F1 2015 Testing

[Pezzarinho17]

It is minor, though it concerns me that the fault was repeated in the new design. I don't remember the other teams struggling this much last year, and it must certainly be hurting having only the 1 team / car developing the Honda PU.

 

[prisonermonkeys]

Well, it shouldn't concern you, seeing as how the part is so minor. Red Bull had the same problem with the seals on their fuel-flow restrictors last year. It took a few designs to get it right. Stop reading too much into it and convincing yourself that they're doomed.

 

[Pezzarinho17]

It isn't concerning that the part failing is minor, it's concerning that they need more than a few attempts to get a minor component / fault diagnosed and then fixed. And there is no convincing going on, the signs are not good but nothing will really be known until Melbourne at the earliest.

 

[prisonermonkeys]

the signs are not good

Yes, they're terrible. McLaren have had a little bit of trouble with a minor part that can be redesigned in a short space of time, and no problems with major parts.

For some bizarre reason, people love to get carried away when it comes to McLaren. For some reason, there's a general attitude that a minor difficulty means that the Good Ship Woking is about to capsize.

 

[ClydeYellow]

For some bizarre reason, people love to get carried away when it comes to McLaren. For some reason, there's a general attitude that a minor difficulty means that the Good Ship Woking is about to capsize.

That's an attitude a lot of people share, but I have to say, the "minor part malfunction" sounds like the "alternator problems" of old - an excuse to cover up bigger problems with the engine. McLaren decided to go off the beaten path and get an engine that's designed specifically for them. It worked brilliantly in the 80s, with the TAG-Porsche unit... But I wouldn't be surprised if the Honda MTU proved to be a very expensive bbq grille.

Am I the only one who's sad over the loss of backmakers? We finally have all the premises for a great fight for the top positions, but Bernie's so money hungry he reduced F1 to an 18-cars grid. What a shame. But hey, as long as he can sell overly expensive watches to old Monaco geezers...

 

[prisonermonkeys]

Bernie's so money hungry he reduced F1 to an 18-cars grid.

Don't blame Bernie. Blame the teams. Ferrari demand $80 million from him before WCC payments are even made. That would have saved Marussia twice over.

 

[ClydeYellow]

Don't blame Bernie. Blame the teams. Ferrari demand $80 million from him before WCC payments are even made. That would have saved Marussia twice over.

Yeah, but Bernie has never produced something like the 288 GTO, so he gets all the blame for this situation.

(But in all seriosity, I'm still having at him for threatening to pull the plug on the Italian GP over economic questions. The F1 circus would probably only benefit if CVC got out of the equation; then put in Bernie's place somoene who isn't too afraid to say to Ferrari that their presence isn't worth $80 mln. per year, and who isn't too afraid to cut the bonuses to the top 10 and eliminate the CCB; then put a stricter cap on the teams budget, and force the winning engine manufacturer to sell its engine at a fraction of the cost to any interested teams. Sure, the cars may be slower, but people don't look at laptimes - they look at the action on the track. And Ferrari will never pull out of F1, if only because they'd have to deal with the angry mob that would form in front of the Maranello gates. Besides, "opening up" technical regulations would allow manufacturers to slap whatever marketing buzzword they want on their solutions. Has to be said, though, it was Ecclestone who conceded Ferrari their ridiculous bonus, or decided the CCB, or allowed budgets to skyrocket)

Oh, and besides, I'm not the only one blaming Ecclestone for the poor shape of F1.

 

[prisonermonkeys]

How was Bernie responsible for skyrocketing budgets? The teams are the ones who spend the money.

 

[ClydeYellow]

Well, he is against a budget cap. I know in the past I used to be in favor of it; I don't think I want to know who lined his pockets to convince him to reconsider his position. The FIA wanted such cap to be imposed, but I guess Todt doesn't have the clout Bernie has, because he's not the one who controls the purse strings.

Besides, the teams are spending money they get through the CCB and the Ferrari agreement. The top-3 teams are probably making their expenses back with the money they get.

All I know is that this year I'd rather be watching the WEC. And it's a shame, because as I said, the elements for a great fight for the top positions are all there. But I guess for a 90s kid who grew up with bedtime tales about Benettons and Tyrrells and Tolemans, seeing a grid of 18 cars is too much.

