Barcelona Testing 2018

It is petty sad I mean Ferrari have done major leaps in times of lap times yet it is clear that their biggest competition Mercedes is getting majorly better results in camparsion from these tests. I definitely think the guys of Ferrari are going to have step it up much more come AUS. Frustrating honestly to see the results. They also said major woes with fuel economy for Ferrari so it is going to be also another factor for them to really improve on.

 

I wonder if having to seriously beef up the crane attachments for McLaren are weighing the car down too much and causing other issues.

 

Care to expand on the data you are using to come to this 'clear' conclusion?

 

Did Stroll have a slower overall fastest lap compared to Kubica on the softs? I think his time today in the upper 19’s was slower than Kubicas yesterday on the same. Storkin was faster overall but that was on the hyper softs...

 

It was based on the laptimes they conducted which concluded that Ferrari was outright slower. I am hopping it was dead wrong come Australia, but I am rather cautious.

 

^ another AWESOME post!

 

So, how did Alonso pick up 2 seconds on the same tire compound just one day apart?

Only he and the 2 Ferrari's ever broke in the 1:17's

 

Engine tuned up + track conditions being enough to gain that much time?

 

he cut the chicane

 

Do we know this for sure? It wouldn't surprise me. Mac is looking for some positive spin from a lousy week.

 

The lap times are petty ridiculous fast gains. 1m 7 secs on average taken down from last year is WOW.

 

So your conclusion is based solely on the data shown in post #1207? Except for the last segment the times were similar.

Do you have a link to their fuel woes you alluded to?

 

From trackside observations (how cars behave through corners) they rank Mercedes 1, Red Bull 2nd and Ferrari 3rd. Mercedes does everything perfect, apparently.

Of course we don't know real fuel loads. I can't quite believe Ferrari ''getting it so wrong'' after getting it so right last year, I'm not as optimistic as I was before the test but also not counting them out.

Red Bull is the real dark horse...they have been driving with a mix and match of 2016-17-18 renault engine, only Renault themselves have used their 2018 engine all the time. I hope there'll be a three way for the championship. There NEEDS to be a battle for 1st now. Remember Ferrari taking a 100 million dollar bribe for 2005 so the rules could be changed as they had been dominating too long (2002 and 2004 only, really...2000, 2001 and 2003 stiff competition).

 

I was saying RB is a dark horse as well a few pages ago, I have a feeling they're going to be scary fast come race time.

 

I’m afraid I see Merc as the true dark horse. I think they’ve made a big leap this year just with the new side pods. Between they’re reliability and the true power I don’t think we’ve seen yet, it’s gonna be a long season.

 

How can the reigning 4 time world champions be the dark horse? They're practically guaranteed to win lol

 

2003 was the first to implement rules to slow Schumacher dominance with new point system allowing Kimi to rack up way more points than on the pervious system in positions that would of made the championship less close if the old system was kept. Had it been on the older system would of been cruise again for Schumacher.

 

Hmmm, so the rookie Sirotkin is 7/10ths faster than his more experienced teammate.

 

Meh, seeing those long runs, it seems that it's going to be a boring season, with Mercedes ahead and Ferrari and Red Bull fighting for the leftovers.

Now we even have not a Rosberg to crash with Hamilton.

 

No he didn’t. He did a 1.16 which did involve cutting the chicane but even so, was the fastest time overall I believe. That time was deleted.

 

SKY assessment of the testing for 2018 - http://www.skysports.com/f1/news/12433/11283465/f1-2018-rating-the-teams-after-the-eight-days-of-winter-testing

Mercedes 'appear' to be in control to start. I will not make further judgements until after Australia and hoping its a dry sunny race allowing for full racing.