2017 F1 general testing thread

[BosF1]

any pics of one of the cars running the T-wing?
would be interesting to see the spray

Without T-wing:




With T-wing:

[Jef Patat]

@Vasconia: AMuS reports an electrical Problem for Mercedes and FI is still waiting for new Parts re their Exhaust burning the Crash structure.

I am 100% sure Lewis has played some trick to escape wet testing today.

yeah for sure he played some trick by burning his car because he's the only driver. I heard that Valtteri will run on a electric bike.

Ever heard of the concep 'homor'?

[bjpower]

nice one BosF1,
I don't think the mist will help us maybe if there is a shot on the straight we might see something

[clipsy1H]

I am 100% sure Lewis has played some trick to escape wet testing today.

yeah for sure he played some trick by burning his car because he's the only driver. I heard that Valtteri will run on a electric bike.

Ever heard of the concep 'homor'?

No ! but the electric bike for Bottas on he end of the message have nothing to do with humor nvm...


Now what i think is important but i don't think we gonna get it today or in next tests until a proper wet race. On a dry it's pretty clear that is between Ferrari and Mercedes with Red Bull far away and maybe Renault in position to close he gap. But we have no idea in wet, and if in the past everything becomes almost equal we don't know with 2017 reg where we are in wet. So for me i think it will be very interesting to see times of all teams doing the best (not just cruising around) maybe this year we can have a top car on dry but a very weak in wet, or maybe the gap between top and weak car will be the same no matter if it's dry or wet.

[PhillipM]

It's not massively clear but this one is a good one for the T-wings too - it's impressive how far it lofts the spray for a wing 50mm wide!



Image from autosport.com

[Anthropolyte]

I'm assuming everyone's already seen this, but McLaren have confirmed that a solution has been found for the oil tank problems they had in early testing. Encouraging news - I'm hoping that they'll consider turning the engine up to full whack later in the day and give some indication of whether they've closed the gap to the front runners.

Shame about Williams. Stroll must be feeling pretty crappy right now. Hopefully the chassis isn't a complete write off.

[max_speed]

I'm assuming everyone's already seen this, but McLaren have confirmed that a solution has been found for the oil tank problems they had in early testing. Encouraging news - I'm hoping that they'll consider turning the engine up to full whack later in the day and give some indication of whether they've closed the gap to the front runners.

Shame about Williams. Stroll must be feeling pretty crappy right now. Hopefully the chassis isn't a complete write off.

when and where they confirmed ? please paste link

[Anthropolyte]

I'm assuming everyone's already seen this, but McLaren have confirmed that a solution has been found for the oil tank problems they had in early testing. Encouraging news - I'm hoping that they'll consider turning the engine up to full whack later in the day and give some indication of whether they've closed the gap to the front runners.

Shame about Williams. Stroll must be feeling pretty crappy right now. Hopefully the chassis isn't a complete write off.

when and where they confirmed ? please paste link

http://www.mclaren.com/formula1/2017/pr ... esting2017

Yusuke Hasegawa (Honda R&D):
“We have already found a solution to the oil tank issue we had on the first day with Fernando, and we will shortly receive clarification from Honda R&D in Sakura on the root cause of the power failure experienced in Stoffel’s car yesterday. We proved certain durability in today’s session and we hope to make further advances together with McLaren tomorrow.”

[bonjon1979]

Taken from a translation by a poster on autosport; "Kinky masta". Apologies if already posted but some interesting trackside insight from Pedro de la Rosa.

Trackside with Pedro De la Rosa, translated from Spanish:http://www.elconfide...ign=BotoneraWeb

Trackside with Pedro De la Rosa: "You can see that Fernando is driving with anger"

Fernando Alonso's McLaren comes to the end of the straight. Suddenly, a massive late braking is wrapped in a big cloud of smoke. Pedro Marínez de la Rosa smiles. Later, he climbs to a zone nearby where he can control the end of the straight and turn 5, on the other side. Alonso comes back, and again enters at full tilt at the end of the straight, resulting in a tremendous snap oversteer. Box, slow lap, attacks turn one again, and he controls with nerve another snap oversteer. He repeats the process with another slide two laps later. "Fernando is driving with anger" Martínez de la Rosa explains

Another year, El Confidencial joins the spanish driver in Montmeló to collect his impressions. This time, with the additonal value to discover the handling of a new generation of single-seaters. "The McLaren is a car way more nervous that I expected" says. Looks like it's not only about the engine.

After two frustating days, the McLaren seems to be ready to do more mileage. While De la Rosa was watching the cars, Alonso was doing stints of 4 laps at most. "I've seen Fernando work more at the wheel than I'd like in a second day of testing", explains, shaping the feelings that he's got after watching the Mclaren. "It's a car that looks very unstable in tuns one and five". Locking the front wheel coming to turn 1, with this tyre smoke. And then with the rear wheel and the oversteer several times coming out of it.

"You can feel that Fernando is fighting" De la Rosa explains, maybe in part for the frustration of running too little until now. But "the car looks like doesn't handle well and he is very eager because no one on the track is attacking so much. I still haven't seen any other driver going full beans at corner entrance, which is the weakest spot, looking for the limit of the car. We have spent five minutes here and the car has been really twitchy" Coming up to the famous turn 3, Alonso also had to lift.

