godlameroso wrote: ↑09 Mar 2018, 16:53
I'm not sure the fuel load is the same, remember last year Mercedes needed less fuel to do a race distance than everyone else. Secondly, one does not need the full 105kg to do the race distance, so it's very possible that fuel levels could be obfuscating true pace. A 30kg difference in fuel is worth ~1 second of lap time. Vettel mentioned he had plenty of fuel left over after his race sim, which could easily explain the lack of pace relative to Mercedes if they only added enough to do the race sim.
I saw this post previously already, but i am not sure i agree with the conclusion. Even if the Ferrari was heavier, it may just be a consequence of Mercedes having a more fuel efficient engine which of course has a legit impact on its race pace and therefore race sim. The reports also conclude that fuel is more critical with Ferrari.
So maybe i should reword my post into not saying fuel comparable but lap comparable. If Ferrari think thes need 10kgs more fuel in total, so be it. Across the stint, we can still compare them as bith cars set out to do representative race sims. Unless you are saying that Ferrari purposely overfilled their car with too much fuel, though what would the point of that be? They’d simply be falsifying their tire wear etc.