Sakae 0 Report post Posted March 3, 2016 AMuS noted exemplary consistency in lap times Kimi was turning in today. I am still not sure what it all means. Everyone is yammering about Mercedes how far ahead they are of everyone else, but other than cruising in large numbers of laps in moderate or not so impressive speeds, thus confirming reliability side, I have not seen them to actually go head-to-head with Ferrari. I do not buy into various interpolations and factor adjustments of laps times based on tires. Tires are new, they are different than last year (confirmed by drivers), so, where is everyone getting their wisdom is beyond me. Maybe by May 15 we will be better informed who is who, because right now someone is not telling us all. Williams is estimating: Ferrari is 0.4 sec/lap behind Mercedes Read Bull and Williams are 0.2 sec/lap behind Ferrari. OK, Symonds is experienced, but with this I think he let himself go. Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Sakae 0 Report post Posted March 3, 2016 From reading someone's translation of an interview with Kimi, he has told Finish media, that today all went without any issues, and they could turn more laps, maybe even go faster, so, he and TP are both happy campers. Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
BradSpeedMan 6 Report post Posted March 3, 2016 Great stuff!! Can't wait for the start of the season! Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
BradSpeedMan 6 Report post Posted March 3, 2016 Thanks for the info Sakae, gives one hope for a competitive season, close to what I predicted Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Emmcee 0 Report post Posted March 3, 2016 Yeah all on paper it looks real exciting but I wouldn't be surprised if merc romp away with a steady one two and the rest are left to duke it out. I really hope kimi steps up, imagine the tension between them if Seb has to now worry about kimi as well as the mercs. Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Ruslan 0 Report post Posted March 3, 2016 Times at the end of the day. What had been notably missing for the last seven days of testing is particularly fast times by Mercedes. Probably sandbagging. Full testing times from the third day of the second F1 test of the 2016 pre-season from the Circuit de Catalunya – Day 3 4pm. 1. Kimi Raikkonen Finland Ferrari-Ferrari 95 laps 1m 22.765s 2. Felipe Massa Brazil Williams-Mercedes 83 laps 1m 23.193s 3. Nico Hulkenberg Germany Force India-Mercedes 105 laps 1m 23.251s 4. Max Verstappen Netherlands Toro Rosso-Ferrari 107 laps 1m 23.382s 5. Nico Rosberg Germany Mercedes-Mercedes 81 laps 1m 24.126s* 6. Felipe Nasr Brazil Sauber-Ferrari 91 laps 1m 24.760s 7. Fernando Alonso Spain McLaren-Honda 87 laps 1m 24.870s 8. Pascal Wehrlein Germany MRT-Mercedes 34 laps 1m 25.101s 9. Daniil Kvyat Russia Red Bull-TAG-Heuer 82 laps 1m 25.141s 10. Jolyon Palmer Britain Renault-Renault 36 laps 1m 27.182s 11. Romain Grosjean France Haas-Ferrari 66 laps 1m 27.196s 12. Lewis Hamilton Britain Mercedes-Mercedes 23 laps 1m 27.536s** *denotes morning session only **denotes afternoon session only Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Sakae 0 Report post Posted March 3, 2016 Gro managed 3 red flags today, and play rather disruptive role in Ferrari's race sim. What the hek was all that about? Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Emmcee 0 Report post Posted March 3, 2016 Nice job Ruslan! Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
BradSpeedMan 6 Report post Posted March 3, 2016 Gro managed 3 red flags today, and play rather disruptive role in Ferrari's race sim. What the hek was all that about? Apparently Kimi did really impressive consistent times Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Sakae 0 Report post Posted March 3, 2016 Apparently Kimi did really impressive consistent times Yep, so he did, and, he also mounted 3 different grades of tires during his sim run. Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
BradSpeedMan 6 Report post Posted March 3, 2016 On par with what Ive seen from Merc, mind the interruptions Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Emmcee 0 Report post Posted March 3, 2016 Looks very promising doesn't it? I really hope both Ferrari's give merc a decent run this season, can stand championships won by default. When I mean default, you know who will win from the first race. Not a fan of Ferrari's new race suit though, yuk!!! Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Sakae 0 Report post Posted March 4, 2016 Well, Williams wants headlines, so they declared themselves as a P2 team. I don't think so! You aren't that good. Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Emmcee 0 Report post Posted March 4, 2016 Well, Williams wants headlines, so they declared themselves as a P2 team. I don't think so! You aren't that good. Do they think it's still 1995? Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Sakae 0 Report post Posted March 4, 2016 If I would take -- mostly British -- media at their word, then from Ferrari down all teams should save themselves money and stay at home. Season is over. Make it a season of two cars. I wonder what would FiA and FOM do, if, with exceptions of Mercedes, no one else would travel to Australia as in sign of protest. Point is, problem is not that Mercedes has done a good job, but that the rule-book was (and to large extend remains so) preventing others to work without restriction on recovery process from past design flaws, thus there is problem of competitiveness in what is suppose to be, by inherent nature, a competitive environment. Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Emmcee 0 Report post Posted March 4, 2016 It would never happen, all of these teams have contracts that they MUST show at a GP. Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Ruslan 0 Report post Posted March 4, 2016 Morning times. I gather this afternoon will be the last test run before the season. So far, only Ferrari has gotten below 1:23.00. Expect Mercedes to make a statement this afternoon. Times 1 Vettel Ferrari 1:22.852 54 laps 2 Sainz Toro Rosso 1:23.134 57 laps 3 Perez Force India 1:23.721 44 laps 4 Hamilton Mercedes 1:24.133 69 laps 5 Ricciardo Red Bull 1:24.427 61 laps 6 Button McLaren 1:24.714 56 laps 7 Palmer Renault 1:24.859 29 laps 8 Ericsson Sauber 1:25.031 57 laps 9 Grosjean Haas 1:25.255 52 laps 10 Massa Williams 1:25.696 63 laps 11 Haryanto Manor No time 0 laps Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Sakae 0 Report post Posted March 4, 2016 Vettel has now 121 laps of race sim. Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Sakae 0 Report post Posted March 4, 2016 Renault should kick Palmer out, and replace him with somebody else. I've had it of him. The guy does nothing but complains, instead being (little) grateful, that Renault actually gave him an opportunity and kept him. He should know how team got here, he should know that this season wan't be easy, so why making himself so damn "important", having not a single racing lap yet to his credit. I used to like his father when he was commenting on races, but Junior is something else. Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Sakae 0 Report post Posted March 4, 2016 It's over, and from what i am reading, media talking heads betting on Merc destroying Ferrari and everybody else. I rather think that for lack of reliable data, it is too close to call right now. Melbourne might serve surprise, and someone else could emerge (Renault's driveable engine, Williams, etc.), but I also think that Ferrari might have a chance to give Brackley (and their obnoxious fans) a pause. Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Sakae 0 Report post Posted March 4, 2016 It has been said that Mercedes appraised Ferrari as being either 0.2 sec faster, or 0.4 sec slower then them, all depends how much fuel Ferrari had on board, when comparative analysis was performed. I still think while this is better than nothing, yet it could be also highly misleading, since there are too many variables, such as detuned engine (due to alledged vibrations in Ferrari's gearbox), B-spec aero, etc. list could be quite long. Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Emmcee 0 Report post Posted March 4, 2016 That's why I never take much from the test sessions, it's just to difficult. Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
spiral.out 0 Report post Posted March 5, 2016 If theres one thing Ive learned, and there probably is, its that testing means jack, and we dont know true pace until Melbourne Quali. Having said that, humans have a problem with this emotion called "hope" which also makes things more exciting. So its not all bad. Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Sakae 0 Report post Posted March 5, 2016 With new qualifying format, and should it really happen and teams get closer in real terms, chances are that words like Pirelli, setup, and strategy will appear in headlines often; maybe more often than desirable. Perusing "news" this morning it comes as no surprise, that large number of population thinks that Mercedes is controlling gap, and could do more, if they want to. Well maybe, and future will perhaps let us on what the truth is. I am rather suspicious that situation is under one of F1 fundamental theorems of believes (there are several, involving drivers). This one - If Mercedes is not ahead of Ferrari in testing, than they are sandbagging, and Ferrari is on a glory lap, and that's fundamental truth. If Mercedes is not ahead of Ferrari in the race, equipment or strategy failed. and that's fundamental truth. etc. Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Angellica 0 Report post Posted March 5, 2016 If theres one thing Ive learned, and there probably is, its that testing means jack, and we dont know true pace until Melbourne Quali. Having said that, humans have a problem with this emotion called "hope" which also makes things more exciting. So its not all bad. Too right about not trusting the test times. I still recall the year Prost looked mightily fast in testing!! How wrong did that turn out to be? However I do have hope that Ferrari can make a fight of it this year. If they can't I fear we're in for another long boring season of Mercedes vs Mercedes again *yawn* Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
