Formula 1 2016

[momo]

eh, mercedes has only run the medium compound this whole test. they arent in it for a fast lap. that team is honing reliability, maximizing their hybrid deployment strategey, aero, tyre wear and fuel usage.

that team seems to be on the verge maximum theoretical perfectio; they have no motivation to show outright pace in testing. if they do, it will be final 2 days of testing next week.

[momo]

day 4

1. Kimi Raikkonen, Ferrari, 1:23.477, ultrasoft tyres, 80 laps;
2. Daniil Kvyat, Red Bull, 1:24.293, ultrasoft tyres, 96 laps;
3. Alfonso Celis, Force India, 1:24.840, supersoft tyres, 75 laps;
4. Kevin Magnussen, Renault, 1:25.263, soft tyres, 153 laps;
5. Max Verstappen, Toro Rosso, 1:25.393, medium tyres, 110 laps;
6. Felipe Nasr, Sauber, 1:26.053, soft tyres, 121 laps;
7. Nico Rosberg, Mercedes, 1:26.187, medium tyres, 86 laps;
8. Lewis Hamilton, Mercedes, 1:26.295, medium tyres, 99 laps;
9. Felipe Massa, Williams, 1:26.942, medium tyres, 54 laps;
10. Esteban Gutierrez, Haas, 1:27.802, medium tyres, 89 laps;
10. Rio Haryanto, Manor, 1:28.266, soft tyres, 51 laps;
12. Fernando Alonso, McLaren, No time, 3 laps.


highlights, reliability rears it's ugly head on the mclarens the last 2 days. a fire yesterday limited running to 51 laps then lingering issues and something related to water pressure/leak. only 3 laps ran.

renault died on track all 4 days in practice. they did get to 150 laps though. might just be how long their engine survives right now.

[pHILSANITY07]

Red Bull doesn't look too shabby when you consider how bad Renault looks.
LOL at McLaren.
Wonder what pace Mercedes and Williams really have.

[momo]

i think RBR have a "stable" renault engine while renault is working on developing the engine with their works team. rbr is likely still down on power and hybrid compared to merc but yea, i'm sure their chassis is still excellent.

yea... it was looking much better for mclaren from the first 2 days. may this was a freak incident and the fire in day 3 ruined their day 4. next week was supposed to feature their upgraded power unit. if they finish races, their lack of pace might just put them behind manor!

[pHILSANITY07]

So in theory Haas as of now should be quicker than Manor, McLaren, and Sauber. That's not bad if the teams that's ahead of them are Toro Rosso, Force India and maybe even with Renault if not ahead of them. Thoughts?

That's what, 8th in the Standings? That's if Merc, Ferrari, Williams, RBR, Force India, Toro Rosso, and Renault finish ahead of them. Which other than Renault I think they will

[momo]

test 2, day 1

1. Nico Rosberg, Mercedes, 1:23.022, soft tyres, 82 laps;
2. Valtteri Bottas, Williams, 1:23.229, ultrasoft tyres, 123 laps;
3. Fernando Alonso, McLaren, 1:24.735, soft tyres, 93 laps;
4. Kimi Raikkonen, Ferrari, 1:24.836, medium tyres, 72 laps;
5. Daniil Kvyat, Red Bull, 1:25.049, soft tyres, 69 laps;
6. Lewis Hamilton, Mercedes, 1:25.051, medium tyres, 90 laps;
7. Max Verstappen, Toro Rosso, 1:25.176, medium tyres, 144 laps;
8. Nico Hulkenberg, Force India, 1:25.336, soft tyres, 121 laps;
9. Felipe Nasr, Sauber, 1:25.493, soft tyres, 103 laps;
10. Kevin Magnussen, Renault, 1:25.760, soft tyres, 119 laps;
11. Esteban Gutierrez, Haas, 1:26.661, mediums, 23 laps;
12. Rio Haryanto, Manor, 1:27.699, medium tyres, 44 laps;


mclaren gets much needed break. mostly problem free day and LOTS of performance gained. combination of honda development parts and fuel development by esso/mobil 1

mercedes continues to impress. more problem free running. they sent rosberg out on soft tires for first time in testing and put a lap 0.7 faster than ferrari on the same tire. yet to run the supersofts.

williams finally ran some fast times, non heavy fuel mode. pretty quick but still behind mercedes even with the softest tire equipped.

haas had a fuel system failure. cut their running short.

