Topic: 2017 Formula 1 Thread

[Upinsmoke]

The ferrari does look aggressive

[paulrazor]

The McLaren managed 72 laps yesterday? AMAZING

Still trolleying around 5 seconds, at least, off the pace.

still think they had problems though.

[paulrazor]

Hamilton not getting any time today due to "electrical fault"

seemed to me given earlier comments he wasnt arsed

[paulrazor]

they are going to wet the track again at lunch!

Kimi fastest for now on softs on a drying track. 1.22.3

[paulrazor]

not much going on today

here is a bad ass shot of the toro rosso

[Upinsmoke]

still can't get over them wheels, fooking huge

[Funky_Gibbons]

Mercedes could go 2-seconds faster!!

Mercedes is set to bring a heavily-updated Formula 1 car to this week's second pre-season test, as it bids to build on a strong start to 2017 running.

The German manufacturer delivered impressive mileage and strong pace during last week's first test at Barcelona, showing no signs that its advantage had been eroded by F1's all-new regulations.

Valtteri Bottas and Lewis Hamilton completed race simulations on the second and third days respectively, and Mercedes' new recruit set the week's fastest lap, a 1m19.705s.

Teams are expected to bring new parts to the second test, which starts on Tuesday, and focus more on performance, and it has emerged Mercedes will be one of the outfits bringing a more extensive development package.

There have already been suggestions that the developments - allied to it pushing more on engine maps - could deliver a further two-seconds of performance, with times in the 1m18s region tipped.

"We are definitely hoping we can make good steps forward," Bottas said of the second test.

"From the running [in the first week], it's tricky to make a detailed analysis of where we are compared to the other teams, and we don't know what other teams are bringing, or for Melbourne.

[paulrazor]

http://www.autosport.com/live/commentary/id/2515585/formula-1-testing-2017-barcelona-second-f1-test-day-one

1   Vettel      Ferrari      1m22.422s
2   Massa      Williams      1m23.044s
3   Vandoorne      McLaren      1m24.126s
4   Palmer      Renault      1m24.790s
5   Hamilton      Mercedes      1m28.202s
Bottas      Mercedes      No time
Ricciardo      Red Bull      No time
Ocon      Force India      No time
Kvyat      Toro Rosso      No time
Magnussen      Haas      No time
Hulkenberg      Renault      No time
Wehrlein      Sauber      No time

todays drivers. times so far.

[zero zero]

What's the reason Barcelona is used as the testing track? Is it weather and proximity or characteristics of the track itself?

[CraigDS]

What's the reason Barcelona is used as the testing track? Is it weather and proximity or characteristics of the track itself?

I was having this conversation with someone before the match the other day and really wasn't sure why!

[west_london_red]

I was having this conversation with someone before the match the other day and really wasn't sure why!

Maybe its the circuit itself as its a mixed bag, very long straight, a few fast corners and some more twisty bits at the end.

[CraigDS]

Maybe its the circuit itself as its a mixed bag, very long straight, a few fast corners and some more twisty bits at the end.

I sort of came to the conclusion it was a mix of this, the weather and it's location being not too far from where a lot of the teams are based.

[Trump's tiny tiny hands]

Maybe its the circuit itself as its a mixed bag, very long straight, a few fast corners and some more twisty bits at the end.

I read this somewhere a few years back. Barcelona throws up a decent mix of conditions.

[zero zero]

Maybe its the circuit itself as its a mixed bag, very long straight, a few fast corners and some more twisty bits at the end.

I sort of came to the conclusion it was a mix of this, the weather and it's location being not too far from where a lot of the teams are based.

So, all of the above. Probably pit facilities too.

[Beav]

It always used to be at Jerez, which was favoured because it was a decent temperature, whereas Barcelona is a lot further north which isnt as great for getting a true representation of tyre wear, grip levels etc. Not sure why, but I think they used to test at Jerez and then Barcelona, dropped Jerez because they scaled testing back to just one week, then when it was expanded back to two weeks they just stuck at Barcelona.

