

Can anyone post the Gary Anderson's article on the car ranking?? PPPLLLLEEEAAASSSEEEE, THAN YOU!!!

Im too waiting it . Although I'll be surprised if he hasn't Merc 1st

[SilverSpeed]

So after all this time it was McMowers fault after all loool .

They didn't wanted to lsiten to honda and they didn't wanted to reshape their car to the engine so what comes around goes around cheaters!

[jgonzalesm6]

So after all this time it was McMowers fault after all loool .

They didn't wanted to lsiten to honda and they didn't wanted to reshape their car to the engine so what comes around goes around cheaters!

IMO, Mclaren and Honda share a 50/50 % of the problem...One is strict and anal retentive in the F1 culture, the other got in at the wrong time (2015-->way over its head, token system) from an engineering perspective.....bad relationship at the time. I know I'm Monday morning quarterbacking or the whole hindsight being 20/20.

excerpts from a just released article where you can read between the lines of what Toro Rosso tech. dir. knows about the Honda/Mclaren relationship. It's not ALL Mclarens fault BTW IMO.

Toro Rosso giving Honda 'freedom'

“I get the feeling that they(Honda) appreciated that because there were several things they wanted to try and we supported them in that and didn’t push them to do anything particularly difficult for the chassis.

“For next year it’s a tighter collaboration because we’re obviously starting from scratch. So with the ’19 engine and the chassis installation and all the combined systems, we’re able to discuss that very freely now and we certainly said to Honda: ‘Just let us know what you want to do and we’ll do the trade-offs and work out what the best package is’.

“Because in the end we’re trying to combine for the best package, not just the best power unit or just the best chassis. It’s got to be a combination.”

https://www.formula1.com/en/latest/h...-freedom-.html

It's good to see them making alot of progress with STR in testing.

[Silent Bob]

Autosport Podcast
https://www.autosport.com/f1/news/13...become-clearer

Can anyone post the Gary Anderson's article on the car ranking?? PPPLLLLEEEAAASSSEEEE, THAN YOU!!!

This has been the most difficult pre-season Formula 1 test to read anything into that I've ever known, mainly thanks to the usually cold, often wet and sometimes snowy conditions that have hit the resurfaced Barcelona circuit.

But you can always learn something from what happens on track, so despite those problems on top of the usual question marks over fuel loads, run plans, tyre choices and how hard drivers are pushing I've attempted to produce a car ranking that at least will give a pointer to how the season is shaping up.

We'll learn a lot more at next week's second test, so none of this can be taken as gospel. But by looking at the fastest lap times set by each team, adjusting it for what we know about fuel load based on how many laps were completed on the run that they did their fastest lap on and what the teams have tended to run with in recent years, and then putting in an adjustment factor for the tyre compound being used, you can extrapolate what time might have been possible at the start of that run with lower fuel.



We don't have clear data on the delta between the tyre compounds for here, so this is based on taking the known steps between the compounds based on the Abu Dhabi test late last year adjusted for the difference in lap time and track characteristics.

Adjust fastest lap times (normalised for soft compound tyre)
1 Red Bull 1m18.129s
2 Mercedes 1m18.383s
3 Ferrari 1m19.123s
4 Renault 1m19.373s
5 McLaren 1m19.425s
6 Haas 1m20.367s
7 Toro Rosso 1m20.418s
8 Williams 1m20.792s
9 Force India 1m21.341s
10 Sauber 1m21.771s

1 RED BULL - Fast but messy


Red Bull has had, in some ways, a bit of a torrid time in the first test. Apart from day one, which was pretty sweet and rosy with the car looking good, there were too many problems.

Since Monday, Red Bull has been digging holes for itself. It has spent a lot of time playing around with the vertical bargeboards on the front edge of the sidepods. I'm not sure if they were falling off or the team wasn't happy with them, but there's clearly something going on there.

Red Bull has been digging holes for itself. It's been very messy
Also, Max Verstappen never had a great run with fuel leaks on one day and an off on Thursday. So it's been very messy.

