F1 testing 2016

Mike Litoris

Anyone else following this. Have a couple of days off so


20 mins in and no one has broke down yet! That said Ferrari and McLaren did 1 installation lap and haven't gone back out.


Times so far


1RicciardoRed Bull1m38.188s
2HamiltonMercedes1m41.154s
3SainzToro Rosso1m44.385s

ricimaki

Some times for comparison of qualifying in Barcelona last year. Mercedes managed a 1.24.68. In testing in Barcelona last year, they managed a 1.22.8

It will be interesting to see if Honda and Renault can get the same mileage completed as Mercedes.

Mike Litoris

The new Manor has just gone out. It'll be interesting to see how they go with the Ferrari engine.

sbEdge

Mike Litoris wrote: »

The new Manor has just gone out. It'll be interesting to see how they go with the Ferrari engine.

Aren't they running the Mercedes engine this year?

Mike Litoris

Times so far. Gone quiet again. All laps done on inters except Bottas on Mediums.


1BottasWilliams1m35.719s
2RicciardoRed Bull1m37.610s
3HamiltonMercedes1m41.154s
4SainzToro Rosso1m44.385s
5PalmerRenault1m50.942s


All except Force India have done installation laps.

Mike Litoris

sbEdge wrote: »

Aren't they running the Mercedes engine this year?

Oops, meant Merc.

Mike Litoris

Either FOM are all over YouTube taking down vids or no one really cares this year but there's feck all available so far.


Sounds like a truck.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QrW_q1UTRBs

Mike Litoris

Vettels 1st times lap goes fastest and then improves further. Only testing I know and track is quickly improving but I'm like a kid here.



All set on mediums bar Ric on inters.

1VettelFerrari1m26.187s
2HamiltonMercedes1m27.012s
3SainzToro Rosso1m27.924s
4PalmerRenault1m33.389s
5BottasWilliams1m35.719s
6RicciardoRed Bull1m37.610s

Mike Litoris

Some pics






Sexy Williams





Livery-less Toro Rosso







Haas doesn't look too bad from this angle





Force India kept its nose

Harika

Not much to see until now, but Mercedes already pulling up the laps already. As expected the benchmark team.

Laps completed:

Hamilton, 44
Sainz, 22
Bottas, 17
Vettel, 15
Ricciardo, 14
Ericsson, 13
Button, 11
Palmer, 11
Grosjean, 4
Celis 3
Wehrlein, 1

So cars are already quite reliable compared to the last years imo.

eviltimeban

Live feed here: http://beta.autosport.com/live/commentary/id/1866526/formula-1-testing-2016-barcelona-test-day-1?_ga=1.193862381.1990163607.1416832399

So is the McLaren quicker out of the box? A good sign?

ricimaki

Its worth keeping an eye on both the Autosport and Motorsport.com feeds.

McLaren are somewhat close on lap times, but really need mileage more than anything else. Ferrari seem close to the Mercedes. Hopefully they can stay there!

eviltimeban

ricimaki wrote: »

McLaren are somewhat close on lap times,

That's the first goal though.

flazio

Some of the photos I've seen have shown cars on inters and full wets. What's the thinking there?

ricimaki

flazio wrote: »

Some of the photos I've seen have shown cars on inters and full wets. What's the thinking there?

For the first few minutes, the track was a little damp and dirty. All of the first laps were only installation runs, or relatively low speed runs.


Haas appear to have had a front wing failure, and triggered the first red flag. Hopefully they have some spares, unlike Red Bull last year!

Mike Litoris

This is quite good too for live timing and info.


http://www.f1today.net/en/live/f1/209031/follow-live-the-first-day-of-testing-from-Barcelona


Break time.


1VettelFerrari1m24.939s
2HamiltonMercedes1m25.409s
3BottasWilliams1m26.091s
4RicciardoRed Bull1m26.704s
5SainzToro Rosso1m27.180s
6ButtonMcLaren1m27.691s
7EricssonSauber1m28.165s
8GrosjeanHaas1m28.399s
9CelisForce India1m29.406s
10PalmerRenault1m31.351s
11WehrleinManor1m33.455s

eviltimeban

Extremely early days, but McLaren could be tying with Torro Rosso for fourth place after Merc, Ferrari, and Red Bull. And due to the sheer force of their resources could overtake TR easily enough as the season goes on.

Would be great if Williams were in the mix with Ferrari and Mercedes, though it looks set that the latter two will be fighting it out for the wins and championships. Williams / McLaren could pick up some podiums.

Honda could find some real pace! Excited for this year. Really want to see Alonso motivated and pushing the car to the limit.

