2016 Car Launch and Pre-season Testing

stormybadger8 said:It seems that in this current climate, Ferrari is definitely faster than they were last year—and by quite a margin. It is already becoming apparent: we are looking at a gap of half a second.🤔

Sebastian Vettel clocked a 1:25.458 on mediums during yesterday's qualifying session. Now, he's sitting at a 1:24.939, also on mediums.
Lewis Hamilton clocked a 1:24.948 on mediums during yesterday's qualifying session—Nico Rosberg was quicker at 1:24.681—but now Hamilton is sitting at a 1:25.409 on those same mediums.
It’s quite obvious that today was just one of those days where Lewis Hamilton was merely cruising rather than actually pushing the limits. It seems physically impossible for them to have shed half a second compared to last year's performance. This really brings us back to the central question: just how much raw pace does Germany actually have under the hood?
The real question remains: how hard was Vettel pushing, and just how much faster can Ferrari actually go than what we saw yesterday? 🤷

So, it looks like Ferrari managed to find at least half a second here. That’s fine, I suppose. The real issue is that we were lagging by about a full second last year, and frankly, we have absolutely no idea how much ground Mercedes has gained. 🤷
All things considered, I suspect the gap might be slightly narrower than last year, though I’ll go out on a limb and say it’s still going to be quite massive.

Regarding that 01:22.792 Rosberg's time from last year's testing—it really doesn't mean much.
That time was set on the Supersoft, which isn't even being used on this track during qualifying or the race.

I suspect Ferrari's deficit would have been roughly two or three tenths, if it even reached that point at all.

It wasn't exactly a one-second gap this year. Under specific conditions, sure, but a half-second deficit is probably a more realistic average. That's still a massive margin.

It's good to see everyone racing without any major drama. It looks like we might actually have a great season ahead of us. The only real outliers were Haas struggling with their front wing and Renault dealing with software issues; as for Toro Rosso, I didn't even check why they finished so early yesterday.

stormybadger8 said:Hmm, looking at the data, it seems like Ferrari is definitely faster than last year—and by quite a bit. It looks like there's already a half-second gap...🤔

Last year, Sebastian Vettel hit a Q3 1:25.458 on mediums during qualifying; this year he's at 1:24.939 on mediums...
Lewis Hamilton was at a Q3 1:24.948 on mediums last year (with Nico Rosberg being faster at 1:24.681), but now Hamilton is sitting at 1:25.409 on mediums...

I guess Rosberg's time of 01:22.792 from last year's testing doesn't really mean much,
since that was on a super-soft tire that isn't even used during actual qualifying or race weekends..

Times are always way faster during testing because the temperatures are lower, and they don't have to baby the engine as much.

Nico Rosberg's time back in 2015 was actually on Softs. He also ran a 23.6 on mediums or something like that.

northerncobra31 said:Glad to see everyone's running without any major drama—it could actually be a solid season. Aside from Haas struggling with that front wing issue, Renault dealing with software glitches, and Toro Rosso's early finish yesterday—which I didn't even bother looking into—things seem okay.

Gearbox issues... or so Carlos Sainz claims.

aha,thanks

It’s surprising to see Ferrari and Red Bull testing out those supersoft and ultrasoft compounds this early in the session. Ferrari hasn't been putting in many laps yet, whereas Haas stayed out a bit longer after their pit stop, and Manor is barely running at all.

I'm honestly worried that Ferrari just isn't fast enough, and we might be looking at another incredibly boring season

jadeseal7 said:Well, they say you never know until you reach Miami...😁

Actually, Nada is my mother-in-law—she's an absolutely wonderful woman.

northerncobra31 said:I'm actually pretty surprised that Ferrari and Red Bull went out so early to push those laps on the supersoft and ultrasoft tires; it seems like Ferrari isn't running too many laps, and Haas was one of the last ones out there, while Manor isn't putting in much time either.

