F1 2019 Pre-Season Testing Thread

[Sieper]

He cannot, as it is Hamiltons (current champ) to lose.

[Just_a_fan]

Toto has claimed Ferrari are ahead. They are. Last year he said they were ahead and they were. Last the Ferrari was the better car but Ferrari dropped the ball during the season allowing Mercedes to win.

Toto knows well enough that Ferrari need to drop the ball again for Mercedes to win this year. He is being honest, as is Hamilton when he says Ferrari are up to half a second ahead.

Ferrari are being dishonest to say that Mercedes are very close to them. Everyone can see that the Ferrari is currently the car to beat.

The only thing stopping a Ferrari / Vettel double title win this year is Ferrari (and perhaps Leclerc). Mercedes are unlikely to close the gap unless Ferrari mess up like last year.

[Tzk]

Also remember that Ferrari binned it in 2017 with their reliability. So let's hope that they fix their current issue with the exhaust

[WaikeCU]

Toto has claimed Ferrari are ahead. They are. Last year he said they were ahead and they were. Last the Ferrari was the better car but Ferrari dropped the ball during the season allowing Mercedes to win.

Toto knows well enough that Ferrari need to drop the ball again for Mercedes to win this year. He is being honest, as is Hamilton when he says Ferrari are up to half a second ahead.

Ferrari are being dishonest to say that Mercedes are very close to them. Everyone can see that the Ferrari is currently the car to beat.

The only thing stopping a Ferrari / Vettel double title win this year is Ferrari (and perhaps Leclerc). Mercedes are unlikely to close the gap unless Ferrari mess up like last year.

Sounds like a typical Vettel season. Nobody can touch him, not even his teammate. I just hope it isn't the case.

[PhillipM]

It's okay, Hamilton has Alonso's bag of '6 tenths' - so they should be about even

[Jozsusz]

Toto has claimed Ferrari are ahead. They are. Last year he said they were ahead and they were. Last the Ferrari was the better car but Ferrari dropped the ball during the season allowing Mercedes to win.

Toto knows well enough that Ferrari need to drop the ball again for Mercedes to win this year. He is being honest, as is Hamilton when he says Ferrari are up to half a second ahead.

Ferrari are being dishonest to say that Mercedes are very close to them. Everyone can see that the Ferrari is currently the car to beat.

The only thing stopping a Ferrari / Vettel double title win this year is Ferrari (and perhaps Leclerc). Mercedes are unlikely to close the gap unless Ferrari mess up like last year.

Sounds like a typical Vettel season. Nobody can touch him, not even his teammate. I just hope it isn't the case.

Nah, Merc and Hamilton won't give up.
And Vettel every time cracks under pressure and can't drive in traffic.

[turbof1]

Toto has claimed Ferrari are ahead. They are. Last year he said they were ahead and they were. Last the Ferrari was the better car but Ferrari dropped the ball during the season allowing Mercedes to win.

Toto knows well enough that Ferrari need to drop the ball again for Mercedes to win this year. He is being honest, as is Hamilton when he says Ferrari are up to half a second ahead.

Ferrari are being dishonest to say that Mercedes are very close to them. Everyone can see that the Ferrari is currently the car to beat.

The only thing stopping a Ferrari / Vettel double title win this year is Ferrari (and perhaps Leclerc). Mercedes are unlikely to close the gap unless Ferrari mess up like last year.

Sounds like a typical Vettel season. Nobody can touch him, not even his teammate. I just hope it isn't the case.

Nah, Merc and Hamilton won't give up.
And Vettel every time cracks under pressure and can't drive in traffic.

That's a little bit assumptious. Yes he did crack under pressure last year. Doesn't mean he has tried to improve upon that to avoid it this year. Also, he ironically did show he is able to drive in traffic due the mistakes he made last year, having to fight back up the grid.

Mercedes and Hamilton certainly won't give up. We aren't declaring champions at this stage (season still has to start!). Ferrari does give the better impression and looks set to be favorite in Melbourne. We'll have to see what comes of it.

[Morteza]

https://twitter.com/LukeSmithF1/status/ ... 6101341184

[Mandrake]

Toto has claimed Ferrari are ahead. They are. Last year he said they were ahead and they were. Last the Ferrari was the better car but Ferrari dropped the ball during the season allowing Mercedes to win.

