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On the back of his first pole position last weekend, Mercedes driver Valtteri Bottas topped the second day of in-season testing at Sakhir. The Finn ejoyed a trouble-free day and completed a massive 143 laps.
He was on slick tires and thus far from obliging with the regs at the time, but yeah, outright record is outright record, no matter the circumstances. Though teams could in that case also just remove fuel flow limits for a few laps and go ballistic.Gerhardsa wrote:Yeah, fastest in testing 2008 was 1.18.3 by Massa, so the unofficial quickest for this layout is still a bit awaybonjon1979 wrote:That's the lap record gone. Well, actually, it's faster than the 2010 pole, I think massa did a quicker time at one point in testing. Interestingly, I don't think ferrari are out of touch with that time. They're only 1,8 away on the mediums so you'd have to think they'd get down there on the SS. I feel that Merc are still out in front but that Ferrari aren't too far off it.
Felipe Massa was fastest on the first day, using slick tyres to set a 1’18.339, which proved to be the quickest time of the session. The following day he was quickest of those on grooved tyres, setting a 1’20.283.
distractionSevach wrote:I have to say i'm surprised by what Mercedes is doing, last year they never touched the SS(don't even mention the ultra), barely any short runs, a whole lot of mediums... and were still pretty much on pace.
Why the change?
Brand new tyres compounds, they've got to try and understand the whole range. Also, the weight distribution etc. everything has changed this year where as in 2016 they were dealing with more known quantities.Sevach wrote:I have to say i'm surprised by what Mercedes is doing, last year they never touched the SS(don't even mention the ultra), barely any short runs, a whole lot of mediums... and were still pretty much on pace.
Why the change?
I was thinking the same thing.Sevach wrote:I have to say i'm surprised by what Mercedes is doing, last year they never touched the SS(don't even mention the ultra), barely any short runs, a whole lot of mediums... and were still pretty much on pace.
Why the change?
There'll be a lot of setup for tyre life by then, given the wider rubber will be a little harder to manage geo-wise. And a lot more rubber down.bonjon1979 wrote:I don't think that's going to happen. It looks like the softest two compounds aren't quite lasting a lap around Barcelona which is a very high deg track.PhillipM wrote:To be honest I'd be surprised if someone doesn't break into the 17's.
They are not fooling anyone. Everyone knows they will be hard to beat.marvin78 wrote:That's wat Mercedes does since 2014: try to fool everyone. It's boring by the way.
There is some relief in Renault because they have even posted a photo to celebrate it.Anthropolyte wrote:Palmer up to third in the Renault! I know times don't matter at this point, but it inspires confidence that they may have sorted their engine issues.
If I can recall things correctly, the harder the compound was, the bigger the difference to the chasing pack and the softer the compound was, the closer the chasing pack became to Mercedes. On UltraSoft, the difference between Merc Pole and the chasing pack was almost negligible. As they based their car more on Mediums, probably that was the outcome. For majority of the season, it was the Soft rubber that was used. So, this time, they are basing their car on Softs and it's probably a good idea to have a reference towards SS and US as all their make is becoming different. That's my two cents.Sevach wrote:I have to say i'm surprised by what Mercedes is doing, last year they never touched the SS(don't even mention the ultra), barely any short runs, a whole lot of mediums... and were still pretty much on pace.
Why the change?
Merc had problem with extracting the maximum of the reds and the purples, but as we have seen those tires are not usable in Barcelona. I am not sure how much usable information Merc can gather.Sevach wrote:I have to say i'm surprised by what Mercedes is doing, last year they never touched the SS(don't even mention the ultra), barely any short runs, a whole lot of mediums... and were still pretty much on pace.
Why the change?
I also believe that with the tyres predicted to last much longer, it's better to always use the softest tyre opposed to a tyre which balance off peak performance with durability.GPR-A wrote:If I can recall things correctly, the harder the compound was, the bigger the difference to the chasing pack and the softer the compound was, the closer the chasing pack became to Mercedes. On UltraSoft, the difference between Merc Pole and the chasing pack was almost negligible. As they based their car more on Mediums, probably that was the outcome. For majority of the season, it was the Soft rubber that was used. So, this time, they are basing their car on Softs and it's probably a good idea to have a reference towards SS and US as all their make is becoming different. That's my two cents.Sevach wrote:I have to say i'm surprised by what Mercedes is doing, last year they never touched the SS(don't even mention the ultra), barely any short runs, a whole lot of mediums... and were still pretty much on pace.
Why the change?
As you say it. It's boring, that they try to fool everyone ("Ferrari is hard to beat"... etc. from 2016) and that it is so obvious.Gerhardsa wrote:So what if its boring. Its testing, not qualifying or race day!marvin78 wrote:That's wat Mercedes does since 2014: try to fool everyone. It's boring by the way.