2017 F1 general testing thread

[dominaze]

From what i've seen so far, from my humble point of view, it looks like the mercedes has little trouble to quickly bring the tyres to its optimal window. I've heard Hamilton talking about "hardest tyres he's ever driven" and looking at the different videos it seems as if the understeer (although it might be on purpose, i don't know) could be a consequence of the car failing to quickly heat the front tyres which could be an inherent characteristic af a longer wheelbase (just an hypothesis).
Maybe someone here can comment on that

[tonmeister]

Sorry if it has been posted elsewhere, but anyone knows or has a link for the 2nd test driver lineup?

[Del Boy]

Anyone know if the circuit during winter testing sells any drink and food anywhere?

Yes they sell food and drink. The circuit does not sell any alcoholic drinks (sin alcohol cerveza). Also you can bring plastic bottles only in and your bags will be searched.

[Vasconia]

One thought occurred to me:

Lewis says overtaking is harder; Max says it's the same. Maybe the Mercedes just finds it more difficult to follow than other cars?

Anecdotally, it's always seemed over the past few seasons that the Mercedes struggles more than other cars in traffic - I don't think there's any real evidence of this but it is a widely held perception. I wonder if it has something to do with their aero philosophy - every element is segmented, more so than other teams, meaning these structures have to work together to produce the desired effect; it the same way a more complex front wing is more affected by wake, is the same not also true with other elements?

Likewise, as they go further and further down this complex philosophy, the worse it gets. Whereas the red bull has a much simpler philosophy so is affected less?

Another random thought.

Perhaps they run with more drag but let´s be fair, Max has been the only who has said that overtaking will be the same. Almost all the drivers agree on the fact that overtaking will be harder because of the new aero of the cars.

[Vasconia]

Like him or not....

MARKO: We are still driving with conservative mappings

He further observed, “Turn 1 through to Turn 3 is where you can see with the naked eye the differences between the individual cars. The drivability of the [Mercedes] engine and the packaging is incredible.”

Marko also revealed that Red Bull have still not turned up the wick on their power unit, “We are still driving with conservative mappings. Let’s see how it looks when we drive at full power.”

And added, “You can hear that Mercedes is doing the same thing, and their V6 turbo is still far from the limit.”

After the four days of testing in Spain, it appears that Ferrari have a strong and reliable package, but Marko is wary of reading too much into the performance shown by the Italian team.

Marko said, “It depends on how much fuel they have on board. Watching Vettel when he braked into the first corner [Wednesday], there could not have been much fuel in the tank.”

In fact, not surprising but I hope that THIS TIME Ferrari has learned a bit and he is not running with low fuel like the small teams do.

[Mr.G]

One thought occurred to me:

Lewis says overtaking is harder; Max says it's the same. Maybe the Mercedes just finds it more difficult to follow than other cars?

Anecdotally, it's always seemed over the past few seasons that the Mercedes struggles more than other cars in traffic - I don't think there's any real evidence of this but it is a widely held perception. I wonder if it has something to do with their aero philosophy - every element is segmented, more so than other teams, meaning these structures have to work together to produce the desired effect; it the same way a more complex front wing is more affected by wake, is the same not also true with other elements?

Likewise, as they go further and further down this complex philosophy, the worse it gets. Whereas the red bull has a much simpler philosophy so is affected less?

Another random thought.

Perhaps they run with more drag but let´s be fair, Max has been the only who has said that overtaking will be the same. Almost all the drivers agree on the fact that overtaking will be harder because of the new aero of the cars.

Have you seen the interview with Max? He say it, lot of articles quoted it but he told it just like a joke, or like a teenager (sorry I can not express it better)...

[Thunder]

Sorry if it has been posted elsewhere, but anyone knows or has a link for the 2nd test driver lineup?

https://twitter.com/AlbertFabrega/statu ... 7547921408

[Godius]

Like him or not....

MARKO: We are still driving with conservative mappings

He further observed, “Turn 1 through to Turn 3 is where you can see with the naked eye the differences between the individual cars. The drivability of the [Mercedes] engine and the packaging is incredible.”

Marko also revealed that Red Bull have still not turned up the wick on their power unit, “We are still driving with conservative mappings. Let’s see how it looks when we drive at full power.”

And added, “You can hear that Mercedes is doing the same thing, and their V6 turbo is still far from the limit.”

After the four days of testing in Spain, it appears that Ferrari have a strong and reliable package, but Marko is wary of reading too much into the performance shown by the Italian team.

Marko said, “It depends on how much fuel they have on board. Watching Vettel when he braked into the first corner [Wednesday], there could not have been much fuel in the tank.”

In fact, not surprising but I hope that THIS TIME Ferrari has learned a bit and he is not running with low fuel like the small teams do.

Which small teams are you talking about? I did not get the impression that smaller teams ran on low fuel. The only exception in my eyes is Williams (they did some glory runs) but they are not exactly a small team. The rest more of less all did setup and aero runs in my opinion.

[WaikeCU]

From that onboard video of Lewis, I could tell that he wasn't going full power, because by the end of the main straight he was in 8th gear, but there were no lights on his rev counter. So I assume he could still go even harder. That's what I think. Somebody made a comparison with the 2016 pole lap and Lewis was a few tenths slower and he wasn't even going that hard.

[Vasconia]

Which small teams are you talking about? I did not get the impression that smaller teams ran on low fuel. The only exception in my eyes is Williams (they did some glory runs) but they are not exactly a small team. The rest more of less all did setup and aero runs in my opinion.

Traditionally it has been like that though this Winter test are being dominated by big ones. Anyway I have seen some laps by Sauber that may indicate that were running with light fuel, basically because I think they will be one of the worst teams, if not the worst.

[FrukostScones]

Sorry if it has been posted elsewhere, but anyone knows or has a link for the 2nd test driver lineup?

https://twitter.com/AlbertFabrega/statu ... 7547921408

thank the racing gods for bringing common sense to Williams.

(earlier Stroll was planned for day 1. &2., but now they switched to MAS these days.)

[tonmeister]

Sorry if it has been posted elsewhere, but anyone knows or has a link for the 2nd test driver lineup?

https://twitter.com/AlbertFabrega/statu ... 7547921408

Thanks!

[Manjhi]

Williams is trolling Stroll this time!!

Thank god they can have all the important data before Kid Stroll could start his very important "crash testing". =D>

[Anthropolyte]

Just been confirmed that Pascal Wehrlein is fit for the second stage of testing. Good news for Sauber.

[dren]

In fact, not surprising but I hope that THIS TIME Ferrari has learned a bit and he is not running with low fuel like the small teams do.

Doesn't Ferrari historically run with less fuel than some teams during testing and free practice?