Formula 1 - 2015 season

[Davros]

So no nose abominations yet.

No...
Alain Prost left F1 years ago

 

[Kaotik]

Toro Rosso:

Red Bull (unlikely final paint)

--

Tests are underway:
Lapcount so far:

Rosberg (Mercedes) 136
Bottas (Williams) 51
Sainz (Toro Rosso) 41
Ericsson (Sauber) 40
Ricciardo (Red Bull) 34
Vettel (Ferrari) 31
Alonso (McLaren) 6

--
Laptimes:
P Driver Team Time
1 Sebastian Vettel Ferrari 1m22.958s
2 Nico Rosberg Mercedes 1m23.106s +0.148
3 Daniel Ricciardo Red Bull 1m23.338s +0.380
4 Valtteri Bottas Williams 1m23.906s +0.948
5 Marcus Ericsson Sauber 1m24.804s +1.846
6 Carlos Sainz Jr Toro Rosso 1m25.327s +2.369
7 Fernando Alonso McLaren 1m40.738s +17.780

http://live.autosport.com/commentary.php/id/813

 

[Lightman]

Adrian Newey sort of confirmed this livery is only to make harder for competitors to spot new shapes on the car. Same principle as not yet released test cars driving in Midlands near Nuneaton (you know top secret testing facility - MIRA).

So far I got wired impression that cars are a tad louder, especially Mercedes powered ones.

 

[DJ12]

Looking ominous again. Mercedes clearly ahead (forget the glory runs of the struggling teams). Just pounding around for fun.I cannot wait for Melbourne, I wonder if anyone has actually caught up or if they have just pulled even further away.

 

[Kaotik]

Looking ominous again. Mercedes clearly ahead (forget the glory runs of the struggling teams). Just pounding around for fun.I cannot wait for Melbourne, I wonder if anyone has actually caught up or if they have just pulled even further away.

Are you just assuming, or have actual data that team x or y did just "glory runs"?

 

[Kaotik]

Day 2 in progress http://live.autosport.com/commentary.php/id/814

Still looking good for Ferrari, not so for McLaren

1 Sebastian Vettel Ferrari 1m20.984s
2 Felipe Nasr Sauber 1m21.867s +0.883
3 Valtteri Bottas Williams 1m22.319s +1.335
4 Lewis Hamilton Mercedes 1m22.490s +1.506
5 Max Verstappen Toro Rosso 1m24.167s +3.183
6 Pastor Maldonado Lotus 1m25.802s +4.818
7 Jenson Button McLaren 1m54.655s +33.671

(most likely final times as there's apparently rain now)

 

[Silent_Buddha]

With the rules unfairly stacked against Honda engine development, McLaren may just have to bite the bullet for this season and look to next season to be competitive.

Regards,
SB

 

[Dave Baumann]

Eh, the McLaren lap was at 90MPH due to continuing problems with the installation. Personally I think things will be a little more binary for McLaren this year - when it works it will be fast, but it will break a lot.

 

[3dfoster]

Sauber looking interesting ....http://www.formula1.com/news/headlines/2015/2/16799.html

 

[Kaotik]

Day 3:
1 Felipe Nasr Sauber 1m21.545s
2 Kimi Raikkonen Ferrari 1m21.750s +0.205
3 Nico Rosberg Mercedes 1m21.982s +0.437
4 Felipe Massa Williams 1m22.276s +0.731
5 Pastor Maldonado Lotus 1m22.713s +1.168
6 Carlos Sainz Jr Toro Rosso 1m23.187s +1.642
7 Daniel Ricciardo Red Bull 1m23.901s +2.356
8 Fernando Alonso McLaren 1m35.553s +14.008

 

[Lightman]

Daniel Ricciardo just set fastest lap on TopGear (1:42.2) beating LH and MW with quite a margin.
Congratz to him and nice to see another F1 driver on TopGear

 

[entity279]

Daniel Ricciardo just set fastest lap on TopGear (1:42.2) beating LH and MW with quite a margin.
Congratz to him and nice to see another F1 driver on TopGear

yeah, thanks for the spoiler!

 

[DJ12]

I'm sure they make the times up. After hammerhead he practical came to a standstill.

But the board couldn't be led by a nicer guy.

 

[Phil]

I'm sure they make the times up. After hammerhead he practical came to a standstill.

But the board couldn't be led by a nicer guy.

Perhaps not the right topic, but I too have wondered about the Topgear power laps board after seeing that new Lambhorgini do a 1.15 something. If you look at other extremely fast cars which sit above the 1.20 line, I do wonder how a car that isn't particularly more powerful or revolutionary tech wise, manages to undercut those times by 5 seconds or more. It's a small track - and I think the differences between some cars are just too huge. Of course, there's the variable of different time of day etc, track condition, temperature, driver... but still. I would have expected really fast cars to be seperated more in the 10th, rather than multiple second range.

 

[Bludd]

Remove weight and add lightness.

 

[DJ12]

Tyres is also a big difference. I believe Ferrari said a few years ago that one of there laps would've been far quicker if they had Pirelli tyres and not Bridgestone

 

[Lightman]

This! (above)
For example Pirelli P-Zero Trofero R super soft tyres are significantly quicker over few laps than more traditional sport tyre, but it is designed purely for track days. You gain a lot of time in corners using this tyre (see Chris Harris video here), and TopGear track is small and twisty magnifying tyre performance. Also lightweight cars with good balance and turn-in will perform much better on this type of track than heavy power monsters designed for ultimate speed.

It's surely not a fair comparison but I don't think they cheat with times.

 

[Kaotik]

Barcelona day 1:
1. Pastor Maldonado, Lotus, 1m 25.011s, 69 laps
2. Kimi Raikkonen, Ferrari, 1m 25.167s, 74 laps
3. Daniel Ricciardo, Red Bull, 1m 25.547s, 59 laps
4. Sergio Perez, Force India, 1m 26.636s, 34 laps
5. Felipe Nasr, Sauber, 1m 27.307s, 79 laps
6. Max Verstappen, Toro Rosso, 1m 27.900s, 94 laps
7. Jenson Button, McLaren, 1m 28.182s, 21 laps
8. Pascal Wehrlein, Force India, 1m 28.329s, 32 laps
9. Pascal Wehrlein, Mercedes, 1m 28.489s, 48 laps
10. Susie Wolff, Williams, 1m 28.906s, 86 laps
11. Lewis Hamilton, Mercedes, 1m 30.429s, 11 laps

Maldonado's time was set on softs, rest are medium & hard
Hamilton had to quit driving after 11 laps due getting ill, Rosberg was having some neck trouble (inflammated nerve or something) so Wehrlein, who was first driving for Force India, drove rest of the day on Mercedes
McLaren's day ended prematurely to leaking seal in MGU-K. Honda says they have to redesign the whole MGU-K to make sure it won't happen again.

--
edit:
Ferrari is looking strong - of course it's still pre-season and everyone could be doing different things, sandbagging etc, but Ferrari has gotten fastest or 2nd fastest time in every single session so far. Today was the first time someone with other engine than Ferrari got the fastest time, but it was the only time with soft set of tires too.

Rosberg has commented earlier that Ferrari's performance in first tests was "a real eye opener"

 

[DJ12]

Of course it was lol just like last year, do I need to remind you what happened last session?

 

[jacozz]

Forza Kimi!