2018 pre-season testing thread

[matt_s]

Ha. I guess that's why ALO set the fastest final sector earlier.

[TwanV]

He's out on ultra-softs now. They really want those headlines ^^

[bauc]

He's out on ultra-softs now. They really want those headlines ^^

Or simply they can warm up those tires most easily due to the cold weather

[matt_s]

He's out on ultra-softs now. They really want those headlines ^^

Maybe they're hoping the sticky tires don't fall off so easily.

[HPD]

Hahaha is fine, nothing happens, Alonso was looking for a track without traffic.
Even so, 3 laps and could not overcome the TR on the straight. In the curves Alonso was very fast

[Restomaniac]

He's out on ultra-softs now. They really want those headlines ^^

It could be that or it could be due to them having reduced running so far today and they have a program to run..............

[bauc]

Alonso did 6 lap stint, hardly pushing so no headlines hunt there

[McHonda]

McLaren can't really win during these tests in the eyes of some so there's no real point to grabbing headline times. If they look quick they're just doing glory runs and if they suck they suck. There's little difference to the amount of credit they'd get either way.

Best just to get your head down and do the programme.

[Xero]

It could be weather related. Apparently it's dropped 13 degrees celcius since the morning. Down to 7 degrees now, so warming up tyres could be an issue.

[McHonda]

Yeah I think that's what hurt the Mercedes and STR on the mediums going by GA's description.

Actually not sure what tyres STR were on now I think about it. Maybe SS.

[bauc]

I don't think we will get much more running today, weather is getting worse by the minute, and as per AccWeather there is a chance of snow tonight, with rain tomorrow during the day....

[djones]

If it was me I would have the cars running as much as possible, regardless of weather.

You might not gain anything in terms of performance information, but at least you would be testing reliability!!

[Phil]

There were discussions over the last couple of years about who was most at fault - McLaren for enforcing a design, or Honda for designing a poor engine.

McLaren is not an engine maker. They asked their new engine maker if they could do a size zero engine. The engine maker said "yes, we can make a size zero engine for you".

They couldn't. This was not Ron asking, Honda saying "No we can't don that", then Ron forcing them to do it anyways.

The blame lies on Honda.

What you just successfully described would be a customer/supplier relationship. However, McLaren Honda had a partnership. In other words, McLaren and Honda sat together and came up with ideas on what the best "package" would/should/could be. That was the whole point of it.

McLaren, responsible for the chassis and aerodynamics, naturally wants everything as tight as possible. But nothing is without compromise, so creating the best possible engine would perhaps not allow the best aero efficient car and vice-versa. So in the end, it comes down to trade-off. In the end, it just didn't work out, but as with all partnerships, you can't blame one without blaming the other. There were two equal partners involved here, not one.

[epo]

McLaren can't really win during these tests in the eyes of some so there's no real point to grabbing headline times. If they look quick they're just doing glory runs and if they suck they suck. There's little difference to the amount of credit they'd get either way.

Best just to get your head down and do the programme.

Don't really care tbh, this topic seems to be turning into a McLaren pre-season test thread, getting pretty boring.

[GoranF1]

Mclaren Redbull and Ferrari looking best trough first 3 corners on track observers say....Mercedes having some overstear problems same as TR....