Formula 1 Pre-season Testing February 2020

[ajprice]

London424 said:

TheDeuce said:

Graveworm said:

The Mattia Binotto readout is interesting. Looks like Redbull need to be bringing their game from Melbourne.

That was the most downbeat summary possible from Binotto. Ten points for honesty but crushing for the red fans.

As that was read out, down the pit lane Haas watches their second driver bin their car, again.

Any link to what was said?

https://formulaspy.com/f1/binotto-ferrari-are-off-...

[kambites]

StevieBee said:

I’m I don’t buy into the whole sand-bagging / hiding your hand thing. This week and next are the only testing the teams get before the season. In years past, teams could hire any circuit and test all they liked. But it’s all now concentrated in these two weeks during which, at some point, you have to see what your car can really do otherwise there’s little point turning up to test. They can hide things to an extent but I doubt to a level that would swerve anyone for long.

The single most important element of testing these days is verifying that your CFD results match reality. When testing correlation, it doesn't really matter what fuel load, etc. you have in the car; if the CFD matches at a heavy fuel load it's also going to match at a light one. Of course the teams aim to get other things out of the test as well and a handful of them will require doing qualifying simulation runs but those things are low enough down the priority list that they certainly don't need to be done particularly early in the schedule.

I don't think Mercedes have ever really "sandbagged" as such, they've just felt no need to do their fast runs early in their testing schedule.

[geeks]

TheDeuce said:

As that was read out, down the pit lane Haas watches their second driver bin their car, again.

That was a puncture though in Kmags defence!

[F1GTRUeno]

Durzel said:

LeClerc

Please stop.

[anonymous-user]

StevieBee said:

I’m I don’t buy into the whole sand-bagging / hiding your hand thing. This week and next are the only testing the teams get before the season. In years past, teams could hire any circuit and test all they liked. But it’s all now concentrated in these two weeks during which, at some point, you have to see what your car can really do otherwise there’s little point turning up to test. They can hide things to an extent but I doubt to a level that would swerve anyone for long.

The first week tends to be systems checks and correlating data versus their simulations (be it air flow numbers, downforce figures etc). The second week they begin to open up the taps and see where they're at with tyre wear, temperatures etc.

The way Ferrari are talking, they have indeed ended this week feeling deflated, wondering which way is up. It's a pity really, and the only remaining hope is Red Bull are holding something back. On the plus side, if Ferrari are nowhere, they might avoid Red Bull protesting every bowel movement associated with Ferrari's engine and hybrid technology this year.

The knock on effect is that Seb faces another season of having his ability and mindset questioned, even if the problem is an inconsistent turd of a car under him. He could spend the year looking at the back of a Racing Point gearbox; that's not what anybody expected.

[Supersam83]

TheDeuce said:

No, but the comments were significant so it won't be long until the quotes are all over the net.

In a nutshell: "we're not as fast as Mercedes and we don't expect to be as fast at the start of the season, maybe we can catch them at the end."

There goes that battle for 2020 then

He also said that they have changed the way they conduct testing this year and haven't done any performance runs yet which will be done next week.

[Mr_Thyroid]

super7 said:

DAS banned already for 2021.....

What a pile of st!!!

It's in the rules, something along the lines of: Any innovation that is not beneficial to the sport as a whole will be banned in the year after it was introduced.

Same happened to the f-duct.

[DaveTheRave87]

Mr_Thyroid said:

It's in the rules, something along the lines of: Any innovation that is not beneficial to the sport as a whole will be banned in the year after it was introduced.

Same happened to the f-duct.

The f-duct had no chance to trickle down to road cars and driving 1 handed through Eau Rouge was just plain silly.

[angrymoby]

Supersam83 said:

He also said that they have changed the way they conduct testing this year and haven't done any performance runs yet which will be done next week.

the worry for Ferrari is that, iirc that's how Mercedes normally run their program too

[Munter]

angrymoby said:

Supersam83 said:

He also said that they have changed the way they conduct testing this year and haven't done any performance runs yet which will be done next week.

the worry for Ferrari is that, iirc that's how Mercedes normally run their program too

Unless this is the last day with "x" part on the car. Then next test they'll run with "y" part on the car. So today would be "x" parts performance test.

