This^^^ New heavier car, new wheels, aero, tire construct and compounds. All has changed.....prediction is difficult yet.
Racecraft......he lacks wins vs Max even last year. I would take Bottas over Perez. Bottas is multiple places ahead of Perez on qualy. Perez starts too far back and has to make up too much ground over a race and lacks pace compared to Max overall. Bottas in terms of speed was closer to LH. Perez is actually the slower driver.
Image Unavailable, Please Login Sector times are interesting between Ferrari and Red Bull. Ferrari lower engine mode? Those 2 sectors are big straights...and adds up to the 7 tenth difference.
Bottas yields too easily in the race and struggles to overtake despite being in the faster car. I would not have him in my team.
Bottas even yields to their main rival. Decent qualifier, not so good racer made worse by being mentally crushed by his team.
And just to throw in another possible red herring, and as I posted already, seems the Merc was running shorter (than other teams) gears. So either purposely (porpoise-ly?) hiding their true top speed while still running the engine hard, or they plan to run the engine at higher revs.
they were running shorter gearing to make their engine rev higher in order to test their cooling systems. Apparently the car is a handful-no doubt the sandbags weren’t properly distributed.
https://www.formu1a.uno/binotto-appuntamento-alla-prima-gara-ci-sara-sicuramente-spettacolo/ Some interesting comments from Binotto to the Italian press. Here's a few quotes: The good impressions on the car are confirmed, which gives the drivers a certain confidence in their search for the limit. On the other hand, judgment on performance is more difficult, especially in relation to others. “ I think there will be three teams quite close together - and in that case two or three tenths will make a difference” is the only prediction offered by Binotto, referring to Mercedes and Red Bull. " I think we can undermine them, but let's not forget that they remain the champions." To Carlo Vanzini's catchphrase - which in the past irritated him quite a bit - Binotto replied that "you always say 'give Charles a car' - well, now let's see what he does ."
Verstapen indicates that there is more yet to come from the Red Bull: https://www.motorsport.com/f1/news/verstappen-still-not-at-full-beans-despite-topping-f1-test/8933614/?fbclid=IwAR1pH3IyJu5WTHlhAuIXXaD-FG2IRGuLgqCrCTqUGWIU9idIdYZU3cVRW98
Schumacher did a 1:32.241 with the C4 tire during Haas' extra testing hour (2nd best time of the day behind Verstappen's). Something tells me that Ferrari engine might be pretty good...
In any case it makes an impressive noise this engine! Toto and Horner will quickly tell Fia to check this..
Day 3 results and cumulative laps and mileage in kilometers. Btw, Mercedes used to lead these testing laps and mileage by a country mile...year after year during the turbo hybrid era. Image Unavailable, Please Login Image Unavailable, Please Login
Max: “Of course, the car is better in low fuel, and naturally on high fuel the car is a bit lazy and it doesn't really do a lot.” Too bad. This is going to help the old guys whose reflexes are not as sharp as the younger dudes.
Well, next weekend should really be something. Then we will actually know where the teams and their cars stand.
Usually Ferrari does better at testing than at the races, but when the car was crap, like in 2014 or 2020, it was already noticeable during testing. So it seems that at least we´ll have a decent car. Red Bull or Mercedes? If I had to bet, I´d say Mercedes, based on previous seasons and their form in the last races of 2021. They seem a bit lost, but maybe it´s just a setup issue, and they use to recover fast. Although now they won´t have unlimited funds through the season, so who knows.
Concise review of testing overall here - https://the-race.com/formula-1/what-we-learned-from-the-final-pre-season-f1-test/
I think RB is on top for sure. Ferrari look real good. I think Carlos may give Charles a run for his money. Mercedes seems to be a race or 2 behind. Have a good feeling about Alpine and Alpha T. McLaren 3 or 4 races behind. Huge test for Mick to try to be K Mag.
Revised due to Mick Schumacher's drive. Image Unavailable, Please Login Image Unavailable, Please Login Image Unavailable, Please Login Image Unavailable, Please Login Image Unavailable, Please Login
