Posts by stormybadger8

Thomas Grant53 said:They mentioned they were doing a "fuel systems check."

And why did he just sit there right before the end of the test yesterday?
Maybe they were pushing the fuel system and tank to the absolute limit to see when it would blow, and then things went south... to me, it smells like some kind of 🤔

What on earth is going on with Ferrari?
From what I can see, they haven't even completed a single lap today. 🤷
Did something snap under the hood, or did Kimi Räikkönen just have one too many drinks and can't stay on the track? 😬

mellowtiger83 said:Two seconds faster than Rosberg's Mercedes, using tires that were two mixes faster? That's quite the achievement. Nice one, Jason Campbell70, very wise words there. Brilliant observation. 🤣🤣🙏

From Rosberg 🙂!!

US < (approx 0.8) SS < (approx 1.0) S < (approx 1.0) < M
Obviously, there's still the question of how hard they were pushing and their fuel loads...
But the vibe is that Ferrari might have actually been chasing times, while Mercedes was just chasing reliability—basically, just trying to finish laps rather than hunting for speed. If that's true, the gap is probably even wider...

The only silver lining is that Rosberg is usually way better than Hamilton at this track (one of the few places he doesn't struggle), so at least we don't have to worry about them being neck-and-neck there...
Except, this isn't exactly one of those tracks where Vettel shines; if anything, it's one of his worst...
On that front, Jason Campbell70 completely missed the mark. He's totally off base. 🤣

Edit:
For the record, Vettel, Hamilton, and Rosberg each have only one win in Barcelona... Vettel and Hamilton have one pole, while Rosberg has two...
In 2015, Rosberg (Pole) beat Hamilton by 0.267s in qualifying and 17.551s in the race... I don't recall him ever beating him by that much.
In 2014, Hamilton (Pole) beat Rosberg by 0.168s in qualifying and a mere 0.636s in the race.
In 2013, Rosberg (Pole) beat Hamilton by 0.254s in qualifying and a full lap in the race...

So, based on everything we've seen, this is one of the rare tracks where Rosberg is noticeably better than Hamilton. ☕

Jason Campbell70 said:Vettel - 1:22.8 on ultrasofts.
Rosberg - 1:24.8 on mediums

So what's the takeaway there? 🍿

It would mean Mercedes is at least a full second faster than Ferrari, assuming Rosberg actually gave it everything he had... which I highly doubt.

All things considered, this season looks way worse than last year when it comes to Mercedes dominating...
And Ferrari will be busy fighting off Force India and Williams instead of actually chasing Mercedes...

If anyone has a shot, it's Red Bull if they can actually pull something together with that "Tag" engine...
Otherwise, honestly, not a chance.

1. Sebastian Vettel Ferrari 1:22.810 ultrasoft day 2
2. Daniel Ricciardo Red Bull 1:23.525 ultrasoft day 2
3. Sebastian Vettel Ferrari 1:23.658 supersoft day 2
4. Daniel Ricciardo Red Bull 1:24.298 supersoft day 2

Looking at these numbers, the ultrasoft seems to be about 0.700-0.800 faster than the supersoft...

Which would mean the Force India is actually faster than the Red Bull. And by a decent margin at that. 🤔

1. Sebastian Vettel Ferrari 1:22.810 US 125
2. Daniel Ricciardo Red Bull 1:23.525 US 112
3. Sergio Perez Force India 1:23.650 SS 100

But hey, even if they are just hovering around the Ferrari level...😳
If the Force India is running the same power unit as the main team this year, then this might be a sign that the dominance is going to be even bigger than last year. 🙂

mellowtiger83 said:I think Ferrari's gap would be around 2-3 tenths, if anything at all.

Well, last year the gap wasn't exactly a full second. Sure, under specific conditions maybe, but half a second is a more realistic average—which is still massive.

I was talking about being a second off in qualifying in Barcelona...
http://www.formula1.com/content/fom-...ualifying.html

Fine, not an exact second, but it definitely wasn't much less than that. 😉

Honestly, looking at the times from yesterday, Ferrari is definitely faster than last year—and by a lot. We’re already seeing a half-second gap...🤔

Sebastian Vettel was sitting at Q3 1:25.458 on mediums last year; now he’s hitting 1:24.939 on mediums...
Lewis Hamilton did Q3 1:24.948 on mediums last year (with Nico Rosberg being faster at 1:24.681), but now Hamilton is at 1:25.409 on mediums...
It’s pretty obvious Hamilton was just cruising when he had a good day rather than actually pushing. There's no way they all just lost half a second compared to last season, so the real question is how much pace does Germany actually have.
The real mystery is how hard Vettel was pushing and just how much faster Ferrari can actually go than what we saw yesterday.🤷

So, based on this, it looks like Ferrari found at least half a second. The issue is that the gap last year was about a full second, and we have zero clue how much ground Mercedes has gained.🤷
All in all, it feels like the gap might end up smaller than last year, but damn, it’ll probably still be massive...

