2015 F1 testing thread

Looks like that's it for today - raining at the track. Ferrari showing more promise, Merc break down, and McLaren - well, why are they even here… less than 10 laps today.

 

Macca/Honda are 33 sec off the pace. That means they are lapping about as fast as a VW GTI. Wouldn't you expect that Honda had enough bench running of this PU so that it would run when it hit the track?

 

I know it's just testing but I am encouraged by Ferrari so far. Look pretty quick and no major issues. Fingers crossed.

 

Indeed

 

Sauber guys saying that the Ferrari PU has improved....but I'm sure everyone else has made advances. I haven't read any of Vettel's thoughts on the car.

 

+1
Encouraging, but...
Still some way to a 1.15"650 in Ferrari Jerez test sessions by Schumacher.
Are the cars really getting that much slower ??

 

wow at the folks actually looking at and benchmarking laptimes for testing. never has mattered but ok, i guess it does for fchatters.

Mercedes wiping the floor w the other teams in the reliability dept, being the only team clocking in 3-digit number of laps. McLaren-Honda managed only another 6 laps...sweet Jesus...

 

I saw earlier today where Seb is almost 2 seconds faster than the lap record set back in 2007.

1:23.135 ( Germany Heinz-Harald Frentzen, Williams, 1997).

For a start, that seems pretty good, but still 6 seconds off Schumacher's time at 1:15.

 

Holy cow, Nico Rosberg speaks Spanish! Quite well I might add. Testing times mean jack. The mileage is the important part. Merc looks seriously strong.

 

Beg to differ. Sure, it's early days yet, but they're all pushing as hard as they can on occasion. Just to see where they are relative to the others. As I said earlier in the thread, it's only the 'slow' guys who say 'it's only testing, we're not pushing yet, who cares about the winter championship," etc etc.....

Hardly.... Final times & laps from day two;

Hardly what I'd call 'wiping the floor'....

Seems the Cans only had one front wing and Danny Fiat broke it early on; ran without it for the rest of the day.

And McHonda seemingly going nowhere as yet.....

Cheers,
Ian

 

I believe Nico is quite the linguist. IIRC, add Finnish, German and possibly Italian to that list.

Again, testing times do mean something - Not much yet, and reliability is maybe more important at this test, but unless they're on the edge they're not learning much either. Believe me, they'd all rather be at the top than the bottom of the sheet. "We're testing long run pace, tire life, blah, blah" only comes from the slow guys.

The pecking order is getting set right now. The second test will give us more of an idea, but don't expeect things to change much.....

Cheers,
Ian

 

The Kraken has not been unleashed yet. Merc won't show their hand until Q3 where they will qualify at least half a second clear of the field.

I'm excited to see the new short noses coming for pretty much everyone soon.

 

"This is why we watch...."

For sure, we'll have a better idea after the second test, but I have to say it looks like the others may be at least a little closer. I doubt Merc are just toodling around with lots in reserve at this point.

Cheers,
Ian

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LOLOLO, right now i can see the conflicting sentiments inside uncle ron's head.....on one side "damn...another crap year"..on the other" I screwed Alonso real good, lolo)!!

 

I'm no betting man, but I'd be shocked if this car doesn't retain a w05-level of advantage. Lewis stated today it feels like w05 with more downforce, and with more power. A best case scenario for any team on the grid is that they found about a second and a half over the winter. These Pirelli's are more aggressive than last season per Pirelli so it's tough to compare lap times, but there isn't any way anyone has found a full 2+ seconds which is what would be required to consider competing with W06 considering it is without a doubt a second or so quicker than w05.

 

You gauge by lap times, I gauge by distance and no one in 2 days of testing is even close to Mercedes' 1,098 kilometers driven.

Going fast is a prerequisite in testing yes, but going the fastest is almost never the target, so hence why I say lap times mean a whole lot of nadda.

Distance though, tells us something concrete: the systems are working.

 

I hear you, and agree to a certain extent. Merc certainly did a shed load of laps on day 1. Over the two days so far Merc have done 248 laps, Sauber 161, Ferrari 149, Williams 134, STR 119, RBR 53, Fauxtus 41 and McH 12......

So yeah, Merc have got a bunch more miles under their belt, but I think at least the next 4 guys are in pretty good shape.

Sure, it's not all about lap times as yet, but again, I'm certain they all try and do a low fuel/qualy type run at some stage(s) to see where they're at. Merc may not have released the Kraken, but I do think the others are a little closer.

Cheers,
Ian

 

I remember Merc was "sandbagging" last year too, their lap times didn't really show up anyone...but then what happened?

I wish I could see more of the aero on the new RB...that camouflage is doing a really darn good job of cloaking all their new aero bits!

Anyone else on here notice how good the rear of the new Mac is? It looks almost RB-esque (not surprising since they did poach RB's head of aero)...really super-tight coke bottle and sidepod package.

When Ron said, "size 0" he wasn't kidding!!!

 

All of the other team's drivers have noted it - Every time they keep lapping the damn thing!

To quote The Gumball Rally:

"It's an elegant design!"

"I wish it ran!"


If I were Alonso, I'd start thinking about buying a Volkswagen!: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KgHlAdSpn7Y

 

Agree. MP4/30 is in essence what RB11 should be as it was designed by the best Red Bull (poached) staff!

 

To quote somebody..."Too bad it ain't a beauty contest!"

 

it is if it's a winning car because in F1, more often than not, the most beautiest car is the most winning one!

Look at how tight the rear is!
http://i.imgur.com/I20kLNQ.jpg

 

I hope that there are not over-heating issues... Miles, miles, miles. Oh, they are not
doing many of those.

 

I'm abit hesitation with the times. Remember 2011 how Ferrari had a great car and then we know what happened.