2017 F1 Pre SeasonFormula 1

[RX-7_FD3S]

Barcelona Testing I - 27 february - 02 march 2017

Day one lineup :

Drivers :

Bottas - Morning - Mercedes AMG
Hamilton - Afternoon - Mercedes AMG
Vettel - Ferrari
Ricciardo - Red Bull Racing
Perez - Force India
Massa - Williams
Alonso - Mclaren
Sainz - TorroRosso
Magnussen - Haas
Hulkenberg - Renault
Ericsson - Sauber

Manor not here anymore due to money trouble. They couldn't find a buyer either.

 

[RX-7_FD3S]

Vettel fastest so far, Bottas behind him with Riccardo in third. Sadly, Riccardo car just stopped after 4 laps.

Vettel back on track. Vettel/Bottas so far ahead on total lap count with 9 each. (10h00)

 

[Pezzarinho17]

Oil issue with the McLaren, couple of hours to investigate.... Here we go again!

 

[[Nor]MclarenF1]

Not looking too bright for McLaren and Alonsos first day of testing.

 

[RX-7_FD3S]

Not looking too bright for McLaren and Alonsos first day of testing.

Sadly it looks like another bad year. Hopefully performance is there and they only need to work on reliability.

Looks like Bottas will be the first drivers to do long runs. 18 laps are planned for him.

 

[prisonermonkeys]

Sadly it looks like another bad year.

You can't make that judgement off one issue after one lap. The engines are so complex and the affected parts are buried so deep that any oil pressure issue is going to take anybteam hours to resolve.

 

[RX-7_FD3S]

You can't make that judgement off one issue after one lap. The engines are so complex and the affected parts are buried so deep that any oil pressure issue is going to take anybteam hours to resolve.

Yet Mercedes and Ferrari's are running without trouble. And I only said it looks like. I'm not making any judgement yet.

But Mercedes have now 39 laps and Mclaren 1.

And Mclaren could use as many laps as possible during those testing I'm sure since it's a 100% new car or close to that.

http://www.autosport.com/live/commentary/id/2507471/formula-1-testing-2017-barcelona-f1-test-day-one[/URL]]
It's not good news for McLaren-Honda to be sat in the garage chasing some kind of oil system problem. The engines coming to this test should all be test-bench run and where the engine connects up to the system of the car should be bulletproof. Using the excuse that this is testing and things will go wrong is rubbish because you only have eight days and you need to hit the ground running. Losing a big part of a day is time you will never recover, and by the time the McLaren runs again, most of its rivals will have built up a lot of mileage. We've seen a lot of finger problems for McLaren and Honda during the past few years, and maybe this is the same again. Not a good start to testing.

 

[prisonermonkeys]

I'm not making any judgement yet.

Then why are you dismissing them as having a bad season? Sounds like a judgement to me.

 

[RX-7_FD3S]

A shot of the mercedes on soft with the infamous T-wing. Such a beautiful car. I like all the small details on it.

I like how different the cars are.

Mercedes seems to have a slightly different rear wing too.

 

[[Nor]MclarenF1]

Don't forget, Red Bull is stranded in their garage as well. Bad year ahead?

 

[RX-7_FD3S]

Don't forget, Red Bull is stranded in their garage as well. Bad year ahead?

If you think that Mclaren and Red Bull were in a similar situation before entering this season I recommend you check back what happen in the last years in F1 ;D

 

[TheCracker]

I think the only thing you can take from the pre-season testing sessions, is whether a car's going to be awful.

Looking back at last February's session times the only thing consistent with how the 2016 season panned out, was that McLaren had a stinker of a car. Rosberg and Hamilton only posted the 8th and 12th fastest laps, where as Force India were the 2nd and 5th fastest.

 

[RX-7_FD3S]

Yeah time dont really matter, they usually dont go for maximum performance run. What you should look for is total laps and reliability really. No one wants to show there hands before the first GP.
You can analyse long run pace too to see how the car is handling the tyres.

 

[TheCracker]

What you should look for is total laps and reliability really.

Even that doesn't predict much for the season ahead, if 2016 was anything to go by. After Mercedes who completed the most laps of the initial 4-day session, it was Toro Rosso and Sauber who completed the next most laps. But both teams had 9 retirements* during the race season.

*some of these may have been accident-based retirements.

 

[zed300]

Speculation will give false hope... and make a fool out you at the same time.

They're all running programs we have no idea about....

 

[RX-7_FD3S]

Some more awesomness :

Like it or not but there's so many things going on those cars. It's amazing

 

[[Nor]MclarenF1]

Haas still seems to be struggling with brake related issues.

 

[RX-7_FD3S]

Ranking at lunch break :

1

S. Vettel Ferrari 1:22.791

62
2

V. Bottas Mercedes 1:23.169

79
3

S. Pérez Force India 1:23.709

39
4

F. Massa Williams 1:25.552

39
5

C. Sainz Toro Rosso 1:25.562

18
6

N. Hülkenberg Renault 1:26.319

22
7

K. Magnussen Haas 1:26.404

15
8

M. Ericsson Sauber 1:26.865

32
9

D. Ricciardo Red Bull 1:28.712

4
10

F. Alonso McLaren 1

We can see that Ferrari and Mercedes had no trouble starting today. Went as planned for them.

Alonso had a oil problem, Ricciardo had a sensor issue and Magnussen had brake trouble it seems and damaged his front wings, before that they already had trouble in the pit lane with Magnussen stopping at the end of it.

 

[psychoazubi]

According to AutoMotorSport RB needs to remove the gearbox to reach the sensor. That's why it takes so long.

 

[TenEightyOne]

To put the times in perspective (bear in mind weather, first day, shakedowns, etc. etc.) the fastest lap by lunch is Vettel's 1:22.791.

The fastest F1 lap there is, I think, Raikkonnen's mid 1:20.xxx in Q1 2008, the fastest quali lap of last year was Hamilton's 1:22.000 and the fastest race lap was Daniil "Something To Prove" Kvyat with a 1:26.943.

To my mind today's top times certainly aren't looking too shoddy as far as the speed promises go!

 

[psychoazubi]

Vettel already has the same speed on mediums as the fastest laptime from testing last year, set by Raikönnen on Ultrasofts (1:22,7).

Also, Bottas had an impressive 16 laps stint (not counting in + out lap) on softs with all laptimes within 1,4 seconds. (1:23,1 - 24,5)


Edit: And Ricciardo is the first to drive in the afternoon session.

 

[SVT Cobra GT]

And the Merc has a shark fin;

 

[catamount39]

And the Merc has a shark fin;

That slight shadow in the livery gives it an appearance like there's two or its bent.

 

[Pezzarinho17]

From that image, it may actually have a vent running through it... I reckon that shadow is where the "tube"section ends and it becomes 1 thin sheet again. Can just about make out a dark oval above it, but may be a flat top on it as well.

 

[catamount39]

You're probably right. When you mentioned a tube inside it I noticed the small bulge in the fin. The Mercedes keeps on surprising.

 

[Pezzarinho17]

I got something right!

 

[RX-7_FD3S]

A pics that show Mercedes shark fin a bit more :

Looks like there is an opening.

@Pezzarinho17 just beat me to it XD

 

[Pezzarinho17]

Looks even wider in that shot! My guess is that it will allow them to run very narrow bodywork around the exhaust opening, with this air instead helping to power the rear wing rather than the diffuser.

 

[catamount39]

More interesting image for shark fin :

Looks like there is an opening.

@Pezzarinho17 just beat me to it XD

Holy crap from the top it looks huge!

 

[TheElbows]

So what kind of times are Manor putting in?