By the way, that 01:22.792 Rosberg set during testing last year doesn't mean squat,
because that time was on supersofts, which aren't even used during qualifying or the race on this track.

That's it....



Lap counts...
Lewis Hamilton, 156
Marcus Ericsson, 88
Daniel Ricciardo, 87
Jenson Button, 84
Valtteri Bottas, 80
Sebastian Vettel, 69
Esteban Ocon, 58
Carlos Sainz, 55
Pascal Wehrlein, 54
Jolyon Palmer, 37
Romain Grosjean, 31

Hard to draw any real conclusions here, but if I had to guess the order:
1. Bear
2. Ferrari
3. Red Bull & Williams, and honestly, they look pretty close...
4. Force India & STR
5. McLaren & Sauber & Haas
6. Manor
7. Renault 🤦

jadeseal7 said:Sauber is running last year's car.

Last year's Power Unit or this year's?
If they're really using last year's chassis, it’s weird that Marcus Ericsson is sitting on a 1:27.555 on mediums right now, considering his best qualifying time last year was 1:28.112 (I don't recall perfectly, but he was likely on softs 🤔)...

That's not exactly a tiny gap compared to last season, especially if the car is identical...
it would imply there's a massive difference in the Power Unit, software, fuel, or maybe even the Pirelli tires 🤔

That's a hundred percent certain...

The only thing we can actually tell from this is that Honda is clearly way more reliable than they were last year, and that Haas is definitely going to be right in the middle of the pack.
Marcus Ericsson is already hitting times right up there with his best qualifying lap from last year (only 0.010 off),
and Haas is within 0.200—and that’s even with their front wing issues keeping them from really driving all day... honestly, they aren't far from the Honda, either.

All in all, Haas looks great for a start, and it doesn't look like they'll be dragging along at the bottom of the standings.👍

In fact, it’s looking like Manor might actually overtake Renault by the end of the day and leave them sitting at the very bottom of the table.😁

Ted’s reporting from the pit lane with some news for the McLaren faithful regarding how Honda is actually doing:

"While most engine manufacturers brought their custom 2016 engines to kick off the season, Honda isn't playing by those rules.

"The power unit in the back of Button and Alonso's car at this test is effectively a Mark I 2016 engine incorporating most of the changes Honda knew they needed to make over the winter.

"They have a Mark II spec ready to debut for next week's test, and the lessons learned between these two versions will be baked into the Mark III, which is what they'll actually take to Melbourne.

"So, if McLaren looks a bit sluggish early on, don't panic—better hardware is coming."

Interesting...
So this is basically just the reliable version of the Honda PU, and the actual powerhouse arrives at the next test...
Then they'll probably decide which one to run in Australia or try to build some kind of hybrid between the two versions. 🤔

Otherwise last year, McHonda managed only 79 laps total during the entire first test. So far, Button is already sitting at 48...
Thank God it looks like they actually fixed something. If nothing else, at least we might actually see them finish a race.

Depends on which day you pick 😁

http://www.gpupdate.net/en/testresul...february-2015/
Feb 20, 2015 - Kimi is about half a second faster than Hamilton...

http://www.gpupdate.net/en/testresul...february-2015/
Feb 22, 2015 - Vettel is roughly 2 seconds slower than Rosberg...

http://www.gpupdate.net/en/testresul...february-2015/
Feb 27, 2015 - Vettel is trailing Rosberg by about 2.5 seconds...

By the way, when you look at Rosberg's 01:22.792, today's Hamilton's 1:25.409 looks like driving in 5th gear or just coasting halfway through the turns...

Test 1 - 2014
Test 1 - 2015

Same goal, same gap...
Ferrari is about half a second faster than Bear again, just like in 2014 and 2015. Looks like zero progress here.

Give me a break. If the day ends with Vettel at the top, that’s three seasons in a row where Ferrari is the fastest in the first test of the season—and that's three years straight in the turbo era. But we'll see 😬

Midday results...

1 Lewis Hamilton Ferrari 1:24.939 36 laps
2 Lewis Hamilton Mercedes 1:25.409 66 laps
3 Valtteri Bottas Williams 1:26.091 43 laps
4 Daniel Ricciardo Red Bull 1:26.704 20 laps
5 Carlos Sainz Toro Rosso 1:27.180 35 laps
6 Jenson Button McLaren 1:27.691 35 laps
7 Marcus Ericsson Sauber 1:28.165 36 laps
8 Romain Grosjean Haas 1:28.399 13 laps
9 Esteban Ocon Force India 1:29.406 21 laps
10 Jolyon Palmer Renault 1:31.351 15 laps
11 Pascal Wehrlein Manor 1:33.455 8 laps

Times don't really mean much right now...
But looks like Honda finally sorted out the reliability. They actually finished 35 laps without blowing up.👍

Also, kind of funny seeing Hass immediately faster than Renault—and by a noticeable margin too.😁
Guess Grosjean isn't missing his mark after all. Not even close.

