2017 F1 general testing thread

[turbof1]

Guys, these are new regulations. Everybody is starting from a blank sheet. What we now see are basic cars to get an understanding of them. Next week and in Melbourne the teams will introduce upgrade packages. Until then it is pointless to try to tell which car is better. The only thing we can make assumptions about at this stage, is reliability.

[drunkf1fan]

http://www.f1fanatic.co.uk/2016/05/15/2 ... test-laps/

Remove everyone but Max, Vettel and maybe Kvyat(he was fast at the end). The second half of the race all the stints started off pretty much in the 1:28's, also this was a race without Merc, who basically were a second a lap faster, even then Max and Kimi pitted early and Max wasn't anywhere near the pace he'd have been at if he pitted again or did his first stop later and Ricciardo was held up for almost the whole second half of the race.

It's extremely likely that two Merc's pushing each other hard would have been doing 1:27's with ease in the final stint. You can't just say everyone was doing 1:30's during most of the race.

Bottas is also likely, a little slow. He's used to a William's don't forget, he's got to learn how to get the most out of a car that A< doesn't rip up it's tires and B.... can corner, above your average UK speed limit. Williams trashed it's tires, had no downforce and horrible corner speed and put almost all it's effort into traction out of corners to get good straight line speed. Bottas has pretty much the biggest change in terms of car style, even if it was the 2016 Merc, he'd have to learn to drive a very different way to get the most out of it. He likely has to learn to be far more aggressive in corners, breaking and to use the tires more.

Judging again by Hamilton's stint which was mostly in the 1:22's by the sounds of it over 19 laps, and Verstappens, a middle race stint should be 1:23.5-1:24, and first stint should be 1:24-1:25's.

From Hamilton/Verstappen numbers, Bottas looks a little slow, but that is entirely understandable at this point, and I think the times are far more applicable than you think.

[drunkf1fan]

So hamilton was consistently faster than Bottas.
Bottas looked heavy and uncontrolled.
Is it possible that Mercedes run two race simulations with Ham doing two simulations of final stints and Bottas doing two simulations of early stints? That way they would throw people off?

Also: "There's a bit of chat between the Mercedes pit wall (which consists of one man updating the board) and the garage. The board has now been switched to counting up, rather than down, and tells us he is 48 laps into his run now." The board is strange which could mean the mix in stints to confuse other teams?? To much of a stretch?

AFAIK it's sounded like he's doing live pitstops, which would mean normally decreasing fuel. Hamilton's stint was just the one stint and the times suggest that it was definitely an end of race stint, though not an overly short one.

[dans79]

Is it possible that Mercedes run two race simulations with Ham doing two simulations of final stints and Bottas doing two simulations of early stints? That way they would throw people off?

Anything is possible, but more than likely it's two different set-ups!

[dren]

Bottas has been driving in reverse for his stints. That's where he has lost out the time.

It's just the 2nd day of testing...

[Just_a_fan]

21:09 Bottas’s third and final stint in his race simulation, 24 laps on the soft tyre.

2m19.722s OUT; 1m22.986s; 1m27.769s; 1m25.527s; 1m25.346s; 1m25.810s; 1m25.712s; 1m25.358s; 1m25.212s; 1m25.412s; 1m30.788 IN (no change); 1m49.142 OUT; 1m25.241s; 1m25.020s; 1m25.661s; 1m25.859s; 1m25.455s; 1m25.212s; 1m25.502s; 1m25.204s; 1m26.884s; 1m26.907s;1m26.581s; 1m27.754 IN.

21:04 I spent a lot of Bottas's race run watching from trackside, and it looked...messy. He had quite a bit of understeer early on when the car was heavy, and it was moving around on him in the corners. The contrast with watching Raikkonen in the Ferrari was huge, although of course Ferrari has been working on a different programme this afternoon. But the car was doing everything Raikkonen would want, and he can attack the apex really well.

Those times are pretty consistent and suggest either the driver was "doing a time". I'm guessing that they're trying to get a handle on the life of the tyres rather than looking for ultimate pace.

Anderson's comments about the handling are a bit of a red herring. As he says, they're doing different programmes and will have different fuel loads, tyres, maps etc. etc.

[Thunder]

Vandoorne out on the Track again.

[Shakeman]

Guys, these are new regulations. Everybody is starting from a blank sheet. What we now see are basic cars to get an understanding of them. Next week and in Melbourne the teams will introduce upgrade packages. Until then it is pointless to try to tell which car is better. The only thing we can make assumptions about at this stage, is reliability.

Quite right, people should keep in mind 2014 and just how much Merc were able to sandbag and kept their powder dry right up till quali in Melbourne.

It's also possible to get some idea of relative tyre deg but not much more.

[Vladimir]

Seems that Mercedes lost the edge this year. I think that they are in some panic about understanding new car so quickly.
This Botas " race sim" is totally useless.

[Thunder]

They did a Race Sim on Day 2 last Year too.

[Quantum]

Bottas has been driving in reverse for his stints. That's where he has lost out the time.

It's just the 2nd day of testing...

That was my thinking too, seen as his best time came at the start of his race sim.

Anyone have access to Hamilton's stint times from this morning?

[Anthropolyte]

Bottas has been driving in reverse for his stints. That's where he has lost out the time.

It's just the 2nd day of testing...

That was my thinking too, seen as his best time came at the start of his race sim.

Anyone have access to Hamilton's stint times from this morning?

Here's one from 11:12...

Lewis Hamilton’s last run. OUT; 1m21.7s; 1m28.2s; 1m23.1s; 1m23.5s; 1m23.0s; 1m26.2s; 1m23.5s; 1m23.2s; 1m24.5s; 1m24.4s; 1m24.9s; 1m24.5s; 1m24.6s; 1m24.8s; IN

[Just_a_fan]

They did a Race Sim on Day 2 last Year too.

This isn't aimed at you Thunders.

People need to remember that at this stage "race sim" doesn't mean "go as fast as you can for 70 laps". Race sims are a way of making sure that all of the bits will work for a race distance. It's a way of finding out how the tyres behave and how the car affects the tyres at a representative pace. Anyone thinking that a day 2 race sim is going to be indicative of in-season race pace needs to think again.

It's a data gathering exercise, nothing more.

Let's see what they're doing at the end of testing. Then we'll wait 'til Australia to see what they're actually capable of. Hell, it's entirely possible that RedBull will turn up in Oz and be 1s / lap quicker than anyone. Maybe Ferrari will be the fastest and Mercedes are suddenly mid field. We don't know and won't know until the first race.

[FrukostScones]

Bottas has been driving in reverse for his stints. That's where he has lost out the time.

It's just the 2nd day of testing...

yeah, that FW looked it bit too high to me too.

[Just_a_fan]

Looks like Bottas had a spin during his stint and kissed the wall.
https://twitter.com/F1/status/836609573 ... wsrc%5Etfw