2018 pre-season testing thread

[WaikeCU]

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!!

Performance you can tune. Mileage range not. Mileage can only be tested by putting it on load. Say if you have a number you want to reach with one PU, then that's what teams are aiming for during this (first week) Winter testing alongside systems check and gathering data of the airflow the current car generates just to move forward through the season.

[bauc]

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.

It all started with some people blaming ALO was cutting the track to gain time & speed trap numbers like there is no one near the track or there is no cameras LOL, people cant just accept the fact that the Mclaren Honda parthership did not work. Please get back to topic!

[Manoah2u]

If anybody thinks Mclaren and Alonso after all those seasons with Honda, good or bad doesnt matter, are immediately pushing you need your facts checked.

they're operating on a programme. simulator to real life correlation testing. getting to know parts behavior and car behavior in real life, real time.same goes for the engine. new engine supplier. they'll seek out to find out if they can start 'pushing' the engine and parts and see the reactions. a wheelnut came loose, error. fixed the problem, lost some time, now let's get back on the feet and continue the programme.

the only people reading anything from the runs as if it means anything competitive-wise are fans with imagination. and media headlines.

everybody has their own programme, and they're gathering information about that.

does that include setting some times? sure it does. but that does not mean they're showing speed or what they're made of or even looking at that, at all.

hell, in the simulator they've done plenty of 'safe runs' - setting lap times that require 'putting the vehicle under stress and pressure' but not exceedingly, nor demanding superhuman driver skills. a target time - let's say the track record could be 1:20.000 but it costs a lot of effort, low fuel, etc. etc. instead, they aim not for a second on that, but a 1:23.500. they also know what tire behaves like what and decide based upon track temps, ambient temps, etc. that the ss is the best choice to match data. then they start looking what happens if they 'give it a little more', hunting for better times than 1:23.500 like 1:23.100 or even 1:23.000 - and so on.

all along, those runs may be operated 'only' to see how a halo reacts, how a wing reacts, how the engine reacts.

stop looking for sensationalism, there is nothing sensational going on except that the f1 season has just kicked off with preseason testing - which is exciting in itself.

in the end, no matter whether mclaren , toro rosso, or sauber sets insanely fast times, the end result will be the same anyway;

the fanbois for other teams will say ; mercedes and redbull and ferrari were sandbagging.
and then mclaren fans will say; mclaren was sandbagging.

and so on.

keep it cool guys.
i've already seen superhuman judgement from a 180p video making sensational claims that supposedly are better than that of the team itself.

[DFX]

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

I think that its actually understeer, as i read.

[Xero]

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

I think that its actually understeer, as i read.

Yeah, both having understeer. Mercedes are also showing moments of oversteer, which is where the confusion came from. Sounds like it's still a "diva", in the words of Toto.

[SparkyAMG]

Whilst track conditions today are nowhere near representative and will be causing all sorts of tyre warming issues, I do recall hearing similar comments about the W08 last year - particularly in comparison to the 'planted' SF70H. It'll be interesting to see how those observations develop throughout testing and whether we'll be in for a similar story this year.

[Vladimir]

Sainz enprove lap time at that cold track .
Renault have very nice start of testing.

[Morteza]

Someone posted this photo on Twitter. It is before Alonso's wheel came off. The right rear wheel seems loose

[motobaleno]

Whilst track conditions today are nowhere near representative and will be causing all sorts of tyre warming issues, I do recall hearing similar comments about the W08 last year - particularly in comparison to the 'planted' SF70H. It'll be interesting to see how those observations develop throughout testing and whether we'll be in for a similar story this year.

and actually those comments were true.
Many people go on claiming that test times and impressions do not matter but fact is that those times and impressions are regularly confirmed in the the first gps.
Another story is the development during the season that can change things completely
but last year from the very first testing day ferrari seemed best, mercedes fast but with some problem and rb fair behind and that impression was fully confirmed in the first races.
than things changed much later on in the season

[TwanV]

I think you're oversimplifying, Manoah2u. Reliable and consistent laptimes are key to testing, but if it's a good car that usually means it's fast as well. Furthermore I don't see any benefit of running supersofts if you're aiming to do a system reliability check. It could be that Mclaren are aiming to use the supersoft as their goto-tire for the rest of the year, hence are primarily looking to optimise balance for that tire however the fact that they're alone in that to me is not a good sign. I hope they prove me wrong though, we need Mclaren back.

[matt_s]

The other thing, is that using the soft tyres allows the team to run in a more comfortable window of tyre performance for a given speed. Especially when it's so cold, the team can get up to tyre temp faster to do an aero correlation run. They can also generate lateral load more easily for any data collection they want to do.

[Redragon]

just as detail, Toro rosso has runned double of laps so far than Mclaren, impressed!

[the EDGE]

I think you're oversimplifying, Manoah2u. Reliable and consistent laptimes are key to testing, but if it's a good car that usually means it's fast as well. Furthermore I don't see any benefit of running supersofts if you're aiming to do a system reliability check. It could be that Mclaren are aiming to use the supersoft as their goto-tire for the rest of the year, hence are primarily looking to optimise balance for that tire however the fact that they're alone in that to me is not a good sign. I hope they prove me wrong though, we need Mclaren back.

Their not alone, TR run SS all day too

TBH, I’m surprised more teams didn’t too, given the track temp.

Did teams have pre-order their tyres for the 4 day test? Would be interesting to see how many of each compound teams ordered

[GoranF1]

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[Big Tea]

Was that Alonso's best time ?