F1 - General discussion and 2017

Green flag!

And an engine roars immediately.
Grosjean and Ericsson hit the track immediately.
Sainz, Raikkonen and Alonso join the early installation lappery.
Grosjean sets the fastest middle sector so far!

We're enthusiastic this morning.
Don't know why, but we are excited...

Lance is out for a...drive.
Stroll takes the Williams onto the circuit for the first time.

Ericsson carries on in the Sauber but Grosjean, Sainz, Raikkonen and Alonso are back in the pits.

Stroll joins Ericsson on a second lap, while Bottas is out for the first time in the Mercedes.
 
Ericsson pits at the end of his second lap so no times on the board yet.
But encouraging to have cars on track from the off. This is a bit more like it.
Stroll's back now as well, so all eyes on Bottas to see if he cracks on in the Mercedes.
Bottas goes onto a second lap.
He's on ultra-softs and set the fastest final sector so far on his outlap.
Are we reading too much into it? Absolutely.
 
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Fernando fires up and heads out of the garage for his first install lap of the day.
 
Out goes Verstappen for the first time in the Red Bull.
We were just thinking we hadn't seen Hulkenberg yet, but the Renault emerges for an installation lap.
So, just Perez's Force India to come.
Verstappen has gone straight onto a second lap in the Red Bull.
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The Renault-powered Renault and the Renault-powered Red Bull use their Renault power to get back to the garage.
Just as Perez emerges.
We have now seen all 10 cars already this morning.
Solid opening 10 minutes.

Hulkenberg and Verstappen have gone straight back out again.
 
Max Verstappen's car is carrying an aero rake between the front wheels and the side-pods.

Perez returns to the pits. Sainz wheelspins his way down the pitlane in the Toro Rosso.
 
Verstappen back into the pits again, Sainz back into the pits again, Stroll back to the track again.

Sainz pulls in for what sounded like a pitstop practice, then heads off again.

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Ericsson's also out on track after escaping those photographers.
 
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Alonso heads out in the McLaren-Honda.
Stroll gets on the board with a 1m23.439s.

Ericsson, Sainz and Alonso roll onto what we hope will be flying laps.
Grosjean's also emerged in the Haas.
 
Softs for Alonso as he posts a 1m27.874s.
That's at least quicker than Ericsson (on unmarked Pirellis), who did a leisurely 1m32.567s.
 
Stroll backed off on his last lap but is pushing again on soft tyres, setting the fastest first sector of the morning so far.
 
A 1m27.831s means Ericsson nips ahead of Alonso, who pits.
Stroll improves to a 1m23.321s.
 
Ericsson improves again, to a 1m26.962s.

We think somebody's had an issue in the pitlane, but can't work out who.
 
Looked like a car was being escorted down the pitlane by marshals, and that it could have been a Haas, but it's too tough to tell as we couldn't see. Grosjean had just pitted, though.
 
Stroll's gone quickest on a 1m22.764s.
The team obviously back to business after a different day of running yesterday.
That time is already one and a half seconds quicker than his best time yesterday.
 
Marcus Ericsson is currently riding with unmarked tyres.
This is an experimental compound from Pirelli.
Lance Stroll on the soft tyres.

Ericsson's had a series of improvements in the Sauber, first to a 1m26.802s and now to a 1m26.384s.
 
HAAS HIT A PROBLEM

Romain Grosjean's Haas stopped in the pit-lane and has been pushed back to the garage.

Meanwhile, Stroll goes quickest with a 1:22.764.
 
Third of the big three?

If you missed it last night, (https://mybroadband.co.za/vb/showth...n-and-2017?p=19310474&viewfull=1#post19310474) there was a fascinating disclosure from Red Bull's Daniel Ricciardo when he spoke to Rachel Brookes of Sky Sports News and admitted that the RB13 was currently lagging behind the Ferrari and Mercedes.

"Our true pace is closer but we are not quite at their level at the moment," said the Australian. "We can get there but we are not there yet."
 
No improvement next time by for Ericsson.

Gutting news for Sauber fans the world over, from Barcelona to Boston.

Pacesetter Stroll is still out there and already on 12 laps for the day.

Stroll's latest flying lap features the best final sector so far, but the overall lap is 0.8s slower than his best.
 
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