[Official] 2019 Season Launch/ Pre-Season Testing Thread

[chillibowl]

second shunt in as many weeks.

[wnut]

The gravel traps and their preparation seems to have been degraded to the point where all you have is a gravel road leading into the outside wall.

[Kempi]

Both crashes were high speed. With Gasly's crash if you had had the classic grated preparation of the trap, the car would likely have flipped. I do not know what is better.

[Adam43]

Hopefully they will increase the run off before the race. It’s what the fans have been after.

[bjohnsonsmith]

Originally Posted by steve nielsen

onboards of the Gasly crash

https://www.youtube.com/watch?time_c...&v=bqJTR5ikpIc

That looked expensive.

[S griffin]

Simply mistake, wheel on the grass

[peebee2]

Very bad mistake, which won’t be endearing him to the team. Cost them quite a bit of testing time, and upgrades were lost for the laps they did run.

[steve nielsen]

Originally Posted by bjohnsonsmith

That looked expensive.

it also ended testing today after only 29 laps because the gearbox was broken and they did'nt have a spare anymore(Also after Gasly's crash last week)

[BertMk2]

So Mercedes and Ferrari finish with their best laps today 3 thousandths of a second apart - hopefully that's the genuine pace of each.

[Richard C]

Originally Posted by BertMk2

So Mercedes and Ferrari finish with their best laps today 3 thousandths of a second apart - hopefully that's the genuine pace of each.

Both "fast" and "slow" might be as fast as you can go, or it may be as fast as you care to go. So I think it's hard to use testing as any type of crystal ball. But... if someone is clearly struggling... that probably is an indication of problems. I think that is about the best you can extra from testing (on the outside looking in)

With that being said, it would be nice if there was some level of shake up of the order, or at least more performance parity.

Richard

[wnut]

Summary of fastest times and number of laps here:

https://www.skysports.com/f1/news/12...e-fastest-laps

[S griffin]

So testing is over already then. Where does the time go?

[wnut]

Originally Posted by S griffin

So testing is over already then. Where does the time go?

That's a sign you're getting old Griff.

[S griffin]

I can tell I am when I'm asking for autographs of drivers who are younger than me

[Casper]

Originally Posted by wnut

Summary of fastest times and number of laps here:

https://www.skysports.com/f1/news/12...e-fastest-laps

So has everyone got this straight, the internet reckons Ferrari are sure winners of the championship this year and the rest may as well not turn up.

[S griffin]

Well thankfully testing doesn’t always translate into competitive situations in a race

[bjohnsonsmith]

Originally Posted by Casper

So has everyone got this straight, the internet reckons Ferrari are sure winners of the championship this year and the rest may as well not turn up.

For Ferrari's sake, the internet better be right. The last time they won the WDC was in 2007 and they last won the WCC in 2008; its been a while.

[Lancsbreaker]

Just tried to view the clip of Gasly's shunt and its been removed due to FI copyright......

[ScotsBrutesFan]

Originally Posted by Lancsbreaker

Just tried to view the clip of Gasly's shunt and its been removed due to FI copyright......

The Video is now available on the Formula1 website...

https://www.formula1.com/en/video/20...barriers_.html

[chillibowl]

no harm in speculating imo. part of the fun really.

Originally Posted by wnut

Summary of fastest times and number of laps here:

https://www.skysports.com/f1/news/12...e-fastest-laps

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.

[Casper]

Originally Posted by chillibowl

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.

My apologies to those who believe this stuff, it is all guess work and the only facts that can be drawn from the two weeks of testing is the cars do in fact go around corners and stop. Everything else is a game of click bait to keep the cash rolling in.

[Born Racer]

This is the first I've heard of how easy it is to follow another car, and from Magnussen's point of view, it's reasonable news: https://www.formula1.com/en/latest/a...59tovXTVN.html

[Richard C]

Originally Posted by Born Racer

This is the first I've heard of how easy it is to follow another car, and from Magnussen's point of view, it's reasonable news: https://www.formula1.com/en/latest/a...59tovXTVN.html

I am cautiously optimistic.

Richard

[chillibowl]

Originally Posted by Casper

My apologies to those who believe this stuff, it is all guess work and the only facts that can be drawn from the two weeks of testing is the cars do in fact go around corners and stop. Everything else is a game of click bait to keep the cash rolling in.

for sure its all guess work...thats the whole point!

people like to speculate about sports particularly during a pre season when we sit in anticipation of what will come next. im not really sure whats new or unusual about this.

anyways, i like to talk about sports. for me its fun. to each their own of course.

Originally Posted by Born Racer

This is the first I've heard of how easy it is to follow another car, and from Magnussen's point of view, it's reasonable news: https://www.formula1.com/en/latest/a...59tovXTVN.html

Perez and Bottas with positive things to say. DanRic less sure.

https://www.motorsport.com/f1/news/i...perez/4345373/

cautiously optimistic sounds about right to me.

[S griffin]

Well we’ll see how much it has improved come Melbourne, although the noises from the driver are a good sign. If only we could get rid of DRS