2021 Pre-season testing. Bahrain 12-14 March

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Wouter
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Joined: 16 Dec 2017, 13:02

Re: 2021 Pre-season testing. Bahrain 12-14 March

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Nice article to read by Edd Straw. "How 2021 F1 cars really handle – Edd Straw’s trackside verdict.":

https://the-race.com/formula-1/how-2021 ... e-verdict/

The most impressive car is the Red Bull. That isn’t a surprise, but just how good it looks in the hands of Max Verstappen is startling.

He is able to turn in with absolute commitment and carry the speed into the apex, but most breathtakingly he can get on the power decisively earlier than anyone – seemingly without a hint of wheelspin.

Last year’s Red Bull was tricky to master and Verstappen did so brilliantly. But as Lewis Hamilton said earlier in the day, Red Bull is a different beast this year and Verstappen looks completely at one with it. Regardless of the stopwatch, the poise of the Red Bull RB16B on track screamed class of the field.

But there is a caveat in the form of Mercedes. In Hamilton’s hands, the Mercedes is relatively subdued and it’s some time before he appears remotely interested in attacking on turn in.

Then as he picks up the pace, the car’s limitations did appear to show. It’s clear Hamilton isn’t turning in as decisively as Verstappen, but how much of that is the fact he doesn’t need to given this is testing and how much is down to the rear-end instability is difficult to be sure of.

Most likely, it’s a little of both. Hamilton never commits to the corner like Verstappen, but he is pushing and the contrast on traction is also clear. While the Red Bull is planted, the Mercedes squirms in the corner exit as Hamilton feeds in.

Remember, one of the areas where the new aerodynamic regulations can hurt is in terms of traction and that supports the suggestion that the Mercedes rear end is the issue. This was a strength of the car last year but it could be hurting in all phases of the corner in 2021.

This is definitely not the Mercedes W12 either at its lightest or driven at its hardest, so it’s not a like-for-like comparison with the Red Bull. But it is lacking compared to the Red Bull.

The question is, how much and will it be resolved by the time qualifying gets under way for the first race of the season in Bahrain when we get the first completely representative lap times?

The ace in the midfield pack is the McLaren. Daniel Ricciardo appears confident under braking and in corner entry. While plenty of drivers have moments, the McLaren rolls serenely through. For a car that was a little sensitive to the wind last year, that’s an encouraging development.

Overall, the Mercedes-engined MCL35M is a step behind the Red Bull in terms of catching the eye, but it responds to Ricciardo and giving him the balance he needs to carry the speed into the apex without struggling to rotate the car.

But the driver who gave up that car to switch to Ferrari, Carlos Sainz Jr, isn’t having such a good time.
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basti313
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Joined: 22 Feb 2014, 14:49

Re: 2021 Pre-season testing. Bahrain 12-14 March

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Stu wrote:
16 Mar 2021, 10:12
PlatinumZealot wrote:
16 Mar 2021, 04:13
Guys Mercedes is a rocket-ship. Just a couple tweaks to unlock the swag.
I think so too.
Token spend suggestions?
I seem to recall mention being made of pedal adjustments being required. If this is so it suggests modification has been made to either the tub or driver position (why else would a driver ask for the pedal position in a year-old design to be altered? - yes, the drivers are swapped around, but the level of detail that these guys are working to makes it difficult to imagine that they don’t have both driver’s pedal positions nailed down); it would also make sense that the tub front has been altered as all of the ‘gubbins’ from DAS will have been removed, they struggled to get George in the car when he subbed for Lewis and the front suspension looks to be mounted differently.
I think that is two tokens spent???

Either way, I expect them to be right at the sharp end when it all kicks off!!
No the tub is the same. If you look at the video from Allison he explains that the tub is even taken from the 2021 car, it is a used part. He also explains about gearbox etc...
I do not see any structural changes on the nose, DAS was connected at the tub, so both tokens must be spend on the rear end, next or below the gearbox.
Don`t russel the hamster!

