If one team has 100M to spend on going faster then they will spend it wherever they can in the rules so unless you regulate f1 to be even more of a spec series the big spenders will always spend money. If that makes them go faster and stops a little spender from getting a win then that’s the way it (mosyly) has been. How do you get to be a big spender? By being consistently better than you should be for the money you’re spending and then attracting more sponsorship and prize money.

I’ve said it before but the biggest problem f1 has is people saying there’s a problem with f1. The whole 5 seconds faster thing is baloney, it’s not going to make passing in F1 any easier than it ever has been.

And what have we learned today? Nothing, it’s only testing. The only true comparison starts on Saturday afternoon in Australia.

Sounds like Bernie is trying the Gerald Ratner approach now! 😀

Imagine Mercs data from today. I wonder howfreshLH was and what tune they were running.

MrSalmon – Member
Well, they do want to go round corners quickly as well, so that’s a bit of a straw man.

That’s a pretty defeatest comment. Right now they corner at a certain speed so you’ve got the options of looking at changing that speed or changing how it’s achieved. I’d be more than happy with reduced corner speeds, with increased straight line speeds. Which would lead to decrease in dirty air, increased braking distances and…. potentially…. increased chances of overtaking without gimmicks 😯

The last team that I can recall who did this was Jordan, back in 1991…

Stewart Racing I believe, so marginally less depressing at 1997 (from F3000)

Look at the rake on that!…

El rake de RedBull como siempre “impresionante!!!

Cc @AUTOhebdoSPORT pic.twitter.com/NducmesIHO

— Pius Gassó (@piusgasso) February 22, 2016

..IMO Red Bull have won the livery war – the matt finish and cleaner graphics look really good on track.

My YouTube trawling is telling me that they still sound mad under closed/part throttle, but not much otherwise. Think they seem louder but you can’t really tell (no point of reference, need 19bozzy92 on the case)

maybe I’m missing something, but if Bernie gets his “reverse grid” plan implemented, why would anyone bother competing for pole position anymore? They’ll all be fighting to be 10th!

Sayonara Arai-san!

Falling on sword after yesterday’s lack of pace?

More like last year’s lack of pace. Too early to tell much yet this year, and IIRC the pus aren’t even homologated yet.

Anyone know what the deal is with the A/B mk1/mk2 engine specs for the Honda?

Some people over on Reddit were supposing that one spec is from another team that’s not under Arai’s control.

@bueuF1: Three different sources inside paddock: Yasuhisa Arai to be sacked. from formula1

So, to cut through the spin, has Arai quit in the light of McHonda’s testing times yesterday?

And if the 2016 engine is another pup, what can be done about it?

has Arai quit

Technically, he has been promoted to senior managing officer for R&D.

Detail on the Merc – some ‘unusual’ upgrades to come over testing according to Mr Wolff…

And if the 2016 engine is another pup,

Looks like it is to a degree, as although it is better than last year (couldn’t be any worse!), Button has already mentioned it needs improvement.

what can be done about it?

Well I think traditionally in Japan you fall on your sword.

my guess is mchonda are probably erring on the side of caution, going for laps as they don’t want a repeat of the fiasco of last year when they left testing with virtually no data !

Renault have had years to catch up but still haven’t. It’s very hard to do with the current token system. Mid-field for tail-end points is IMO the best they can do this season.

McHondas best chance is for 2017 when it’s an engine free-for-all.

Vettel and Ricciardodo 1 second faster than last years pole time on same (supersoft compound) tyres. Is that a true measure? Not much they would need to do differently for a quali than a test day, perhaps more willing to risk engines during test or pushing tyres harder given they don’t need to race on them the day after.

Also noted that Perez matched last years pole time while on Softs.

Makes me think the tyre changes have made a big difference too.

If Honda have spent all of 2015 producing another pup that can’t be fixed until 2017, then the fallout will be immense.

McLaren have struggled for sponsorship as no-one wants to put their name on the slowest car on the grid, plus Ron Dennis has staked his personal reputation on a turnaround in team fortunes. Alonso may well decide to take a sabbatical for 2016, scaring off even more potential sponsors.

