Any predictions for the next 4 days then?

Alonso to not make a comeback.
Renault and Red Bull to make snarky comments about each other.

Merc complaining of balance issues, especially Bottas/seat waster (getting his excuses in early?).

Could this be “the Red Baron/Finger Boy’s”  year or will the apprentice become the master?

Will Lewis implode under pressure as the red cars romp away?

Guess who’s just sacked Sky off, brilliant timing Ming, brilliant timing🤬

Ming the Merciless

Subscriber

Merc complaining of balance issues, especially Bottas/seat waster (getting his excuses in early?).

Gary Anderson said he could see that they had problems with (IIRC) high speed understeer from the onboards.

McLaren seem all at sea again which is a real shame.

Well – the morning session over and the Williams doesn’t look a million miles off. And on a middle compound tyre too.

Any news on what stopped the McLaren this morning?

Also, Russell in the Williams is showing progress…sixth fastest.

McLaren ave apparently said it was loss of hydraulic pressure.  Which covers a whole multitude of possibilities from finger trouble on a fitting to a large mechanical part lunching itself.

Oh and Alonso’s turned up.  Still felling confident hols2?  😀

Disappointing that Sky are not track-side all afternoon this week, in fact a quick browse of the telly guide doesn’t suggest any testing programs!

And is anyone setting up the STW Fantasy F1 this year?

Oh and Alonso’s turned up.

If he decides to drive, you can bet the McLaren will turn out to be a turd. If he doesn’t, it’ll probably win races.

.
Nothing to see here!

Mclaren looking quite good today and Vettel’s had a little trip into the wall at turn 3.

That’s a funny place for someone like Vettel to bin it, looks like he might’ve gone straight in too?

mashr

Member

That’s a funny place for someone like Vettel to bin it, looks like he might’ve gone straight in too?

Yeah, there was some talk of component failure. Don’t think Ferrari have confirmed anything yet.

vid: https://streamja.com/aowa

ETA: ferrari confirm component failure:

#Seb5 off was due to a mechanical problem. The car is now in the garage for all the needed checks. #SF90 #F1Testing

— Scuderia Ferrari (@ScuderiaFerrari) February 27, 2019

There is a video of the off which seems to show a failure at the rear of the car…perhaps suspension.

<iframe src=”https://streamable.com/s/193rq/lqeost&#8221; frameborder=”0″ width=”100%” height=”100%” allowfullscreen style=”width: 100%; height: 100%; position: absolute;”></iframe></div>”>

I would wet myself laughing if McLaren win with the Renault engine this year! 🙂

Mr Horner’s face would be a sight to behold.

At the risk of sounding cautious, I’m trying not to read too much into McLaren’s laptimes this week. Although both Norris and Sainz have set fastest laptimes in the MCL34 using the soft(ish) C4 tyre, I have no idea about comparative fuel loads or engine mapping data. The likelihood is that they represent a “Glory Run” with empty tanks and a pressing need to attract the attention of potential sponsors.

PJM1974

Member

At the risk of sounding cautious, I’m trying not to read too much into McLaren’s laptimes this week. Although both Norris and Sainz have set fastest laptimes in the MCL34 using the soft(ish) C4 tyre, I have no idea about comparative fuel loads or engine mapping data. The likelihood is that they represent a “Glory Run” with empty tanks and a pressing need to attract the attention of potential sponsors.

True but nonetheless, Sainz has posted a faster time (1:17.144s) than Alonso did for Q3 last year (1:17.721) so they are at least going in the right direction.

…or some haterz will no doubt say Alonso was basically phoning it in and isn’t actually that good any more.

And remember #ItsOnlyTesting – no idea if that’s a glory run with low fuel, underwright car etc  IIRC Williams were the pace setters a few years back when they had that nice dark blue testing livery, but then failed to show up for the season.

Tru dat.

Speaking of williams, they’ve racked up a fair amount of laps the last couple of days, so at least the car is looking reliable. Slow AF so far though, hopefully they’ve not tried for fast laps yet.

or some haterz will no doubt say Alonso was basically phoning it in and isn’t actually that good any more.

