2018 Car Reveal and Pre-season Testing

Raymond Anderson4 said:Of all people, it had to be McLaren out there on the track. They’ve turned into a total circus lately. Since they clearly don't have the pace anymore, I guess the least they can do is provide some entertainment for the crowd.

They probably just want to see if the car catches fire or if they'll get buried in a snowbank instead.😬
I wonder if they're still losing wheels or wings mid-race, or if they've actually figured out how to drive through slush without falling apart.🤷

Local hero ☕
https://www.pitpass.com/61120/Hamilt...od-of-his-team

Yeah, he totally sacrificed himself for the squad and Bottas! 🙏

Joseph Flores15 said:Exactly as the colleague mentioned regarding Bahrain. Since they knew exactly what kind of weather was coming their way, they should have simply moved the event there.

It isn't quite that straightforward, though. You can't just pack up an entire fleet of cars, move all the technical equipment, relocate the whole crew... not to mention the sheer logistical nightmare of reorganizing the entire event at such short notice.

Look above. For a move like that to actually happen, you'd need total consensus from every single team and the FIA, and let me tell you, that kind of agreement just isn't happening right now.

https://www.reddit.com/r/motorsports..._1_f1_testing/

Looks like there are a few small streams coming out of testing...
Most of them are just shaky phone footage, but if anyone’s actually dying to watch...

stormybadger8 said:https://www.reddit.com/r/motorsports..._1_f1_testing/

Looks like there are a few small streams coming out of testing...
Most of them are just shaky phone footage, but if anyone’s actually dying to watch...

I'm not sure, though; I stumbled upon some really great 1080p50 footage over on YouTube... or were you talking about a live stream?

Live...

There it is. A live stream straight from the testing session...

EDIT:
So Max spotted two guys in red and decided to give them a little chase on the track...😬
Red flag...

What’s with this sudden McLaren meltdown? Did they just get blindsided out of nowhere? Stoff put in 110 laps and Alonso is still out there grinding. Bravo, I guess.

Hamilton is back at it again, mocking his rivals while running on completely worn-out medium tires. Typical.

If we’re actually going to take these times seriously...

Assuming this data actually means something, here it is:
Fastest lap times from Test 1...

Lewis Hamilton, Mercedes, Day Four, Mediums, 1:19.333
Sebastian Vettel, Ferrari, Day Two, Softs, 1:19.673
Stoffel Vandoorne, McLaren, Day Four, Hypersofts, 1:19.854
Daniel Ricciardo, Red Bull, Day One, Mediums, 1:20.179

Looking at this, McLaren seems like a total disaster. No way they touch Red Bull's pace...
Hypersoft (McLaren), Ultrasoft, Supersoft, Soft - Medium (Red Bull)
The gap between tire compounds is usually somewhere around 0.3 to 1 second per level, yet the final spread is only about 0.300...
Maybe McLaren is just that slow, but I highly doubt it...
Even back when they were running Honda engines, the gap wasn't this massive.

Mercedes is miles ahead of everyone, unless Ferrari or Red Bull are hiding something big...
Based on the tire delta, Red Bull might even be faster than Ferrari, while Mercedes is over a full second ahead of Ferrari...

Bottom line? As usual, you can't really conclude anything from this stuff.🙂

How many laps did McLaren actually put in earlier today??? I recall someone here mentioning they’d be stuck redesigning the exhaust and the floor plating🙂.

Obviously, lap times don't mean a thing. Yesterday we watched Vettel struggle, today it's Hamilton, and that's just how it goes.

mellowtiger83 said:What’s with this sudden McLaren meltdown? Did they just get blindsided out of nowhere? Stoff put in 110 laps and Alonso is still out there grinding. Bravo, I guess.

And what’s your point?
During previous testing sessions, Ferrari had days where they were absolutely crushing lap times, right through to the Australian Grand Prix.
McLaren fans should probably pray they were running with full tanks, otherwise, this is looking pretty grim. Even Haas managed to clock a time half a second faster today on the exact same tires.

Splosh, splosh ☕

mellowtiger83 said:How many laps did McLaren actually put in earlier today??? I recall someone here mentioning they’d be stuck redesigning the exhaust and the floor plating🙂.

Obviously, lap times don't mean a thing. Yesterday we watched Vettel struggle, today it's Hamilton, and that's just how it goes.

And they were pretty slow while they were at it...
It’s obvious they spent the whole day chasing sponsors and playing around on Hypersoft tires, probably too scared to touch the frontrunners who were running much harder compounds...
I just hope that exhaust issue keeps giving them hell and they were stuck in some aggressive safe mode, otherwise they're in real trouble...

