2018 Car Reveal and Pre-season Testing

ruggedhawk20 said:Stop acting like the McLaren fate is such a tragedy. God will punish you. He'll take away your erection.

I'm not a fan...

And there they go—the Brits are already starting to mess with them. You can always count on them to complain.

I'm gonna report him for working construction. 😬

Mercedes completed 177 laps.
Sebastian Vettel did 171 laps.
If there’s any silver lining for us miserable Ferrari fans, the car looks pretty reliable, though I highly doubt it has the pace to catch Mercedes. Red Bull is hovering somewhere nearby, and they definitely look closer to Mercedes than they did last season...


I really hope McLaren sorts their act together in the next three days, because at this point, it’s just getting pathetic...

McLaren finished dead last—both in terms of raw speed and total laps completed. What a disaster...

For us desperate Ferrari fans, the car actually looks pretty reliable—though I'm still not convinced it has the pace to catch Mercedes.

Sebastian Vettel managed to clock a faster time than Mercedes, even while running on slower tires.

Red Bull is looking close, but man, that reliability is starting to worry me.

Alright, if we're looking strictly at the lap times, Hamilton clocked a 1:19.3 last week on the Medium tires as well...

The sector times are incredibly telling, as Ericsson and Magnussen managed to clock the fastest first and third sectors respectively. 😁

It’s only the final day, so perhaps we’ll see more competitive times in the next two sessions; right now, this is absolutely nothing.

The most important thing at this stage is simply getting these cars out on track to complete laps, and we will judge the actual progress from there.

The papaya colors are looking a bit wilted in this chilly American winter weather

As a stubborn Ferrari fan, I’m really holding out hope that reliability improves, especially on those tracks where we can actually go toe-to-toe with Mercedes. I don't want to get ahead of myself, though—last year everyone was buzzing about us tearing things up during testing or lifting off the throttle in the final corner, and all that. But honestly? I’m sensing a much more interesting season ahead for us on the standings.

Kyle Edwards5 said:Mercedes completed 177 laps.
Sebastian Vettel did 171 laps.
If there’s any silver lining for us miserable Ferrari fans, the car looks pretty reliable, though I highly doubt it has the pace to catch Mercedes. Red Bull is hovering somewhere nearby, and they definitely look closer to Mercedes than they did last season...


I really hope McLaren sorts their act together in the next three days, because at this point, it’s just getting pathetic...

It's a total disaster.
What a complete mess this is going to be if McLaren just keeps idling along with Renault like they did last season while Honda actually starts making things happen over at AlphaTauri.

According to this Toro Rosso is already hitting walls today.

A news quote: Toro Rosso have suffered their first major setback of winter testing after managing just one lap in the afternoon session on day five in Barcelona.

The Red Bull junior team seemed ready to smash through another hundred laps, aiming to push that Honda engine way past the 425 laps they clocked during 2017 testing. But things fell apart fast. After Gasly put in 53 laps this morning, he barely managed a single solitary lap in the afternoon.

ruggedhawk20 said:Honestly, even Liberty Media could lean into this—Americans eat up that underdog comeback story. It’s basically "The Return of the Forgotten," or better yet, "The Return of the Outcasts," since Honda was just as much of an afterthought back then.

This guy should’ve been in a Toro Rosso seat five or six years ago, but instead, they kept playing favorites with that one Spanish driver whose name we can't even remember, followed by Vergne and Buemi. Meanwhile, Hartley gets left in the dust. All of them were part of that Red Bull junior program.

And now? Now Hartley gets a second shot—and he's doing it with none other than the resurrected Honda.

I mean, you really couldn't write a better script than that.

What about Jaime Alguersuari?

📲

darkmarlin16 said:What about Jaime Alguersuari?

📲

Yeah, that's him.

Jack Kelly5 said:It's a total disaster.
What a complete mess this is going to be if McLaren just keeps idling along with Renault like they did last season while Honda actually starts making things happen over at AlphaTauri.

The fiasco is already happening. Once the races actually start, it's just going to get even worse.
If nothing else, at least their color scheme matches the guardrails (at least in these photos).

Amanda Kelly said:The fiasco is already happening. Once the races actually start, it's just going to get even worse.
If nothing else, at least their color scheme matches the guardrails (at least in these photos).

I mean, I guess it might be a bit early to jump to conclusions, but that pink is definitely not doing them any favors. Maybe we should just hang tight through the first couple of races and see if they somehow manage to pull it together.

ruggedhawk20 said:Honestly, even Liberty Media could lean into this—Americans eat up that underdog comeback story. It’s basically "The Return of the Forgotten," or better yet, "The Return of the Outcasts," since Honda was just as much of an afterthought back then.

This guy should’ve been in a Toro Rosso seat five or six years ago, but instead, they kept playing favorites with that one Spanish driver whose name we can't even remember, followed by Vergne and Buemi. Meanwhile, Hartley gets left in the dust. All of them were part of that Red Bull junior program.

And now? Now Hartley gets a second shot—and he's doing it with none other than the resurrected Honda.

I mean, you really couldn't write a better script than that.

(Barely) waiting for Wednesday. Hartley. And Charles Leclerc. First and second.

Total embarrassment... If they don't get their act together fast, nobody is ever going to believe that Honda was actually the reason for those three miserable years.

I was pretty blunt during the presentations when I said this was basically just a career move for a bicycle mechanic.
It’s a damn shame they actually went through with it. 😢

Spyker actually looked more reliable than McLaren. What on earth are they even doing over there?
It’s almost looking like Spyker has the edge here...
https://adn.gpupdate.net/news/83709.jpg

Kyle Edwards5 said:According to this Toro Rosso is already hitting walls today.

A news quote: Toro Rosso have suffered their first major setback of winter testing after managing just one lap in the afternoon session on day five in Barcelona.

The Red Bull junior team seemed ready to smash through another hundred laps, aiming to push that Honda engine way past the 425 laps they clocked during 2017 testing. But things fell apart fast. After Gasly put in 53 laps this morning, he barely managed a single solitary lap in the afternoon.

But it wasn't the engine—it was the suspension...

I haven't been following the testing sessions closely; I've only glanced at the final times, which are frankly laughable given the actual potential here and completely useless for drawing any meaningful conclusions.

It appears McLaren is struggling, though I suspect they'll sort it out because the package seems quite fast—not that I feel like explaining why.

Besides, we saw this exact same pattern during the first and second days of the initial test before they eventually made up ground.

As for Mercedes and Ferrari, their lap times—or rather, the numbers themselves—look promising.

Kyle Edwards5 said:Mercedes completed 177 laps.
Sebastian Vettel did 171 laps.
If there’s any silver lining for us miserable Ferrari fans, the car looks pretty reliable, though I highly doubt it has the pace to catch Mercedes. Red Bull is hovering somewhere nearby, and they definitely look closer to Mercedes than they did last season...


I really hope McLaren sorts their act together in the next three days, because at this point, it’s just getting pathetic...

Why on earth is the guy in this photo animated?

That’s just Eric Boullier—or more accurately, John Travolta wearing an Eric Boullier mask. It should have been funny... 😁