2018 Pre-Season Thread

[Vocal Minority]

only 37 laps for McLaren - ran ok this morning but haven't emerged from lunch yet....

The Torro Rosso keeps pounding on round though....surely McLaren haven't just taken 3 years for the team here......

Edited by Vocal Minority on Tuesday 27th February 14:59

[skinny]

Kubica has done fastest Williams time so far with 29 laps this afto at 1:21.495
Sirotkin did 52 laps this morning (1:21.822) and I think stroll did all day yesterday (1:22.142). But probably warmer conditions for Kubica

[Europa1]

The Ferrari looks more orange than in previous years, based on the photos on the BBC website.

Searing technical insight from me there...

[Vocal Minority]

Will Buxton has provided a theory on Honda.

He rightly points out that it did a similar milage to now in 2017 - its that last year was essentially a brand new year 1 - with a new architecture.

Makes sense

[anonymous-user]

DS240 said:

Vocal Minority said:

Bottas is fastest by 3 seconds!!

No one stands a chance, what a write off of a season...

I wouldn’t treat day 2 times as a form guide for the year just yet!

The BBC's modus operandi tends to be:

If Ferrari are quickest in testing "it's too early to say whether their pace is genuine" [even when Toto says "oh $h!t, here comes trouble"].
If Mercedes are quickest in testing "hand them the trophy today, the rest might as well go home".

It's freezing cold, and more about systems checks than anything else. Just getting some mileage done and correlating real world aero data with simulator numbers is the order of the day. It might do everyone a favour if they turned the timing system off...

[FourWheelDrift]

Vocal Minority said:

only 37 laps for McLaren - ran ok this morning but haven't emerged from lunch yet....

He's been waiting due to supply problems - https://twitter.com/svandoorne/status/968502911406...

[Vocal Minority]

thought that was a reasonably quick response!

[jules c]

Any theories on why McLaren are running on the softer compound tyres?

[HustleRussell]

Renault F1 team already considering 'strategic' 2018 grid penalties.

They've already announced that their engine will be no faster than it was at the end of 2017, and now it appears it's not meeting reliability targets either?

[ajprice]

Snow isn't stopping Force india

[anonymous-user]

jules c said:

Any theories on why McLaren are running on the softer compound tyres?

It's probably easier to get the softer compounds up to temperature, especially given the weather situation. Some variety is also good, the handling characteristics can change substantially between compounds.

HustleRussell said:

Renault F1 team already considering 'strategic' 2018 grid penalties.

They've already announced that their engine will be no faster than it was at the end of 2017, and now it appears it's not meeting reliability targets either?

It's a big ask to get through the year with less engines than they did last year (3 vs 5). Based on how much they had to turn them down at the end of last year just to ensure reliability, it's troubling that they appear to be openly admitting to have made little gains in either power or reliability over the winter.

Come the end of this year, a Honda power unit might be quite appealing to Red Bull, especially with Renault actively seeking to walk away from supplying them (possibly as payback for how outspoken Horner and Newey were a few years ago).

[Vaud]

HustleRussell said:

Renault F1 team already considering 'strategic' 2018 grid penalties.

They've already announced that their engine will be no faster than it was at the end of 2017, and now it appears it's not meeting reliability targets either?

I doubt it is unique. With only three engines every team will be considering "what if" scenarios for each race so that they have put some deep thinking into the ramifications of a failure ahead of the season. Then when a failure they can bring up their model and reflect on the options they considered at the season start?

[anonymous-user]

Size of the intake tells you very little about the airflow, what goes on inside the ducts is what matters.

[Dr Z]

I recall a Renault hybrid engine running like clockwork in a Caterham while getting into all sorts of trouble in a Red Bull, at the beginning of the hybrid era. I also recall that Red Bull winning a few races.

[N0ddie]

Snowed last night in Barca and still is acording to Autosport. So very very unlikely to see any cars out today.

Once the helicopter can fly they say they'll go green. Madness.

Edited by N0ddie on Wednesday 28th February 08:07

[CraigyMc]

N0ddie said:

Snowed last night in Barca and still is acording to Autosport. So very very unlikely to see any cars out today.

Once the helicopter can fly they say they'll go green. Madness.

It's snowing now...

[NRS]

What colour are winter tyre sidewalls?

[Vocal Minority]

the teams need to agree unanimously to move the session, and so far they have not - so the circuit will go as planned.

I think a few are sensing a marketing opportunity for photos

[Vaud]

Vocal Minority said:

the teams need to agree unanimously to move the session, and so far they have not - so the circuit will go as planned.

I think a few are sensing a marketing opportunity for photos

Friday and Saturday were not available as Williams and Ferrari have the circuit booked. Which leaves Sun or Mon going into the next test week - I guess it becomes a logistics challenge for people and new components?

[pits]

Get them out running, it'll be hilarious