[paulrazor]

It always used to be at Jerez, which was favoured because it was a decent temperature, whereas Barcelona is a lot further north which isnt as great for getting a true representation of tyre wear, grip levels etc. Not sure why, but I think they used to test at Jerez and then Barcelona, dropped Jerez because they scaled testing back to just one week, then when it was expanded back to two weeks they just stuck at Barcelona.

might as well choose barcelona given jerez has had one race since 1990

shame really as jerez is a good track. though martin donnelly wouldnt agree. how on earth did he survive that

[paulrazor]

Here are the main talking points from the first two hours: (autosport) edit: the red bull is looking good. Ferrari using mediums when others are on softs. Ricciardo comfortably fastest right now

* Ricciardo leads the way with Red Bull's fastest time from testing so far

* Vandoorne kicks off McLaren-Honda's vital week with decent early mileage

* Vettel, going well on the medium tyre, and Massa rack up the most laps

* A technical problem leaves Palmer's Renault needing a push down the pitlane

* Wehrlein yet to set a time on his first appearance in the Sauber

[Funky_Gibbons]

10:18 Ricciardo goes quickest – a 1m20.106s. That's a very good lap from the Red Bull. Puts it right in the ballpark with the best efforts Mercedes and Ferrari from last week.

[paulrazor]

10:18 Ricciardo goes quickest – a 1m20.106s. That's a very good lap from the Red Bull. Puts it right in the ballpark with the best efforts Mercedes and Ferrari from last week.

Massa knocks a tenth off that. soft tyres too

[Funky_Gibbons]

Massa knocks a tenth off that. soft tyres too

Why can't I shake this feeling that Mercedes will knock two seconds off the best time on the last lap of the final day 

10:45 Hamilton improves to a 1m20.456s. The top three drivers are covered by less than four tenths of a second as we edge closer to the final hour of the morning.

[paulrazor]

Why can't I shake this feeling that Mercedes will knock two seconds off the best time on the last lap of the final day 

10:45 Hamilton improves to a 1m20.456s. The top three drivers are covered by less than four tenths of a second as we edge closer to the final hour of the morning.

i get that feeling about merc too.

tight at the top, vettel still using mediums. the softs seem the best. they are reasonably durable and not much slower than the supers/ultras. they seem much quicker than mediums

[paulrazor]

correction, massa is about .0007 slower than danny. still a good time though

[Beav]

Not sure what will happen at this stage, either Mercedes will turn up in Melbourne and still be a full second ahead of everyone, or maybe, hopefully both Ferrari and Red Bull have matched them and we are in for a brilliant battle this year.

But after the last 3 years of dominance its hard to shake the feeling that Mercedes will just turn it on come the real race weekend and everyone will be left wondering how its happened again.

[Funky_Gibbons]

11:33 Massa's quickest! He uses super-softs to nail a 1m19.726s with the three best sectors so far.

[eyescream]

It's funny that neither Mercedes, nor Ferrari give a f*ck about setting the fastest lap and stick to their schedule. 

[paulrazor]

Ricciardo is out of super softs but seems to hold back in final sector (edit: he went off the track)

i love that ferrari pic top of this page

[paulrazor]

Massa 65
Ricciardo 50
Hamilton 49
Vettel 81
Ocon 59
Magnussen 47
Kvyat 45
Vandoorne 34
Wehrlein 47
Palmer 15

mclaren changing their engine. this is going to be another shit season there. seriously why did alonso go there. be like messi joining sunderland

[paulrazor]

1   Massa      Williams      1m19.726s
2   Ricciardo      Red Bull      1m19.900s
3   Hamilton      Mercedes      1m20.456s
4   Vettel      Ferrari      1m21.127s
5   Ocon      Force India      1m21.347s
6   Magnussen      Haas      1m21.676s
7   Kvyat      Toro Rosso      1m21.965s
8   Vandoorne      McLaren      1m22.698s
9   Wehrlein      Sauber      1m23.336s
10   Palmer      Renault      1m24.790s
Bottas      Mercedes      No time
Hulkenberg      Renault      No time
Last updated: 12:08

massa on supers, ricciardo on ultras, hamilton on softs, vettel on mediums

[jackh]

1   Massa      Williams      1m19.726s
2   Ricciardo      Red Bull      1m19.900s
3   Hamilton      Mercedes      1m20.456s
4   Vettel      Ferrari      1m21.127s
5   Ocon      Force India      1m21.347s
6   Magnussen      Haas      1m21.676s
7   Kvyat      Toro Rosso      1m21.965s
8   Vandoorne      McLaren      1m22.698s
9   Wehrlein      Sauber      1m23.336s
10   Palmer      Renault      1m24.790s
Bottas      Mercedes      No time
Hulkenberg      Renault      No time
Last updated: 12:08

massa on supers, ricciardo on ultras, hamilton on softs, vettel on mediums

Hard to read anything into that...other than that the Williams is pretty quick, given that it's a bit out-of-sequence with the others?