 

[Saidur_Ali]

I get the feeling from testing Mercedes should win comfortably this year and only team with potential of outright beating them seems to be McLaren. It will be interesting to see how well Honda do reliablity wise, will things click into place or will it be a long slog of getting it to work and with increased reliability requirements this season, seems crucial they get it sorted soon. Otherwise might get a lot of penalties.

Lewis mentioned about the tyres yesterday, hopefully they don't have tyre problems like in 2013.

 

[GTPorsche]

Alonso crashed at turn 4 this morning and was airlifted to the hospital as a precaution. He is awake and alert.

 

[psychoazubi]

Alonso crashed at turn 4 this morning and was airlifted to the hospital as a precaution. He is awake and alert.

Hope he really is ok...

There are people reporting he crashed on purpose. Inside wall on turn 3 seems very strange to hit the wall without a spin. Here's a photo while hitting the wall:

https://twitter.com/A_MendezA/status/569475891635617792/photo/1

Maybe brake failure? I can't imagine another reason to hit the wall like this.

 

[Pezzarinho17]

Yes, because Honda have only had this one small problem across 7 days of testing... Nothing would please me more than to see McLaren do well, and I believe that choosing Honda was the right choice for that. Just airing some concerns from what I have seen (same as all of you I believe, unless anyone here is in the pitlane?) in a general forum and hoping for "discussion". All that I see is that everyone else disagrees with me (which is fine) and therefore using that as fact against my views. Thanks all, I'll just follow the Autosport thread instead.

 

[GTPorsche]

Could possibly be a brake failure. Here's where he went off the track at.

 

[neljack]

Spanish paper Marca have shown a series of images of Alonso's crash

http://www.marca.com/albumes/2015/02/22/el_accidente_de_alonso_en_montmelo_2015/index_2.html

 

[Peasantslayer]

It's a really odd place to crash, there doesn't seem to have been a spin.

 

[GOTMAXPOWER]

If you believe the internet Fernando fell unwell at the wheel and may even have been unconscious at the time of the crash. Lets hope the official news is right and that he is ok.

 

[Furinkazen]

I'm hearing rumours of either him being unwell or even getting a shock of an electronic system in the car

 

[Kenocar]

I don't think Alonso has any major injuries, probably just bruises. Optimistically talking.

 

[GTPorsche]

McLaren have released a statement saying Alonso is uninjured and more info is to come.

 

[m8h3r]

McLaren have released a statement saying Alonso is uninjured and more info is to come.

That's good. Don't want an injury just before the season starts.

 

[ukfan758]

Great to see that he is un-injured.

 

[sems4arsenal]

Nico just showed us that the Mercs are still very much still untouchable.

 

[MHPALA]

Rosberg hit a 1:24 on mediums . Lotus has the fastest time with supersofts.

 

[Whodoyouthink]

Oh, so Nico's neck is healed? Granted I didn't expect it to fully take him out for the rest of testing, but since it was enough to take him out for at least that day, I figured a couple of days.

And on the topic of Marussia and Caterham; while I am disappointed in the concept that 2 teams went bye-bye, I did not care for them at all. They never were contenders for anything really, with very few exceptions. The only thing I liked was they both had the never give up mentality in that they kept showing up to races pretty much fully knowing they'd not only lose, but only have DNF's as drivers below them. I really don't understand the overwhelming empathy they get....who really likes a team that finishes that far back?

 

[TRGTspecialist]

Yes, they're terrible. McLaren have had a little bit of trouble with a minor part that can be redesigned in a short space of time, and no problems with major parts.

Sure it's true that no major part has failed, but that seems a bit of a moot point to me when they've had enough issues/glitches with minor parts to severely restrict their running. And it's put them behind enough in their programme that it's likely they'll be down on performance come Melbourne. Of course they have smart people and wads of cash so they'll fix their problems, but we all know that'll take time. So I don't think it's unreasonable for @Pezzarinho17 to say that "the signs don't look good" for the start of the season.

 

[Peasantslayer]

Even faster lap from @nico_rosberg on the same set of medium tyres: 1m24.321s. @RGrosjean still fastest with 1m24.067s on supersoft #F1

https://twitter.com/pirellisport/status/569538051837267968

 

[sems4arsenal]

That must scare a few teams that Nico lap.

 

[TRGTspecialist]

Just realised something shocking today.........from above, the McLaren livery flows well and I actually like it:

Could we request FOM to show the car from helicopter shots only?

 

[Kenocar]

The mercs are scary.

Pretty sure the other teams are scared of its true pace.