no harm in speculating imo. part of the fun really.
The fastest laps of winter testing per tyre
Tyre Lap Time Driver Team
C5 (Softest) 1:16.221 Sebastian Vettel
C4 (2nd softest) 1:16.628 Lewis Hamilton
C3 (Softs) 1:16.720 Sebastian Vettel
C2 (2nd hardest) 1:18.097 Lewis Hamilton
perhaps intentionally omitted from the table or no one bothered to try out the C1 tires? either way i think thats a bit odd. i cant imagine we will see them much this year anyways.
about a 1.5 sec difference between the C2 and C4 tires and 0.5 sec diff between C3 and C5. obviously who knows about setup and fuel loads etc etc but a fast lap is still a fast lap. anyways i would have expected to see a more of a margin between C3 vs C5...rather something more akin to the gap between LH's C2 vs C4 times.
of course there may be no conclusions to draw from this other than whats the point of having 5 compounds?
Max's best time came on a set of C3 - no doubt due to Gasly accident preventing any meaningful laps on the last day.
shame that they werent able to complete their program. would have been nice for the test to end with more hope that Honda has delivered....although i suppose we got a glimmer with STR's best lap.
Williams while not looking fast didnt do too badly on the mileage front...or at least not that far off what RP managed to do. lots of talk about who is to blame over at Williams but i find myself more suspect about their driver line up. was surprised to see RK almost a second down to his team mate.
overall though the Ferrari engines put in quite a few more laps then the Merc powered teams. encouraging!
we say times dont matter much but for sure they mean a lot to the drivers!...Leclerc being up there is no doubt a tremendous boost to his confidence.
i look forward to the Italian media going absolutely insane the moment SV makes any sort of mistake.
also like how the Hulk drew first blood but more surprisingly for me is that that Stroll pipped Perez. you just know thats going to bother Perez perhaps to the point of all out war! fingers crossed
not sure what to think about Mclaren to be honest. they made some headlines and talk of Alonso doing some tests...im excited for them and for the whole midfield in general.
with the small teams getting more factory help, could this be the strongest midfield we have ever seen? STR, Mclaren, Alfa, Haas all seemed to run their winter programs as intended and racked up a serious amount of laps. i suppose i could put Renault in this group. certainly 4th but even 3rd is within their grasp but they just seem to the bare minimum to secure the spot their budget provides them. hopefully their drivers can push them up.
Merc are again crying wolff that Ferrari are ahead...hopefully it is true this time around and we see a sustained championship battle!
anyways, very excited for the season to come...which i must say surprises me. didnt think i was going to feel this way but winter testing really hit the spot imo.