2017 F1 general testing thread

[SS-89]

https://www.jamesallenonf1.com/2017...a ... k-out-for/

Let's hope for a 3 way fight once we hit Melbourne!

[f1316]

Here's the James Allen analysis:

https://www.jamesallenonf1.com/2017/03/ ... k-out-for/

Interesting stuff.

How come we always get the onboard of Kimi btw? Personally I suspect that the laps on which Vettel backed off are likely to be the more impressive.

[etusch]

I think Mercedes might have a bigger lead than most people think. I think that Mercedes has a 0.4-0.6sec in the pocket compared to Ferrari. The Mercedes steering input are much more controlled, Bottas is mostly taking single jabs at the corner and the cars is less twitchy (nervous) than the Ferrari.

I don't know how someone can know rev level and fuel load from videos. I don't know how you find out 0.4- 0.6 sec in the pocket.
I don't think merc still leading. But if you calculation is true I am sure merc is behind Ferrari.
1.18.634 ferrari
1.19.310 merc.
There is more than 0.6. You can say because fuel load merc can go faster. But ferrari also can go faster. This season is the season merc beated by two team. Redbul and ferrari

You reminded me of a good friend. It has been two, painfully long years since he preempted it.

https://s10.postimg.org/zakjgwl1l/chenemoster.jpg

I will keep saying this. I will be right someday

[mika vs michael]

In the end James Allen could be right but still we don't know which teams will bring new updates in Australia and whose updates will work or not. so the pecking order may shuffle more. Actually Raikkonen missing more apexes than Bottas and understeering more than Bottas may be a sign having more fuel on board. We'll see...in 11 days time...Bring it on...

[edu2703]

This season is the season merc beated by two team. Redbul and ferrari

So far, Williams beat Red Bull is more likely to happen than Red Bull beat Mercedes.

[etusch]

This season is the season merc beated by two team. Redbul and ferrari

So far, Williams beat Red Bull is more likely to happen than Red Bull beat Mercedes.

Williams has suprising speed, but I don't think they can keep this. Of course this is my opinion and cant make any team faster or slower.

[SR71]

In the end James Allen could be right but still we don't know which teams will bring new updates in Australia and whose updates will work or not. so the pecking order may shuffle more. Actually Raikkonen missing more apexes than Bottas and understeering more than Bottas may be a sign having more fuel on board. We'll see...in 11 days time...Bring it on...

Kimi could be missing those apexes on purpose. A form of sandbagging when you're in a high power mode.

[dren]

I heard Hamilton drove blind folded during all of testing just to sand bag.

[Vasconia]

This season is the season merc beated by two team. Redbul and ferrari

So far, Williams beat Red Bull is more likely to happen than Red Bull beat Mercedes.

Williams has suprising speed, but I don't think they can keep this. Of course this is my opinion and cant make any team faster or slower.

We haven´t seen the true face of RB. New aero package wil come to Australia and if Renault can solve their PU problems it will be a competely different history.

[Mattchu]

Not sure why you think Red Bull will bring a new aero package to the first race! Maybe they will bring some updates or a few bits and pieces, they wouldn`t have gone to the trouble of testing all the parts they did with flow vis and pressure sensors if it was for nothing. Personally i don`t think much will change visually on the cars between the last day of testing and the first race....but we`ll see The engine needs more power, if that works stronger the whole package does...

[Nuvolari]

Here's the James Allen analysis:

https://www.jamesallenonf1.com/2017/03/ ... k-out-for/

Interesting stuff.

How come we always get the onboard of Kimi btw? Personally I suspect that the laps on which Vettel backed off are likely to be the more impressive.

I found this interesting:



That useless trendline...