Anyway, McLaren didn't get nearly enough laps in...
Laps (by engine manufacturer)
# Team Laps
1. Honda 324
2. Ferrari 256
3. Mercedes 249.33
4. Renault 247.33

Laps (by constructor)
# Team Laps
1. Toro Rosso 324
...
7. McLaren 260

The race in Barcelona was about 60 laps total...
Honda managed to survive about 5 races worth of mileage😉
And no, it didn't die; everything worked perfectly without a single hiccup... so it'll likely be plenty reliable...
Based on what we've seen so far, that's the engine with the most miles on the grid, so let's call it the "most reliable" one for now...

That doesn't mean Renault won't be solid too, but it definitely means McLaren isn't a factory team anymore. It looks like McLaren seriously screwed up by ignoring Alonso's insistence that Honda was junk...
This might just end up being another one of Fernando Alonso's legendary boneheaded moves...

You’re being way too cautious here, honestly.

stormybadger8 said:And they were pretty slow while they were at it...
It’s obvious they spent the whole day chasing sponsors and playing around on Hypersoft tires, probably too scared to touch the frontrunners who were running much harder compounds...
I just hope that exhaust issue keeps giving them hell and they were stuck in some aggressive safe mode, otherwise they're in real trouble...

Anyway, McLaren didn't get nearly enough laps in...
Laps (by engine manufacturer)
# Team Laps
1. Honda 324
2. Ferrari 256
3. Mercedes 249.33
4. Renault 247.33

Laps (by constructor)
# Team Laps
1. Toro Rosso 324
...
7. McLaren 260

The race in Barcelona was about 60 laps total...
Honda managed to survive about 5 races worth of mileage😉
And no, it didn't die; everything worked perfectly without a single hiccup... so it'll likely be plenty reliable...
Based on what we've seen so far, that's the engine with the most miles on the grid, so let's call it the "most reliable" one for now...

That doesn't mean Renault won't be solid too, but it definitely means McLaren isn't a factory team anymore. It looks like McLaren seriously screwed up by ignoring Alonso's insistence that Honda was junk...
This might just end up being another one of Fernando Alonso's legendary boneheaded moves...

Alonso actually put together a lap today where he was the fastest of everyone through the first two sectors, only to drop off and go over two seconds slower than his own best time in that third sector. I'm not sure how closely you all follow these testing sessions, but even someone like Gary Anderson—who isn't exactly known for being a McLaren fanboy—is actually giving their car some serious credit.

On SS.
There’s definitely no more than a second between SS and medium.

Raymond Anderson4 said:On SS.
There’s definitely no more than a second between SS and medium.

McLaren actually clocked the fastest lap using the Hyper Softs.

On one hand, it’s pretty encouraging that nobody from the Ferrari camp is saying anything yet, but on the other... Mercedes looks absolutely dominant. Red Bull seems a bit twitchy on track, if I'm being honest. They've got plenty of aero work left to do in these final days to figure out what's going wrong.

Kenneth Cruz67 said:Alonso actually put together a lap today where he was the fastest of everyone through the first two sectors, only to drop off and go over two seconds slower than his own best time in that third sector. I'm not sure how closely you all follow these testing sessions, but even someone like Gary Anderson—who isn't exactly known for being a McLaren fanboy—is actually giving their car some serious credit.

I noticed that too; he lifted about 2 seconds in that final sector 🙂, which says everything about how much they are chasing the McLaren pace.

McLaren looks incredibly sharp. They’ll be a threat in the midfield with a clear trend toward the front of the pack. Once Alonso really gets stuck in, things will get interesting. The kid lacks a bit of grit—he's a bit soft—but he's finally getting a car that actually has potential after three years of absolute misery.

Honestly, Honda is surprisingly decent right now. Hard to believe they haven't blown up yet, though nothing is certain. Every single car still has plenty of surprises left in the tank. My sense is that Honda is running their engine harder than anyone else during these tests. We shall see.

As for McLaren, I'm not worried. You can tell from the eye test that they have a top-tier car. They only used those ultra-soft tires because the track was cold and they didn't feel like working for tire temperature. It's possible the car is just gentle on its rubber, which could actually turn out to be a massive advantage.

I get what you're saying, but he's bringing up those fastest sectors like they mean something. To me, he was just tearing it up at Sonoma. It still doesn't change the fact that the overall performance was underwhelming.