F1 2019 Pre-Season Testing Thread

[TimmTurbo]

Okay even if he ran into Horner. I have seen neither RB nor Ferrari ahead of Merc on their race sims so far.

You are aware though that the teams know way more than we do, right?

Yes, last year the same Red Bull team was saying it's between them and Mercedes.

It's just testing. Lewis and Sebastian's comments are the most balanced and positive.

I wouldn't trust a word that comes out of the mouth of that snake Toto or Helmut Marko.

Watching this sport since 1994 and all I can say is, it looks like it'll be much like 2017 & 2018. It's Merc/Ferrari/RBR. One of those three will win the title. Williams, RP and Haas look like a struggle. The remainder will haggle over the middle spots.

Cant agree more

[dans79]

Still, why would someone make it up? Because mighty Mercedes is beyond failure? I am a huge Mercedes/Hamilton fan, but i am not taking their success for granted. Especially with such a regulation change and seeing that they and their most direct competitors have gone different route might suggest that maybe they are behind indeed. I dont get the logic in dismissing these possibilities entirely.

If anything, i’m assuming Toto to be a man to take any slight chance of them being behind very serious. So serious that i wouldnt put it behind him for a second not to leave and go back to the factory for a personal hands on take.

If anything it's more like a crap translation from German, or really the reporter meant he was leaving the track to go to the hotel.

[F1Krof]

Follow up...

Word is that Merc's missed on two areas. Conventional sidepods seem to produce more drag, and they're missing on straights a lot to Ferraris and even to some other teams. The sidepod does not work well with Ferrari style front wing without having significant amount of higher rake. High rake design meant changing the whole back end of the car, suspension design and gearbox, hence they had to go with a conventional front-wing which gave them good numbers believing that nobody would be able to make the Ferrari Style front wing work effectively, hence they'd count to be on the ballpark whatever shows up.

Yikes, does not sound good for them (relatively speaking of course), they're clearly ahead of the forth placed team.

[Schuttelberg]

If I were Set/Lewis, I'd take 0 risks in the first leg of the season. Their main aim should be to put an ocean of points between themselves and Max. I expect RBR to turn up the volume mid season and now that they're starting with a reliable PU and a partner they've recently fallen in love with, they are real challengers in the making. Once that PU is at par, no one beats the Bulls on chassis and operations.

[zibby43]

Follow up...

Word is that Merc's missed on two areas. Conventional sidepods seem to produce more drag, and they're missing on straights a lot to Ferraris and even to some other teams. The sidepod does not work well with Ferrari style front wing without having significant amount of higher rake. High rake design meant changing the whole back end of the car, suspension design and gearbox, hence they had to go with a conventional front-wing which gave them good numbers believing that nobody would be able to make the Ferrari Style front wing work effectively, hence they'd count to be on the ballpark whatever shows up.

Yikes, does not sound good for them (relatively speaking of course), they're clearly ahead of the forth placed team.

None of that makes any sense, from a technical perspective.

[F1Krof]

Follow up...

Word is that Merc's missed on two areas. Conventional sidepods seem to produce more drag, and they're missing on straights a lot to Ferraris and even to some other teams. The sidepod does not work well with Ferrari style front wing without having significant amount of higher rake. High rake design meant changing the whole back end of the car, suspension design and gearbox, hence they had to go with a conventional front-wing which gave them good numbers believing that nobody would be able to make the Ferrari Style front wing work effectively, hence they'd count to be on the ballpark whatever shows up.

Yikes, does not sound good for them (relatively speaking of course), they're clearly ahead of the forth placed team.

None of that makes any sense, from a technical perspective.

I'm not expert. Just what I heard.

[Schuttelberg]

Follow up...

Word is that Merc's missed on two areas. Conventional sidepods seem to produce more drag, and they're missing on straights a lot to Ferraris and even to some other teams. The sidepod does not work well with Ferrari style front wing without having significant amount of higher rake. High rake design meant changing the whole back end of the car, suspension design and gearbox, hence they had to go with a conventional front-wing which gave them good numbers believing that nobody would be able to make the Ferrari Style front wing work effectively, hence they'd count to be on the ballpark whatever shows up.

Yikes, does not sound good for them (relatively speaking of course), they're clearly ahead of the forth placed team.

Mercedes has been a rocket ship in the high speed stuff since 2014. It was also the better car on traction last year. Ferrari and Mercedes both have excellent PU's. When all that 'Ferrari have a better PU' crap was happening last year, I ignored it and I was right. They both will be stronger in different places.

My personal and honest opinion is that the devil will be in the detail. I think PU wise they will be at par, chassis wise they will have their own strengths and weaknesses. The difference will come down to details, driving and those 4 black things that make the car run. Tyres and how they work for a car can make a difference of amounts that cannot be quantified or simulated.

[Schuttelberg]

That Hulkenberg fellow.. looks like the Ricciardo signing has lit something inside him!

[zibby43]

Follow up...

Word is that Merc's missed on two areas. Conventional sidepods seem to produce more drag, and they're missing on straights a lot to Ferraris and even to some other teams. The sidepod does not work well with Ferrari style front wing without having significant amount of higher rake. High rake design meant changing the whole back end of the car, suspension design and gearbox, hence they had to go with a conventional front-wing which gave them good numbers believing that nobody would be able to make the Ferrari Style front wing work effectively, hence they'd count to be on the ballpark whatever shows up.