"He's already driving the car at its limit in the current conditions" as he has figured out, "He knows that the car will slide, but he has done it three times, and even so, he forces it, he wants the car to come to that limit. And you can feel that he's doing it before than anyone. Because if you do this at the end of the straight three times watching how twitchy it is, you must have that really under your control. Because you can do it one time.. You can do it two times... But the third time you are on the gravel. That's why, doing this several times at the end of the straight braking from over 300 km/h.. He hasn't done a lot of laps in this car and already has found the limit. It's like a jockey that wants to get the horse by the strap to tame it well".

De la Rosa points out that "the car is still in a tune-up phase. you come out of the pits and if you have to do short stints, as he is doing, and you have to generate heat quickly, maybe the tyre is not on it's optimus window. Sometimes things are more complicated than they seem", says to remember what's the current status of the MCL32. "McLaren still not has the reliability to do a proper test, they have to dor every lap without knowing if there will be a next one. Fernando is the same as ever, the McLaren is more nervous than I expected with this tyres, and the Honda engine sounds similar to the last year.

Suddently, Christian Horner appears in a bike to watch the cars and they start to chat. Later Jos Verstappen joins them, the father of the Red Bull driver. Alonso comes by: "Fernando must be angry, isn't he?" says Horner with a smile watching the spaniard. By the way, both him and Verstappen think that Red Bull and Ferrari are in a similar level, but it seems that the italian car has less fuel at the moment. Both belive that Mercedes is superior and Hamilton will beat Bottas. Horner also has positive words for Carlos Sainz.

De la Rosa comes back. "The Ferrari looks great, seems agile in the corners, even though it may run with less fuel. But I loved it, is very nimble, maybe with less kilos. Even though it works very well". Alonso goes by followed by Sainz. The McLaren stops and pulls to the side. "Look, he let him past, you noticed it, right?" says De la Rosa with a smile "You see that you have Carlos behind and say: Wait, I'll let you go by.."

The commentator for Movistar is also doing his job. “This is essential to later commentate, I am having a clearer view", explains after watching the cars for a while. And he's impressed with Mercedes. “Here in turns 1 and 2, apart from the engine noise, you can hear the tyre working, you can see that it's the only car that works the tyre more than anybody. It's true that he's running with softs, but it makes the tyre roar because he's running a big aerodynamic load, it presses the tyres more than anybody else. You don't have to be a genius to say that's the car to beat”.

Performance of the cars aside, what does De la Rosa think of this new generation os Formula One? "I love them, I like them very much, it's a step in a good direction. But I still miss the sound. Here we are talking just by the track as the cars come by and this a few years ago was not possible".

Aesthetically, " looking at them, they have taken a step forward with corner speed. What I don't understand is why they let they have the shark fin. It was banned back then because it was really ugly. The Mercedes is beautiful, and the fact that it doesn't have one (While Hamilton was at the track) makes it even more attractive. Even though he insists. “I miss the sound, the vibrations, the emotions, the roar of a V8 or even a V10".

Coming back to aesthetics, "Toro Rosso and Mercedes are the ones I like the most”. Even though, there is some critisim to the Italian car. “It's true that Carlos is doing long stints, but you can see that it's a bit unstable in the corners. It's something very subjective. The Merc, on the other hand is spectacular...”. Sebastian Vettel comes by and De la Rosa interrupts himself: "¡Buahh, look at the Ferrari...!". Who knows what will happen this year…

[FrukostScones]

Merc smug as RB today?

electrical fault surely will be sorted out JIT when the track is dry is my guess.

[Vasconia]

Merc smug as RB today?

electrical fault surely will be sorted out JIT when the track is dry is my guess.

Suspicious that just today they have such a big problem(almost 3 hours withot solving it...)

What about McLaren? is there any problem with the car?

[Anthropolyte]

Merc smug as RB today?

electrical fault surely will be sorted out JIT when the track is dry is my guess.

Suspicious that just today they have such a big problem(almost 3 hours withot solving it...)

What about McLaren? is there any problem with the car?

No problem with the car, just making tweaks before heading back on track.

[WaikeCU]

I think Merc are pretty confident they probably don't need to run a wet session right now. I mean they basically have (maybe) the best wet driver in the team at the moment. If Lewis says he doesn't need a wet session, then he will be sitting this one out. I suppose we could see Bottas running this afternoon though.

[Schuttelberg]

Superb! Thanks for sharing!

[Schuttelberg]

Fernando Alonso will never become world champion again.....i would like to go to Woking wright now and throw a bomb on MTC!!! This is how i feel.

Never, ever count champions out! You keep knocking them down, they'll just keep coming back. People are making out a little too much from the McLaren Honda situation. If you're real, it was always on the cards. Mercedes were preparing for this V6 Hybrid era five years in advance. You don't just turn up and start beating a manufacturer in 2-3 seasons. Look at Ferrari! With all that resource they still can't do it. I know it's frustrating, specially for Alonso fans, but McLaren must look to improve as the season goes on and look to get P4 emphatically this year. Next season for podiums and a few wins and an all out assault for the title in 2019.

All Alonso needs to see is prospect. If he feels he can have a car in 2019, he can easily drive another 5-6 years. The talent doesn't vanish and he's shown that he still has the reflexes and fitness for it. One thing you can't break is his resolve and that counts for a lot more than anything else.