[momo]

test 2, day 2

1. Valtteri Bottas, Williams, 1:23.261, supersoft tyres, 108 laps
2. Lewis Hamilton, 1:23.622, soft tyres, 73 laps
3. Kevin Magnussen, Renault, 1:23.933, supersoft tyres, 126 laps
4. Sebastian Vettel, Ferrari, 1:24.611, medium tyres, 151 laps
5. Jenson Button, McLaren, 1:25.183, soft tyres, 121 laps
6. Daniel Ricciardo, Red Bull, 1:25.235, medium tyres, 135 laps
7. Carlos Sainz, Toro Rosso, 1:25.300, medium tyres, 166 laps
8. Sergio Perez, Force India, 1:26.188, medium tyres, 128 laps
9. Nico Rosberg, Mercedes, 1:26.298, medium tyres, 91 laps;
0. Pascal Wehrlein, Manor, 1:27.064, soft tyres, 79 laps
11. Marcus Ericsson, Sauber, 1:27.862, medium tyres, 55 laps
12. Esteban Gutierrez, Haas, No time, 1 lap


hamilton finally ran on softs. was 1/2 sec slower than rosberg on same compound yesterday.

ferrari working on medium compound and race simulations so far this week.

mclaren had another good test day. pace is 1.5 seconds off Mercedes though.

haas has second problem in consecutive days. only 1 lap on the board today; that's bad. fuel system issue yesterday put them out now unable to fix a turbo issue through the day. that's not good, need to be able to assess and repair these things faster.

[pHILSANITY07]

1.5 off Mercedes isn't bad compared to where they we're at the end of the year.

Yes, not a good last two days for Haas but on the flipside it's been a good two days for Williams.

[pHILSANITY07]

Ferrari tested the new halo concept with Kimi Raikkonen today. Have to say it's different from what's been in the past.

[momo]

test 2, day 3

1. Kimi Raikkonen, Ferrari, 1:22.765, ultrasoft tyres, 136 laps;
2. Felipe Massa, Williams, 1:23.193, soft tyres, 119 laps;
3. Nico Hulkenberg, Force India, 1:23.251, ultrasoft tyres, 137 laps;
4. Max Verstappen, Toro Rosso, 1:23.382, ultrasoft tyres, 159 laps;
5. Nico Rosberg, Mercedes, 1:24.126, medium tyres, 81 laps;
6. Felipe Nasr, Sauber, 1:24.760, soft tyres, 116 laps;
7. Fernando Alonso, McLaren, 1:24.870, supersoft tyres, 118 laps;
8. Pascal Wehrlein, Manor, 1:24.913, ultrasoft tyres, 48 laps;
9. Daniil Kvyat, Red Bull, 1:25.141, soft tyres, 121 laps;
10. Jolyon Palmer, Renault, 1:26.224, soft tyres, 94 laps;
11. Lewis Hamilton, Mercedes, 1:26.488, medium tyres, 63 laps;
12. Romain Grosjean, Haas, soft tyres, 1:27.196, 78 laps


ferrari shows some more speed
most teams recorded a lot of laps including haas but they also recorded 3 red flags.

1 more day.

[momo]

Test 2, day 4

1. Sebastian Vettel, Ferrari, 1:22.852, supersoft tyres, 142 laps;
2. Carlos Sainz, Toro Rosso, 1:23.134, ultrasoft tyres, 133 laps;
3. Felipe Massa, Williams, 1:23.644, supersofts, 129 laps;
4. Sergio Perez, Force India, 1:23.721, supersofts, 60 laps;
5. Lewis Hamilton, Mercedes, 1:24.133, medium tyres, 69 laps;
6. Daniel Ricciardo, Red Bull, 1:24.427, soft tyres, 123 laps; 7. Jenson Button, McLaren, 1:24.714, ultrasoft tyres, 121 laps;
8. Jolyon Palmer, Renault, 1:24.859, supersoft tyres, 90 laps;
9. Marcus Ericsson, Sauber, 1:25.031, soft tyres, 132 laps;
10. Romain Grosjean, Haas, 1:25.255, soft tyres, 66 laps;
11. Rio Haryanto, Manor, 1:25.899, ultrasoft tyres, 58 laps;
12. Esteban Gutierrez, Haas, 1:26.464, soft tyres, 18 laps;
13. Nico Rosberg, Mercedes, 1:26.140, medium tyres, 70 laps

2 weeks to Melbourne

[pHILSANITY07]

Haas didn't have a good 4 day test. One problem I heard while watching Ted's Notebook is the Ferrari customer teams with the 2016 engines are having a fuel problem. Can't remember the exact issue.

[momo]

COTA confirmed 2016 UGSP today. Headliner to be Taylor Swift, concert saturday night after quali. I wont stick around to watch it but whatever that should be a large draw of a different crowd. She is probably the biggest draw out there so this should sell tickets.

Trying to rehab their image from last year, they have:
lowered ticket prices
lowered parking prices
promised to improve parking lots
improve location of toilets and shuttle services.
implemented a 105% money back in the event of 2.5"+ of rain on race day. (they must have bought a surety bond!)

good on them. i really hope it works out. i hope this year is great weather and they net a profit.

[pHILSANITY07]

So Rosberg bit the wall in FP2. That was pretty much the only highlight with both sessions being in wet conditions. If its dry today, then we'll have a good idea of where teams kind of stand.

[pHILSANITY07]

So the new qualifying system is a joke. Wasted an hour of sleep for that. Needs to go back to the old format for the next race.

FP3 was fun to watch. With it being the first and only session that was dry it had a lot of laps done by teams.
Grosjean missed much of practice because of a damaged floor caused on pit road. Grosjean was leaving the garage when Manor's Rio Hoyato (or however you spell his last name) went out in a unsafe release. Stupid move by Manor.