F1 - General discussion and 2017

[caroper]

Wehrlein emerges in the Sauber.

Ricciardo's using a lot more road than Vettel on the exit of Turn 13.
It means he has to work that little bit harder than the Ferrari driver to haul it back across for Turn 14.

 

[caroper]

We've also had Palmer head out in the Renault and then back in at the end of the lap.
Hulkenberg was due to take over but after more problems this morning it seems the team has handed its British driver some extra time.

 

[caroper]

Bottas is on track now in the Mercedes.

 

[caroper]

Wehrlein improved to a 1m23.208s.
Bottas has gone eighth on a 1m22.038s.

Lap count so far:

1 Vettel (74)
2 Hamilton (52)
3 Ocon (69)
4 Kvyat (61)
5 Ricciardo (54)
6 Magnussen (55)
7 Vandoorne (33)
8 Bottas (14)
9 Palmer (33)
10 Wehrlein (12)
11 Ericsson (88)
12 Stroll (85)
13 Massa (14)

Timesheet:

1 Vettel Ferrari 1m19.341s
2 Hamilton Mercedes 1m20.686s
3 Ricciardo Red Bull 1m20.824s
4 Magnussen Haas 1m21.129s
5 Ocon Force India 1m21.194s
6 Bottas Mercedes 1m22.038s
7 Vandoorne McLaren 1m22.055s
8 Palmer Renault 1m22.418s
9 Wehrlein Sauber 1m23.795s
10 Ericsson Sauber 1m24.085s
11 Stroll Williams 1m24.863s
12 Kvyat Toro Rosso 1m26.529s
Hulkenberg Renault No time

 

[caroper]

Haas have been going along nicely in pre-season and Kevin Magnussen's lap of 1:20.863 on supersofts from this morning was their quickest this year at Barcelona so far.

After a first run of the afternoon, the Dane is back in the garage with 55 more laps on the VF-17.

 

[caroper]

Ricciardo and Vettel pit on the same lap.
Vettel's gone two laps longer on softs than the Red Bull.
Ricciardo and Vettel are nose to tail down the start-finish straight!
Ricciardo's taken mediums, Vettel's on softs.
Vettel's passed Ricciardo and gapped him immediately.
A 1m24.019s for the Ferrari, a 1m27.348s for the Red Bull.

Is Ferrari's testing pace too good to be true? Deep down, even this man can't be sure yet. © LAT

 

[caroper]

MASSA IMPROVES
Felipe Massa slightly improves his best lap time, it now reads 1:25.195. Williams seem to be running a much different programme today than the previous two days.

 

[caroper]

ULTRA SOFT TIME FOR MAGNUSSEN
Magnussen sets a lap on the ultra softs, a 1:20.760 which puts him in fifth place.

 

[caroper]

The Ferrari just looks so much easier to thread through Turn 13 and into the chicane.
Ricciardo's making it much more of an 'S' – and that was the case before he took on a harder compound of tyre than Vettel.

Three 1m24.0s from Vettel, three 1m26.0s from Ricciardo.
How good are these boys?

 

[caroper]

Such has been the pace difference between Vettel and Ricciardo on this second stint that the two cars started the stint nose-to-tail and now Vettel crosses the line with Ricciardo not even in sight heading into Turn 13.

 

[caroper]

During the first stint, with both on soft tyres, Vettel averaged 1m25.1s over 14 laps. Plus, he spent two laps tucked up behind Kvyat. Ricciardo averaged 1m26.3s over 12 laps. Advantage Ferrari so far.

 

[caroper]

Vettel, Ocon, Kvyat, Ricciardo and Bottas are all on track - and all, judging by their lap times, running very long

Bottas: 1:23.721; Pits;

Vettel: 1:24.068; 1:23.871; 1:23.945; 1:23.925

 

[caroper]

sorry guy's - been called out.
back later

 

[caroper]

[video=youtube_share;MkdlPedBqKc]https://youtu.be/MkdlPedBqKc[/video]

 

[caroper]

[video=youtube;PfMb6kEr870]https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PfMb6kEr870[/video]

 

[caroper]

[video=youtube_share;FSptDxIaAGk]https://youtu.be/FSptDxIaAGk[/video]

 

[caroper]

[video=youtube_share;lYWaxzplz_c]https://youtu.be/lYWaxzplz_c[/video]

 

[caroper]

F1.com Official Video, Day 3 test 2
[video=youtube_share;a2sbNP3Hd48]https://youtu.be/a2sbNP3Hd48[/video]

 

[caroper]

Barcelona second F1 test day four

Weather conditions

Humidity 88%
Temp 9.6C (track 20.6C)
Wind S 0.2

Here is who we should see today:

Mercedes: Hamilton/Bottas
Red Bull: Verstappen
Ferrari: Raikkonen
Force India: Perez
Williams: Stroll/Massa
McLaren: Alonso
Toro Rosso: Sainz
Haas: Grosjean
Renault: Hulkenberg/Palmer
Sauber: Wehrlein/Ericsson

 

[caroper]

F1 Testing: Final Day LIVE!

We're reached the eighth day of Winter Testing!

Which means only one thing - F1's teams have just eight hours of track time around the Circuit de Catalunya left to fine-tune their cars for the racing season, with the next time these 2017 challengers take to the track in anger being the opening day of the Australian GP weekend on March 24.

Yesterday proved rather exciting, particularly in the morning, when Ferrari posted a series of blistering times as Sebastian Vettel signed off from the winter with a flourish.

Lewis Hamilton, having already claimed Ferrari might even be 2017's favourites, has now suggested the Scuderia are "bluffing" about their chances and holding even more back than the timesheet suggests.

Who will end testing with the fastest time of all? Stay tuned throughout this final day to find out.

It's probably safe to say McLaren, after the toughest of fortnights here in Catalonia, won't be among those finishing at the sharp end of the testing timesheet.

Fernando Alonso returns to the MCL32 this morning for the first time since his stinging Honda-aimed outburst on Wednesday. He probably won't have been too pleased about the car twice breaking down when Stoffel Vandoorne was running yesterday either...