F1 - General discussion and 2017

[caroper]

Another new fastest time for Raikkonen after a cool-down lap with those softs. He improves to a 1m22.3s.

 

[caroper]

THEY'VE CHANGED THEIR MINDS...

Circuit BCN-CAT ✔ @Circuitcat_eng
BREAKING! We will wet the track again at lunch time!!! #F1Testing

Pirelli Motorsport ✔ @pirellisport
Many data collected on the wet early morning. Track will be dampened during lunch break once more. #F1Testing

 

[caroper]

So this afternoon will be a repeat............
I may just blog any major events then, no need to sit here for a 4 hour repeat of a boring morning.

 

[caroper]

Three laps for Bottas before returning to the garage, although the day's dry window looks set to be a short one with the circuit to send out the water tankers during the imminent lunch break.

Meanwhile, Max Verstappen is now up to second behind Raikkonen with a lap of 1:23.920.

 

[caroper]

GROSJEAN GOES SECOND!
He's on the super soft tyre, which is enough to take him 0.434 of a second away from Raikkonen's time.

 

[caroper]

Checkered Flag - Lunch break

1 Raikkonen Ferrari 1m22.305s
2 Grosjean Haas 1m22.739s
3 Vandoorne McLaren 1m23.918s
4 Verstappen Red Bull 1m23.920s
5 Perez Force India 1m24.893s
6 Hulkenberg Renault 1m24.974s
7 Giovinazzi Sauber 1m25.037s
8 Bottas Mercedes 1m36.512s
Hamilton Mercedes No time
Massa Williams No time
Kvyat Toro Rosso No time
Sainz Toro Rosso No time
Palmer Renault No time

Morning session overall

After a hectic end to the session, the chequered flag drops!
Raikkonen ends the morning session fastest over Romain Grosjean and Stoffel Vandoorne.

 

[caroper]

Everyone is back in the pits, so no post-flag dramas like we had yesterday when Stroll ended up in the gravel.

Mercedes get up to eight laps before the chequered flag falls and the hour-long lunch break begins.

Kimi Raikkonen therefore ends up on top of the order for the wet-dry morning, his best lap a 1:22.305 - over two seconds slower than the searing pace we saw from Ferrari and Mercedes yesterday.

But, with the water tankers coming back out again, that might be as fast as it gets for Day Four.

 

[caroper]

The tankers are already on track ready to give us wet conditions again for the afternoon. Let's hope it's more successful than it proved this morning, but we're not holding out much hope.

 

[caroper]

SUMMARY

• Williams cancel their day four running after chassis damage from Stroll crash.
• Pirelli wet the track before the session.
• Wet tyres used early on.
• Kimi Raikkonen fastest on a drying track.
• Romain Grosjean and Stoffel Vandoorne set late laps to finish in the top three.
• Mercedes suffer electronics issue. Hamilton didn't run, Bottas took over late on in the morning to shakedown the car.
• Toro Rosso complete one lap. They require a power unit change.

 

[caroper]

Circuit BCN-CAT EN
@Circuitcat_eng

We are WET again!! #F1Testing

So, the track was flooded during the lunchbreak, while the sun was beating down on it. So how long will it stay wet for this time - and how many teams will bother to actually go out?

Mercedes didn't do any wet running this morning due to an electrical fault, apparently, but this time it is first to venture out. Bottas is in the car, having got nine laps in before lunch when the plan to run Hamilton in the morning was abandoned.

Plenty of spray hanging in the air behind Bottas, and the combination of that and sunshine will delight photographers. So at least something half decent will come out of this second attempt at a wet test.

Three more laps on the board for Bottas - on full wets - and he comes back in.

 

[caroper]

The teams that did pull their weight this morning in the first wet running probably aren't that impressed that they are facing the same conditions again on the final afternoon of this week's track time. The urgency with which most cars went out when the track became fully dry in the morning suggested everyone was happy to see the back of the wet surface and keen to do some proper testing again.

Air temperature is 18 degrees, but it's very sunny and the track is at 35 degrees. That will dry out the track quicker than this morning.

Whilst everybody sits in the Pits apparently as we watch an empty track.

 

[Polish]

Better today

 

[caroper]

1. Räikkönen Ferrari SF70-H 1:22.305 45 ● PIT
2. Grosjean Haas F1 VF-17 1:22.739 +0.434 49 ● PIT
3. Vandoorne McLaren MCL32 1:23.918 +1.613 35 ● PIT
4. Verstappen Red Bull Racing RB13 1:23.920 +1.615 43 ● PIT
5. Perez Force India VJM10 1:24.893 +2.588 25 ● PIT
6. Hülkenberg Renault RS17 1:24.974 +2.669 51 ● PIT
7. Giovinazzi Sauber C36 1:25.037 +2.732 37 ● PIT
8. Bottas Mercedes W08 1:36.512 +14.207 12 ● PIT
9. Kvyat Toro Rosso STR12 no time 1 ● PIT
10. Sainz jr Toro Rosso STR12 no time 0 ● PIT
11. Palmer Renault RS17 no time 0 ● PIT
12. Massa Williams FW40 no time 0 ● PIT

 

[caroper]

15 m in in to second half of final day:

Hmm. Not sure this is what Pirelli had in mind.

Number of cars currently on track:

None.

Zilch.

Nada.

Stay with us folks, it can only get more exciting than this.

Although what message we should be sending out to the fans in the grandstands, we're not sure...

 

[caroper]

For the thousands of you wondering - and there will almost be as many wanting to know this as there are Sauber fans - the water being used to wet the circuit apparently comes from a well on a nearby pig farm. Apparently, it is non-drinkable.

What I would like to know is why has the track been wet again during the lunch break when the track temperature at 34C and only one car has gone out on it when it's drying all the time. It's just about the crazies thing I've seen in my life. Nobody seems to want to test in the wet, but they've ruined the chance of testing in the dry by doing this.

 

[caroper]

A Video Special: Take a look at the cars on track during wet-weather testing at Barcelona...http://www.skysports.com/iframe/wid...qne0y#ooid=N1Mmk0YTE6td ygB3ROcE9bgTl1Iqne0y

 

[caroper]

BOTTAS CONTINUES...
He's edging closer to his lap time from the morning session, but that's because he wasn't really pushing in the morning following a late arrival.
He's two seconds away from his current best.

BOTTAS HAS COMPANY!
Romain Grosjean and Antonio Giovinazzi are out on track.

 

[caroper]

And I have been saved by a Client.........

Have to pop out for a couple of hours.
It's not like Hamilton's Electrical Problem, honest....

 

[caroper]

 

[Polish]

caroper's post count is quicker than the Ferrari