Juzh wrote:mwillems wrote:
Teams rarely push their cars on the first test, let alone the first day. The cars are faster onto the straights and in theory will have more horespower. There will be more drag than last year, but potentially it will be more efficient drag too. Why is it "ludicrous" to think that they might not be anywhere near top speed?
If it is "ludicrous" to think the cars are cruising, then the five seconds that we were promised (and the teams think they will deliver) seem to have vanished into thin air.
Yes, yes, yes, they don't push, as if we didn't hear that a million times by now. But they're also not coasting 50-60 kmh slower either. It's 2 extremes, none of which I'm believing at the moment. This speed trap is either bogus and can only be used to compare cars that are testing right now, or the only other possible alternative - it's at the start/finish line.
Yes it is possible. And perhaps our use of the word cruising is different. But they are still in F1 terms, significantly slower than they will be in a week or two. Also, I think that it was suggested they might be 20-30km slower than potential, having accepted that top speeds might be slower this year, not 50-60.
The tyre deg discussion is interesting too, Bottas may have been targeting specific deltas and not pushing the car as the tank empties. Personally, I think there is an awful lot more to come. If it is another 3 seconds then I will call it cruising, please accept the differences in our dictionary