2017 F1 general testing thread

[f1316]

It may or may not be wishful thinking but some sources on Ferrari looking strong:

Gunther Steiner

https://www.motorsport.com/f1/news/ferr ... er-878329/


And our friend Gary who I've never heard praise a Ferrari before but seems in love with this one:

"13:25 Watching this morning, the Ferrari looked planted at every corner I went to. The Mercedes when doing quick runs on new tyres also looked pretty good, but when on longer runs or on softer tyres looked a bit fidgety and was moving around a bit. The Mercedes seems to have more understeer than the Ferrari, because it seems to show more front wheel on turn in because of the extra steering lock. So it looks like Ferrari has a better front end, which bodes very well for when it runs the new tyres, because you need a good front end to get the lap time.
Gary Anderson"

[CriXus]

GA about aero rakes:

We’ve seen lots of teams running with aero rakes on the cars during this test. The airflow at the front and the back of the car has changed dramatically because of the bigger tyres and the front tyre is very important to performance. To understand the airflow, teams mount aluminium machinings on the side of the car. Some have one some have two. They have pitot tubes with a hole in the front and the side. From these you can measure the velocity of the airflow across the area of the rake. From that, you can draw out a map of what the airflow is doing in this area and that allows you to see how you could influence this airflow with the sidepods or bargeboards or other aero components.

They are looking at the airflow off the car surface. It’s a thing that CFD is very good at, that’s what has helped these cars get so sophisticated because you can look at airflow away from a surface, which you can’t do in a windtunnel. The airflow on the surfaces creates the forces but understanding the airflow away from the car allows you to manipulate that airflow better. Teams want to correlate the real world with CFD as closely as they can.

Years ago, when developing in the windtunnel we were aerodynamically blind, we were going for forces but we didn’t know where they were coming from and how to manipulate things to get more. It was down to your gut reaction. Now, you are hearing teams talk about flow structures, and it’s the flow structures that create a flow regime around the car to allow you to optimise it. The aero rakes give you that information.

[bonjon1979]

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.

I know what testing is. That really is not the point.

I think you're forgetting quite how close Ferrari were at the beginning of 2016. They were only a tenth or two off in the race. They were beaten easily in qualifying but Ferrari only chose to do one run to save tyres. Ferrari were hard to beat in the race and only a bad strategy call gifted the win to Mercedes. the end of 2016 it was a completely different story as Merc developed their way into the distance. but it was quite close at the beginning of the season.

I didn't forget that. For me it was part of the fooling.

Ha. Okay. Merc were trying to let Ferrari win the first race. Gotcha.

[TAG]

I love how everyone is saying, 'it's just testing' clinging on to dear life and hope that someone can take it to the Mercedes-Benz team. IMO, from my 23 years experience of watching the sport, I feel Mercedes has increased their advantage from previous years. What's worse for us fans is that from a good driver in the second car, we've now got a mediocre one. Unless Daimler decide to pull the plug on F1, the WCC is decided and if LH has 80% of the reliability Bottas has, the WDC is done as well.

Says more about the other teams than it does about Mercedes.

[cramr]

https://twitter.com/Circuitcat_eng/stat ... 6069679104

According to the Circuit de Catalunya
2007-2017
OFFICIAL RECORD: Raïkkönen 1:21.670 (2008)
BEST TIME QUALY: Barrichello: 1:19.954 (2009)
BEST TIME TEST: Massa 1.18.339 (2008)

[digitalrurouni]

Ferrari always looks good during testing but then falls flat on their face as the season progresses. I think they fail to get the most out of their car and their development trajectory over the course of the year is not as steep as Mercedes let alone Red Bull as was evidenced last season. I believe Mercedes is sandbagging for sure. All will be shown in qualifying at Albert Park as I am sure you all know already. It is very hard for me to believe Ferrari is in the same league as the Merc. Once the chips are down at least half a second an advantage will belong to Mercedes over Ferrari, Red Bull et al. That's my prediction.

[Restomaniac]

Are Mercedes actually taking the piss?

Running and running and running. Bolting new bits on, taking bits off, using a fin, not using a fin, doing pit stop practices, trying all the tyres, etc.

