F1 2019 Pre-Season Testing Thread

[FittingMechanics]

I know the Tyre Compounds are only like this for testing, But am i the only one who is totally lost as to the what the tyre mean. I know They did a chart, but they have made it far harder to understand.

I dont really fancy watching with the Tyre Charts next to the screen.

This is exactly what i was talking about was gonna happen. A name for a tyre that is an adjective is far more useful than "3 colours but hey you can check the chart to see the c-compounds!". All that happened was the complexity has increased. Having just 3 colours on race day makes no improvement because the names "soft medium hard" are no longer directly associates with the compounds, they're just relative terms now. It was easier before where the MAXIMUM "inconvenience" present was just checking which 3 of several compounds were available.

Point is that casual viewer does not know whether Hypersoft is softer than Ultrasoft, or if Supersoft is softer than Ultrasoft. Those terms are quite vague and non descriptive. Using Hard/Medium/Soft will allow casual viewer to immediately understand if the car should be faster or slower depending on which tire is going on. This probably won't work well as pundits will surely continue to use dual nomenclature, C number along with soft/medium/hard, needlessly complicating things.

Idea behind is completely sound. Testing is only problematic because they have all 5 compounts available.

[Tzk]

2018 SUPER HARD = ...
2018 HARD = 2019 C1
2018 MEDIUM = 2019 C2
2018 SOFT = 2019 C3
2018 SUPERSOFT = ...
2018 ULTRASOFT = 2019 C4
2018 HYPERSOFT = 2019 C5

Yep. But i'd expect the C4 compound to be somewhat inbetween the 2018 supersoft and ultrasoft. Pirelli was talking about the softer '18 compounds having too little performance difference.

[F1T]

Leclerc fastest for Ferrari at midday

The second day of testing at Circuit de Catalunya got off to a slow start as most teams teams were hestitant to do a lot of mileage early on in the day due to slippery conditions.

[NathanOlder]

No, they (Karun, Crofty and the female reporter I don't know the name of) just sat around in the paddock and talked about the first day.

If she was the tall, bubbly lady, then it was Rosanna Tennant

Was most likely Rachael Brookes of SkyF1

[bosyber]

No, it's Rosanna Tennant

[Sierra117]

I know the Tyre Compounds are only like this for testing, But am i the only one who is totally lost as to the what the tyre mean. I know They did a chart, but they have made it far harder to understand.

I dont really fancy watching with the Tyre Charts next to the screen.

This is exactly what i was talking about was gonna happen. A name for a tyre that is an adjective is far more useful than "3 colours but hey you can check the chart to see the c-compounds!". All that happened was the complexity has increased. Having just 3 colours on race day makes no improvement because the names "soft medium hard" are no longer directly associates with the compounds, they're just relative terms now. It was easier before where the MAXIMUM "inconvenience" present was just checking which 3 of several compounds were available.

Point is that casual viewer does not know whether Hypersoft is softer than Ultrasoft, or if Supersoft is softer than Ultrasoft. Those terms are quite vague and non descriptive. Using Hard/Medium/Soft will allow casual viewer to immediately understand if the car should be faster or slower depending on which tire is going on. This probably won't work well as pundits will surely continue to use dual nomenclature, C number along with soft/medium/hard, needlessly complicating things.

Idea behind is completely sound. Testing is only problematic because they have all 5 compounts available.

Don't think I can agree with that; while I can understand SOME ambiguity, "super", "ultra" and "hyper" are still very clearly more than descriptive enough to show a logical and linear increase in superlative progression. When I got back to watching F1 in the hybrid era, I had no clue what they were on about with the tyres but the naming made complete sense immediately. The issue I was having was actually about the rules - how many tyres one could use and when.

As you mentioned yourself, pundits et al. will continue using the dual nomenclature, which is why sound reasoning must be put against real-world simulation and this was, from the beginning, argued how it won't hold up well and get more confusing. Anyway, it's OT and it's more or less a done deal until perhaps next season, so oh well.

