F1 2016 In-Season Test, Silverstone 12-13 July

[ChrisDanger]

Drivers taking part in the test at Silverstone starting tomorrow.

Mercedes - Esteban Ocon; Pascal Wehrlein
Ferrari - Charles Leclerc; Sebastian Vettel
Red Bull - Pierre Gasly
Williams - Alex Lynn; Valtteri Bottas
Force India - Nikita Mazepin
Toro Rosso - Sergio Sette Camara; Carlos Sainz
McLaren - Stoffel Vandoorne; Fernando Alonso
Haas - Santino Ferrucci
Renault - Sergey Sirotkin; Jolyon Palmer
Manor - Jordan King; Rio Haryanto
Sauber - ABSENT

Red Bull and Haas both fielded main drivers on both days of the Catalunya test in May, so need to field a driver with fewer than two Grand Prix starts for both test days (as per Article 10.6 h) i) of the sporting regulations). Wehrlein will be in the 2014 Mercedes so as not to contravene this rule. I'm not sure if Mazepin will drive both days for Force India, as Alfonso Celis drove the first day in Spain.

[domh245]

IIRC, Merc fielded Nico and Pascal at Barcelona which contravenes the rules, does it not (as Wehrlein doesn't qualify as a young driver). According to Ted's notebook, it means that Pascal has to test in a 2014 car?

[ChrisDanger]

Yes, that's what I read too. Edited title post to reflect this.

[WaikeCU]

Why a 2014 and not a 2015 car? So it's legal to run a 2014/2015 car with new aero parts that are yet to be introduced?

[ChrisDanger]

Why a 2014 and not a 2015 car? So it's legal to run a 2014/2015 car with new aero parts that are yet to be introduced?

Looks like the sporting reg below:

Article 10.1
Testing of Current Cars (TCC) shall be defined as any track running time, not part of an Event, in which a competitor entered in the Championship participates (or in which a third party participates on behalf of a competitor or a supplier of a homologated power unit), using cars which were designed and built in order to comply with the 2015, 2016 or 2017 Formula One Technical Regulations.

So technically Wehrlein is not testing, just sharing the track while driving a 2014 car. Mercedes are obviously keen on him driving their car more than their need to test. Possibly either to benchmark him in new machinery, or just to gain some more experience?

[ChrisDanger]

Why a 2014 and not a 2015 car? So it's legal to run a 2014/2015 car with new aero parts that are yet to be introduced?

It looks like Wehrlein is not testing for Mercedes but for Pirelli, as part of the 2017 tyre tests. So Ocon will be in the 2016 Mercedes both days.

[Jolle]

Why a 2014 and not a 2015 car? So it's legal to run a 2014/2015 car with new aero parts that are yet to be introduced?

It looks like Wehrlein is not testing for Mercedes but for Pirelli, as part of the 2017 tyre tests. So Ocon will be in the 2016 Mercedes both days.

Could be a number of things:
- tires
- PU
- some 2017 stuff (wider FW for instance)
- Wehrlein himself, as a test what to do with him in the Merc program or all of the "what if" with Ham/Ros.

Until we see the car on track, it's guesswork

[ChrisDanger]

It looks like Wehrlein is not testing for Mercedes but for Pirelli, as part of the 2017 tyre tests. So Ocon will be in the 2016 Mercedes both days.

Could be a number of things:
- tires
- PU
- some 2017 stuff (wider FW for instance)
- Wehrlein himself, as a test what to do with him in the Merc program or all of the "what if" with Ham/Ros.

Until we see the car on track, it's guesswork

Sorry if I wasn't clear. I meant this:



The above was not available when I put the thread together earlier.

[Jolle]

Oh yes, my mistake

[skoop]

Are there any pictures available of the new tires on the W05?

[domh245]

Are there any pictures available of the new tires on the W05?

I don't think there is much to see. Pirelli are saying that they're 2016 dimensions but with a 2017 construction and compound

[Thunder]

Yes, nothing changed on the Dimensions:

[ChrisDanger]

Gasly testing the halo. I expect we'll see some POV footage soon.

[ChrisDanger]

More photos:

http://www.auto-motor-und-sport.de/form ... 83462.html

[bryanbrink]

Not making any assertions, just an interesting comparison:

Fernando's current time (midday on Tuesday) in testing is 1:31.290 on softs, last year's quali lap by Hamilton was 1:32.248 on new Mediums. Don't have info on how long Fernando's run was on the softs.

Fernando's Q3 lap for the race was a 132.343, a 10th off last year's pole. His deleted (track limits) lap was around 1:31:6 if I recall correctly. So am I right in saying the 2016 McLaren would have had the potential to take pole in the 2015 event?

The Mercedes pole lap improvement of 3 seconds (32:2 to a 29:2) from 2015 to 2016 is huge, even accounting for different tyres and conditions. I think very few would have predicted such a huge leap in performance for the front runners. Fernando's Q1 lap in 2015 was a 1:34.959, so McLaren saw a 2.6s improvement, it would have been 3.3 had he not exceeded track limits.

Edit: Hmm, the timing screen I saw said Softs for Alonso in today's test, but I've seen photos of the McLaren out on red SuperSofts...not sure how reliable the tyre info is.