Daniel Ricciardo’s already broken down, perma-grin now absent!

McLaren also down, with an ‘oil-systems issue’. Not much good news re: reliability so far!

Shermer – was going to post the same thing…

“Bad news for McLaren. Honda has found an oil systems issue, which requires a full investigation. The team plans to run again today, but “due to the difficult access location, it will take several hours to resolve”.”

(from Autosport live feed)

Haven’t we been here before?

We have! Also watching the Autosport live feed. Piccie of Haas’ attempt to camouflage that massive fin:

Any radio commentary anywhere?

Not that I know of..

Looks like BBC 5 are covering it:

http://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/b007m6lj

The McLaren revival looks to be a bit of a damp squib. So far, we’ve a livery that no-one likes, no title sponsor(s) and a fault which means that only one hundredth of Merc’s total lappage has been completed so far. That’s really going to hurt the team in the opening rounds.

To be fair to Zach Brown, most of the reasons behind McLaren’s malaise were down to corporate in-fighting and Ron Dennis’ genius for falling out with important people, but you’d have hoped that after two seasons together, McLaren and Honda could make engine and chassis play nicely.

Tenner says that Alonso will be thinking about packing his bags.

Tenner says that Alonso will be thinking about packing his bags.

Yeah, I actually think he might not see out the season this year. Maybe not even half way.

2 T-Wings for Williams…

Merc looking Bombproof again, but Ferrari also looking OK. I thought Renault would have been higher up the time sheets.

Are those pull shocks I see on rear suspension??

most of the reasons behind McLaren’s malaise were down to corporate in-fighting and Ron Dennis’ genius for falling out with important people, but you’d have hoped that after two seasons together, McLaren and Honda could make engine and chassis play nicely.

I don’t think that’s true, Mclaren have had a duff chassis for years now (pre-Ron Dennis’ return) and Honda have been dreadful since they came back into F1. TBH I can’t see Mclaren being a force in F1 for a long time yet, and possibly ever again.

legend – Member
Are those pull shocks I see on rear suspension??

not sure but people on f1tech are saying there’s a lot more chassis roll on the williams than previously

and some speculation on the t-wings

Postby bhall II » 27 Feb 2017, 16:54

Now that I’ve seen the Williams version, I submit that T-wings reduce downforce coefficient at high speeds.

At low speeds, they’ll do next to nothing, simply because they’re too small. But, at higher speeds, their wake will be sufficient to redirect air flow away from the rear wing, reducing its efficiency.

Image

It’s not the same thing as reducing downforce. Downforce will still increase with speed; it’ll just happen at a slower rate above a certain airspeed threshold. Moreover, such an effect would be particularly useful now that the aero coupling of the rear wing to the diffuser is much stronger.

I should imagine Ferrari will be reasonably satisfied.

If that is indeed what the T wings are doing, which certainly appears plausible, then I’ll forgive how they look for the wonderful engineering thinking involved. Effectively they’re tuning the downforce curve – presumably the idea is that their angles/positions will be changed for each circuit in order to tune the speed at which they kick in to be just above that of the fastest corner where more downforce is essential (not necessarily the fastest corner where more downforce makes a difference – I’d imagine it’s worth taking a slight hit on that for improved speed on all the straights).

LH: “most likely we’re going to be doing a lot more one-stoppers as there’s less degradation, and there’s going to be less overtaking. That’s my estimation but I might be wrong.”

08:07 The McLaren has stopped at the pit entry – mechanics rush to retrieve the MCL32 with Vandoorne at the wheel.

Great start to day 2…. 🙁

…just off to the bookies to stick £10 on Button being in the car in Australia! 😀

£10. Very conservative.

The McLaren revival looks to be a bit of a damp squib.

I dunno. Their motor now sounds like a motor. The off beat farting noise of last year has gone.

If they pursue a conventional route it’ll be a better year.

Not if they (McLaren) keep making school boy errors like badly shaped oil tanks!

