2016 Testing

[Trevatanus]

So, 22nd Feb is the first test. What's everyone's predictions?
Personally, it would make me immensely happy if McLaren turned up with a car that had a half decent powerplant, although I fully expect MB to run away again.

[craigsup]

Sounds like Ferrari are going to be on a par with the Mercs this season - hopefully it'll make the races more competitive.

As a LH fan, I hope he gets a lot of track time with limited reliability issues.
I also hope that the Mclarens can perform way above last season - I felt so bad for JB and Alonso competing with the back of the pack.

[Mr_Thyroid]

Towards the end of last year I heard Mercedes were weighing up using a different design philosophy for this year (a higher chassis I think verses an evolution of 2015 car). Does anyone have any more info on this?

I think they'll go for an evolution and maintain an advantage at the front but hopefully a slimmer one.

I wonder how they will cope with being in a proper fight - that team don't really have any experience of it (2009 being a case of hanging-on rather than being in an all-out battle) - Ferrari and Seb's bullish confidence will steal wins from the pessimistic Hamilton (judging from his radio chatter rather than his out of car persona).

I too hope for miracles from Honda and Renault and a brilliant season.

[Jez m]

Hoping for a closer season between the Mercs and Ferrari. Would love to see LH and SV battling it out with equal machinery.
In terms of step's forward, i think evolution will still be the most we'll see. With the big 2017 changes coming up it's not going to be worth going revolutionary at this stage.

[BarbaricAvatar]

So apparently McLaren won't be changing their chassis much for 2016, just relying on Honda to make a better ERS deployment. Mistake. Why stand still when everyone else will potentially be going forward? If their position doesn't improve this season i half-expect McLaren to call it a day in Formula 1 and/or sell the team entirely to an investor.

I hope Ferrari are closer to Mercedes, but their development of last year's car wasn't as impressive as it should have been and i wonder if they really can close the gap. Fingers crossed, but it may require more luck than judgement. Looking forward to seeing how Force India and Williams compare, the former coming forward as a much more impressive team in 2015, Williams again failing to capitalise on their potential (seems to be a common trend with them lately).
Hoping that Renault-Enstone produce a good car and embarrass Red Bull more often than not. RB's conduct last year was pathetic and they were lucky that they could come to a new agreement with Renault; disappointed it didn't cost Helmut Marko his job though. I hate that guy, he's so full of st.
It's a pity that Red Bull also poached Toro Rosso's aerodynamicist, so the chance of the TR-Ferrari beating the RB-Tag is a lot less than what it would have been. I don't think RB actually needed him, i just think they moved him across to make sure the "B-team" stayed in their place.

Edited by BarbaricAvatar on Friday 8th January 15:52

[Mr_Thyroid]

BarbaricAvatar said:

So apparently McLaren won't be changing their chassis much for 2016, just relying on Honda to make a better ERS deployment. Mistake. Why stand still when everyone else will potentially be going forward?

I think you're taking that a bit too literally. Of course they will improve it, but the chassis was good, so no need for wholesale changes. Big changes means re-learning how to make it go quickly.

[rdjohn]

I suspect Merc have a lot in reserve over Williams and Force India. They will deploy it against Ferrari this year, but IMHO will still walk over Ferrari. The main interesting aspect will be team orders if LH & NR are fighting for wins and Seb close but is walking over Kimi.

I think next year will be Merc, Ferrari 1&2, so the only big question who gets 3rd this year. Williams have a propensity to screw up in vital moments, whereas RB always seem to maximise their potential. Renault surely can't turn up with an absolute dud for a third year?

Like everyone else my hopes are for a McLaren resurgence, but somehow, I just don't see it happening. Honda need to get a few Merc engineers on board, but that just won't happen. I also doubt that, if they even had a much bigger bang in the back, their chassis will be anywhere near as good as the RB.

So, my prediction goes, LH, SV, NR with Merc, Ferrari and Red Bull for the big money.

[btcc123]

Honda will be working flat out with the engine and whilst McLaren had a good chassis last year that was masked by the engine performance but I am sure they will be working flat out to make the best chassis just in case Honda make a competitive engine.

As Ron Dennis said if you go to the MTC on a Sunday during the winter there will not be many parking spaces free.I guess that means they will be flat out on all aspects of the car.

