F1 - General discussion and 2017

[caroper]

Soft tyres do the trick for Verstappen, who goes quickest of all on a 1m20.516.

 

[caroper]

Grosjean posts his best middle and final sectors so far but his first sector wasn't up to snuff and it's only a 1m24.210s.

His best time was a 1m24.201s. The digits are the same! Plus, if you rearrange Grosjean, you get Nsjroeag. Illuminati confirmed.

 

[caroper]

We didn't get to see Alonso for long – he's back in the pits. Two hours on the clock, just 11 laps on the board for McLaren-Honda on day two.

Verstappen's back in, so that run was nothing more than one flier on the softs. Also, Sainz is in the Toro Rosso garage.

Grosjean and Hulkenberg are joined on track by Massa, who fancies a bit more action. Williams had a very good day yesterday and the Brazilian wants more of the same.

 

[caroper]

'Unfortunately there is no short cut'

McLaren racing director Eric Boullier explained to Formula1.com why Honda have such big problems in matching the other engine manufacturers. This is what he had to say:

"Because they are still three years behind in time to the others: Mercedes, Renault and Ferrari started in 2010 - and all these three started with an existing organisation, as all three were already doing F1 engines. In 2013 Honda decided to come back to Formula One and started from scratch: empty buildings! They had to buy everything - and find the right people. So to be fair you have manufacturers who had seven years and are still struggling - and Honda started four years after the others.

"These units are so complicated that you have to be really process driven and go step by step. Unfortunately there is no short cut."

 

[caroper]

And, for the record, that is now Verstappen's quickest time of pre-season testing - by over one second.

We've seen quicker on the softs from both Ferrari and Mercedes, but it's almost impossible to second guess exactly how competitive Max's lap was with so many possible factors - fuel, tyre life, DRS use, you name it - at play.

The one caveat to that headline-grabbing effort from Verstappen is that it was set on a qualifying-style run because he only stayed out for one more lap before pitting.

A little further down the charts, Felipe Massa has gone third quickest with a time of 1:21.618.

Two Hours in:
1 Verstappen Red Bull 1m20.516s
2 Bottas Mercedes 1m21.229s
3 Massa Williams 1m21.860s
4 Raikkonen Ferrari 1m22.926s
5 Sainz Toro Rosso 1m23.589s
6 Perez Force India 1m24.059s
7 Grosjean Haas 1m24.201s
8 Hulkenberg Renault 1m24.417s
9 Wehrlein Sauber 1m24.951s
10 Alonso McLaren 1m34.732s

 

[caroper]

Chilli's not on track at the moment, but Massa, Perez, Grosjean and Hulkenberg are. And that's about as much as we have to tell you, so why not have a lap-count update. Coming at you shortly...

Here's the lap count so far. Not a great read for McLaren fans.

1 Verstappen (29)
2 Bottas (31)
3 Massa (32)
4 Raikkonen (15)
5 Sainz (12)
6 Perez (17)
7 Grosjean (25)
8 Hulkenberg (23)
9 Wehrlein (28)
10 Alonso (11)

 

[caroper]

Massa runs off the track, going wide at turn 13. No further problems, and off he continues.

So it's not just Lance...

 

[caroper]

Here are the headlines from the first two hours:

• Verstappen sets the pace on soft tyres in the Red Bull
• Mercedes goes for ultra-soft tyres early with Bottas but does not commit to a performance run
• A quieter start for Ferrari than yesterday, with only one real run for Raikkonen so far
• Alonso yet to post a meaningful time as McLaren-Honda struggles for mileage early on

Perez improves to a 1m24.027s, while Alonso appears and then disappears again – another outlap for the McLaren driver.

Just Perez and Massa on track during this quiet mid-morning spell.

Perez improves again, to a 1m23.746s

Very bitty morning for McLaren. Fernando Alonso has been popping out for one, maybe two laps at time before heading back in again. The Spaniard is yet to post a competitive time, with his 1:34 still propping up the timesheet.

 

[caroper]

In comes the Mexican now, leaving Massa with the track to himself. The Brazilian is leading the mileage count for today, with 39 laps down.

 

[caroper]

Bottas back out in the Mercedes and immediately laps within a tenth of his best time so far.

Only half a tenth off his best that time round from Bottas. Good consistency. Verstappen's out on track in the Red Bull now as well.

And Hulkenberg makes it three cars.

The air and track temperature have risen a few degrees so track conditions might persuade teams to knuckle down and get some proper running in now.

CLOUDS / SUN
AIR TEMPERATURE: 15℃
TRACK TEMPERATURE: 22℃

 

[caroper]

Verstappen goes a tenth quicker on his latest run on soft tyres, and the benchmark is now a 1m20.432s.

Bottas is on mediums, and chugging along in the 1m21s.

Hulkenberg jumps to second! The Renault uses super-soft tyres to post a 1m21.213s.

 

[caroper]

1 Verstappen Red Bull 1m20.432s
2 Hulkenberg Renault 1m21.213s
3 Bottas Mercedes 1m21.229s
4 Massa Williams 1m21.860s
5 Raikkonen Ferrari 1m22.926s
6 Sainz Toro Rosso 1m23.589s
7 Perez Force India 1m23.746s
8 Grosjean Haas 1m24.201s
9 Wehrlein Sauber 1m24.951s
10 Alonso McLaren 1m34.732s

 

[caroper]

A big move from Renault after their day of frustration yesterday.

No more Verstappen, no more Hulkenberg, no more Bottas on track. Just Perez, who has headed back out in the Force India.

 

[caroper]

Out goes Bottas again. He's made us look like a fool – like a fool! At this rate Bottas will be the first driver to hit a half-century for the morning.

 

[caroper]

Renault have enjoyed a quietly impressive pre-season when the RS17 has been running without reliability trouble on track, although that hasn't been quite as often as they'd have liked.

The car appears to be a big step forward over last year's troubled challenger, how far can they move up the midfield order by Melbourne?

 

[caroper]

Bottas is back in. He's stuck on 41 laps for now. But after a 20-minute wait, we have seen Alonso again the McLaren-Honda.

We have a meaningful time on the board for McLaren, Alonso posts a 1m23.210s.

Sainz has improved in the Toro Rosso, stopping the clocks at 1m22.139s.

 

[caroper]

1 Verstappen Red Bull 1m20.432s
2 Hulkenberg Renault 1m21.213s
3 Bottas Mercedes 1m21.229s
4 Massa Williams 1m21.860s
5 Sainz Toro Rosso 1m22.139s
6 Raikkonen Ferrari 1m22.926s
7 Alonso McLaren 1m23.210s
8 Perez Force India 1m23.746s
9 Grosjean Haas 1m24.201s
10 Wehrlein Sauber 1m24.951s

 

[caroper]

Mercedes haven't set any headline-grabbing laps since Bottas's fast start, but the team are once again the morning's mileage leaders.

So far, so good - again.

Mercedes-AMG F1 ✔ @MercedesAMGF1
Box. Box. Box.

41 laps and counting for #VB77 this morning#F1 #F1Testing

 

[caroper]

Another time in the mid-1m23s from Alonso. He's also surpassed Sainz and Raikkonen now in terms of laps completed this morning.

Alonso bring that run to an end – encouragement for McLaren-Honda.

 

[caroper]

Hello, hello.

Felipe Massa has just leapt to the top of the charts for Williams a 1m20.244s.