Testing Times

[Penfold]

Are these pre-season times largely meaningless?  Well, maybe, but anyway let's have a gander at who managed what in the first four days of circling Barcelona: http://www.f1fanatic.co.uk/2017/03/03/2017-test-one-best-driver-times-and-tyres-used/

[Penfold]

Bottas bombing it round Barcelona to go fastest in yesterday's test: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cJnFqmRo700

[Chrill]

The times themselves without any background is useless. The fact Ferrari is regularly the fastest car on harder compounds is more relevant. If they can lap fast on softs, you bet they can lap fast on supers and ultras too.

I want to believe. I really do. But can Ferrari really deliver come Australia? I somehow doubt it. We'll have a Hamilton-Bottas-Vettel podium, unless Massa springs a surprise. The Williams car looks fairly decent too. The Red Bulls have some catching up to do.

[Penfold]

Agree that Ferrari looking very strong but can they be no. 1?  Like you I have my doubts, but perhaps these years of Merc dominance have simply pounded the 'hope' section of my F1 brain into submission.

[Chrill]

I'll just dump this collection of the fastest times per car over these two weeks:

1. Ferrari, 1:18.364
2. Mercedes, 1:19.310
3. Williams, 1:19.420
4. Red Bull, 1:19.438
5. Toro Rosso, 1:19.837
6. Renault, 1:19.885
7. Force India, 1:20.116
8. Haas, 1:20.504
9. McLaren, 1:21.348
10. Sauber, 1:21.670

Of course this doesn't tell you the full picture, but something like this is how I currently see the field. Mercedes is clearly sandbagging, they are not a full second slower than Ferrari. The question is, just how much do the Mercs have in store and just how close to their limit was that Ferrari lap? Compare it to 2016, where Ferrari also set the fastest lap in pre-season. They were .2 seconds faster than Mercedes and .3 seconds faster than third placed Force India. Red Bull's best laptime was .75 seconds slower, but remember Red Bull did enter the 2016 season slower than Ferrari.

We're now seeing a 1 second gap to Mercedes, 1.1 seconds to Red Bull. Clearly the Ferrari IS more competitive. The question is simply how competitive the Mercedes is. Long runs they look about the same, perhaps with a slight tyre usage disadvantage for Mercedes. The Ferrari appears to post fairly competitive lap times deeper into stints.

[Penfold]

Question is... will McHonda resolve their electrical issues before Melbourne?  Got to assume they will I suppose, but at the moment team seems mightily puzzled as to the exact cause of the problems.

Here's hoping Ferrari/Merc/Red Bull provide us with a great battle on the 25th & 26th, and of course all race weekends that follow.

[Chrill]

I read from Sky Sports (I believe) that the Honda engine is shaking and vibrating so badly that it literally shakes itself apart. That's what causing their reliability woes. I heard from my former boss (he knows McLaren people, the nerd) that they are in talks with Ferrari for a 2018 engine. How about that huh.

[Penfold]

A McLaren-Ferrari... that would be one to wrap my head around.  Still, no restrictions on development of power units so Honda should be able to sort itself... question is when.

[Chrill]

No restriction on development, true. But bear in mind that they can only use 4 power units over a season. The engine they use in Australia will have to do some 3-4 races at the very very least.

[Penfold]

I'm expecting them to use more than the four permitted and take any grid penalties on the chin.

[Penfold]

More woe for McHonda in Bahrain as they manage a paltry seventeen laps on day one of testing.  Handy little tool for keeping track of those Honda failures: https://hasmclarenbrokendown.com/

[Chrill]

The problem with "Has McLaren Broken Down" is that it wont change. At least Stroll or Maldonado SOMETIMES doesn't crash. McLaren always breaks down.

[Penfold]

This is sadly true, at least for the time being.  It does, however, provide a handy listing of failures thus far: https://hasmclarenbrokendown.com/breakdowns/

[Chrill]

Bumpy.

With less than an hour to go, Kubica has completed about 2 race distances in his 2017 car for Renault. He has by far completed the required number of laps for an FIA Super License. He hasn't done any quali style laps really, but he is "only" 1.5 seconds shy of Hülkenberg's laptime in Q3 this Saturday. His best is a 1m18.952s which would have put him in Q2 had he qualified with that time in Q1. In comparison, Palmer's best from Saturday was 1m18.415 in Q2 so Kubica is only half a second behind. Already. Despite not doing a proper quali run.

Renault F1 has confirmed they have ultra softs available for later today, but his best is so far done with supersofts (the tyre also used in qualifying at Hungaroring).

[Penfold]

Good showing from Kubica (surely now zero chance that he doesn't make a comeback) but I was even more impressed by Norris and his 1'17.385 - half a second quicker than Stoffel managed in qualifying.  Okay, Chuck's time set on ultra-softs... but damn impressive for a 17-year-old's first outing in an F1 car.

Also, Ghiotto completing 161 laps for Williams... that's some serious mileage.