Yikes, does not sound good for them (relatively speaking of course), they're clearly ahead of the forth placed team.

None of that makes any sense, from a technical perspective.

I'm not expert. Just what I heard.

From what source?

Also, I wasn’t criticizing you, but the info. Just wanted that to be clear. That information was a mashup of things that aren’t even accurate from a technical perspective.

The best analogy would be: it sounded like a leaked piece of fan fiction that somebody claimed to be the real leaked plot synopsis of a forthcoming blockbuster film.

You can always tell when something isn’t professional, because although it tries to draw on some known info. and attempts to hype things up, it doesn’t make sense in the end.

[F1Krof]

None of that makes any sense, from a technical perspective.

I'm not expert. Just what I heard.

From what source?

Also, I wasn’t criticizing you, but the info. Just wanted that to be clear. That information was a mashup of things that aren’t even accurate from a technical perspective.

The best analogy would be: it sounded like a leaked piece of fan fiction that somebody claimed to be the real leaked plot synopsis of a forthcoming blockbuster film.

You can always tell when something isn’t professional, because although it tries to draw on some known info. and attempts to hype things up, it doesn’t make sense in the end.

A photographer friend in Catalunya, briefed on stuff that is circulating among fellow observers.

I don't know how much of that is true either.

[Mansell89]

Anyone prepared to share their first impressions of the Renault this week?

They’ve quietly chugged along, minus DRS, and gradually been improving their lap times.

How has the car looked on track versus the “big 3”?

[Jozsusz]

Why would Toto be heading back to the Factory because they are half a second behind their rivals, he is not a designer or engineer responsible for this "concept" so surely a phone call or internet link would be enough for him to get the ball rolling to address any supposed shortcoming

Assuming the info that he left is accurate, why else would he have left? Holiday?

Also, why would this stuff be made up? Is it that hard to consider the possibility that maybe Mercedes got it wrong?

Definitely they've got it wrong this time.

Toto is going back to hold an emergency meeting. They have a picture, and it's ugly. They want to go and decide what to do next, push and play catch up? Or change the concept and hope for 2020. Either way they really seem they're in bad shape (relatively speaking). And yes, word around is that Red Bull is faster than Merc, and slower than Ferrari on straights, equal in high speed corners and faster on low speed corners.

All this based on track-side gossip and speculation, with a degree of truthiness relying on on-track observation.

Seriously?
Then why everyone said so far that Merc is looking good, especially on the long runs?

[muramasa]

Mercedes in winter testing tend to be collecting huge amount of mileage while hovering in the middle of timesheet, just always staying out on track quietly, year in year out, that's my impression and it just takes some googling to confirm that impression, it's just some people have short memory. Maybe this year the field got more compressed than previous years which makes Merc sink bit more than usual/previous.

[Phil]

Yes, this same guy was telling us how close Ferrari and RBR are from 2014-16. It's okay to be cautious, quite another to troll hardcore motorsport fans who love the sport. If the Ferrari was faster and Toto was certain about it, he would be making daft insinuations about them being cheats, like he did mid 2018.

But it hasn't been that same guy talking. This has been the 'gist' by other teams. Like it or not, many credible journalists who are actually at pre-testing right now talk to the teams. They have their contacts, they pick up on things. Some things more subtle than others, but nevertheless, a picture forms.

We know for a fact that these new front-wings have triggered a major change and rethink. What worked in 2017 and 2018 likely doesn't apply in 2019 anymore. That's a fact.

There are different philosophies at play here. For one, we have high-rake vs low-rake. There have been concerns that high-rake might be problematic because the new front-wing regs make it more difficult to seal the floor. In theory, this should have helped Mercedes. Yet, from the concepts we are seeing on the Ferrari and AlfaRomeo, it seems that they at least have found a way to make it work.

Mercedes have clearly gone the other way. They have retained the low-rake concept and their front-wing follows that concept. 2018 was extremely close between them, Ferrari and RedBull. It is only reasonable to expect that this year with closer engine parity, getting the aero right will be crucial.

Some might think Mercedes is just playing games. Maybe they are, and if true, then perhaps they are playing it brilliantly. But from where I am sitting, I do have my doubts. Ferrari looks very confident so far. I'm not taking it for granted that Mercedes will ace another year with their car. Every time there is such a regulation change, there's a chance that a team gets something right that everyone else gets wrong. Missing a tick so to speak. It's possible. And if true, as I said, I expect Toto to be the kind of man to take matters into his own hands and take such things very seriously. A championship is at stake.

The level of denial in this topic at the sheer possibility that Mercedes may have got something wrong [vs Ferrari or RedBull] to me shows that some fans are actually worried and therefore ready to downplay anything that hints at that at being comical, absurd or blatant spam. Think again.

[CHT]

As the saying goes Rome isnt built in a day, and F1 championship is not won or lost during pre season testing. For Merc, it has become a sort of tradition to look slow during pre season test while others are hogging the spot light for fastest lap etc. What Merc has been consistent so far is also clocking more laps than most other teams. To me thats a worrying sign of another year of domination.