F1 - General discussion and 2017

Day Four timesheet :
1) Max Verstappen, Red Bull, 6 laps, 1:41.706;
2) Antonio Giovinazzi, Sauber, 8 laps, 1:42,940;
3) Stoffel Vandoorne, McLaren, 9 laps, 1:43.402;
4) Kimi Raikkonen, Ferrari, 3 laps; 1:43.767 ;
5) Daniil Kvyat, Toro Rosso, 1 lap, no time set;
6) Nico Hulkenberg, Renault, 1 lap, no time set;
7) Romain Grosjean, Haas, 1 lap, no time set.

No laps: Lewis Hamilton, Mercedes; Sergio Perez, Force India.

VANDOORNE IMPROVES
His latest effort sees him set a 1:42.623.
He's setting personal best sectors again, too.
 
You never know exactly what programme the teams are expected to run by Pirelli, but you have to say the fact that in the first 45 minutes only seven cars have gone out with a combined total of under 50 laps suggests this isn't an entirely efficient use of pre-season time. There are circuits set up to be made wet artificially, and if a proper wet test was needed, it would have made more sense to go to one of those for a day even if it was a bit more pricey. Or, alternatively, go somewhere where rain is likely such as Silverstone!

Edd Straw
 
VANDOORNE IMPROVES AGAIN
A 1:41.847 for the Belgian. He's 1.5 seconds away from the pace.

The times we have seen so far are down in the 1:40s, about 21 seconds slower than the kind of searing pace we saw in the dry yesterday.

Verstappen heads the times at the moment on 1:40.357, with Kimi Raikkonen just behind.
 
Let's have a lap count update:

1 Verstappen (12)
2 Raikkonen (9)
3 Vandoorne (13)
4 Giovinazzi (11)
Kvyat (1)
Hulkenberg (1)
Grosjean (1)
Hamilton (0)
Perez (0)

AND AGAIN FROM VANDOORNE
Marginal gains from McLaren as the track dries out bit by bit...
 
Not surprised to see Verstappen top of the time sheets. Who can forget that drive in torrential conditions in Brazil last year...
 
An interesting take on Lance Stroll from Ted Kravitz, who has been trackside on Sky Sports News HQ.

"These cars are harder to drive, they are less forgiving than the cars of the previous four, five, six years," Ted says.

"So putting a rookie in is a risk, putting in rookie who hasn't even competed in the series directly below Formula 1 is an even higher risk, and putting in a guy who's only 18 years old, rather than Stoffel Vandoorne or someone like that, was another.

"Why did Williams do it? Money. You can't turn down the money he brought to the team."
 
McLaren
@McLarenF1
f88d9f93-2dd5-4792-ae06-e9e95e4a0bcc_800.jpg

https://images.scribblelive.com/2017/3/2/f88d9f93-2dd5-4792-ae06-e9e95e4a0bcc_800.jpg
15 laps in the wet for @svandoorne . The track is drying, but there's still plenty of standing water out there. #F1Testing
 
caroper said:
An interesting take on Lance Stroll from Ted Kravitz, who has been trackside on Sky Sports News HQ.

"These cars are harder to drive, they are less forgiving than the cars of the previous four, five, six years," Ted says.

"So putting a rookie in is a risk, putting in rookie who hasn't even competed in the series directly below Formula 1 is an even higher risk, and putting in a guy who's only 18 years old, rather than Stoffel Vandoorne or someone like that, was another.

"Why did Williams do it? Money. You can't turn down the money he brought to the team."
Click to expand...

Which is all going to go directly to rebuilding cars at this rate...
 
That McLaren looks far better in sunlight than it did under the studio lights on the Launch Day.
It must be growing on me but I think it looks stunning in most shots on track.
 
The track is drying up slightly, but drivers still seem to be sliding about on the standing water.

No sign of a Mercedes just yet...


Hulkenberg and Grosjean join Vandoorne on track. Full wets all around, although the spray is already significantly reduced even on the pit straight, which should stay wetter for longer than other parts of the track as it is in the shade created by the big main grandstand.

HULKENBERG TO P4
The Renault driver sets a 1:42.243 on his first proper run of the day...
...scratch that, he down to a 1:41.170 now.

1. Verstappen Red Bull Racing RB13 1:40.357 13 ●
2. Räikkönen Ferrari SF70-H 1:40.803 +0.446 9 ● PIT
3. Hülkenberg Renault RS17 1:41.170 +0.813 4 ●
4. Vandoorne McLaren MCL32 1:41.826 +1.469 18 ● PIT
5. Giovinazzi Sauber C36 1:42.940 +2.583 11 ● PIT
6. Grosjean Haas F1 VF-17 1:44.353 +3.996 4 ●
 
IMPROVEMENT FOR GROSJEAN
The Haas driver is on a 1:42.856 now.
Verstappen setting a purple middle sector, too...

Verstappen lowers the benchmark to a 1m40.1s - still on full wets.

Grosjean down to 1:42.842.
 
HULKENBERG IMPROVING
The Renault has shaved some time off.
With a track temperature of 23 degrees now, you'd expect the circuit to be drying pretty quickly.

Gary Anderson spots that Hulkenberg is already searching for wetter parts of the track to cool his wets. Time for inters?
 
Pirelli Motorsport
@pirellisport
75b48d6f-fce3-4929-bfb0-8e0d1f00b11d_800.jpg

The track has been dampened, but it won't dampened again. So teams can test on a wet and drying track today. #F1

https://images.scribblelive.com/2017/3/2/75b48d6f-fce3-4929-bfb0-8e0d1f00b11d_800.jpg

Is it actually wet enough for this to be considered wet-weather testing?

From what we can see of the track, the jury must be out on that.

And the problem is that it's another lovely day here in Barcelona with the morning sunshine already soaking up the wet stuff.

The teams are expecting full testing to resume after lunch...

PIRELLI MILEAGE
So, about 70 laps have been completed in total by all drivers so far this morning. Although not all laps were necessarily on the wet tyre.
Whilst, the total lap count isn't bad for Pirelli, the track will soon need to be soaked again if they're to gain more useful feedback.
The Pirelli mileage won't get much higher with just Verstappen on the track at the minute...
 
Last edited:
A bit of a moment for McLaren's Stoffel Vandoorne. We're told the McLaren has been in the gravel - which may explain why the MCL32 has returned to base
 
It's been a successful first week of testing for Mercedes, but have they actually been turning their engine down?

"We haven't really seen the true running of the teams," says Ted. "Not least Mercedes. Lewis Hamilton said yesterday that there's no more power from this year's car.

"Considering that Andy Cowell and everyone from the team are saying that this new 2017 engine has loads more power, that leads us to wonder whether they're turning these 2017 engines down and actually there's more to come from Mercedes."

Daunting for the opposition...
 
Pirelli aren't planing to send the trucks out again, the track will be allowed to dry out.
 
Mercedes: "The W08 is still snoozing while we investigate an electrical fault."

Well, that's one way of Hamilton not having to do the wet running he said he wasn't keen on last night...

I wonder where he hid the side cutters?
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top
Sign up to the MyBroadband newsletter
X