Myrddin

eviltimeban wrote: »

Really want to see Alonso motivated and pushing the car

Sure 2015 gave us that :pac:

Mike Litoris

Early days indeed but seeing Ferrari go quick straight away bodes well for the season ahead. Another Merc walkover would be tough going.


While better than last year it looks like McLaren have only managed to drag themselves into the midfield. Quite a feat considering how shíte they were last year but it sucks not having those two drivers battling up front.


Red Bull haven't done too many laps yet. Hopefully there's more in the bag.

Mike Litoris

That Honda still sounds.....different.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9WJF-eUnp4g

More

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pEBBql-el_o

eviltimeban

Mike Litoris wrote: »

While better than last year it looks like McLaren have only managed to drag themselves into the midfield. Quite a feat considering how shíte they were last year but it sucks not having those two drivers battling up front.

If they start midfield, then at least they can target a few places more as they develop during the year. In 2015 they started at the back and managed to get near the midfield. If they can take the same step this year...

With Ferrari looking good, this looks like being an interesting year!

And Renault look like being this year's McLaren.

Harika

I remember when Renault came back as works team, they were hardly beating the Minardis, and Alonso gave them some hard time. Later on, he became their world champion.

Mike Litoris

eviltimeban wrote: »

With Ferrari looking good, this looks like being an interesting year!

Fingers crossed. We could have a good 3 way driver fight. Don't think Kimi has it in him any more but Rosberg could be a match for Hamilton this year imo.

eviltimeban

Button now within 2 secs of Vettel's (and the day's) fastest. Great news!

Let's see what Alonso can do.

Mike Litoris

He was on feckin softs though.

eviltimeban

Mike Litoris wrote: »

He was on feckin softs though.

Yeah just copped that.

Mike Litoris

Like you said, still in a better place than last year and Alonso has still to run.


Reading various reports on the long runs, the Merc still looks like the car to beat.

Frank Bullitt

My god, that nose...

flazio

Gintonious wrote: »

My god, that nose...

Not their worst ever in fairness.

ricimaki

McLaren appear somewhat reliable, which is a good start to testing. Its difficult to judge Ferrari and Mercedes's relative pace, as the two were doing very different runs today - Ferrari going for shorter, fast runs, Mercedes going for distance.

Here's a good video for a sound comparison of the cars:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uUW-pAp2CoA

The Ferrari almost sounds like the blown diffuser days!

Also, don't forget Teds notebook is on Sky F1 at 9.15. Should give a good analysis of the cars

eviltimeban

Day 2 kicks off. Rosberg fastest and pumping in the laps. Alonso was out but hasn't posted a fast time yet.

eviltimeban

Renault seems to have found a bit more pace. Alonso doing aero checks so going slow on the straights.

Harika

RedBull seems to be also in good speed, matching now the Mercedes and Ferrari best time.
Honda seems to be again down 10km/h on the top speed.

Myrddin

I can't help but not get excited at Honda's times from yesterday. 2.5 seconds off the pace, all the while on tires that are giving them the guts of a second too...yes the reliability seems in another world, but from this admittedly very early glance, they're still way, way off when it comes to speed...

eviltimeban

I think Honda are being cautious. They want to make sure the whole bloody thing works first, before putting in fast times. The fact that they are running and running well is a start. I'd say they'll focus on this for this test and the next test they'll have tweaked enough to get faster times in.

I mean, this is MCLAREN here. And HONDA. There's no reason why they shouldn't go well. At least, well enough to be regular points scorers.

Myrddin

eviltimeban wrote: »

I think Honda are being cautious. They want to make sure the whole bloody thing works first, before putting in fast times. The fact that they are running and running well is a start. I'd say they'll focus on this for this test and the next test they'll have tweaked enough to get faster times in.

Hopefully you're right. Not sure I can stand another season of two fantastic drivers propping up the back of the grid.

I mean, this is MCLAREN here. And HONDA. There's no reason why they shouldn't go well. At least, well enough to be regular points scorers.

Hmm, I also wonder how long this unison will last if 2016 doesn't go according to plan...

Zcott

Verstappen stopped on track today. The STR had some gearbox issues yesterday so this could be related.

eviltimeban

Myrddin wrote: »

Not sure I can stand another season of two fantastic drivers propping up the back of the grid.
.

Two of the most famous F1 drivers in the world, in one of the most famous F1 teams...

Andrew76

Myrddin wrote: »

Hopefully you're right. Not sure I can stand another season of two fantastic drivers propping up the back of the grid.



Hmm, I also wonder how long this unison will last if 2016 doesn't go according to plan...

