2017 F1 general testing thread

[Restomaniac]

Either Merc are sandbagging to huge levels or the have royally screwed up.

I can believe that Ferrari have caught up some but to be a while tyre delta ahead? Highly doubtful.

[GPR-A duplicate2]

Either Merc are sandbagging to huge levels or the have royally screwed up.

I can believe that Ferrari have caught up some but to be a while tyre delta ahead? Highly doubtful.

I am with you. They have royally screwed up. They are going to eat humble pie, just like last year.

[Gerhardsa]

So I see on the live timing from Autosport that 1 team already needs to make changes to their "trick" suspension.
Any idea on who that might be?
I read somewhere else that it seems Merc's suspension is deemed legal and RBR not... how actual are those claims?
do we have info on that. This will hamper testing quite a bit I imagine for the affected team(s).

[f1316]

So I see on the live timing from Autosport that 1 team already needs to make changes to their "trick" suspension.
Any idea on who that might be?
I read somewhere else that it seems Merc's suspension is deemed legal and RBR not... how actual are those claims?
do we have info on that. This will hamper testing quite a bit I imagine for the affected team(s).

The article said it's believed RB haven't been checked yet, so unlikely to be them. Maybe FI?

[GPR-A duplicate2]

What I find interesting is that - whilst teams like Ferrari seem to be catching up in terms of putting mileage on the car from the off (the shakedown probably helped - never understood why they didn't do that sooner) - Mercedes are still the only ones who start lapping right from the start of testing. Everyone else goes out for an install and then pisses about for a bit before starting work proper (I'm being flippant - I know they're not messing about).

But what's interesting is that Mercedes doesn't need that; they have what they need to start work right away and, in a world where testing is *so* restricted, making every second of the tiny window of testing you have count seems very logical.

I wonder what they do differently? How is that other cars always have to make changes after the install lap and Merc don't?

Not that I can really answer, but if I have been reading correct, it appears that, the only confirmation that Mercedes needs is if the correlation between Wind Tunnel/CFD and on Track is correct. Once that is established, they have every right to believe the work they have been doing in Wind Tunnel/CFD is enough for aero. They probably also have a system to calculate and understand, how much power output is coming in real time with various different configurations. So, it's the real time data about tires and how their suspension geometry is working with the tires, with various engine settings and with different aero setups is what becomes more important. That is why they just go around pounding laps. It is not essentially the aero correlation itself. We hardly see them bolting those sensors and going for aero understanding. They do very limited of that.

If someone has established sophisticated off track systems to understand and develop the car, it becomes convenient to design a test program and stick to it. Importantly, it speaks volumes about their production procedures and Quality Control that doesn't fail anything in testing.

[makecry]

So I see on the live timing from Autosport that 1 team already needs to make changes to their "trick" suspension.
Any idea on who that might be?
I read somewhere else that it seems Merc's suspension is deemed legal and RBR not... how actual are those claims?
do we have info on that. This will hamper testing quite a bit I imagine for the affected team(s).

The article said it's believed RB haven't been checked yet, so unlikely to be them. Maybe FI?

FI were working on it and were waiting from FIA's approval. It won't be too far fetched to think it's Force India .

[Vasconia]

I've read in a couple of places that these Pirellis are going to have a very noticeable cliff in performance. Hopefully we have a tyre that doesn't thermally degrade when pushed but will start to lose performance dramatically with wear.

This would be good, tyres that work constantly but drop clearly when their "working life" has been done.

[BosF1]

This would be good, tyres that work constantly but drop clearly when their "working life" has been done.

Didn't we have those already? Remember Kimi losing a lot of places in the last few laps of the Chinese Grand Prix some years ago due to the sudden drop in performance of his tyres. And everybody seemed to be complaining about them back then.

[FrukostScones]

So I see on the live timing from Autosport that 1 team already needs to make changes to their "trick" suspension.
Any idea on who that might be?
I read somewhere else that it seems Merc's suspension is deemed legal and RBR not... how actual are those claims?
do we have info on that. This will hamper testing quite a bit I imagine for the affected team(s).

The article said it's believed RB haven't been checked yet, so unlikely to be them. Maybe FI?

maybe McLaren

[Vasconia]

This would be good, tyres that work constantly but drop clearly when their "working life" has been done.

Didn't we have those already? Remember Kimi losing a lot of places in the last few laps of the Chinese Grand Prix some years ago due to the sudden drop in performance of his tyres. And everybody seemed to be complaining about them back then.

Indeed, but those tyres were quite sensitive and the driver could destroy them if first laps were too fast.

[Sevach]

So I see on the live timing from Autosport that 1 team already needs to make changes to their "trick" suspension.
Any idea on who that might be?
I read somewhere else that it seems Merc's suspension is deemed legal and RBR not... how actual are those claims?
do we have info on that. This will hamper testing quite a bit I imagine for the affected team(s).

Could be anyone even Ferrari and Mercedes.

[iotar__]

This would be good, tyres that work constantly but drop clearly when their "working life" has been done.

Didn't we have those already? Remember Kimi losing a lot of places in the last few laps of the Chinese Grand Prix some years ago due to the sudden drop in performance of his tyres. And everybody seemed to be complaining about them back then.

- That was Raikkonen's problem and only his (same as in India) and not everybody was complaining only those that were losing from tyres characteristics but I don't think cliff is in '17 tyres plans
- 'I read' that Pirelli wanted it to avoid boring one stoppers but whoever decides (BE, big teams) didn't care. Their solution is standing restarts, I still can't believe it

- they did lower tyre pressure with performance durability consequences.

Palmer beached the car on aero data gathering run

[f1316]

So I see on the live timing from Autosport that 1 team already needs to make changes to their "trick" suspension.
Any idea on who that might be?
I read somewhere else that it seems Merc's suspension is deemed legal and RBR not... how actual are those claims?
do we have info on that. This will hamper testing quite a bit I imagine for the affected team(s).

Could be anyone even Ferrari and Mercedes.

Would be amusing if it was Ferrari (NB: Ferrari fan - just one with a sense of irony).

[1158]

https://twitter.com/HondaRacingF1/statu ... 4685247488

[Quantum]

So I see on the live timing from Autosport that 1 team already needs to make changes to their "trick" suspension.
Any idea on who that might be?
I read somewhere else that it seems Merc's suspension is deemed legal and RBR not... how actual are those claims?
do we have info on that. This will hamper testing quite a bit I imagine for the affected team(s).

Could be anyone even Ferrari and Mercedes.

The standout problem here is how the suspension behaves on all the cars.

On the Mercedes, the suspension is softer and has a lot of lean and roll. Whereas on the Red Bull, it is thought to work by assisting the rake lower as it travels at higher speed.

One is clearly aiding aerodynamics, while the other is not.
You decide.