Toto knows well enough that Ferrari need to drop the ball again for Mercedes to win this year. He is being honest, as is Hamilton when he says Ferrari are up to half a second ahead.

You forgot australia and Bahrain. In both cases Merc was the way better car but they screwed up. Only after Bahrain the cars were on par and Ferrari started to get ahead in development only to lose it in the second half of the season.

So Toto was incorrect when he said Ferrari was faster.

[Wynters]

And Vettel every time cracks under pressure and can't drive in traffic.

He did fine when winning his four World Driver Championships.

But discussion of the merits of various drivers is drifting beyond the scope of the thread, i.e. Testing.

[ACJJ619]

Does anyone have speed trap data from today? Wonder if the Merc's apparent mediocre pace could be due to engine modes?

[Phil]

In light of the season ahead, I think my personal take is that it will come down to the following:

- tire performance: who is able to extract the most from the tires race in, race out?
- QF/one-lap pace: Who will have the quickest car over a lap? This will carry over to having an advantage during the race.
- different tracks favoring different car concepts. This is only Barcelona so far. Other tracks may turn out differently.
- How strong is RedBull with Honda? This could mess up who ever is 2nd best on average.
- How strong is the midfield? If the midfield is closer, strategy might be more tricky given pitting into clean air might not always be an option
- Reliability. DNFs and set-backs may prove very costly.
- Team/driver performance. Will Leclerc be a match for Vettel and will that help or hurt the teams chances for the WDC?
- Will Mercedes aero concept prove to be competitive or will they be forced to change mid season?

But yeah, who ever has the fastest car (especially QF) will probably have a good run, especially in light of RedBull/Honda who may play the dark horse.

Either way, it will IMO be a very exciting season.

[Seanspeed]

Toto has claimed Ferrari are ahead. They are. Last year he said they were ahead and they were. Last the Ferrari was the better car but Ferrari dropped the ball during the season allowing Mercedes to win.

Toto knows well enough that Ferrari need to drop the ball again for Mercedes to win this year. He is being honest, as is Hamilton when he says Ferrari are up to half a second ahead.

Ferrari are being dishonest to say that Mercedes are very close to them. Everyone can see that the Ferrari is currently the car to beat.

The only thing stopping a Ferrari / Vettel double title win this year is Ferrari (and perhaps Leclerc). Mercedes are unlikely to close the gap unless Ferrari mess up like last year.

We haven't run a single race weekend lap, much less a qualifying or a race yet, and you're sitting here declaring exactly what the situation is. You're saying Mercedes are being honest and Ferrari are dishonest - based on? Your own personal reading of testing times? Where we dont have most of the information we'd need to do an accurate apples to apples comparison? I mean, we can go through a race weekend and even after two 90 minute sessions, one 60 minute session, and one 20 minute qualifying session, all with very dedicated running and preparation for that specific track and with somewhat predictable routines and we still wont know what the real picture looks like. Mercedes and Ferrari are often hiding a full second or more all the way up til then and it becomes a matter of who was holding back the most for when it really matters.

Both Mercedes and Ferrari are still holding back on performance. To what degree we dont know, but that's going to be what determines where the real gap is once things actually matter. If you want to call the order based on Q1 results, feel free, but I think anybody being rational is going to just wait til Q3 so we can actually see.

[NathanOlder]

Sounds like a typical Vettel season. Nobody can touch him, not even his teammate. I just hope it isn't the case.

Nah, Merc and Hamilton won't give up.
And Vettel every time cracks under pressure and can't drive in traffic.

That's a little bit assumptious. Yes he did crack under pressure last year. Doesn't mean he has tried to improve upon that to avoid it this year. Also, he ironically did show he is able to drive in traffic due the mistakes he made last year, having to fight back up the grid.

Mercedes and Hamilton certainly won't give up. We aren't declaring champions at this stage (season still has to start!). Ferrari does give the better impression and looks set to be favorite in Melbourne. We'll have to see what comes of it.

Vettel only showed he can fight in traffic when the traffic doesnt fight back. As soon as he came up against the Bulls or Mercedes, he makes contact. So WaikeCU is right.

[dans79]

He did fine when winning his four World Driver Championships.

He didn't spend much time in traffic though. I remember a lot of rabbiting at the start to build a gap and get outside drs detection range, and then it was just cruising.