Testing Times

[Chrill]

OK, four (three) days of testing completed. We have learned some things:

Mercedes are capable of producing rather fast laps rather quickly on harder tyre compounds. Their car looks easy to drive, which it never quite did in 2017. They labelled the old car a diva, this one seems not to be that. 2018 car definitely better than 2017.

Ferrari looks OK too, but not as good as Mercedes. Nothing has changed.

Red Bull having some issues but are fast when running. Seems to keep their P3.

Behind them, Renault and McLaren seem to perhaps stand out from "the crowd" as it were.

Toro Rosso is right in there with the apparently very reliable Honda engine. Toro Rosso completed more laps than any other team during these first days of testings. No hickups whatsoever.

Haas, Sauber, Force India, and Williams all appear rather anonymous so far.

Judging from these few days of limited pre-season running in near-freezing conditions:
1. Mercedes
2. Ferrari
3. Red Bull
4. Renault
5. McLaren
6. Toro Rosso
7. Force India
8. Williams
9. Haas
10. Sauber

[Penfold]

Keep it all crossed for four days of fair weather running next week.  I'm betting on Red Bull being right with Ferrari this year and maybe even troubling Merc at certain tracks.  I think the only changes I'd make to your rankings is to swap round Renault & McLaren, and also Toro Rosso with Force India.  But who the hell knows at this stage.

[Chrill]

Well, it's all very close in the midfield. Whatever car the teams ran this week will differ from next week, and that car will differ from Melbourne. Which will differ to what is run in Europe. And so on. I believe we may see all teams scoring points this year, not only because of pure luck but from actual performance. On certain tracks, I believe any team can breach the top 10 in a normal race.

[Chrill]

YAY MORE TESTING. Mercedes and Ferrari are currently lapping on softs. Bottas' best is 1m20.596s, Vettel is very close with a 1m20.653s. Next guy in line? Gasly. On a 1m20.973s. Oh how I'd love for the Honda to be a great engine this year.

From Bottas to Ericsson (P8) there's a 2 second gap but Ericsson was on the medium compound tyre when everyone in front of him used softs.

Stoffel Vandoorne's McLaren broke down. Again. Perhaps Honda never was the problem, McLaren was?

[Chrill]

Right now, all teams are covered by just 1.6 seconds. Vettel has done a 1m20.396s on mediums, Stoffel Vandoorne a 1m21.946s on super softs. I'm looking forward to a decent midfield battle this year then.

[Chrill]

That's fun.

[Penfold]

Right now, all teams are covered by just 1.6 seconds. Vettel has done a 1m20.396s on mediums, Stoffel Vandoorne a 1m21.946s on super softs. I'm looking forward to a decent midfield battle this year then.

... and a cracking one at the front, me hopes.  Desperate Dan & Mad Max in the mix, that's what we need.

[Chrill]

McLaren broke down again today. Poor guys.

[Penfold]

Some ?2* clip last week, battery fault yesterday... any idea what failed today?

*a two Pound clip.

[Matt]

Whatever it was, Boullier can assure you that it wasn't McLaren's fault.

[Penfold]

It was an oil leak.  Perhaps Petrobras is to blame?

[Chrill]

That Sauber lap time though. I'm relieved. Sure it's on ultra soft but so are the cars in front of him. Compare it to Perez on that same compound. So one lap pace looks to be getting better. Remains to be seen how long runs are, which is the important part.

Not to mention that Ferrari lap time. Absurd.

EDIT: Or that Haas lap time on supers? Huh.

[Chrill]

Code Select Expand

No. Driver Team Best lap time Diff. Laps Tyres
1 Sebastian Vettel Ferrari 1m17.182s - 188 Hyper softs
2 Kevin Magnussen Haas/Ferrari 1m18.360s 1.178s 153 Super Softs
3 Pierre Gasly Toro Rosso/Honda 1m18.363s 1.181s 169 Hyper softs
4 Nico Hulkenberg Renault 1m18.675s 1.493s 79 Hyper softs
5 Carlos Sainz Renault 1m18.725s 1.543s 69 Hyper softs
6 Stoffel Vandoorne McLaren/Renault 1m18.855s 1.673s 151 Hyper softs
7 Marcus Ericsson Sauber/Ferrari 1m19.244s 2.062s 148 Hyper softs
8 Lewis Hamilton Mercedes 1m19.296s 2.114s 84 Mediums
9 Valtteri Bottas Mercedes 1m19.532s 2.350s 97 Mediums
10 Robert Kubica Williams/Mercedes 1m19.629s 2.447s 73 Super Softs
11 Sergio Perez Force India/Mercedes 1m19.634s 2.452s 159 Hyper softs
12 Max Verstappen Red Bull/Renault 1m19.842s 2.660s 187 Soft
13 Lance Stroll Williams/Mercedes 1m20.262s 3.080s 67 Ultra softs


Right, let's sum this up now then.

1) Ferrari. Wow that's a lap time. One second faster than Ricciardo yesterday. What Ricciardo did yesterday was the fastest lap ever of this circuit. Vettel removed a full second.
2) Haas. With a lot of teams trying hypers for quali style runs, Haas edged ahead of all their midfield rivals. Mercedes and Red Bull never went for it, but he kept McLaren and Renault behind him. Well done.
3) Toro Rosso. Still super impressive, that Honda engine seems realiable and fast. And the Toro Rosso package looks strong.

How would I currently rank teams based on 7/8 days of testing?

1. Mercedes
2. Ferrari
3. Red Bull
4. Haas
5. Toro Rosso
6. Renault
7. McLaren
8. Williams
9. Force India
10. Sauber

Very different to last week, and skewed by today of course, but really 4-10 is very close. Even comparing Haas to Sauber, there's only a 0.9 second gap between them. That's 7 teams within less than a second.

Mercedes showed on soft and medium tyres that they are definitely as good as Ferrari, perhaps even better. They haven't even bothered to run the ultra soft tyre, no push laps like the ones Vettel put in today. Red Bull also didn't bother today, but went real fast yesterday.

Also, Stroll appears weaker than Kubica. Who woulda guessed it? I saw a video of Kubica. He walks with a limp and his right arm is severely immobile. How he can drive an F1 car, let alone do so faster than three other guys today, simply staggers me.

[Penfold]

You've got to expect team performance to be mainly an evolution of where we were at end of 2017, but hopefully with the odd surprise thrown in to keep us on our toes.

My current thinking:

1. Ferrari
2. Mercedes
3. Red Bull
4. McLaren
5. Renault
6. Force India
7. Toro Rosso
8. Haas
9. Williams
10. Sauber

[Chrill]

Mercedes have long runs that imply they are close to a full second faster than their competitors. I think Ferrari stand little chance of keeping up this year.

Haas are reliable very fast, I doubt they are as far down as 8th. Their car looks very Ferrari this year, which can only mean they should be fast. Force India have looked appalling so far. I definitely rate them low, with Haas and Toro Rosso the most likely to spring surprises.

The McLaren is extremely unreliable, which is a worry to them. No more blaming Honda either.