Perhaps next week, no fancy steering, with performance runs and tyre wear tests to compare with and without.

[FourWheelDrift]

Mr_Thyroid said:

super7 said:

DAS banned already for 2021.....

What a pile of st!!!

It's in the rules, something along the lines of: Any innovation that is not beneficial to the sport as a whole will be banned in the year after it was introduced.

Same happened to the f-duct.

No innovation from Mercedes, Jaguar had DAS in the 1970s - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8wVVhrPyy5s

[CallMeLegend]

Mr_Thyroid said:

super7 said:

DAS banned already for 2021.....

What a pile of st!!!

It's in the rules, something along the lines of: Any innovation that is not beneficial to the sport as a whole will be banned in the year after it was introduced.

Same happened to the f-duct.

IMO only 3 or 4 teams will now pursue this for a single season, the rest of them simply cannot afford to chase it for a single season of payback.

[TheDeuce]

Supersam83 said:

TheDeuce said:

No, but the comments were significant so it won't be long until the quotes are all over the net.

In a nutshell: "we're not as fast as Mercedes and we don't expect to be as fast at the start of the season, maybe we can catch them at the end."

There goes that battle for 2020 then

He also said that they have changed the way they conduct testing this year and haven't done any performance runs yet which will be done next week.

I've read the quotes in full (I was decorating when they were read out on sky..) He did say that in fairness. But I feel he must have seen enough already from the car to know roughly where they stand, otherwise why would he say the things he has said? That's the last thing the Tifosi wanted to hear and it's not something he would say flippantly I'm sure. Tbh, it sounded like he was getting in there early in order to manage expectations.

[Tyre Smoke]

Not sandbagging then?

[TheDeuce]

Munter said:

angrymoby said:

Supersam83 said:

He also said that they have changed the way they conduct testing this year and haven't done any performance runs yet which will be done next week.

the worry for Ferrari is that, iirc that's how Mercedes normally run their program too

Unless this is the last day with "x" part on the car. Then next test they'll run with "y" part on the car. So today would be "x" parts performance test.

Perhaps next week, no fancy steering, with performance runs and tyre wear tests to compare with and without.

Maybe. But I think it's a very safe bet that for a number of factors Mercedes will be considerably faster at some point next week than this week. It has always been that way before. Even then, they don't need to go as fast as they theoretically could do, they just need to go fast enough to learn whatever they need to learn and to leave with confidence. Between the drivers and their engineers, they will know how much faster they could have gone on a genuine balls out lap. Same as during free practice sessions ahead of quali, they typically look a good step slower than they ultimately prove they can be.

All these theories!! In the end the writing is on the wall this time. Mercedes have thrown everything at this car to ensure their record breaking season is secure, it's a quick F1 car, a very quick one I have zero doubt.

[TheDeuce]

Tyre Smoke said:

Not sandbagging then?

Binotto isn't go to tell the Tifosi the Ferrari is slower than the Mercedes or Red Bull just to play a confidence game imo. They would perhaps go quiet and say nothing if they wanted to worry the competition, but they wouldn't say the competitions cars were better just to play a game.

I just can't see that. The comments he made today will be front page tomorrow in Italy.

[Teppic]

Ferrari are seeking clarification from the FIA on DAS.

https://www.motorsport.com/f1/news/ferrari-answers...

[TheDeuce]

Teppic said:

Ferrari are seeking clarification from the FIA on DAS.

https://www.motorsport.com/f1/news/ferrari-answers...

Phase one of working out if they can/should copy it.. Makes sense.

[geeks]

Danny Rics radio chat just now "... I miss you though"

[Tyre Smoke]

Who are these commentators on Sky? I've never heard so much piss and wind. I know they can't sit in silence, but they're talking pure egg.