He utterly destroyed that other guy who was his teammate last year. Alonso sounds like a right prick, but I don’t think anyone doubts that he massivly outperformed the car last year. Obviously can’t read too much into laptimes from testing, but seems safe to say that the McLaren and Renault engine are a solid improvement over last year.

McLaren are doomed. Car is pretty much guaranteed to be a dog now.

McLaren faster than the Red Bull – both on the softest compound! 🙂

Please, please, please – don’t be running underweight.

#PrayForMclaren

Albon in the Toro Rosso faster than them both by three tenths 👌

Starting to see some quick times now, wondering if we’ll see anything in the 1:15 area…

Grrr – I’ve always followed testing with the Autosport live feed but this morning it’s popped up with ‘To continue enjoying covereage please register’.  It’s the first time for the entire test that this has happened.  The exact same feed is still available without registering on Motorsport.com but it’s just an example of how Brown’s mob are slowly withdrawing access to features and trying to monetise all their ‘reporting’.  I don’t mind paying for decent content (have subscribed to Joe Saward’s GP+) but a lot of their stuff is just regurgitated press releases and speculative drivel with clickbait titles.  Harrumph.

Anyhow, will we see everyone (including the silver cars) go for quick laps today?  Will that tell us anything about the actual order?

Karun Chandhok’s adjusted lap times, looks like Ferrari a bit ahead, then a group that are too close to really separate. Obviously, by the time they get to Melbourne, things might look a bit different, Merc and Red Bull will be working pretty hard on improvements.

thepurist

Subscriber

Grrr – I’ve always followed testing with the Autosport live feed but this morning it’s popped up with ‘To continue enjoying covereage please register’. It’s the first time for the entire test that this has happened. The exact same feed is still available without registering on Motorsport.com but it’s just an example of how Brown’s mob are slowly withdrawing access to features and trying to monetise all their ‘reporting’. I don’t mind paying for decent content (have subscribed to Joe Saward’s GP+) but a lot of their stuff is just regurgitated press releases and speculative drivel with clickbait titles. Harrumph.

Seems to be working for me, maybe they made a mistake when publishing it (or they got a backlash and changed their minds!)

seems like mercedes have turned the wick up, running 3 tenths quicker than that adjusted time up ^^ though it doesn’t say what tyre it was on.

Klunk

Member

seems like mercedes have turned the wick up, running 3 tenths quicker than that adjusted time up ^^ though it doesn’t say what tyre it was on.

They did 16.5 on the C5, however Seb put in a 16.7 on the C3.

All depends on what mode the PUs were in too.  We don’t know if Merc are running ‘all day every day’ mode and Ferrari are in ‘we can run it like this but it’ll kill the motor in an hour’ mode, or if Merc are actually in full ‘TURN THIS OFF AFTER ONE LAP’ mode.

Bring on P1 in Oz when we start to see signs of the truth rather than the smokescreen of testing.

Vettel 1:16.221 c5
Hamilton 1:16.224 c5 or perhaps c4

thepurist

Now, I’m no F1 engineering god but given Honda’s history of tight packaging & heat management in the McLaren, would you be pushing the limits on your first foray with their PU?

You called it.
https://www.autosport.com/f1/news/141872/honda-engine-packaging-a-bit-too-aggressive

Oof. Honda can’t wait for 2021.

Just set up a fantasy F1 league over on grid rivals.com, league name STW.

jamesy01

Just set up a fantasy F1 league over on grid rivals.com, league name STW.

In!

I’m in!

FIA stamps down on Williams for illegal car

The team from Grove were not only late for the test in Barcelona, but it also appears that Paddy Lowes car is illegal and must be changed before the first race in just under two weeks.

The FW42 has had a difficult birth, with TJ13 being told by insiders at the team that a big reason that the car was late happened to be some bad decisions made by upper managers last year when they tried to sack staff, the result of which backfired massively.

Paddy Lowe is taking a “leave of absence” from Williams! Cannot help but think they are in deep, deep shit!

https://www.autosport.com/f1/news/141929/lowe-takes-leave-from-troubled-williams-team

Remind me: why only 1 car per team at pre-season testing these days?

Remind me: why only 1 car per team at pre-season testing these days?

Cost cutting.