[dren]

This is still the first test without upgraded aero bits. It's a stretch to say anyone is ahead now. If Ferrari does have a good car, I still see the team crumbling under the stresses of not winning when they should. Although, I'd absolutely love to see Raikkonen win another championship.

[Afterburner]

Ferrari always looks good during testing but then falls flat on their face as the season progresses. I think they fail to get the most out of their car and their development trajectory over the course of the year is not as steep as Mercedes let alone Red Bull as was evidenced last season. I believe Mercedes is sandbagging for sure. All will be shown in qualifying at Albert Park as I am sure you all know already. It is very hard for me to believe Ferrari is in the same league as the Merc. Once the chips are down at least half a second an advantage will belong to Mercedes over Ferrari, Red Bull et al. That's my prediction.

So, should we give the championship to Mercedes and tell the teams to build new cars and try again?

[Shaddock]

Why spend money on Aero R&D, when the new PU could potentially deliver similar performance, if the same money is paid to Ferrari? It's a chicken headache situation. You pay money to buy more power and settle with compromised Aero OR compromise with power and spend on Aero R&D.

Except the 16 engine now has to last an extra race and more time on full throttle, so will they have to run it in a lower average power setting than Ferrari last year? And that's before the 17 engines move further away from them with their development.

I don't think they will save engine life by reducing power. That would be pretty stupid. They can really take a penalty here or there when well timed, especially since they will probably start from the end every race almost. better to use all the already limited juice. Plus I bet engine costs won't be very high for an extra "old" PU

I thought the cars only had so many miles in each power band on the engine to stay within safe limits. With one less engine this year, that reduces the average power across those races.

[max_speed]

any news on mclaren ? an hr gone after lunch ? where are they cut see any update related to them on autosport

[wickedz50]

Ferrari always looks good during testing but then falls flat on their face as the season progresses. I think they fail to get the most out of their car and their development trajectory over the course of the year is not as steep as Mercedes let alone Red Bull as was evidenced last season. I believe Mercedes is sandbagging for sure. All will be shown in qualifying at Albert Park as I am sure you all know already. It is very hard for me to believe Ferrari is in the same league as the Merc. Once the chips are down at least half a second an advantage will belong to Mercedes over Ferrari, Red Bull et al. That's my prediction.

So, should we give the championship to Mercedes and tell the teams to build new cars and try again?

That's the way things are my friend. I will love to see a different team winning but unfortunately it wont happen. If there is any team capable to springing a surprise it will be the RBR but they also need a powerful reliable PU from Renault.
One more thought the Merc PU may have just reached a peak where any further HP extraction will result in failure in which case we may see a different winner.

[Big Mangalhit]

...


I thought the cars only had so many miles in each power band on the engine to stay within safe limits. With one less engine this year, that reduces the average power across those races.

Even so, my point is that they can use full power and take the penalty of using a 5th engine or even a 6th in extremis. They are probably starting from last most races and probably know which races (from the ned of the calendar) are least probable to reach the 10th place to get the penalties there.

[digitalrurouni]

Ferrari always looks good during testing but then falls flat on their face as the season progresses. I think they fail to get the most out of their car and their development trajectory over the course of the year is not as steep as Mercedes let alone Red Bull as was evidenced last season. I believe Mercedes is sandbagging for sure. All will be shown in qualifying at Albert Park as I am sure you all know already. It is very hard for me to believe Ferrari is in the same league as the Merc. Once the chips are down at least half a second an advantage will belong to Mercedes over Ferrari, Red Bull et al. That's my prediction.

So, should we give the championship to Mercedes and tell the teams to build new cars and try again?

Hah! don't they do that every year anyway? All kidding aside I am a fan of whoever is being dominant. I somehow enjoy dominant performances and records being broken and how far a team/person can perform at that level. I think it's harder to do that than being the underdog and try to get to to the top. Most people get bored but I am fascinated in seeing and trying to understand how one can operate at the level for so long especially in super competitive arenas like motorsports or sports etc.

[Anthropolyte]

any news on mclaren ? an hr gone after lunch ? where are they cut see any update related to them on autosport

Alonso is still out, on softs. 1:23.326 at last count. Still running...