2017 F1 general testing thread

[GPR-A duplicate2]

You failed to mention that he stated there was damage to the floor.
Hmm.

How did that happen then, he said he had no off's? Why didn't the team pick it up on their data?

I don't know I wasn't in the car or the Merc garage.

I tried calling Toto, his number is coming busy. Have left a message to call back. I am waiting.

[Sevach]

That's curious indeed, the team was trialling a new floor that borrows from last years W floor today, why did it break with no off track excursions?

Running too low? Floor needs to be reinforced?

May be some manufacturing defect? OR some aerodynamic load is slightly out of calibration?

If Lewis says, they might correct the problem for Valtteri, then may be they have a backup plan.

Bottas seems to be running the old floor.

[Big Mangalhit]

Just to get an idea what times we might see. Hamilton did a 1:20.4 at the beginning of a 16 lap stint. Do we have any idea as to how much the fuel affect is this year? if its 0.1 per lap then you can take 1.5 seconds off that time to give an idea of the minimum time it could potentially do.

Let's look at last year's race situation and let's exclude the Mercs from the equation as they did not do a single lap in race. We had Ricciardo's Red bull had the best qualitying time of 1m22.860s. In the race, the first stint was all around 1m30.xxx. The last stint was in 1m28.xxx. As he was stuck behind Vettel, let's assume it could have been 1m26.xxx. That is a roughly, 4 to 5 seconds difference between the quali time and the last stint times.

If we take that and apply, assuming Hamilton is doing a third stint, Hamilton's time of 1m20.xxx makes the pole look around 1m16.xxx OR 1m15.xxx. This is winter testing and times are going to be faster. The race day could be a second slower on all accounts, so pole can be predicted as 1m16.xxx OR 1m17.xxx.

Agreed on all terms except that because the cars are so heavily reliant on aero and there was a major change there is still a lot of time to be gained in the course of the searing. so maybe the temperature penalty will be made up with the better understanding and natural evolution of the aero. At least I keep my fingers crossed for that 1m16.xxx pole. Let's see

[Restomaniac]

How did that happen then, he said he had no off's? Why didn't the team pick it up on their data?

I don't know I wasn't in the car or the Merc garage.

I tried calling Toto, his number is coming busy. Have left a message to call back. I am waiting.

That's Austrians for you.

[Vasconia]

Ferrari is impressive: 1:19,9xx with soft tyres.

+106 laps so far with 0 problems if I am not wrong.

[domh245]

Massa has done a 1:19.726 already this session, 0.021 seconds off Bottas' best from last week.

[AnthonyG]

Any info on stint times of Massa?

[danielk]

We have to remember that the Barcelona track is quite a bit faster during the winter testing months than what it will be come race day. Last year Kimi was fastest time in Testing a 1:22:7 In Quali he managed the fastest Ferrari time of 1:23:1 this after 4 months of development.

I do however expect them to at least match the times they do now in Quali due to the much more extreme development curve i expect they will have this year due to the new rules.

It is better that we compare this years testing times with last years testing when looking at how much cars have improved as the track conditions are so much different later in the year. right now the times are bang on 3 seconds faster than last years Testing times. I expect that before the end of day 4 someone will pull a 1:18:5 out of the bag a glory run on ultrasofts (if they can last a lap)

With ham doing a 1:20.4 and then doing 15 more laps after this I do think that fitted with SS and a close to empty tank of fuel and that engine in Quali mode he could if Merc allowed him break in to the 1:17s. But thats not mercs way.

I as a Hamilton fan was concerned at the beginning of testing that Merc were easily going to run away with things again. But Hamiltons comments today about Deg and lack of grip give me some hope that Mercedes are not as superior as i first thought and others may be allot closer to them than i expected and we might, just might get some racing this year at the front of the pack. But then again a 1:20.4 on soft tyres with a minimum of 16 laps of fuel on board maybe gives some idea of what his and Mercedes expectations are, when he is unhappy with that time and this was done whilst he had no grip

[tomazy]

Any info on stint times of Massa?

According to AMUS, Massa was doing low 1:26 at the begining and then got in to 1:27 at the end of the first stint in the afternoon. The stint was 20+ laps, probably simulating the first stint of the race. And again AMUS, he did 8 laps in the 1:26 this stint.

http://ticker.auto-motor-und-sport.de/

[ripper]

On Italian Motorsport live they wrote that Vettel did 1:19,906 with soft by pushing in the middle sector and going slower in first and third sector, so I expect much more from those cars.

[Goran2812]

I'm at turn one. Ferrari looks mighty in the corners. And has distinct sound on braking and downshifts. Renault sounds even more extreme on braking. Like thunder dropping down.

[tomazy]

Massas first stint on softs :

outlap- 1:25.4 - 1:25.4 - 1:25.3 - 1:25.6 - 1:25.6 - 1:25.6 - 1:25.7 - 1:25.9 - 1:26.0 - 1:25.9 - 1:26.3 - 1:26.2 - 1:26.3 - 1:26.4 - 1:26.3 - 1:26.2 - 1:26.6 - 1:26.4 - 1:26.5 - 1:26.8 - inlap

[Goran2812]

McHonda soundy really dirty on applying throtle...

[Wass85]

So is that between 0.2 and 0.4 or more?

[BosF1]

56 laps and counting for McLaren. Might be a reasonable day after all, milage-wise.