My personal rankings for the cars after spending three days out in Austin: 1. Mercedes 2. Red Bull Racing 3. Ferrari 4. McLaren 5. AlphaTauri 6. Aston Martin 7. Alpine 8. Williams 9. Alfa Romeo 10. Haas
One must certainly keep in mind, of course, that by the time we reach Bahrain, most of these cars will likely look quite different from the versions we have seen here in Austin; after all, isn't it standard practice for every team to keep their "ace in the hole" hidden away to prevent the rest of the field from simply copying their design? In my estimation, Red Bull Racing possesses the greatest potential for development moving forward.
Now that we have concluded the very first round of testing, I thought it might be prudent to share the final tally regarding total laps completed and distance covered by each team: 1. Ferrari - 439 laps - 1275 miles 2. Mercedes - 393 - 1837 3. McLaren - 367 - 1715 4. Red Bull - 358 - 1673 5. Williams - 347 - 1622 6. AlphaTauri - 308 - 1439 7. Aston Martin - 296 - 1383 8. Alpine - 266 - 1243 9. Alfa Romeo - 175 - 818 10. Haas - 160 - 748
Furthermore, if one wishes to look at the data through a more individual lens, here are those exact figures broken down per driver: 1. Carlos Sainz Jr. - 236 laps - 686 miles 2. Daniel Ricciardo - 212 - 991 3. George Russell - 209 - 977 4. Alexander Albon - 207 - 967 5. Max Verstappen - 206 - 963 6. Charles Leclerc - 203 - 949 7. Pierre Gasly - 187 - 874 8. Lewis Hamilton - 184 - 860 9. Sebastian Vettel - 174 - 813 10. Lando Norris - 155 - 724 11. Sergio Pérez - 152 - 710 12. Fernando Alonso - 141 - 659 13. Nicholas Latifi - 140 - 654 14. Esteban Ocon - 125 - 584 15. Lance Stroll - 122 - 570 16. Yuki Tsunoda - 121 - 565 17. Guanyu Zhou - 112 - 523 18. Mick Schumacher - 89 - 416 19. Nikita Mazepin - 71 - 331 20. Valtteri Bottas - 54 - 252 21. Robert Kubica - 9 - 42
I find myself wondering if we are perhaps looking at this from a slightly unusual camera angle, yet, upon closer inspection, one might be forgiven for thinking the driver's seat in the Red Bull appears to be positioned somewhat further toward the rear of the chassis:
Of course, one must take into account the fact that certain maps are being kept under wraps until we reach testing in Bahrain. It is entirely possible that some of these cars might present a quite different profile once they are actually on track. As it stands, both Red Bull Racing and Ferrari have managed to clock in about 80 laps already, and as far as I can tell, reliability doesn't seem to be an issue at this stage.
Raymond Anderson4 said:It looks like the Red Bull was finished just five minutes before rolling out of the garage; the halo seems a bit budget, and those sidepods look somewhat cheap too. Still, if they managed to get it done that quickly, credit where credit is due—kudos to Newey and the crew.
It was likely rushed through at the very last second, I suppose. However, I find myself unable to agree with the notion that it looks cheap. If you ask me, it actually looks about two levels above everything else on the grid. I am already starting to think that catching them this season might be an impossible task. We will simply have to wait and see how much time it takes for the rest of the field to attempt to copy the Red Bull solutions.
It appears there is no sense of balance left in the Mercedes W13. One can tell they didn't cut any corners during development, though I must admit the livery isn't quite to my taste; nevertheless, the car itself looks remarkably quick.
Gary Anderson has shared his thoughts regarding Ferrari F1-75, and frankly, he isn't exactly singing its praises. He seems convinced that this car simply isn't built to contend for victories, though one might wonder if we haven't seen these kinds of missteps from them before? 😁
It seems entirely pointless to have gone through all that effort with the paint job if they haven't managed to integrate a little swimming pool into the chassis ☕
ruggedhawk20 said:It’s going to be quite an interesting sight once the rain starts and the puddles begin to gather out there.
Well, that actually brought a specific image to my mind, didn't it? It reminded me of those little inflatable kiddie pools you see in backyards during the summer—you know, that sort of budget, plastic-toy style.🙂
In any given scenario, they simply didn't play it safe. I find myself struggling to wrap my head around certain aspects of this, particularly regarding that specific section about the throat area, which just doesn't seem to align with the facts as I see them. Is it possible that they missed the mark entirely? I truly fear they may have completely failed us.
Sam Clark75 said:Is it just me, or is it actually quite unsightly? Especially when you pair it with that signature orange they love so much; the whole car ends up looking less like a precision machine and more like some oversized lollipop or a cheap plastic toy. It feels as though they have struggled to find a cohesive livery for years now, ever since they drifted toward that almost entirely black aesthetic back in 2015 or 2016. Though, I must admit, they were in such a state of despair back then that if the car turns out to be genuinely fast, I suppose I won't mind the lack of aesthetics too much.
If we are being honest, the last time McLaren truly presented a beautiful car was all the way back in 2005.
I must admit, I misread the title at first glance—something about a half-naked moderator appearing on the PDF world—and for a fleeting moment, I found myself feeling quite genuinely uplifted by the prospect. However, once I actually clicked through to the thread, I realized just how profoundly mistaken I had been, leaving me to wonder why such illusions are so easily conjured in our minds? 😢
