2015 Pre-season Testing

[motobaleno]

From a strategic point of view, under current regulations, you better design an engine to be powerfull rather than reliable.
Competitors and the FIA will more easely allow you to improve the reliability rather than the power.

that's an important point. and beyond this, if you are a top team having victory as goal, since we have evidence that mercedes has still great advantage, if you want to beat them you need an extreme project that's likely to be unreliable at the beginning...
For instance Ferrari for sure made a big improvement this year, but in my opinion they are always too conservative about innovative design and reliability...it is likely that their 2015 car will be reliable and also will be good: but good to be in the podium: very small hope to win. On the contrary macca, I will be not suprised if they will finish very few races But I will be not surprised either if by the end of the season they will challenge mercedes performance

[Chene_Mostert]

Lap times Raikkonen

Kimi Raikkonen is on a longer stint on the medium compound, setting these times: 1:27.4, 1:27.4, 1:27.7, 1:27.6, 1:27.6, 1:27.7, 1:27.8, 1:28.2, 1:28.2 and 1:28.3.

Pretty ominous.

[Rhodium]

not really better for Massa

1:28.1, 1:27.8, 1:27.7, 1:28.3, 1:28.4, 1:28.7, 1:29.1, 1:28.9, 1:29.1 and 1:28.8.

[langwadt]

So Mclaren held a press-conference about Alonso's incident, but still no update on why their car is stuck in the garage yet again

The silence is not helping them, "journalists" and "experts" already speculating that the whole Alonso thing is just him
making up an excuse to get out of the contract...

[Chene_Mostert]

not really better for Massa

1:28.1, 1:27.8, 1:27.7, 1:28.3, 1:28.4, 1:28.7, 1:29.1, 1:28.9, 1:29.1 and 1:28.8.

Yes 7 sec over 10 laps, not too bad.

[ChrisF1]

So Mclaren held a press-conference about Alonso's incident, but still no update on why their car is stuck in the garage yet again

The silence is not helping them, "journalists" and "experts" already speculating that the whole Alonso thing is just him
making up an excuse to get out of the contract...

To go where?

Alonso has to just sit tight for 2015, and the general opinion is that he has always been set for 2015 as a learning year and that he either knows the McHonda is great for 2016, or he is going to engineer a move to Mercedes.

[the EDGE]

So Mclaren held a press-conference about Alonso's incident, but still no update on why their car is stuck in the garage yet again

The silence is not helping them, "journalists" and "experts" already speculating that the whole Alonso thing is just him
making up an excuse to get out of the contract...

Really? I'd like to read that, do you have some links? as I've not come across anything myself

[Chene_Mostert]

"@MercedesAMGF1: "That's our day done. Problem diagnosed as MGUK failure."

Poor reliability starting to raise its ugly head at Mercedes.

[Neno]

Williams-Lotus-Ferrari stints on medium compound. Ofcourse we dont know the fuel.
The lap times for Romain Grosjean's latest stint on the medium compound: 1:28.4, 1:27.5, 1:27.9, 1:27.9, 1:28.5, 1:31.1, 1:28.8, 1:30.0 and 1:30.8.

Kimi Raikkonen is on a longer stint on the medium compound, setting these times: 1:27.4, 1:27.4, 1:27.7, 1:27.6, 1:27.6, 1:27.7, 1:27.8, 1:28.2, 1:28.2 and 1:28.3.

Felipe Massa has returned from a longer stint on the medium tyres, setting these lap times: 1:28.1, 1:27.8, 1:27.7, 1:28.3, 1:28.4, 1:28.7, 1:29.1, 1:28.9, 1:29.1 and 1:28.8.

[godlameroso]

How important is the MGU-H to the drivability of the car? Not only can it be used to limit boost and thus oversteer out of corners, but it can also pre-spool the turbo thus eliminating lag. It seems daunting for a software engineer to create a seamless transition between either condition, now add the KERS into the mix. In a way the real clever teams are the ones with the best software, because car drivability is the biggest advantage one can get seeing as aero and suspension is so heavily regulated.

