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More teams have hit trouble in the final day of pre-season testing at Barcelona. At a moment when one would expect reliability issues to be nearly ironed out, the lack of running for some teams was surprising.
Blasphemy! Nobody ever brings a sizeable upgrade to the first race... I wouldn't call the Mclaren basic. Look at the Red Bull and Renault. They'll all pretty much show up with upgrades.
I'd say Renault is, then Haas. Mclaren still a bit hard to figure out where. They did put in a reasonable quali lap late.McMika98 wrote: ↑09 Mar 2018, 19:44Haas on top of midfield. Fastest time posted on supersoft so plenty left in the tank. Really surprised with the development, huge respect to the team who was paid the least last year.
Poor Mclaren in same position as last year and now with stiffer competition. Rear end is prolly going to be compromised come Melbourne, dont expect big updates as front end gains are almost maxed out.
"Vettel mentioned he had plenty of fuel left over after his race sim, which could easily explain the lack of pace relative to Mercedes if they only added enough to do the race sim."godlameroso wrote: ↑09 Mar 2018, 16:53I'm not sure the fuel load is the same, remember last year Mercedes needed less fuel to do a race distance than everyone else. Secondly, one does not need the full 105kg to do the race distance, so it's very possible that fuel levels could be obfuscating true pace. A 30kg difference in fuel is worth ~1 second of lap time. Vettel mentioned he had plenty of fuel left over after his race sim, which could easily explain the lack of pace relative to Mercedes if they only added enough to do the race sim.Phil wrote: ↑09 Mar 2018, 16:44I'll just add something, that you missed:
Vettel did a stint of
SS - 13 laps
M - 27 laps
M - 25 laps
Bottad and Hamilton did a stint of
M - 29 laps
M - 17 laps
M - 19 laps
So yes, you are right, the first stint on a much quicker but less durable tire did compromise his 2nd and 3rd stint relative to the Mercedes, but you can still compare Bottas and Hamilton's lap from lap 14 to 29 - then you can compare the Mercedes on (at that point) 13 laps old tires vs Vettel on new & fresh M tires on the same fuel load. That should be comparable, as Bottas and Hamiltons first stint was aiming to do 29 laps on a much heavier car than Vettel on his 2nd stint but comparable laps. So in theory, Vettels stint and times should compare favorably assuming a similar fast car.
Yet comparing these laps, Vettel is at best equal or slower (especially than Hamilton who dips into high 21 times).
I believe dans already did that in his post.
It looks like a rolling forest fire
This is too understated, I read they already run on fumes when they LEAVE the pitbox, the car is just so fuel efficient!