I really appreciate seeing that, honestly, because it feels like they aren't holding anything back right from the start. It probably makes sense since we have one less testing day, so they don't have that luxury of spending three or four days just "checking systems" and running laps that are several seconds off the pace.

Drew Bennett68 said:Nancy is my fiancée, and she is a truly wonderful woman.

And besides, we all know Nancy...

Today marked the very first time we’ve seen the ultra-soft tire compound in action on the track. It was quite interesting to observe how the teams handled them, wasn't it? Interestingly enough, nearly every single team opted to run more than one race simulation today, with the sole exception of Ford. I must say, Manor seems to have found a much more competitive edge compared to their performance last year. As for the heavy hitters, Mercedes looks incredibly convincing out there, while Ferrari remains firmly positioned as their primary pursuer.

If you wish to keep track of the daily testing results, please feel free to refer to the first page of this thread. I shall be returning later this evening to provide an update covering everything that transpired during today's sessions.

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. 😉

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. 🙂

graniteharbor502 said:You can check the daily testing results on the first page of the opening post. I'll be updating them late each evening.

Giving it a 5. But in my opinion, total laps completed matters way more than a single fastest lap time.



😁Rosberg did 172 laps.

Otherwise:


Also, Mercedes announced an "unusual and innovative" nose design.
They were supposed to reveal it today, but looks like we won't see it until tomorrow or the day after.

stormybadger8 said:Based on this, it looks like the ultrasoft is about 0.700-0.800 faster than the supersoft...

Which would imply that FI is actually quite a bit faster than RB 🤔

Vettel - 1:22.8 on ultrasoft.
Rosberg - 1:24.8 on medium

So, what does that tell us? 🍿

Lap times really don't tell us much at this stage—we have absolutely no clue how much fuel they’re carrying through those sectors.

I am somewhat encouraged by the Boeing 747 lap count, though, especially considering they're running a completely different chassis and a massive overhaul on the LAPD engine.

jadeseal7 said:Lap times don't mean a thing right now. We have zero clue how much fuel they're running.

Timing matters immensely, doesn't it? But not when it's presented like this.

Watch a driver nail 20 to 30 consistent laps on the mediums, or maybe some shorter bursts on the softs... that’s where you find the real story.

jadeseal7 Asks:
It’s encouraging to see Vettel 126 laps. We have to remember we're looking at a completely different car here, not to mention a massive redesign of the Engine.

When it comes to that specific issue, McLaren-Honda and AlphaTauri definitely did a much better job.

Jason Campbell70 said:Lap times matter immensely—but not when they're presented this way.

The real story lies in analyzing a steady stint of 20-30 laps on the medium tires, or perhaps some shorter bursts on the softs... that's where you find the truth.

Well, I suppose we really need to dig into those specific data points before drawing any real conclusions. As it stands, it’s far too easy to say that Nico Rosberg could have easily clocked a 1:24.8 in the Mercedes with 20kg of fuel, while Sebastian Vettel put up a 1:24.9 yesterday using that same component with more or less fuel—so... yeah.

Jason Campbell70 said:Regarding that particular point, McLaren-Honda and AlphaTauri actually did a much better job.

McLaren-Honda really only had room to move upward—there wasn't any way for them to go lower. Meanwhile, Ferrari was facing the genuine risk of a total disaster given how different this new concept is compared to last season.

AlphaTauri is running last year's Ferrari engine, which was actually quite reliable, so I don't see anything particularly revolutionary happening there.

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.

The_End said:...I suspect McLaren isn't pushing their engine to its limit right now, so whether reliability is actually an issue remains to be seen. It’s like testing a car in a parking lot versus a drag strip; we won't know until they really floor it during those opening races.o ce se vidjeti tek u prvim utrkama kad ce duze vrijeme drzat papicu gasa stisnutu do poda.

Exactly.

Jason Campbell70 said:Regarding that point, McLaren-Honda and AlphaTauri have definitely done much better work there...

Trying to gauge McLaren based solely on last year's early-season mileage is a complete toss-up.