From what I'm seeing so far, the RB is just a little better on tires still and ramain a tiny bit quicker than the Mclaren in several areas, but the Mclaren appears to have better mechanical grip being quicker out of turn 1. Mclar reportedly having slightly better braking stability which I would put down due to better suspension and balance in general. I give the advantage to Mclaren if they find a bit more aero by Aus. The Ferrari will probably qualify ok, but it appears to be eating through front tires very quickly and still has sluggish turn-in. It comes out of turn 1 well but goes in poorly. It's a fight. I'm guessing the car has good brake balance but awkard turn in and balance which changes its mind mid corner. Mercedes have yet to show their hand in any way really, but I'm sure they will at the very least be quicker than the Ferrari. I heard they set the quickest S3 time of the day on some random lap. I'll give them until the next Barcelona test when they have tested their other exhaust configurations to see what direction they are headed in. Lotus will probably dice with the Ferrari and perhaps Williams. TR and FI and Williams will be an interesting match up if Williams is not a little ahead. Kimi will have his hands full, but the mid pack will be great to watch.
Lewis Hamilton optimistic McLaren will fight at the front in Australia - Title from an Autosport article. Too bad FA wasnt saying this!
Good I hope he can, can't be doing with another season of Redbull domination. My spider senses tell me @ the min. Redbull fastest and on course but not by much Mclaren hot on heels of above, feeling good about car. Merc next, I'am uncertain if it will be in race pace. Ferrari. It will come together, but too late..hopefully I'am wrong. Force India Lotus.
+1 with that line-up. Red Bull and Mclaren seem to be getting to grips with the season ahead very quickly.
agree...thinking Vettel will take it again but no runaway...Ferrari would be a threat with unlimited testing but such is not the case...
LOL. you guys are bad. I love Ferrari and I know they will do well, but perhaps not this year. I think this new direction they are taking will take a little time and it may or may not work in the end. I also believe they made a mistake in not evolving F150 which was not a bad car. Evolution not revolution was needed, although I respect the heck out of them for heading in a new innovative direction. Very cool.
Yes, you may be right. This radical design might not be a short term gain, and might not prove to be a long term gain either. I hope not. I hope they had some real solid evidence to justify this front suspension, etc. The F150 was considered to be too conservative of a design. It may have taken this Revolution to keep them from building out of habit and building from science.
09:57 Not a great sign that on this far into testing, Ferrari is still doing so much baseline aero work 09:56 Maldonado pits, and so does Massa Autosport commentary above--- Ferrari need to move on but when will they?? I hope soon they really enter long test runs/race sim.
10:59 @InsideFerrari: It is a long break for a mechanical issue. We hope we can go back on track before the lunch break. Massa down right now. 33 laps thus far.
The Mclaren is fast and I believe it suits Jensen better. I'm predicting it being the quickest car on the field come race time as Mclaren are known to practically bring a B spec car to the first race with a raft of updates. RB and MB are right there with them while Ferrari's laps appear to be about a half second or so off.
RB and MB just completed a full tank partial race sim. The RB is definitely a bit quicker, yet oddly all the quickest sector times belonged to the MB, yet these sector times were set on different laps. So either Schu isn't pushing or the W03 has flashes of seemingly random brilliance. Mclaren performed a similar test a the same time and MB and Mclaren are going to fight it out this year. They are incredibly close. Can't wait for next week when things make a little more sense. Ferrari finally out of the pits.
I've often wondered if the teams deliberately work on one sector at a time (drive to limit), but back off on another sector so that they don't give away true pace. We know they sandbag, but do they slow down the whole lap (turn down the power?), or do they push for 1 or 2 of the sectors and just slow for 1 sector? Your comment about the MB sector times makes me wonder if it would be valid to take the best sector times and add them up to get true pace - but then if you factor in the different fuel loads and tire compound/wear, it might not be that accurate.
