The F1 thread

Garthy

It's the same engine as the last one Mclaren used at the end of the season. Funny how it works now it can breath.

Cols

Renault-engines cars both fastest and slowest through the speed trap; at this point. I wouldn’t say straight line speed is a reliable predictor of engine performance.

Garthy

I'd say the RBR all time lap record is a reliable indicator that the engine is pretty handy.

Cols

Garthy said:

I'd say the RBR all time lap record is a reliable indicator that the engine is pretty handy.

I’m looking forward to hearing Christian Horner and Helmut Marko saying “Renault have produced a stonking engine.  No complaints from our side.”

Heartfeltdawn

Cols said:

Renault-engines cars both fastest and slowest through the speed trap; at this point. I wouldn’t say straight line speed is a reliable predictor of engine performance.

Of course not. But it can give an idea as to the fuel loads run on that particular day. The Mercs being so low on the speedtrap stands out: you then look at the day 1 results. 

https://pbs.twimg.com/media/DXnzeVlXkAEzR8J.jpg:large

Fretwired

McLaren currently fastest ..

Vandoorne - hypersoft

Bottas - supersoft

Hulkenberg - medium

The rest - soft

Heartfeltdawn

Vandoorne top of the charts this morning so far with 1:19.008. 16 laps, two runs. Hyper-soft tyre. So about a second behind Ricciardo's afternoon time yesterday. Can't have been a large fuel load this morning, conditions less favourable today apparently according to the Autosport coverage. 

stickyfiddle

What is going on with the VER, PER and ERI formatting on that New F1 font?! Deeply unpleasant...

stickyfiddle

Vettel just went within 0.3 of Ricciardo's top time on supersofts (ie 2 steps down from Ricciardo's hypers). Methinks there is a lot of sandbagging going on. 

Hopefully we'll see some proper flying laps this afternoon.

Fretwired

Sebastian Vettel lowers the benchmark again. A 1:17.182 on hypersofts and that's now a second quicker than Daniel Ricciardo's time from yesterday.

stickyfiddle

That bodes well. I just hope Mercedes can't take ANOTHER second off that. I'd love to see a 4-way title fight this year

PC_Dave

That Ferrari is stonking! Very much enjoying the updates today - makes for more interesting reading.

chillidoggy

Pound to a pinch one of the Mercs will end up fastest.

Fretwired

chillidoggy said:

Pound to a pinch one of the Mercs will end up fastest.

I think it will be really close when it comes to racing. The Mercs can do a quick single lap but the Ferrari's are often better in race trim.

PC_Dave

Fretwired said:

chillidoggy said:

Pound to a pinch one of the Mercs will end up fastest.

I think it will be really close when it comes to racing. The Mercs can do a quick single lap but the Ferrari's are often better in race trim.

I really hope so. I want this season to be more than a procession with Mr Plastic Personality lifting the trophy with ease at the end....

Fretwired

PC_Dave said:

Fretwired said:

chillidoggy said:

Pound to a pinch one of the Mercs will end up fastest.

I think it will be really close when it comes to racing. The Mercs can do a quick single lap but the Ferrari's are often better in race trim.

I really hope so. I want this season to be more than a procession with Mr Plastic Personality lifting the trophy with ease at the end....

Ferrari could have won the championship last year until they imploded.

chillidoggy

Am I reading it right that Kubica is the fastest of the Williams drivers so far?

Garthy

Heartfeltdawn said:

Vandoorne top of the charts this morning so far with 1:19.008. 16 laps, two runs. Hyper-soft tyre. So about a second behind Ricciardo's afternoon time yesterday. Can't have been a large fuel load this morning, conditions less favourable today apparently according to the Autosport coverage. 

In the race sims Mclaren are well off the pace compared to Renault, RBR & Ferrari and Mercedes are on another planet. Bottas came within a second to Vandoorne's morning time on the hypersofts in the Merc race sim with 20 laps of fuel and mediums.

Heartfeltdawn

Garthy said:

Heartfeltdawn said:

Vandoorne top of the charts this morning so far with 1:19.008. 16 laps, two runs. Hyper-soft tyre. So about a second behind Ricciardo's afternoon time yesterday. Can't have been a large fuel load this morning, conditions less favourable today apparently according to the Autosport coverage. 

In the race sims Mclaren are well off the pace compared to Renault, RBR & Ferrari and Mercedes are on another planet. Bottas came within a second to Vandoorne's morning time on the hypersofts in the Merc race sim with 20 laps of fuel and mediums.

Yes, McLaren are well off. I was on a treadmill watching the updates for the last half hour and Hamilton coming in .75 of a second on mediums to Stoff's time on hypers made me wince. From what I saw on the Autosport feed, it's believed that going from ultras to hypers is worth a second. Hypers to ultras to super soft to soft to mediums... 3 to 4 seconds from hypers to medium? If so, then it means McLaren have an awful lot of work to do. 

Tomorrow should be a damn good day. 

Speed trap figures for the day show Mercedes at the top. Safe to say the Merc engine isn't too bad. 

https://pbs.twimg.com/media/DXynb-dW4AEAOmp.jpg

Dontgiveupyourdayjob

3 laps into final day of testing - another McLaren breakdown! Marshalls dropping sand on the tracks, so suspected oil leak. They'll be praying this latest 'little issue' doesn't keep them in the garage for 5 hours like last time...