2019 performance speculation

[ESPImperium]

On guesswork so far, id have it as this:

_0.0 Scuderia Ferrari
+0.3 Red Bull-Honda
+0.5 Mercedes AMG
+0.6 Alfa Romeo-Ferrari
+0.7 Renault Sport F1
+0.8 McLaren-Renault
+1.0 Scuderia Toro Rosso-Honda
+1.3 Haas-Ferrari
+1.5 Racing Point-Mercedes
+2.5 Williams-Mercedes

I fear for Williams as this season will be long, seen encouragement from Mclaren who will fight their customer partner Renault. Ferrari have a car thats just that great out the box, that will improve, Mercedes are behind so i feel. Both Honda powered teams will improve, but the Honda will still be a weak point. Haas and Racing Point are solid cars, one unreliable and one lacking performance a little. Alfa Romeo will be the surprise as Ferrari will use them to try and disrupt Mercedes and Red Bull early in the season.

[Jambier]

Perez said that the midfield (excluding Williams and the 3 top teams) is only separated by 3 tenth
Even closer than last year.

(Dont know if he counts Renault in midfield)

[rene.rpv]

On guesswork so far, id have it as this:

_0.0 Scuderia Ferrari
+0.3 Red Bull-Honda
+0.5 Mercedes AMG
+0.6 Alfa Romeo-Ferrari
+0.7 Renault Sport F1
+0.8 McLaren-Renault
+1.0 Scuderia Toro Rosso-Honda
+1.3 Haas-Ferrari
+1.5 Racing Point-Mercedes
+2.5 Williams-Mercedes

Agreed on the top 3. Not so sure about Alfa Romeo, i think the'll be behind Renault and possibly Torro Rosso.
Mclaren is definately not .1s behind Renault. Chassis-wise they were a disaster the last two years, so they are lucky to be faster than Racing Point.

[dren]

No particular order in the brackets:

1. Mercedes, Ferrari, Red Bull (all within 0.5s)
-0.5s-
2. STR, Racing Point, Renault, Mclaren, Haas, Alfa (all within 0.3s)
-0.5s-
Williams

[Phil]

Anyone else suprised at how bullet proof the Honda seems to be? No disrespect intensed to Honda or anything, just still slightly surprised at how flawless everything seems to be running inside what surely is a very tightly packed RedBull chassis.

[bauc]

Anyone else suprised at how bullet proof the Honda seems to be? No disrespect intensed to Honda or anything, just still slightly surprised at how flawless everything seems to be running inside what surely is a very tightly packed RedBull chassis.

Why be surprised, its year 6 of the development after all for Honda

[godlameroso]

Anyone else suprised at how bullet proof the Honda seems to be? No disrespect intensed to Honda or anything, just still slightly surprised at how flawless everything seems to be running inside what surely is a very tightly packed RedBull chassis.

Next week they turn the engines up, we'll know more by next thursday.

[Zynerji]

Any dark horse picks for a stunner next week?

Im putting STR in 3rd. (RBR parts, historical performance data of said parts, budget moved to aero, front wing philosophy, young radical engineers, Kvyat)

Ferrari
RBR
STR
Mercedes
Alfa Romeo
Renault
Racing .
Haas
McLaren
Williams

[dren]

I'd be surprised if STR is anywhere near RB. I'd also be surprised if Mercedes isn't close to on par with Ferrari given how they finished last year. The regulation changes weren't that drastic. I do expect RB to get closer to Ferrari and Mercedes with a works PU.

[motobaleno]

Anyone else suprised at how bullet proof the Honda seems to be? No disrespect intensed to Honda or anything, just still slightly surprised at how flawless everything seems to be running inside what surely is a very tightly packed RedBull chassis.

At this point I think that egines burning after few km is well below present evolution level for everyone and also for honda. So I'm not surprised now. But I will be more surprised of a real race/quali trimmed up honda engine with party mode lasting 7 races. if honda gets this: chapeau

Of course with performances comparable (not equal but no so much lower) to merc/ferr I meant

[Zynerji]

I'd be surprised if STR is anywhere near RB. I'd also be surprised if Mercedes isn't close to on par with Ferrari given how they finished last year. The regulation changes weren't that drastic. I do expect RB to get closer to Ferrari and Mercedes with a works PU.

With the same PU, and extremely similar suspension, I would expect the better wing philosophy, and the knock-on aero design necessary to support it to be a huge differentiator between the two.

If STR have the better philosophy, it could close the gap between those teams enormously. Add to that the possibility that STR get the development engines first (more HP+reliability) the offsets can become very close.

[dans79]

With the same PU, and extremely similar suspension, I would expect the better wing philosophy, and the knock-on aero design necessary to support it to be a huge differentiator between the two.

I'd be interested to hear how you came to this conclusion!

[Big Tea]

Just wondering, would RBR pull rank on STR if high points were on the line?
They all say its right to ask a driver to move over, and I do not mean block other cars here.

[Zynerji]

With the same PU, and extremely similar suspension, I would expect the better wing philosophy, and the knock-on aero design necessary to support it to be a huge differentiator between the two.

I'd be interested to hear how you came to this conclusion!

Given 2 different concepts, 1 will always prove to be superior by a margin. And changing mid season is nearly unaccomplishable.

[90feet]

Does anyone else think we've learned almost nothing this week from McLaren? All I can really conclude is that they're reliable and...that's it. Solid fast laps on the soft tires over the first two days, but middling long runs; then today they did almost no fast laps but a really great long run on the C1 that was consistently mid-23s. I'm reading through all these differing predictions and just throwing my hands in the air, I've got nothing.