At best I'd expect them to be fighting in the midfield for points now and again. Can't see them being near the front. But it's still too early to read much from testing other than Merc & Ferrari are still the top two.

Ricciardo just went fastest by half a second on supersofts, compared to Rosberg on mediums.

ZiabR

Just listening to that video. I think they sound so much better this year.

Myrddin

Andrew76 wrote: »

Ricciardo just went fastest by half a second on supersofts, compared to Rosberg on mediums.

That's not encouraging for RB :eek: Though as said, testing is testing...it's not indicative of much at the best of times really

El_Duderino 09

Harika wrote:

Honda seems to be again down 10km/h on the top speed.

AGAIN? Honda never got to within an ass's roar of 10kph of the others top speed last year.

Harika

Myrddin wrote: »

That's not encouraging for RB :eek: Though as said, testing is testing...it's not indicative of much at the best of times really

On the same tyres, they were matching Mercedes and Ferrari, only on the Ultra soft the lost out. This doesn't give any indication for the degradation and so on, though. In Melbourne we will finally see the true speed, so far it looks far better to have teams competing with Mercedes, what will make a better season for us.

eviltimeban

El_Duderino 09 wrote: »

AGAIN? Honda never got to within an ass's roar of 10kph of the others top speed last year.

They were working on aero testing, so wouldn't have been going so fast.

I think McLaren / Button / Alonso fans can breathe a sigh of relief. No, they won't be challenging for the championship or wins this year, but they are going to do a damn sight better than last year. We might even see them on the podium at some stage (even if through attrition).

Myrddin

Harika wrote: »

On the same tyres, they were matching Mercedes and Ferrari, only on the Ultra soft the lost out. This doesn't give any indication for the degradation and so on, though. In Melbourne we will finally see the true speed, so far it looks far better to have teams competing with Mercedes, what will make a better season for us.

Ah I see, so it was just their super soft run that was only marginally ahead of the others times set on Mediums...interesting, the RB was always solid on the super softs given their aero advantages.

eviltimeban wrote: »

We might even see them on the podium at some stage (even if through attrition).

Like this, but only fo' realz :pac:

eviltimeban

^ That was actually a really funny moment last year. At least they had each other.

lolie

Interesting looking barge boards on the Mercedes.

Andrew76

Myrddin wrote: »

That's not encouraging for RB :eek: Though as said, testing is testing...it's not indicative of much at the best of times really

Actually, I was wrong, Riciarrdo's time was set on ultra-softs not super-softs. That's a new one on me, is that a new race tyre Pirelli have this year? Or just used for testing?

Vettel went 6 tenths faster again on the same tyre. But who knows what fuel they are running and whether the engine was going full whack. Hopefully Merc don't come out and go a second faster than anyone.

Devilman40k

Andrew76 wrote: »

Actually, I was wrong, Riciarrdo's time was set on ultra-softs not super-softs. That's a new one on me, is that a new race tyre Pirelli have this year? Or just used for testing?
(

The new Ultra soft compound is supposedly just for street circuits this year due to low wear/deg at Monaco/Singapore last year

Jordan 199

lolie wrote: »

Interesting looking barge boards on the Mercedes.

I noticed the Merc has a big airbox too. Bigger than the other teams.

Slutmonkey57b

eviltimeban wrote: »

I think Honda are being cautious. They want to make sure the whole bloody thing works first, before putting in fast times. The fact that they are running and running well is a start. I'd say they'll focus on this for this test and the next test they'll have tweaked enough to get faster times in.

I mean, this is MCLAREN here. And HONDA. There's no reason why they shouldn't go well. At least, well enough to be regular points scorers.

There are several good reasons when you think about it.

Honda's last glory days in the sport were 25 years ago. Their v8 was the worst on the grid and culturally they had no idea how to run an f1 operation (hence the arrival of brawn, and many of McLaren's complaints last year). They arrived several years late into the most technologically challenging revolution of mechanical design in decades, with a team and facilities they had to rebuild from scratch, launching to a timetable that was at least 2 years too ambitious.

Their metier over the last tenure in f1 was to over promise and under deliver. Hence Arai paid with his job last night.

As for McLaren, they've failed to win a championship since 1999, and the only times since when they've had the car to be genuine no.1 contenders they've been horribly unreliable (03), in total meltdown due to mismanagement (07), squeaking through on others mistakes (08), or operationally throwing races away (12). Ron has turned from the mastermind who revolutionised the sport in the 80's to a paranoid egomaniac whose sole talent appears to be driving talent and sponsors away. They haven't shown any signs of the ability to design or run winning cars for a long time and I don't see that changing until Ron leaves and they get a decent engine.