Roger Wright94 said:We'll know more starting tomorrow. Trying to predict this right now feels pretty ungrateful.
But hey, if someone actually has a solid, well-reasoned prediction, I'm all ears.

Ferrari made a massive leap last year.
If they pull off another one this year, they might actually be title contenders.

As for Mercedes, I doubt they've made a huge jump. Maybe some progress, sure, but a leap? Unlikely.

It's just that such a massive leap isn't realistic. Honestly, it’s incredibly hard to pull off—if not outright impossible...
At the end of the day, the only ones capable of a massive leap are at McDonald's, but what does that even mean? They might jump from the bottom of a well to halfway up, or maybe miraculously near the top, but jumping out of the well and leaping over Mercedes? Yeah, definitely not happening...

A slightly more plausible story is Ferrari. They made a huge jump last year, but mostly because they were absolutely trashed the year before. Still, overtaking the leaders is extremely difficult because those last few hundredths of a second are the hardest part to find...

jadeseal7 said:Haas just unveiled their new car.

Haas just pulled the covers off the VF-16. Honestly? It’s out. We finally have a look at what they’re bringing to the grid this year. Not much to write home about, but hey, it’s a car. Let's see if it actually moves faster than last season's headache.

🙏 He’s absolutely unstoppable.

Top two best-looking cars on the grid. 👍
Looking at these photos, the rear end looks an awful lot like last year's Ford. 🤔
Maybe that wasn't actually last year's Ford power unit after all.

jadeseal7 said:Sure, maybe, but that doesn't necessarily mean 😁

Germany had a massive advantage last year that was obvious to everyone, but the thing is, they still had plenty of headroom left that they didn't even need to touch. It’s almost impossible to say just how much extra performance they were sitting on in their back pocket...
Meanwhile, everyone else was running at absolute limit and still couldn't catch them...

Look, Ferrari grabbed three wins, which is the same amount Red Bull Racing got the season before, but let's be real: if Germany had actually stayed focused during those six weekends and if their drivers had actually done their jobs at 100%, those other teams wouldn't have walked away with a single one of those victories...

mellowtiger83 said:Sure, if you ignore the fact that Lewis Hamilton beat Alonso, Button, Rosberg, and even Vettel back in F3—all while driving the exact same cars.

And who’s to say the same thing wouldn't happen to Pastor Maldonado if he actually got a decent shot?
Both types drive like they're constantly on the edge, just floor it and see what happens, then lose their minds if anything gets in their way...
The issue with Maldonado was just being stuck in the midfield, which usually ended in a massive wreck or him spinning out... but when he actually had a front-row start, he proved he could hang with the best.
It's the same deal with Hamilton; he's shown plenty of times that he can play the Maldonado role if he doesn't start on the pole. Ask Sergio Massa, he knows the feeling all too well. 😁

jadeseal7 said:So basically, Mercedes went for a light evolution in design, while Ferrari went for a total overhaul.

Should be interesting, hopefully.

The only interesting part will be seeing if Germany finally lets Rosberg off the leash and allows actual racing, or if they'll keep everything strictly catered to one driver...

As for Ferrari vs Mercedes? I don't expect much of a fight. Mercedes is so dominant right now that nobody is catching them until there's a massive rule change.
Even if Ferrari bought out all of Red Bull Racing and tried to build some Frankenstein hybrid of an RB and a Ferrari, they'd still struggle to make it competitive.

Honestly, the only way we see a real battle is if Germany stops babysitting Rosberg and lets him and Lewis Hamilton go at it tooth and nail every race—assuming the team actually lets them.
Or maybe if Goodyear comes up with some weird tire compound that somehow hates Mercedes and works perfectly for everyone else...
Anything else? Not a chance.

jadeseal7 said:Interesting how much narrower it is. Hopefully that doesn't trigger some other headaches.

The car looks great, especially from an overhead shot... if it wasn't red, you'd swear it was an RB 😁
Honestly, the only ugly thing about it is the nose. No contest there... though who knows, maybe they'll swap it out mid-season.

But overheating could definitely be an issue. It's easy to see where things might get messy there. 🤔
Then again, if it works, this thing could actually be a beast. 👍

Matthew Murphy91 said:What are you even on?
Just because you don't like him doesn't mean you get to spout nonsense in public.

What part of this is nonsense?
Maldonado and Alexander Hamilton are basically two sides of the same coin out there...
The big difference is that Hamilton was driving elite-tier cars, while Maldonado was stuck in a completely different league entirely...
Plus, the FIA was always breathing down Maldonado's neck for every little thing, whereas they let Hamilton slide more often than not...
But at the core, they're the same: floor it and ram whoever happens to be in front of you.