Any lap time predictions for winter testing?

[Juzh]

Does anyone know of a list of circuits that have changed the least since the 80's until today?

Off the top of my head:

Hungaroring
Monaco
Canada
Magny Cours
Suzuka
Brazil
Jerez

Not in any particular order. I think Brazil changed the least though. Would be awesome to get an all time near exact comparison of all qualifying times from every year and pick out the fastest F1 year ever.

80s lol. Be reasonable. Every track on this list is nowhere near what it was back then. Suzuka perhaps the closest but it had way tighter 130r. I'm not sure about jerez, but it's not on the calendar anyway, same for magny cours. Hungaroring, monaco, canada and brazil are night and day difference. Yes, even brazil.

[GPR-A duplicate2]

Just to iterate the reference point, the all time fastest time on Barcelona circuit is a 1m14.648s from Alonso in 2006 GP.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2_5t2ldK7V8

The 2016 Spanish GP pole was a 1m22.000, set on Softs by Lewis. If that time is extrapolated for Ultra Softs, it would translate into a high 1m20.xxx. As we all know, teams lose 1 second in Barcelona from Winter Testing to Race due to weather change (high temperatures for race). So, that time would have translated into a high 1m19.xxx in 2016 winter testing.

If we see the usual teams that chase ultimate times, like Williams, Haas and Renault (let's forget Sauber as they would be using 2016 PU), I think they would do a 1m19.xxx on Ultra Softs, sometime in the second test. I expect the gap to widen between top teams and the mid fielders this year and with that, I expect 1m17.xxx as a possibility from top teams. But........ we will not see that time as most of them would try to understand long run performance of the new cars and new tyres.

Of all the teams, McLaren and Renault want to find out what their ultimate performance is. So, that would become the reference point. Both cars look massively developed from last year and with considerable enhancement on PU performance. So they would definitely like to explore their limits.

viewtopic.php?f=1&t=25604&start=30#p676564
Not a bad prediction. =D>

[Wass85]

Bit of an anticlimax this test, hopefully one day they will be as fast as the 08 cars around here, 4 tenths to go.

[gold333]

Does anyone know of a list of circuits that have changed the least since the 80's until today?

Off the top of my head:

Hungaroring
Monaco
Canada
Magny Cours
Suzuka
Brazil
Jerez

Not in any particular order. I think Brazil changed the least though. Would be awesome to get an all time near exact comparison of all qualifying times from every year and pick out the fastest F1 year ever.

80s lol. Be reasonable. Every track on this list is nowhere near what it was back then. Suzuka perhaps the closest but it had way tighter 130r. I'm not sure about jerez, but it's not on the calendar anyway, same for magny cours. Hungaroring, monaco, canada and brazil are night and day difference. Yes, even brazil.

I beg to differ. I've just compared track layouts and it appears that from 1991 until now the differences in layout are:

Brazil= No difference
Canada= Hairpin moved 10 metres inward, all other corners identical.
Hunagoring= T1 slightly tightened up, all other corners identical.
Monaco= T1 slightly tightened up, T14 slightly loosened up, all other corners identical.
Suzuka= T15 made slightly faster and T16 placed closer to T15, all other corners identical.

To be honest these changes from a layout perspective are minimal. And contrary to what you say I can't find a single corner layout change from Interlagos (since 1990). (apart from resurfacing, etc.) I may have not done enough research though and would love to be proven wrong.

I think these circuits are the most "unchanged" oldest circuits and it would be nice to get a comparison. Mind you kerbing has changed, dropped from the insane sidewalk type kerbs in those years to the flat, smooth kerbs we have today. That would be an advantage to the older type cars laptimes for sure.

[Juzh]

Does anyone know of a list of circuits that have changed the least since the 80's until today?

Off the top of my head:

Hungaroring
Monaco
Canada
Magny Cours
Suzuka
Brazil
Jerez

Not in any particular order. I think Brazil changed the least though. Would be awesome to get an all time near exact comparison of all qualifying times from every year and pick out the fastest F1 year ever.

80s lol. Be reasonable. Every track on this list is nowhere near what it was back then. Suzuka perhaps the closest but it had way tighter 130r. I'm not sure about jerez, but it's not on the calendar anyway, same for magny cours. Hungaroring, monaco, canada and brazil are night and day difference. Yes, even brazil.

I beg to differ. I've just compared track layouts and it appears that from 1991 until now the differences in layout are:

Brazil= No difference
Canada= Hairpin moved 10 metres inward, all other corners identical.
Hunagoring= T1 slightly tightened up, all other corners identical.
Monaco= T1 slightly tightened up, T14 slightly loosened up, all other corners identical.
Suzuka= T15 made slightly faster and T16 placed closer to T15, all other corners identical.

To be honest these changes from a layout perspective are minimal. And contrary to what you say I can't find a single corner layout change from Interlagos (since 1990). (apart from resurfacing, etc.) I may have not done enough research though and would love to be proven wrong.

I think these circuits are the most "unchanged" oldest circuits and it would be nice to get a comparison. Mind you kerbing has changed, dropped from the insane sidewalk type kerbs in those years to the flat, smooth kerbs we have today. That would be an advantage to the older type cars laptimes for sure.

Put it this way, if you're satisfied with +-3s difference purely down to track layout and changes then, sure, go ahead.
Often times pure track layout don't change much, but miniscule differences have a massive impact on laptimes, not least tracks being resurfaced (hungary in 2016) and running with sky high kerbs (brazil since 2015, resurfaced in 2014).
Also, hungary's midfield section layout is not the same. Go check some youtube clips to see the difference.

Canada's kerbs nowadays (since 2005 onwards) will break your legs if you fall over them.

Monaco has been changed year on year with changes to various corners and tarmac.

As I said, suzuka is the closest one.