2018 Car Reveal and Pre-season Testing

McLaren finally found their rhythm today. They just clocked a 1:19.856 on the hyper-softs, but keep in mind that wasn't a sprint—it was a longer stint.

"Fernando Alonso is certainly providing McLaren with a much-needed dose of optimism...

McLaren pulled the car into the pits after a 12-lap stretch. That stint length makes it clear: even though he was on those hyper-softs, Alonso wasn't chasing a qualifying lap here."

Lewis Hamilton significantly dropped his lap time.

Lewis Hamilton is absolutely flying around the track.
We’re looking at some seriously impressive times here. Everything we've seen up until this point? You can basically throw it all in the trash.

Matthew Murphy91 said:Lewis Hamilton is absolutely flying around the track.
We’re looking at some seriously impressive times here. Everything we've seen up until this point? You can basically throw it all in the trash.

And he’s doing it on the white tires, which is quite fast—honestly, it's enough to make the competition nervous.

We aren't sure which tires they used since they weren't marked.

But it doesn't really matter; Mercedes is still the best.

Someone just pulled over on the track and there's smoke coming from the car—I'd give you 1.01 odds if you wanted to bet on who it is.

northerncobra31 said:We aren't sure which tires they used since they weren't marked.

But it doesn't really matter; Mercedes is still the best.

Someone just pulled over on the track and there's smoke coming from the car—I'd give you 1.01 odds if you wanted to bet on who it is.

The Mediums are unmarked tires, just from a different factory than the standard ones.

McLaren has pulled back into the pits again 😵😵😵

northerncobra31 said:We aren't sure which tires they used since they weren't marked.

But it doesn't really matter; Mercedes is still the best.

Someone just pulled over on the track and there's smoke coming from the car—I'd give you 1.01 odds if you wanted to bet on who it is.

We know, we know. Those unmarked ones were just Mediums from a different factory with identical performance—keep up. Besides, the fastest lap wasn't even set on those unmarked tires; it was on the official white Mediums.

A racing statistic shows Lewis Hamilton is the first to go under 1:19 at Circuit de Catalunya this winter, clocking a 1:18.945 on unmarked Pirelli tyres.

Interesting.

The season hasn't even kicked off yet, and everyone is already acting like they’ve seen the future. It's pretty obvious to me. Mercedes is going to be even more dominant this year than they were last season. ☕

McLaren again... honestly, what on earth are they doing?

Matthew Murphy91 said:The season hasn't even kicked off yet, and everyone is already acting like they’ve seen the future. It's pretty obvious to me. Mercedes is going to be even more dominant this year than they were last season. ☕

It’s easy to talk nonsense when you don't see the full picture. They still have plenty of pace left, especially Ferrari, given how they've been running their specific testing program.

northerncobra31 said:A racing statistic shows Lewis Hamilton is the first to go under 1:19 at Circuit de Catalunya this winter, clocking a 1:18.945 on unmarked Pirelli tyres.

Interesting.

A news report suggests the news for the rest of the field is somewhat ominous, as Hamilton's benchmark from about thirty minutes ago is now officially recorded as being set on the medium tyres.

A news report explains that Pirelli's reason for the unmarked tires stems from the group operating out of two different bases, one in Romania and one in Turkey, but the bottom line is clear: Mercedes are leading the pack on the mediums.

So, we won't see McLaren out on the track until after lunch—if they even bother! It seems their mechanics just don't have the stomach for it today.🙂

Matthew Murphy91 said:A news report suggests the news for the rest of the field is somewhat ominous, as Hamilton's benchmark from about thirty minutes ago is now officially recorded as being set on the medium tyres.

A news report explains that Pirelli's reason for the unmarked tires stems from the group operating out of two different bases, one in Romania and one in Turkey, but the bottom line is clear: Mercedes are leading the pack on the mediums.

I don't really get their explanation regarding Romania and Turkey. Why would that make them unmarked?

Watching McLaren right now... it's honestly embarrassing to witness.
If we're assuming the Medium compound is equivalent to last year's Soft, then this Mercedes time actually beats Kimi Räikkönen's 1:19.2 from last season.
By that same logic, if last year's Supersoft is what they're calling the Soft this year, then Ferrari is still lagging behind last year's pace by a massive 0.9 seconds.

northerncobra31 said:I don't really get their explanation regarding Romania and Turkey. Why would that make them unmarked?

It's likely because those from Turkey aren't official batches, just test runs. But we're talking about Medium tires with the exact same characteristics as the standard ones used in races.

Maybe, but it seems strange to me. It feels like they're making excuses because they can't replicate the same tire performance across two different locations.

Reading what Allison said, it looks like we're heading into a pretty dull season. 😁
https://www.autosport.com/f1/news/13...th-025-seconds
It’s pretty rare to see bosses openly bragging about exactly where they've found speed or how many tenths they've shaved off the lap time.
Allison sounds intimidatingly confident here. He didn't say it outright in the article, but reading between the lines, you get the sense they think they've left everyone else in the dust.

Sergio mentioned they’ve been putting in work over the winter break, and honestly, he seems pretty chill about the whole thing.
But let's be real, anyone who knows how those guys in Italy operate knows they'll tell you everything while actually saying absolutely nothing at all.

If anyone’s over in the States, can you wire me this?

Who’s taking the driver's title? No one, it’s gonna be Vettel.
Who’s grabbing runner-up? Nobody, Ricciardo takes second.
Which team is winning the championship? No single team wins it, but Mercedes is walking away with the constructors'.
Is Alonso hitting the podium? Nope.
Ric vs. Max—who comes out on top? Ric, obviously.
Where does Toro Rosso land in the standings? They’ll mostly just be ahead of whatever junk McLaren is running.

Looking for a 4/6 system if that's doable.
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