2022 Winter Testing Part 2: Bahrain International Circuit 10-12th March

[Hoffman900]

Hamilton already making up excuses. He said Pirelli tyres are not good. They need more grip. Reality the Mercedes weakest link is fast curves. This car is ill conceived. If the FIA bans their spaceship mirrors this will set them back 2 or 3 tenths slower.

Thanks for the expert analysis.

Honestly, if the cars look like they have in testing, I think I'll be watching a lot more Indy Car this year. They aren't exciting on tv and look like they handle like dump trucks in the slow stuff (relative to how they use to, and especially compared to 15-20 years ago).

[jumpingfish]

Interesting analysis from Federico Albano









Full article here
https://www.formulapassion.it/opinioni/ ... 08332.html

[holeindalip]

Hamilton already making up excuses. He said Pirelli tyres are not good. They need more grip. Reality the Mercedes weakest link is fast curves. This car is ill conceived. If the FIA bans their spaceship mirrors this will set them back 2 or 3 tenths slower.

What’s wrong with the mirrors?

[djos]

Hamilton already making up excuses. He said Pirelli tyres are not good. They need more grip. Reality the Mercedes weakest link is fast curves. This car is ill conceived. If the FIA bans their spaceship mirrors this will set them back 2 or 3 tenths slower.

What’s wrong with the mirrors?

They are supposed to join the side of the tub, but they join to their down wash wing.

[Vanja #66]

Great comparison between Leclerc and Verstappen fastest laps.

Notable was that Verstappen lap was later so the track was more favourable, and C4 Leclerc vs C5 for Verstappen.



Hotlapmode on twitter also mentions engine modes, which seems apparent based on todays speed trap.

Whatever the pundits might want to conclude and bend the narrative towards - the fact remains the Red Bull and Mercedes are favourites. Just because Merc is sandbagging harder than before and Red Bull wasn't clearly fastest before the final day, doesn't mean the two teams aren't in the lead. For now it looks like Max will have a few races to build-up the lead ahead of Hamilton. Ferrari and McLaren are clear outsiders.

[JPBD1990]

I largely agree Vanja, but I think things like minimum apex speed, breaking and acceleration traces, etc, are harder to fake. Sure fuel load disguises that but not much else.

I’m not saying one is better than the other and that wasn’t the intention of my post. I was only sharing it as an interesting comparison.

[cliffgamerz]

After following F1 for many seasons i can clearly see that what we see in testing lap times mean nothing, but actual car telemetry and how it behaves on track is important, also until Q3 we wont know the actual order of teams where they stand, and drivers and teams downplaying is a common trend, Hamilton and Russell saying that they have to catchup rivals is just bollocks, mark my words after qualifying Hamilton will be saying that his team has done a great job to turn around and improved his car to get it on pole. Ferrari is hiding their pace too as is McLaren clearly. I Expect entire grid to be under 1.5 seconds of spread out and mid field battle will be much more intense than before and development race is huge and order will be constantly changing even at top and i don't think there will be clear leading team or back marker.

[Vanja #66]

I largely agree Vanja, but I think things like minimum apex speed, breaking and acceleration traces, etc, are harder to fake. Sure fuel load disguises that but not much else.

I’m not saying one is better than the other and that wasn’t the intention of my post. I was only sharing it as an interesting comparison.

No problem, mate, if upvotes were allowed in this sub-forum, I'd have given your post an upvote. I just wanted to point out some things which pundits are going for. They know praising Ferrari gets them more traction among fans, boosting views, reactions and monetisation. And whatever they say and no matter how wrong their prediction is in this period and later, very few people are gonna stop following them for that.

[LM10]

Great comparison between Leclerc and Verstappen fastest laps.

Notable was that Verstappen lap was later so the track was more favourable, and C4 Leclerc vs C5 for Verstappen.



Hotlapmode on twitter also mentions engine modes, which seems apparent based on todays speed trap.

Whatever the pundits might want to conclude and bend the narrative towards - the fact remains the Red Bull and Mercedes are favourites. Just because Merc is sandbagging harder than before and Red Bull wasn't clearly fastest before the final day, doesn't mean the two teams aren't in the lead. For now it looks like Max will have a few races to build-up the lead ahead of Hamilton. Ferrari and McLaren are clear outsiders.

