F1 - General discussion and 2017

OK. Vettel's backed off and gone again, posting a 1m19.4s. He was 0.7s quicker in the final sector that time. So...
By the power of subtraction, we deduce Vettel's Ferrari on super-softs would have been comfortably in the 1m18s.

Vandoorne posts a personal best for McLaren again, his 1m21.348s is two seconds slower than Vettel.

Vettel (again), Ricciardo and Ericsson on track for now.
 
Vettel's straight back into the pits. We'd got a bit excited then but he's tempered our enthusiasm.
 
Vandoorne's back out and that's McLaren-Honda up to 30 laps for the morning.

RED FLAG.
 
Ricciardo pits and wheel guns blaze beneath us.
Vandoorne or Ericsson...

It's Vandoorne. The McLaren-Honda has caused the stoppage.
 
We can see Vandoorne parked at the end of the main straight. He's on the inside on the approach to Turn 1.

Vandoorne had
only just left the pits.

COVER YOUR EYES MCLAREN FANS..

The McLaren has broken down on the pit straight
 
The flatbed's on the scene and a cover is being readied for the stricken McLaren.
 
The MCL32 is covered up and will soon be lifted onto the back of the truck.

Sahara Force India
@ForceIndiaF1

Red Flag! VAN stopped on track so we halt our preparations for the next run. No sneaking out for an early lunch though... we'll be out soon!
 
While immensely frustrating for the drivers, you can't help but feel for the men and women behind the scenes at McLaren-Honda as well. (Not to mention Polish - The only remaining South African Fan)

The car's being lifted onto the truck now. This should be a pretty swift recovery and return to green-flag conditions. There's still over half an hour left until lunch.
 
966051e4-a224-4e12-86fe-f628097178c1_800.jpg

Lots of men wearing orange stand around looking at an orange F1 car that isn't going anywhere.
 
MCL32 secured on its back, the truck heads back to the pitlane. Where we're sure a huge scrum of photographers will be waiting. It never rains but it pours.
 
A good - or bad - time then for some analysis on Fernando Alonso's rather extraordinary criticisms of Honda in his press briefing last night.

Here's David Croft's take from Sky Sports News HQ a few minutes ago:

"Incredible stuff from Fernando Alonso last night. Backing up what Eric Boullier was saying the day before.

"It seems to be a concentrated effort by McLaren to maybe motivate Honda, but to also say 'enough is enough' and to get on top of this now. To say that the problems they are having are 'amateur', to say that they're lacking 30kph on every single straight, to joke that every corner he is doing is flat out because of their lack of power, and to say that everything they're doing at the moment is being hindered by Honda...that's very strong words indeed.

"How do Honda react to that? Do they react to that? Are they going to say anything publicly? I think the feeling is at Woking is that if they say all this that's going to spur things on to a resolution.

"And there has to be a resolution."

What we do know is Honda's top brass aren't going to speak today after their scheduled joint press conference with Eric Boullier this afternoon was cancelled.
 
There's the green flag. We resume with 31 minutes until we break for lunch.

Ericsson and Vettel immediately head out, followed shortly by Kvyat and Hamilton.
 
Vettel's out there on ultra-softs.
Vettel goes quickest of all in the first sector...
Vettel goes quickest of all in the second sector...
Vettel goes...

Quickest: a 1m19.164s from the Ferrari driver.

That's the quickest time from testing so far, but not the much sought after 1m18s.
 
caroper said:
RED FLAG.
Click to expand...

caroper said:
It's Vandoorne. The McLaren-Honda has caused the stoppage.
Click to expand...

caroper said:
COVER YOUR EYES MCLAREN FANS..

The McLaren has broken down on the pit straight
Click to expand...

caroper said:
While immensely frustrating for the drivers, you can't help but feel for the men and women behind the scenes at McLaren-Honda as well. (Not to mention Polish - The only remaining South African Fan)
Click to expand...

:crylaugh::crylaugh:


@polish is boycotting the thread today :D
 
Was listening out for Vettel on that lap, after his earlier sandbagging antics.
He was on throttle across the line, but it sounded very much like he backed off coming out of the final corner.
More pace left in the tank of that Ferrari certainly.

Ben Anderson
 
A look at the sector times confirm Ben Anderson's ear-nalysis. We'd expect him to be four or five tenths sector in the final part of the lap.
 
Ocon's out there and after narrowly missing out on improving on his 1m20.1s, he's fallen into the 1m21s.
 
Ricciardo emerges. It would be good to see a proper time from the Red Bull, which hasn't had a hugely productive morning: 35 laps.

Kvyat's improving out there in the Toro Rosso – a personal best in the first sector.

Kvyat can't keep the intensity up and his eventual time is slightly slower than his current best.

Ricciardo in the 1m22s at the start of this run – while Vettel is back out in the Ferrari again.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top
Sign up to the MyBroadband newsletter
X