Not if they (McLaren) keep making school boy errors like badly shaped oil tanks!

Apparently they now have a prob with getting power to the power unit. Shouldn’t that be the other way round? Lol

Need moar wingz!!

Ming the Merciless – Member
Not if they (McLaren) keep making school boy errors like badly shaped oil tanks!

Wonder if that’s down to Mclaren or Honda. Strange that it didn’t show up in any of the running they would have done on the bench. Then again, it didn’t show up 2015’s issues either…

Alonso must really be kicking himself that he committed to McLaren for 2017 after being in the frame for Rosberg’s vacant seat.

Van Doorne can’t seem to get within five seconds of the top lap time recorded by Merc this morning. There’s always a huge leap made during testing, but if Merc are this fast on day two and McLaren are watching everything from the pit lane, then it’s a reasonable conclusion that 2017 will be yet another midfield at best year for them.

They clearly can’t use the Honda engine to it’s maximum, which will hold up the necessary understanding and development of the aero package.

Mercs times were on heavy fuel loads as well. They are making the rest of the pack look silly.

Its fine all the others are just taking it easy doing consistent times to compare the different options correctly. Come race day they’ll switch to “sport” mode and all be giving Merc a run for their money.
[/rose tinted glasses]

If there isn’t going to be a battle for the front lets at least hope 3rd to 8th places are similar pace so there is some mid pack action. I’m a Williams fan but mostly neutral so as long as there are some fights going on I don’t really care what position.

Still looking forward to Red Bull upping the tempo!!

I bet young Mr Stroll feels a bit stupid!!

Ferarri put a very fast time in- best of the day, and on mediums too! I’d take taht as a good sign for the coming season…

Edit: I meant softs! Hamilton was on super-soft lol

I’ve said it before, but the Torro Rosso is stunning…

Gutted for McLaren, they are pretty stuck and have to make the Honda relationship work as they have no other options for engine supply. Every season it’s the same, very funny things aren’t showing up on the dyno, it looks like the oil tank is a Honda produced part as well.

I’ve said it before, but the Torro Rosso is stunning…

They have certainly got a pleasing mix of red, blue and silver. In silhouette, from front side and rear, it looks like all the others.

Unfortunately, I tend to agree with LH as quoted on the previous page. Once the circus is back in Europe and early bouts of design cock ups have surfaced and been rectified, Saturday qualifying will be the decider of the race result as they all spend their Sunday trooping around the black bits in line astern. Quality sport and entertainment 😉

Good interview with Ross Brawn on Teds Notebook tonight.
Sounds like a man with a plan…or at least a man who’s going to take his time deciding on and implementing the right plan.
Catch it if you can.

Good interview with Ross Brawn on Teds Notebook tonight.

It was.

And he didn’t completely rule out trying to get the shark-fins removed before Australia. Can’t see it happening, but it wasn’t a definite ‘no’.

And it sounds like fans will actually be thought about.

Trouble is that,at least until 2020, brawn can only make a difference if the strategy group follow him. If one of the top teams decides to protect its own interests then he’s got nowhere to go.

Ideally we’d see liberty negotiate an early new concorde agreement which has the backing to take precedence over the current one, then that may allow them the freedom to develop the sport in their own direction. However as that will likely involve Ferrari losing tens of millions of dollars I can’t see them supporting any change until they have to.

He accepted that things won’t change massively until then and didn’t want to rush things through anyway.

There are already talks with manufacturers about changing the engine formula – louder and simpler – but a return to big old V8’s seems unlikely.

Just read about the testing. Mercedes miles ahead of the rest again, fastest and most reliable 😐

I think we’ll only see when they do a qualifying simulation. Too many variables at the minute, but after close of running yesterday Ferrari may run Mercedes close.

And one team has been told to change their suspension (and it won’t be Ferrari!)…
https://www.motorsport.com/f1/news/f1-team-asked-to-make-suspension-changes-as-inspections-begin-878500/

Mercedes seem to be turning up the wick a bit, into 19s