[west_london_red]

mclaren changing their engine. this is going to be another shit season there. seriously why did alonso go there. be like messi joining sunderland

This is his last season under his current contract with them right? If not he better find himself a good lawyer and quick. Time is running out for him and it would be a shame if he doesn't get another title, its easy to forget its been over 10 years since he won the championship

[paulrazor]

This is his last season under his current contract with them right? If not he better find himself a good lawyer and quick. Time is running out for him and it would be a shame if he doesn't get another title, its easy to forget its been over 10 years since he won the championship

yeah it is

its been an absolute waste thus far for him. Its ok for Vandoorne as he is young, Alonso should be in a Red bull, Merc or back at Ferrari than driving this junk.

10 years since he won it is criminal. 3 times he was within an ace of another title

im amazed he has stuck it out thus far

[eyescream]

Imho, all of the chances of Alonso to win the WDC again are gone.

[west_london_red]

Imho, all of the chances of Alonso to win the WDC again are gone.

Its unlikely but not impossible - Bottas I think is only on a one year contract, Vettel's contract expires this year, not sure when Raikkonen's expires, everyone wants Verstappen so there is the potential of a gap opening up at the top teams somewhere.

[paulrazor]

Kimi's is up this year

Not sure he will go back to Ferrari then again i didnt think he would go back to mclaren

I'd love to see him in a merc

[west_london_red]

Kimi's is up this year

Not sure he will go back to Ferrari then again i didnt think he would go back to mclaren

I'd love to see him in a merc

Yeah, I think its unlikely he'll end up at Ferrari again.

It would be fantastic to have Alonso and Hamilton in the same car again but by that time Alonso would be 36 or 37 so not sure we would see the best of him.

[jackh]

Kimi's is up this year

Not sure he will go back to Ferrari then again i didnt think he would go back to McLaren

I'd love to see him in a merc

Whilst it perhaps seemed as though respective passions took their toll on the Ferrari/Alonso relationship, it wouldn't surprise me if both Alonso and Ferrari reflected on the grass of their later separate relationships not actually being all that greener...

[west_london_red]

Whilst it perhaps seemed as though respective passions took their toll on the Ferrari/Alonso relationship, it wouldn't surprise me if both Alonso and Ferrari reflected on the grass of their later separate relationships not actually being all that greener...

Alonso has taken about 10 leaps back in terms of car from where he was at Ferrari, while Ferrari have probably taken a couple backwards as a team since Alonso left. I would say that Alonso is faster then Vettel and Kimi, but hes not that much faster that he would have made Ferrari competitive again - even he couldn't compensate for the advantage Mercedes have, so from that point of view Ferrari didn't make that bad a move in letting him go. With or without Alonso Ferrari were never going to win titles, where as Alonso went from being in a good spot to pick up wins if the Mercedes failed to finish a race to being lucky to finish a race. Im struggling to think of a similar situation in F1 when such a driver has made such a bad gamble.

[paulrazor]

Whilst it perhaps seemed as though respective passions took their toll on the Ferrari/Alonso relationship, it wouldn't surprise me if both Alonso and Ferrari reflected on the grass of their later separate relationships not actually being all that greener...

true

Alonso has taken about 10 leaps back in terms of car from where he was at Ferrari, while Ferrari have probably taken a couple backwards as a team since Alonso left. I would say that Alonso is faster then Vettel and Kimi, but hes not that much faster that he would have made Ferrari competitive again - even he couldn't compensate for the advantage Mercedes have, so from that point of view Ferrari didn't make that bad a move in letting him go. With or without Alonso Ferrari were never going to win titles, where as Alonso went from being in a good spot to pick up wins if the Mercedes failed to finish a race to being lucky to finish a race. Im struggling to think of a similar situation in F1 when such a driver has made such a bad gamble.

the 2014 Ferrari was a disaster but still better than anything mclaren brought out

the 2015 and 16 ferraris were much better

for a gamble possibly alonso again when he went back to renault. in 2008 they were nowhere near as good as when he left.

Hill joining arrows also springs to mind

[voodoo ray]

Alonso has made quite a few poor decisions.

[Phil M]

Off topic a little but has there been any news on Michael Schumacher's condition in the past few months?