But I'm still hopeful that the adjusted pace reflects the fact Red Bull can latch onto the current top two, as if you look at modified lap times it's right up there with Mercedes.

As Red Bull's engine supplier Renault still looks to be a bit behind, it might not be quite enough - but the car does look very good when it's working.

2 MERCEDES - Sticking to its guns


There's no reason to believe Mercedes has lost its way or done anything other than build on its 2017 car. It's an evolution that seems to be working well.

It did have the tendency for the rear to give up when the driver pushed a little bit above the limit of the car, but that is not unusual. What is interesting is to watch the car when the tyres are still warming up as the drivers seems to have more hassle with oversteer in particular.

Looking at the attitude of the car on the straight on the run into the braking zone for Turn 1, the rear ride height is significantly lower than cars such as the Ferrari, Red Bull and McLaren. This is because Mercedes has not gone down the high-rake path, even though it has slightly increased that this year.

Based on the start of the test, you'd say Mercedes had more problems than Ferrari but by Thursday that had changed. By effectively optimising all the little bits from last year, it looks like the team is confident the avenue it has chosen still has potential.

3 FERRARI - Fading over the week


Given that the final day of the test was effectively day three, I was very surprised not to see a better Ferrari on track than we did earlier in the week. On Monday, I felt it had made up ground because the car looked very good, but it looks like the only car not to have significantly improved.

On the first day, the car looked very stable and the drivers were comfortable, but when they tried to go quicker later on the rear end was really giving up on corner entry and I'm surprise Ferrari hasn't managed to get on top of that.

Ferrari is running relatively high rake, and I'm surprised that the rear ride height is still pretty high at the end of the straight under load. For straightline speed, you want the rear as low as possible and the high-rake is there to give a strong front end for corner entry. As the rear was stepping out from time to time on corner entry, Ferrari might just have too strong a front end.

Perhaps Ferrari is focusing too much on this high-rake set-up to get the aerodynamic advantage and has forgotten about the mechanical platform, but I suppose that's what testing is all about.

Overall, the Ferrari still looks strong but not as strong as perhaps it did on day one. And the adjusted time gap to the front is maybe a concern.

4 RENAULT - Topping the midfield


I'd say that the works Renault team is just ahead of McLaren, but it's pretty close. The car looked decent on track and having finished last season with the fourth-fastest car there's nothing to suggest it has lost out from there over the winter.

It certainly looked better at the end of the test than at the start, and seemed to allow the drivers to turn in with confidence and carry speed into the corner.

Based on what we've seen so far, there's nothing to suggest Renault has leaped up to be in the area of Red Bull, but it could easily be at the front of the midfield.

5 McLAREN - Making progress


You would expect McLaren to be close to the Renault team, and visually the car did look very good on track. The only problem is that it was often running on softer tyres than the other cars, and you can't change the visual impression of the car on track to compensate for that.

Over the years, McLaren has probably had a less productive development hit rate than a team like Red Bull and we will be able to see this year what level its chassis is really at.

6 HAAS - Hiding its weaknesses?


You'd have to say that Haas appears to have done a fairly strong job, even though the car does look like one that's lacking in overall downforce because when the driver starts pushing, it moves around at the rear a lot.

The thing confusing the judgement of where Haas stands is that it was also often on softer tyre compounds, and that could be helping camouflage some weaknesses.

I don't think Haas is going to be challenging for fourth in the championship, but it at least looks to have a consistent car to build from and should be able to take chances of points finishes.

It's probably the least sophisticated car on the grid, but that's not necessarily a problem if everything works and the team can understand how to get the best out of it.

7 TORO ROSSO - Way ahead of expectations


I would like to congratulate Toro Rosso for what it has done, along with Honda. The two parties have worked really hard to be able to get the package put together, and after the headbanging Honda has had from McLaren in the past few years it must be refreshing to work with a small team willing to do stuff.

James Key is content with how the relationship is in building up and the engine has, as far as I know, run reliably. So that's very different to what we saw last year.