Regardless of the different tyre strategy from Ferrari, I think that first stint gives the game away. All three cars showing enough degradation that Ferrari is unquestionably the faster car. The kind of advantage the Ferrari is showing in the 1st stint is not going to vaporise suddenly in a real race. That's a healthy lead you've built up there. Also that final stint seems to be driving to a delta but that run from laps 49-55 also reveals the kind of pace Vettel has in reserve. That's classic save your tyres and push when you need to. I reckon that Ferrari can easily match Mercedes/Red Bull on the Medium tyre in the final stint. Correcting for the different tyre deltas, I would expect Ferrari to have the fastest race sims pre-season.

The only question in my mind is whether Ferrari can keep pace with the massive in-season development this year and not be overhauled. I'm excited for this season.

[mattia.bobbo]

Looking at a comparison with last year testing.. were they sandbagging so much last year compared to the race? Best lap made during the test by Rosberg was 1.23.1 on Soft tyres, while in quali he made 1.22.2. Vettel was even quicker in testing than in the race! Near 1s difference between test and quali for mercedes.. Given the amount of refinement they made during the season, they didn't sandbag a lot last year, i would say max a couple tenths of second during test (mostly due to engine output). I don't know why everybody thinks that teams try to sandbag so much during winter testing. Nobody cares if mercedes is flying or of ferrari is, every team is doing their best to be fastest possible in australia. I really don't think raikkonen understeered on purposes on his best lap this year (he said he could go faster only because he missed some apexes), neither honda broke his car on purpose
I don't expect new aero packages in australia, teams still don't know well how their current aero performs following other cars..

[giantfan10]

these few key sentences are what i took away from jamesallenonf1's analysis:
"it’s not the headline lap time of 1m 18.634secs, set by Kimi Raikkonen on the final day, which makes F1 insiders believe that Ferrari is able to challenge for wins from the first round."
"Single lap times in qualifying simulations during testing are smoke and mirrors"
"it is the study of the long run pace of the Ferrari that provides the real insight into how strong they truly are relative to their main rivals. And that also tells us the pecking order of the field as a whole after testing."
" Mercedes could be running with the engine slightly turned down, (as could Ferrari) but even so, the numbers here say that Ferrari is ahead by 3/10ths on long run pace after the second test. So in all likelihood they are very close on pace in reality."
"We can see that Hamilton is the faster Mercedes driver, Verstappen heads his team mate at Red Bull, while Vettel had a faster race run than Raikkonen at Ferrari"
"The equivalent plot to this 12 months ago showed Mercedes clearly ahead, despite the headline lap times showing Ferrari with the fastest single lap."

there it is all spelled out in simple language.
Does this mean ferrari will win melbourne? NO, what it means to me is that we will more than likely have a real competition this year based on testing.

[etusch]

Not sure why you think Red Bull will bring a new aero package to the first race! Maybe they will bring some updates or a few bits and pieces, they wouldn`t have gone to the trouble of testing all the parts they did with flow vis and pressure sensors if it was for nothing. Personally i don`t think much will change visually on the cars between the last day of testing and the first race....but we`ll see The engine needs more power, if that works stronger the whole package does...

Everybody thinks RB is third. I also think that way but just for first races. They will bring somethings to first race but more importantly Renault planning to be more power and RB also will be more developed I believe. So when it come to europe redbul will be second fastest team behind Ferrari. This is my prediction

[giantfan10]

Not sure why you think Red Bull will bring a new aero package to the first race! Maybe they will bring some updates or a few bits and pieces, they wouldn`t have gone to the trouble of testing all the parts they did with flow vis and pressure sensors if it was for nothing. Personally i don`t think much will change visually on the cars between the last day of testing and the first race....but we`ll see The engine needs more power, if that works stronger the whole package does...

Everybody thinks RB is third. I also think that way but just for first races. They will bring somethings to first race but more importantly Renault planning to be more power and RB also will be more developed I believe. So when it come to europe redbul will be second fastest team behind Ferrari. This is my prediction

i'm not sold on the renault engine we have seen this movie before the more a team talks the less confident they are and renault is doing a whole lot of talking about how much they improved their engine with absolutely nothing to show for it on track. they have done the same talking before with disastrous results.