[cjm]

How do we know McLaren had a good chassis? They didn't do much with it the previous season when they had the best engine. It seems pretty easy to say its good when you don't have the power to back it up, and this time last year Ron was saying the engine was also good.

[ralphrj]

btcc123 said:

As Ron Dennis said if you go to the MTC on a Sunday during the winter there will not be many parking spaces free.I guess that means they will be flat out on all aspects of the car.

Alternatively, it could also be a popular spot for dogging...

[Richard-G]

cjm said:

How do we know McLaren had a good chassis? They didn't do much with it the previous season when they had the best engine. It seems pretty easy to say its good when you don't have the power to back it up, and this time last year Ron was saying the engine was also good.

last years car was the first designed by ex red bull designer peter podromu (spelling) it was massively different from the 2014 with a merc donkey in the back. The car closely mimicked a lot of the red bull design traits over the past few years.

[Galileo]

cjm said:

How do we know McLaren had a good chassis? They didn't do much with it the previous season when they had the best engine. It seems pretty easy to say its good when you don't have the power to back it up, and this time last year Ron was saying the engine was also good.

It was timed through the corners, where the chassis is paramount, as being one of the faster cars, but was slowest down the straight where engine power is needed. This fact was mentioned lots of times on Sky F1 throughout the season.

[Scuffers]

Galileo said:

It was timed through the corners, where the chassis is paramount, as being one of the faster cars, but was slowest down the straight where engine power is needed. This fact was mentioned lots of times on Sky F1 throughout the season.

I think that's been over-played.

Not suggesting it was a dog, but I also do not believe it was anything like the best (RB/MB/Ferrari).

[Trevatanus]

Scuffers said:

Galileo said:

It was timed through the corners, where the chassis is paramount, as being one of the faster cars, but was slowest down the straight where engine power is needed. This fact was mentioned lots of times on Sky F1 throughout the season.

I think that's been over-played.

Not suggesting it was a dog, but I also do not believe it was anything like the best (RB/MB/Ferrari).

I do not think anyone is suggesting it was the best out there, but I am pretty sure it would have been a whole lot better with a decent power plant.

[Scuffers]

Trevatanus said:

I do not think anyone is suggesting it was the best out there, but I am pretty sure it would have been a whole lot better with a decent power plant.

that goes without saying!

[andburg]

In season testing this year announced as Silverstone July 12/13th

Good opportunity to see some F1 cars in action cheaply

[ajprice]

Car launch dates so far (copied from here: http://forums.autosport.com/topic/200869-2016-f1-c... ) . I've linked dates to articles where I can.

Mercedes -
Ferrari - 19th Feb? http://autoweek.com/article/formula-one/ferarri-la...
Williams - 22nd Feb, Barcelona Pitlane
Red Bull -
Force India -
Renault -
Toro Rosso - 1st test / Late Feb http://www.motorsport.com/f1/news/toro-rosso-set-t...
Sauber - 2nd test http://www.autosport.com/news/report.php/id/122516
McLaren - 21 Feb http://www.autosport.com/news/report.php/id/122519
Manor - Crash tests passed http://www.autosport.com/news/report.php/id/122502
Haas - 1st test https://www.formula1.com/content/fom-website/en/la...

[Bradgate]

F1 is a sport at a crossroads. Long-term fans are disillusioned. Casual fans aren't interested. The racing is too predictable, and often boring. Sponsors are conspicuous by their absence from many of the cars. The sport has been unceremoniously dumped by the BBC.

F1 desperately needs someone, anyone, but probably Ferrari & Vettel to give Mercedes a proper contest this year. Another Lewis / Merc walkover would be very damaging to the sport.

As a British sports fan, I hope Lewis wins his fourth championship, of course, but a repeat of 2015 would benefit no-one.

Also for the sake of the sport McLaren & Honda need to get their act together. The sport can't afford a repetition of last year's fiasco.

Apart from that, everything's fine and I'm looking forwards to the season .

[McAndy]

McLaren won't improve much; Mercedes will dominate; Ferrari will slip back and Force India will finish second.

Bernie must go and the technical regulations must be loosened to increase diversity and innovation.

[BarbaricAvatar]

McAndy said:

Bernie must go.

Explain why.