After the headbanging Honda has had from McLaren, it must be refreshing to work with a small team willing to do stuff
On day one, the front end was washing out very badly but it seems to have solved this. The car didn't set any stunning lap times but it is in the mix and the important thing is to have a solid package that both team and engine supplier can work from.

It's not easy to change engine suppliers with short notice, and it was probably 10 times harder for Toro Rosso to change to Honda than it was for McLaren to adapt to Renault. So this is a good starting point for the season ahead.

8 WILLIAMS - Needs more time


The car does look a little nervous on track, certainly more so than the other midfield cars. It looks very stiff and jumps around a lot whereas some other cars look more docile, when it does step out it goes quickly.

But I am very impressed with the direction Williams has taken and the step in terms of detail and sophistication, which make it a combination of Ferrari and Mercedes philosophy.

The downside is that it could take a while to understand that complexity and get the most out of the package. What is crucial is that all these parts work together properly and there's still some work to be done on that.

So in the second test, Williams needs to dot the i's and cross the t's and get things working. A lot will depend on the design team and the engineers given the inexperienced driver line-up.

9 FORCE INDIA - Too soon to judge


Force India is putting all its eggs in the basket of upgrades to be introduced in the second test and, more significantly, the season-opening Australian Grand Prix. What we saw in the first test was a release car to get all the systems working and the mechanical platform sorted. The aero package will be revised a lot, so let's see what happens next week.

The drivers seemed to have a lot of trouble getting the tyres switched on, but that could just be down to downforce levels and solved with the upgrades.

Force India is a great team but it needs to do a lot of work to develop this package and get the best out of it to have a chance of defending fourth place in the constructors' championship. The team could do a better job than last year and still slip to seventh given the competition. So I want to see more pace in the next test.

10 SAUBER - Propping the field up


Sorry to say it, but Sauber still appears to be where it was last season - at the back. The car just doesn't look like it has got the grip level when the drivers push on.

Sauber has followed the Ferrari-style concept and there's no reason with a technical relationship that Ferrari can't give it some direction here and there. Perhaps Sauber has been a bit stubborn about taking advantage of that.

The car is a lot more complex, so maybe it will take time to understand it. But right now there's no reason to put Sauber anything other than at the back.

[Bonecrasher]

Ferrari 1sec behind Redbull? I don’t believe it!

[mwk360]

damn that sucks , Mercedes and RB so much faster

[Greig]

damn that sucks , Mercedes and RB so much faster

Yeah cause Gary Anderson said so

[darkchild]

Cant wait for 2nd test. To be 1s of RBR lol?! Only Gary Anderson...

Didnt we do 20' on mediums (as Ric did)? He will come out after test 2 saying "Well Ferrari fixed what they needed to fix".

Btw there is no way RB looked as good as Merc tbh. It was messiest of the 3

[SilverSpeed]

Good baggin' sand from our boy's I'd say ^^.

[darkchild]

Good baggin' sand from our boy's I'd say ^^.

I think so as well. Far, far too quite. Although, lenghtening the car and doing something wrong in process should not be discarded.

[PURE PASSION]

Well its always not good to hear bad things. But its noy straightforward picture so i dont take for granted what he says. And for the times,this is the most "fake " information .RBR for example ,Vet did a slightly faster time then Ric 9n med,but Ric did it on a very long stint. BUT Ric did that time on tbe end of the stint so he was almost empty on fuel.

[jgonzalesm6]

damn that sucks , Mercedes and RB so much faster

It's only testing.....times and speed traps are pretty much irrevalent at this point due to engine modes, suspension setup, fuel loads, tyre strategy, etc. etc. Testing is more about laps and mileage with some aero testing....thats it.

Turrini, Gary Anderson, Ted Kravitz are all speculating. This year is completely different than the last year for one main reason: EVERYONE HAS THE SAME ENGINE, SAME MODES AND SAME SOFTWARE with tight regulation on the oil burning issue (I am speculating on this as I don't know the specifics of the process).

This is going to be the tightest racing as we have seen in awhile since the intro of this hybrid formula.

I'm more worried about Turn 1 at the start of the race at every GP than anything else!!!!!