Too right! One thing is certain, the F138 is a competitive car. One of Nando's laps where he had 2 green sectors, he lost .5 in the chicane - didn't go off. Clearly Nando is backing off
FAR too early for all of the hand-wringing. There have been a couple of times that Ferrari won the "winter testing Constructor's Championship" only to hit race one in a less-than-impressive fashion. Everyone needs to remember that these are working, development sessions. If the teams run into problems on the track, they are the ones being addressed in advance of Australia.
Abso-friggin-lutely! Just seems that there's many here who have already written the season off though!...... +1 With the much vaunted "rules stability" they're going to be at least as close as last year (typically, ~10 cars covered by <1 second). The tires are a little different. They're all learning all over again. But, IIRC, Clifford was never even close to the top of the timesheets. Looking a *lot* better so far this year. For sure, a long way to go yet..... Cheers, Ian
Also remember the field will probably be just as tight this season as it was last, which makes predicting qualifying almost like a lottery of who crosses the line last and if the clouds were disturbing track temps for one cars run vs another. Yes they are that sensitive. As for F138. I've no concern for Ferrari as a team, they will make it work. The question remains, is this revolution design philosophy greater than others from a fundamental perspective. IMO, no. Will they win races, yes I believe so. But I do not believe the base platform of the Ferrari is fundamentally superior to others, not with the fact that it's not particularly light on tires and it already has every bell and whistle in place. This makes me think something inherent to the design is binding with the tires. Three legged horse syndrome, but I'm sure they can fix it. Lots and lots of chatter about Lotus. They will be quick at the start but come Monaco I don't think they will be at the sharp end any longer, they've lost too many people. Mclaren figured out their u-sidepod monster, they'll figure this car out. May be a bit slow off the line at the start of the season though. I'm about to make a bold prediction, so someone please hold me to it later. I believe we will see a Mercedes on the podium of the first race unless they're taken out by some incident or some nonsense. W04 simply looks wonderful and is every bit as quick as Lotus.
Probably too early STILL for such a bold prediction, but so far everyone has to admit they look much more solid coming into the season than expected. Based on Rosberg's comments, I expect him to be every bit in the mix early on as Hamilton. As I wrote previously, if Nico has a drama-less car, he's as good as anyone out there. It's adversity that tends to send him reeling backwards. Well-balanced and easy on the tires does bode well for Team Mercedes... ...at this specific point in time, at least.
The chicane is a place where most choose to back off. When I was there for testing you can hear exactly when they put foot again. I can testify it's very cold during these months in Barcelona!
1:23.282 (25) 1:23.526 (26) 1:26.269 (27) 1:27.017 (28) 1:27.192 (29) 1:26.853 (30) 1:27.103 (31) 1:26.870 (32) 1:26.865 (33) 1:26.874 (34) 1:26.556 (35) 1:26.616 (36) 1:27.378 (37) 1:27.053 (38) 1:27.173 (39) 1:27.710 (40) Very impressive long stint by Lewis today. Degradation looks good
Yes. That Lotus is very much on point. Yesterday's race sim proved it beyond any doubt. Whether Lotus have the means to continue this momentum has yet to be seen though. I don't think the team has it in them personally. They've lost too many
Nice results from this set of rubber 17 9.12.826 18 1.33.358 19 1.31.298 20 1.30.017 21 1.29.835 22 1.28.785 23 1.28.234 24 1.28.732 25 1.29.599 26 1.28.889 27 1.28.900 28 1.28.434 29 1.28.572 30 1.27.919 31 1.28.762 32 1.28.753 33 1.30.170
Lewis Hamilton says rivals' faith in Mercedes too generous - F1 news - AUTOSPORT.com Lewis on W04 and downplaying things as he's stating Vettel and others have been giving the car a lot of attention. Something of note: Lewis conjecturing other teams have found a full second over winter. In my humble opinion, Lewis has an awful lot of faith in those other teams and if they have found half a second from where they were in Brazil then I'd be amazed. The rules are diminishing returns at the moment and the box to grow in is very small, and many are pushing that box already. No, the Merc is not a front runner and no they have not found 3 seconds, they have however found 2, and the top teams sure as **** haven't found a full second. I believe Lewis is trying to detract attention their efforts, smartly. Does anyone here believe any top team have found a full 1 second over winter? I'm laughing at the notion even being suggested by Lewis let alone believed lol.
Lewis said they wont win just yet/early on....lacking downforce BBC Sport - Lewis Hamilton admits Mercedes not capable of winning races yet
Mercedes had far more to gain. Top teams are splitting hairs at the sharp end of development. There is not a whole lot more to be had minus a DDD innovation or EBD etc. My point is that nothing innovative has been developed, it's just a pickup from Brazil for everyone else, and there is no possible way anyone at the front has found a full second. Remember, even the DDD was only about a half second gain. And no one at the front has found a DDD over the winter.
Ya never know. MB was fast over a lap last year and MS was robbed at Malaysia of what could have been a win...
Rainmaster, quick car, sopping wet race. Taken out from behind by Grosjean...yeah I'd say he was robbed of a good chance to win.
Grosjean may haved robbed MS of a win but he almost killed Fred, and may have cost him the WDC. That's racing.....
