**** Abu Dhabi test days - 25/26 Nov ****

[andycaca]

suffolk009 said:

Picture tweeted from McLaren-Honda. Preparations at Yas.

this picture excites me a lot. scanning through the sky f1 listings, i cant see any testing or ted's notebook sessions. aside from friday 8pm for the end of season F1 show theres nuffink on telly

heres hoping some of the F1 bloggers like joe seward are on the scene...

[suffolk009]

Caterham and Lotus tweeting pictures of the cars going out on track.

Is anyone doing a live text feed from this test?

[Sixpackpert]

http://www.espn.co.uk/f1/motorsport/story/185753.h...

Max crashed...

[suffolk009]

Apparently they've stopped for lunch. Bottas quickest. McLaren-Honda out on track this afternoon.

Pic via caterham tweet.

[Mark-C]

Live text updates here --> http://www.crash.net/f1/livecommentaries/5175/abu-...

Times at 11AM

1. Valtteri Bottas Finland Williams-Mercedes 10 laps 1:47.468
2. Jolyon Palmer Britain Force India-Mercedes 17 laps 1:48.350
3. Nico Rosberg Germany Mercedes-Mercedes 11 laps 1:48.472
4. Will Stevens Britain Caterham-Renault 20 laps 1:50.457
5. Marcus Ericsson Sweden Sauber-Ferrari 15 laps 1:51.051
6. Carlos Sainz Jr Spain Red Bull-Renault 15 laps No time
7. Charles Pic France Lotus-Renault 7 laps No time
8. Kimi Raikkonen Finland Ferrari-Ferrari 4 laps No time
9. Max Verstappen Netherlands Toro Rosso-Renault 2 laps No time

[London424]

The McL broke down.

[suffolk009]

My hairdresser's boyfriend reckons that Alonso is holding off signing the contract until he sees the pace of the McLaren-Honda at this test.

He may be putting his pen away for good if this keeps up tomorrow.

[FourWheelDrift]

End of day 1

1. Valtteri Bottas Finland Williams-Mercedes 80 laps 1:43.396
2. Kimi Raikkonen Finland Ferrari-Ferrari 80 laps 1:43.888
3. Nico Rosberg Germany Mercedes-Mercedes 114 laps 1:44.512
4. Jolyon Palmer Britain Force India-Mercedes 36 laps 1:44.516
5. Carlos Sainz Jr Spain Red Bull-Renault 98 laps 1:45.339
6. Will Stevens Britain Caterham-Renault 101 laps 1:45.436
7. Charles Pic France Lotus-Renault 87 laps 1:46.167
8. Marcus Ericsson Sweden Sauber-Ferrari 95 laps 1:46.253
9. Max Verstappen Netherlands Toro Rosso-Renault 55 laps 1:47.194
10. Stoffel Vandoorne Belgium McLaren-Honda 3 laps No time

[whatleytom]

suffolk009 said:

Craig Scarborough tweets a picture of the McLaren-Honda, and suggests that the long airbox suggests that the turbo is at the back, and not split like the Merc. Also he sees tubes to the turbo and the air2air intercooler is in the opposite sidepod to Merc.

Thats pretty dissapointing to hear, actually thought they might have done something impressive. Surely packaged like the Renault, its going to get nowhere near the Merc unit.

[suffolk009]

whatleytom said:

suffolk009 said:

Craig Scarborough tweets a picture of the McLaren-Honda, and suggests that the long airbox suggests that the turbo is at the back, and not split like the Merc. Also he sees tubes to the turbo and the air2air intercooler is in the opposite sidepod to Merc.

Thats pretty dissapointing to hear, actually thought they might have done something impressive. Surely packaged like the Renault, its going to get nowhere near the Merc unit.

Bear in mind though, it's only speculation. It was a comment made because of the shape of the bodywork. He might equally have said that the Honda engine is so brilliantly packaged that it fit wholly with the existing bodywork with room to spare.

I asked Scarborough (via twitter) if it was perhaps the existing bodywork. I await his reply.

[Logie]

There is picks on Craig s twitter showing they have extra cooling slots on the side pods which are illegal but its just for testing. Not sure if this is a sign of cooling problems or they just want to be on the safe side

[Dr Z]

Apparently, it sounds very good, if it's any indication! Good sound=inefficient exhaust energy recovery?

[suffolk009]

McLaren press release for the MP4-29H/1X1.

http://www.mclaren.com/formula1/car/test-report-ab...

[Lost soul]

Dr Z said:

Apparently, it sounds very good, if it's any indication! Good sound=inefficient exhaust energy recovery?

from the vid clip posted earlier it did sound better than the mercs

[Lost soul]

suffolk009 said:

My hairdresser's boyfriend reckons that Alonso is holding off signing the contract until he sees the pace of the McLaren-Honda at this test.

He may be putting his pen away for good if this keeps up tomorrow.

Straight out of the box with an untested driver , I doubt it is representative

[Jasandjules]

It's a shame the SKY F1 Channel is not showing this.

[PhillipM]

Dr Z said:

Apparently, it sounds very good, if it's any indication! Good sound=inefficient exhaust energy recovery?

They won't be running much energy recovery until they prove everything out, you'll see them gradual ramp up the recovery rates in the tests next year.

[tight fart]

Is there a date when Honda has to sign off their engine for homologation purposes?

[Ahonen]

Dr Z said:

Apparently, it sounds very good, if it's any indication! Good sound=inefficient exhaust energy recovery?

It does sound very loud. So loud that it almost sounds like it doesn't have a turbo.

[revrange]

We wait and see. Honda last efforts at f1 engines weren't great but this one may play to there strengthens, they have certainly thrown resources at it,plus will have had some feedback from mclaren on the merc.

Question is can mclaren build a winning chassis, recent form isn't great. I suspect a red bull copy aero wise