While I genuinely think that they have some issues right now, I'm sure they'll solve them and be right there in a short amount of time.

[McL-H]

I largely agree Vanja, but I think things like minimum apex speed, breaking and acceleration traces, etc, are harder to fake. Sure fuel load disguises that but not much else.

I’m not saying one is better than the other and that wasn’t the intention of my post. I was only sharing it as an interesting comparison.

No problem, mate, if upvotes were allowed in this sub-forum, I'd have given your post an upvote. I just wanted to point out some things which pundits are going for. They know praising Ferrari gets them more traction among fans, boosting views, reactions and monetisation. And whatever they say and no matter how wrong their prediction is in this period and later, very few people are gonna stop following them for that.

What makes you praise Mercedes so much? What evidence is there that Mercedes is sandbagging? I have almost watched the last couple of days in full, and Mercedes looks just awful on track, compared to Ferrari and Red Bull. You don’t fake that.

[variante]

Whatever the pundits might want to conclude and bend the narrative towards - the fact remains the Red Bull and Mercedes are favourites. Just because Merc is sandbagging harder than before and Red Bull wasn't clearly fastest before the final day, doesn't mean the two teams aren't in the lead. For now it looks like Max will have a few races to build-up the lead ahead of Hamilton. Ferrari and McLaren are clear outsiders.

What makes you think that exactly?
I think there are good reasons to be optimistic about Ferrari, much less about Mercedes.
Aside from the already mentioned data, yesterday Haas (=last year's weakest team) hot-lapped as fast as Ferrari. Same could be said of Alfa Romeo, adjusting for the tires. So, if anyone is sandbagging, that if Ferrari. Quite hard also.

[silver]

Interesting analysis from Federico Albano

https://www.formulapassion.it/wp-conten ... LIDE_1.jpg

https://www.formulapassion.it/wp-conten ... LIDE_2.jpg



https://www.formulapassion.it/wp-conten ... efined.jpg

Full article here
https://www.formulapassion.it/opinioni/ ... 08332.html

Looking at that image it gives an impression that Mercedes car is carrying relatively more drag than other two despite having similar speeds (max/min) through corners. Ferrari is going with slightly lower power.

Anyone help understand if porpoising can have an effect on drag increasing/decreasing?

[Just_a_fan]

It looks like Hamilton will play the role of wingman to Russell this year. Hamilton is only effective if the car is 100% perfect,

Good to see the hatred coming out so soon in the new season. Bravo.

FACT :There is an age difference of 13 years between the two. Its gotta be worth at least one tenth.

And what has that got to do with what you wrote? Does his age mean he needs a perfect car or is that just you spouting invective? I think we all know the answer to that.

[Wouter]

Whatever the pundits might want to conclude and bend the narrative towards - the fact remains the Red Bull and Mercedes are favourites. Just because Merc is sandbagging harder than before and Red Bull wasn't clearly fastest before the final day, doesn't mean the two teams aren't in the lead. For now it looks like Max will have a few races to build-up the lead ahead of Hamilton. Ferrari and McLaren are clear outsiders.

.
"Ferrari and McLaren are clear outsiders."

Why do you say that? What do you base that on? Mercedes will probably have their problems solved after a few races, otherwise they can always use the Barcelona chassis again. By then they are already behind in the stand.
Ferrari immediately had a good car and especially a good PU, just look at Alfa Romeo and Haas. In addition, they have two excellent drivers.
And McLaren has a bad part that will be replaced, but the car is very good with two excellent drivers..

[lh13]

It looks like Hamilton will play the role of wingman to Russell this year. Hamilton is only effective if the car is 100% perfect,

Good to see the hatred coming out so soon in the new season. Bravo.

FACT :There is an age difference of 13 years between the two. Its gotta be worth at least one tenth.

Younger doesn't mean faster. If Russell is not as talented as Hamilton, he'll always be slower, regardless of his age. We'll see what happens. Russell can be faster than Hamilton in 2022, but at the same time, its possible that he'll not be.

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