I believe the biggest reason teams improved during the season wasn't just mechanical developments that allowed them to exploit the power unit, it was in large part exploiting the systems towards driving dynamics with software.

[godlameroso]

Williams-Lotus-Ferrari stints on medium compound. Ofcourse we dont know the fuel.
The lap times for Romain Grosjean's latest stint on the medium compound: 1:28.4, 1:27.5, 1:27.9, 1:27.9, 1:28.5, 1:31.1, 1:28.8, 1:30.0 and 1:30.8.

Kimi Raikkonen is on a longer stint on the medium compound, setting these times: 1:27.4, 1:27.4, 1:27.7, 1:27.6, 1:27.6, 1:27.7, 1:27.8, 1:28.2, 1:28.2 and 1:28.3.

Felipe Massa has returned from a longer stint on the medium tyres, setting these lap times: 1:28.1, 1:27.8, 1:27.7, 1:28.3, 1:28.4, 1:28.7, 1:29.1, 1:28.9, 1:29.1 and 1:28.8.

Those times appear all very close, I wonder if they're driving to a set pace?

[Chene_Mostert]

Williams-Lotus-Ferrari stints on medium compound. Ofcourse we dont know the fuel.
The lap times for Romain Grosjean's latest stint on the medium compound: 1:28.4, 1:27.5, 1:27.9, 1:27.9, 1:28.5, 1:31.1, 1:28.8, 1:30.0 and 1:30.8.

Kimi Raikkonen is on a longer stint on the medium compound, setting these times: 1:27.4, 1:27.4, 1:27.7, 1:27.6, 1:27.6, 1:27.7, 1:27.8, 1:28.2, 1:28.2 and 1:28.3.

Felipe Massa has returned from a longer stint on the medium tyres, setting these lap times: 1:28.1, 1:27.8, 1:27.7, 1:28.3, 1:28.4, 1:28.7, 1:29.1, 1:28.9, 1:29.1 and 1:28.8.

Those times appear all very close, I wonder if they're driving to a set pace?

Not as close as it appears to you, add it up, see for yourself, don't take things at face value

[Del Boy]

From a strategic point of view, under current regulations, you better design an engine to be powerfull rather than reliable.
Competitors and the FIA will more easely allow you to improve the reliability rather than the power.

Agreed however if you have a revolutionary part that's unreliable you have to show pictures and drawings of the part to every other team!

[CevertF1]

"@MercedesAMGF1: "That's our day done. Problem diagnosed as MGUK failure."

Poor reliability starting to raise its ugly head at Mercedes.

Shame it didn't happen in the race.

(No offence intended to Hamilton fans, just I think Merc DNF's are the only way others will win this year)

[Neno]

Williams-Lotus-Ferrari stints on medium compound. Ofcourse we dont know the fuel.
The lap times for Romain Grosjean's latest stint on the medium compound: 1:28.4, 1:27.5, 1:27.9, 1:27.9, 1:28.5, 1:31.1, 1:28.8, 1:30.0 and 1:30.8.

Kimi Raikkonen is on a longer stint on the medium compound, setting these times: 1:27.4, 1:27.4, 1:27.7, 1:27.6, 1:27.6, 1:27.7, 1:27.8, 1:28.2, 1:28.2 and 1:28.3.

Felipe Massa has returned from a longer stint on the medium tyres, setting these lap times: 1:28.1, 1:27.8, 1:27.7, 1:28.3, 1:28.4, 1:28.7, 1:29.1, 1:28.9, 1:29.1 and 1:28.8.

Those times appear all very close, I wonder if they're driving to a set pace?

Maybe. But what I know is Lotus is still having poor tire management over long stints. No wonder we see droping times at end of stints, even if they are closer over one lap. This is caused by having completly new car. It will take time till they can fully understand new engine, and new car so they can do setups which will preserve tires over long stints. They have work to do. It's also reason why Ferrari and Williams have stable times without much drop off. They already had solid last year base, and new cars are basically evolutions of the same cars, they already have knowledge about their engines so they can spend more time and work on setups and extracting performances.