2019 Pre-Season Testing

[Chrill]

Lots of familiar faces in the paddock today. Eric Boullier and Fernando Alonso were both spotted, as was Stoffel Vandoorne.

Marcus Ericsson (We all follow him in social media, yes?) has posted on Instagram from Sauber's HQ in Switzerland, and his personal trainer (we all follow him in social media too, yes?) flew from Denmark to Barcelona today. Maybe Sauber will see a visit from their famous Swedish superstar Marcus tomorrow or the day after! WHAT COULD BE MORE EXCITING?!

Well, one thing could be that both Mercedes and Ferrari struggled immensely today, on this day one of test two. Leclerc barely ran at all (29 laps), and Bottas only managed 7 laps all afternoon thanks to the Mercedes requiring an engine change.

Who ran the most laps, you ask? Red Bull's Gasly, the Haas of Magnussen (who struggled last week) and Russell at Williams (a team that did not exist last week). Williams even finished ahead of Renault and Mercedes today, with an almost competitive lap time of 1m19.6s. McLaren's Norris ran fastest, with a 1m17.7s. Fast.

I'm wondering if Ferrari and Mercedes simply are holding back a lot, or if perhaps the gap from the front runners to the midfield may prove to be a bit smaller this year. I am under no circumstances suggesting that McLaren and Alfa Romeo will be fighting for regular podiums (that's still just for the top 3) but perhaps they won't be lapped before the first pit stop.

[Penfold]

Eric Boullier and Fernando Alonso were both spotted, as was Stoffel Vandoorne.

Chickenpox or a fashion statement?

As for the testing....  I do share your view that the midfield appears to have trimmed its deficit to Merc/Ferrari/Red Bull.  Doubtless those three will dominate proceedings, but I'd take it as a positive for the sport if we have a few others around .5 sec/lap off the ultimate (Ferrari?) pace.

[Chrill]

Well, Ferrari hit trouble today as well. In the shape of absolutely binning the car into turn 3. Vettel is fine, the car is not. Remains to be seen how many hours of fixing up is needed, and what spare parts cannot be used. Costly.

[Penfold]

... and they don't yet know what caused it.

McLaren still setting a strong pace - I'm tempted to bump them up to fourth place in my team ranking thingy.

[Chrill]

Very strong pace from Micky Laren, but they also seem to struggle with reliability. Neither Mercedes or Ferrari have had a good start to this week of testing, perhaps they will both show up slightly less prepared than usual in Australia. Surprise podium in case one of the big ones go amiss? Here's hoping. In reality, Lewis or Sebastian will be first and the other will be second. Leclerc, Verstappen and Bottas will have to fight for P3.

[Chrill]

So far today, Leclerc has gone fourth fastest using the second hardest compound, which implies he's at least .5 seconds ahead of Hamilton. Now he's bolted on the softest of the soft and gone half a second faster than anyone, and actually just two tenths behind Hamilton's qualifying lap in 2018. Fast stuff.

Toro Rosso and McLaren look good on low fuel loads too. Hoping to see Mercedes try it out as well.

[Penfold]

These new wings were expected to cost teams 1 - 1.5 sec/lap, so to already be within a whisker of the 2018 pole is seriously impressive - though not sure how the C5 tyre used today by 'It is I' compares to the super-soft of last year.

[Chrill]

It is I's C5 is one step softer than Lewis Hamilton's tyres from that there pole lap.

[Chrill]

Prior to the final day of running, I am going to prematurely pick out another ranking. Some things will change.

1. Ferrari
2. Mercedes
3. Red Bull
4. McLaren
5. Renault
6. Alfa Romeo
7. Haas
8. Toro Rosso
9. Racing Point
10. Williams

Now, teams 4-8 seem very evenly matched and any of those may be ranked fourth in about 8-9 hours when testing is over. Racing Point is slipping a little, so is Williams, but Williams appear more competitive than I had expected them to.

Mercedes just seems to lack that final bit of stability. It seems more sluggish, it does not turn in quite as sharply as the Ferrari. Development race for 2019, where Mercedes historically have been stronger.

[Penfold]

I'd put Toro Rosso ahead of Haas right now except that their driver line-up doesn't inspire much confidence; mind you, to a far lesser extent that might be a good reason to place Renault above McLaren... and one of the Alfauber cars comfortably ahead of the other.  Should we do a top 20 'driver adjusted' ranking for all the cars?  Maybe after today's testing.

If Merc's struggles (a relative term) do persist we may have Red Bull all over them in Melbourne, or at least perhaps Max could be, I have Gasly down as a DNF brought about by over-exuberance.

It is I's C5 is one step softer than Lewis Hamilton's tyres from that there pole lap.

Cheers.  So not a bad effort for a guy who says he wasn't even pushing flat out.

[Chrill]

Well, both Bottas and Vettel pushed hard on the softest tyres today. Vettel bettered Leclerc by another 0.1 seconds, going 1m16.221s. Bottas best on the same tyres during the same timeframe was 1m16.561s. Both cars seemed to really push. Three tenths is a small gap, one Hamilton can make up by being Hamilton. Still, I find Ferrari stronger.

[Penfold]

Does all point towards it being advantage Ferrari.  At the moment.

[Chrill]

Hamilton is the Mercedes advantage. It's a tight battle as it looks, Ferrari won't run away with it.

[Penfold]

Little Jack Horner's elder brother reckons Red Bull has closed the gap on Merc & Ferrari.  Toss in the fact that the energy drink people are usually pretty handy at the old in-season development game, and we could be on for a right old ding-dong between the big three.

[Chrill]

I don't buy it. Gastappen also does not come across as equally strong to Botham or Leclettel.