[Morteza]

[NathanOlder]

No, it's Rosanna Tennant

Rachael Brookes is definitely in Barcelona with SkyF1 though and considering it was Crofty, Chandhok (both SkyF1 presenters) You'd expect the 3rd to be SkyF1 as well as it was a show for SkySportsF1

[GPR-A]

No, it's Rosanna Tennant

Oh yeah, that's Rosanna.

[Schuttelberg]

The Ferrari last year was very lazy out of slow speed corners and the Mercedes seemed to revel in those situations. Compared to 17, the Ferrari was better in the high speed sections in 18 but I am not so sure it was a match to the Mercedes.

If Ferrari can get better traction and be a natural in the high speed stuff, the Merc might be a thing of the past.

[GPR-A]

No, it's Rosanna Tennant

Rachael Brookes is definitely in Barcelona with SkyF1 though and considering it was Crofty, Chandhok (both SkyF1 presenters) You'd expect the 3rd to be SkyF1 as well as it was a show for SkySportsF1

That post testing show was just junk. I was hoping there would be some work on lap times, some kind of sky pad to highlight the car parts and something they have spotted that is interesting. But that turned out to be a dud. I am not sure why Crofty and other non-technical folks are there. This is testing and people would be watching Sky to look for interesting things about cars and the testing programs and the insights. This is not racing where you need over the top and eccentric commentary to create artificial curiosity.

[Mach]

2018 SUPER HARD = ...
2018 HARD = 2019 C1
2018 MEDIUM = 2019 C2
2018 SOFT = 2019 C3
2018 SUPERSOFT = ...
2018 ULTRASOFT = 2019 C4
2018 HYPERSOFT = 2019 C5

Yep. But i'd expect the C4 compound to be somewhat inbetween the 2018 supersoft and ultrasoft. Pirelli was talking about the softer '18 compounds having too little performance difference.

Nico Hulkenberg was quoted...bigger rear wing introduced for 2019 felt like pulling a parachute.

If this is the case, I imagine diminished loads on the tyres as a result of entering the apex after a straight. Will we see more 1 stop strategies throughout the season?

[Schuttelberg]

Leclerc vs Vettel is going to be so fascinating. I have high hopes for young Charles, but I am also really interested to see the team dynamics unfold. Long story short, I think more competitive drivers will do Ferrari well. On the other hand, I am also really keen on seeing Hulkenberg stack up to Ricciardo. I love Dan, but I'm secretly rooting for Hulkenberg. He's surely got to be one of the most underrated Formula 1 drivers.

Same. Nice guys finish last they say, I have a feeling Charles will change all of that.

[NathanOlder]

No, it's Rosanna Tennant

Rachael Brookes is definitely in Barcelona with SkyF1 though and considering it was Crofty, Chandhok (both SkyF1 presenters) You'd expect the 3rd to be SkyF1 as well as it was a show for SkySportsF1

That post testing show was just junk. I was hoping there would be some work on lap times, some kind of sky pad to highlight the car parts and something they have spotted that is interesting. But that turned out to be a dud. I am not sure why Crofty and other non-technical folks are there. This is testing and people would be watching Sky to look for interesting things about cars and the testing programs and the insights. This is not racing where you need over the top and eccentric commentary to create artificial curiosity.

100% it was rubbish, Even Teds notebook is a million times better, at least he looks at the cars in detail and has decent close up photos of the cars. His analysis may not be the best, but at least we get to see what he's looking at.
The review show last night with Crofty, Karun and a female who I thought was Rachael Brookes was just 3 people chatting about what they saw on track.

[f1316]

It’s interesting to me to see Leclerc set lots of fastest individual sectors that he doesn’t hook up into fastest laps.

I know it’s only testing and he could be trying various things (even hiding pace) but it reminds me of an analysis Motorsport/Autosport did showing that he very often didn’t hook up his best sectors in q3 in 2018. And who was statistically the best at putting together all three of his best sectors of the weekend in Q3 last season? Seb. Interesting to see if that’ll be a real learning curve for Charles.

(FYI I was massively surprised by that stat - feels like Lewis is much better at this than virtually anyone else, and that Seb struggled a bit with that last year, but not according to the article.)