2018 pre-season testing thread

[Morteza]

Confirmred driver line-ups for the tests

[BosF1]

Why would Force India give 2 out of 4 testdays to reservedrivers? It's not like they need the money desperately.

[BosF1]

As for the weather: monday and tuesday will probably be dry. Wednesday has the highest chance of rain, while thursday also might see some rain showers but the chances are a bit slimmer.
https://www.bbc.com/weather/3128760

[Juzh]

Either way, it's gonna be very cold conditions.

[adrianjordan]

The Beast from The East!!

[Big Tea]

When you consider it, there is all that advertising air time going wasted. The cars would (I assume?) have full livery, and even advertising hording in the pit lane area and on the graphics must amount to a fair sum of people time.

[Mansell89]

Open question to the forum:

What do you all tend to look for in testing in terms of understanding relative performance of cars/teams?

As I’ve openly said many times I’m more just a fan of the sport itself as opposed to the science and technicalities behind it, so my knowledge is poor.

I tend not to take times at face value and instead like to watch the video footage of the cars heading through the long flat out right handed (usually where the Sky F1 highlights report from- turn 3 perhaps) for traction and general grip a car seems to have. I always remember seeing Red Bull around 2012 testing and thinking they looked pretty tidy to say the least, without lighting up the time sheets.

Anyway, would be great to hear your views and the little nuances to keep an eye on over the 8 days of testing.

Thanks all.

[Sieper]

Combination, indeed how steady the whole cars moves in and out of braking and through corners, direction changes. That is the most important thing you can see for yourself.

The fastest times overall, they do seem to indicate at least something. The amount of laps covered on schedule.

What the drivers say about their cars and what their whole body language conveys when doing so.

For the rest I trust in Voodoo dolls, magic bullets and the might of the imagination and hope.

[adrianjordan]

Is all the testing being done at Barcelona this year, or are they heading to the Middle East for a test?

Just wondering whether the cold weather could create a false sense of security with regards to cooling etc.

[GhostF1]

Open question to the forum:

What do you all tend to look for in testing in terms of understanding relative performance of cars/teams?

As I’ve openly said many times I’m more just a fan of the sport itself as opposed to the science and technicalities behind it, so my knowledge is poor.

I tend not to take times at face value and instead like to watch the video footage of the cars heading through the long flat out right handed (usually where the Sky F1 highlights report from- turn 3 perhaps) for traction and general grip a car seems to have. I always remember seeing Red Bull around 2012 testing and thinking they looked pretty tidy to say the least, without lighting up the time sheets.

Anyway, would be great to hear your views and the little nuances to keep an eye on over the 8 days of testing.

Thanks all.

The most obvious indication of a team having a good test, is a lot of running. Lots and lots of uninterrupted running. Listening to the interviews each day of each team, they tend to say whether or not they completed their programs. That's the most obvious sign. Hard to see a lot of telling details from the rudimentary footage that is only really from spectators uploading to youtube. For me, I like to listen to the engine notes. Honda and Renault this year especially. I like listening for any audible changes from the previous PU's.

[ollandos]

link with live data

https://www.f1today.net/en/live/f1/2363 ... st-in-2018

[bauc]

And we are underway, good luck to all in 2018, lets have a blast of a season!

[ackzsel]

And we are underway, good luck to all in 2018, lets have a blast of a season!

Actually, we are delayed until 9:10. Very close, still!

[f1316]

Open question to the forum:

What do you all tend to look for in testing in terms of understanding relative performance of cars/teams?

As I’ve openly said many times I’m more just a fan of the sport itself as opposed to the science and technicalities behind it, so my knowledge is poor.

I tend not to take times at face value and instead like to watch the video footage of the cars heading through the long flat out right handed (usually where the Sky F1 highlights report from- turn 3 perhaps) for traction and general grip a car seems to have. I always remember seeing Red Bull around 2012 testing and thinking they looked pretty tidy to say the least, without lighting up the time sheets.

Anyway, would be great to hear your views and the little nuances to keep an eye on over the 8 days of testing.

Thanks all.

It's a good question because I, for one, do think you get a reasonable sense of where people stand from testing - although not always easy to put your finger on why you've come to that conclusion. I always think back to the 2011 season where Ferrari seemed strong in testing from all the headline times - and the buzz was that it was close between they and Red Bull - but you just sensed Red Bull had an edge; every time they went out they just seemed to be able to do a competitive time with relative 'ease', and so it proved when the season started and they had a 1 sec advantage on Ferrari.

In these first few days, lots of running is certainly important; I do also think you notice when a time pops up that looks 'easy' - e.g. a car on harder tyres, on a reasonably long run, but reasonably close to others on softer tyres; I think we all saw that last year with the Ferrari in the first test and it immediately made you stand up and pay attention.

Trackside observations are also quite interesting - Gary Anderson, for all his flaws, certainly called the Ferrari as being quick during testing last year and was spot on.

[rowano]

The Toro Roso is first out on track....is this the earliest we have seen a Honda powered car out for testing?

Alonso follows shortly after...early start for McLaren too!!