For Arai to be “promoted” under such circumstances would be highly unusual, I suspect that the real quality of the power unit is better than first feared, but not quite as good as first hoped.

mercedes are posting cryptic tweets….

A lone tyre man wheeling in his wares can only mean one thing… we think…

are they suggesting they are about to tear the field a new one ? 🙄

are they suggesting they are about to tear the field a new one ?

Guess they are referring to Palmers mechanics bringing in their kit for the day? i.e. suggesting his engine is completely lunched.

[edit] see rosberg has gone back out, so you are probably right. Bring the … pace? [/edit]

nope 🙂 (in answer to my own question)

well thats day 2 done.. any new thoughts?
Mercs are laughing all the way to the bank on the mediums. I wonder how Alonso feels keeping company with renault and torro rosso. I dont think even a change in honda hq could brighten up his day. Haas looking like they have the jump on Manor and a few others.

Joe Saward suggests that arais departure is nothing to do with testing performance yesterday, but is to do with 2016 engine development. Also seems that Honda are planning to run a different spec engine next week then combine the best/least worst bits for the spec they’ll take to Oz.

Above all, this time last year weren’t Ferrari quickest, so lap times in testing are a meaningless comparison. And it also seems nobody at the sharp end has shown their full hand yet either.

PS weren’t today’s quickest times set on the purple ultra softs, so should be quicker than last year if they can last a full lap.

Just as in 2015, all eyes are on Alonso…will he walk or won’t he?

alonso says “yes” , he will be driving this year 🙂

Although I reckon the sacking of arai may have shown him some commitment to the cause!

How to confuse casual viewers No.567 – nothing wrong with the current qualifying format…

http://www.motorsport.com/f1/news/f1-teams-agree-elimination-style-qualifying-for-2016-675278/

Err, imagine how complicated that’s going to get if there’s a crash or other incident during qualifying and they have to suspend it for a while.

It should give a but more interest over the whole period of quali as there will be more occasions where people are fighting to get off the bottom (as opposed to only the last 2 laps of each current phase).

However there will still be big lulls as the faster guys throw out an easy lap and return to the pits for the session, not to mention the times when the bottom car has already given everything it can and when ‘eliminated’ it has been in the pits for 10min already and the driver is already half way to his hotel.

The time ballast sounds interesting though, especially if its applied during the session. Hamilton trying to put in a flyer to not get stuck behind a sauber 😆

I reckon once you get your head around it it’ll be pretty exicting. There’s def gonna be a lot more drivers getting caught out and qualifying further back down the grid, which should make for better racing on the Sunday…

Had to laugh at the 2017 proposals – instead of Red Bull’s suggestion to gain 5s per lap they’ve voted for a McLaren proposal to make the cars 3s per lap quicker. So no lap time changes for 2017 then 🙂

Kimi today?

Yep – but no laps from Ferrari so far today (and 45 already for Merc!). Can’t see why they aren’t running though.

Can’t see why they aren’t running though.

Kimi will need to finish his ice cream

Maybe Kimi needs a couple of espressos and a bacon sarnie after a heavy night in Barcelona?

Halo cockpit design agreed for 2017 apparently 🙁

I wonder how Alonso feels keeping company with renault and torro rosso

Delighted by the leap forward, I reckon.

But he did enjoy his time sunbathing on the deckchair.

Tech changes for 2017…

http://beta.autosport.com/news/report.php/id/122950/analysis-f1-2017-tech-changes

speed trap from yesterday doesn’t make good reading for mchonda

1 Nasr, 338.5km/h
2 Hamilton, 337.5km/h
3 Massa, 334.3km/h
4 Hulkenberg, 333.3km/h
5 Haryanto, 333.3km/h
6 Magnussen, 332.3km/h
7 Grosjean, 331.2km/h
8 Raikkonen, 331.2km/h
9 Rosberg, 328.2km/h
10 Sainz, 327.2km/h
11 Kvyat, 322.3km/h
12 Button, 320.4km/h

and only 3 laps from alonso this morning as well.