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El Scorchio
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Joined: 29 Jul 2019, 12:41

Re: 2021 Pre-season testing. Bahrain 12-14 March

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basti313 wrote:
16 Mar 2021, 13:02
Stu wrote:
16 Mar 2021, 10:12
PlatinumZealot wrote:
16 Mar 2021, 04:13
Guys Mercedes is a rocket-ship. Just a couple tweaks to unlock the swag.
I think so too.
Token spend suggestions?
I seem to recall mention being made of pedal adjustments being required. If this is so it suggests modification has been made to either the tub or driver position (why else would a driver ask for the pedal position in a year-old design to be altered? - yes, the drivers are swapped around, but the level of detail that these guys are working to makes it difficult to imagine that they don’t have both driver’s pedal positions nailed down); it would also make sense that the tub front has been altered as all of the ‘gubbins’ from DAS will have been removed, they struggled to get George in the car when he subbed for Lewis and the front suspension looks to be mounted differently.
I think that is two tokens spent???

Either way, I expect them to be right at the sharp end when it all kicks off!!
No the tub is the same. If you look at the video from Allison he explains that the tub is even taken from the 2021 car, it is a used part. He also explains about gearbox etc...
I do not see any structural changes on the nose, DAS was connected at the tub, so both tokens must be spend on the rear end, next or below the gearbox.
Spot on. They were at pains to say that those elements are unchanged.
It looks possible that whatever they spent the tokens on may not have been added to the car yet. There are multiple references to it being obvious what the tokens have been spent on in good time (The latest one being made after the test was finished) yet nothing we have seen so far is different. You would then assume either have something they might think is a bit of a gamechanger that they really want kept secret until race 1, or they are just bluffing.

I agree that it's likely (if the tokens remain 'unspent' so far) there's going to be something changed or added on the rear end of the car in the near future, which would make sense as that's where they seem to be lacking.

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NathanOlder
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Location: Kent

Re: 2021 Pre-season testing. Bahrain 12-14 March

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Can they spend the tokens later in the year ? Or they need to be handed back at round 1 if not used ?
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Sieper
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Joined: 14 Mar 2017, 15:19

Re: 2021 Pre-season testing. Bahrain 12-14 March

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I think you are allowed to use them this year. So they could be saved for a later point in time.

tomidix
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Joined: 16 Mar 2021, 15:59

Re: 2021 Pre-season testing. Bahrain 12-14 March

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Juzh wrote:
15 Mar 2021, 14:04
some people were curious so here it is. top 20 speed traps over all 3 days:
330 NIS
329 RIC
329 RIC
329 VET
329 NIS
328 RIC
328 VET
328 VET
328 VET
328 VET
328 VET
328 VET
328 VET
328 RAI
328 GAS
328 NIS
328 NIS
328 NIS
327 RIC

All these were achieved on day 1 already.

thanks to Oehrly of course and his excellent data collection efforts:
https://docs.google.com/spreadsheets/d/ ... =551258756
If I can just note that in the spreadsheet RIC is mentioned as Alpine driver but he actually moved to McLaren.. so the data is wrong if we are looking at the teams..

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langedweil
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Joined: 23 Mar 2018, 20:51
Location: Caribbean

Re: 2021 Pre-season testing. Bahrain 12-14 March

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NathanOlder wrote:
16 Mar 2021, 14:29
Can they spend the tokens later in the year ? Or they need to be handed back at round 1 if not used ?
I believe I read a while ago they are allocated per the season, so could be used later on.
If it's really a copyable silver bullet (which it couldn't be if it's token related) that is being withheld, then one shouldn't be surprised the rabbit comes out of the hat only at race 3 or 4. Merc would just wait and take any pain in optimal scoring the first few GP's, only to hit back hard after that.
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zibby43
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Joined: 04 Mar 2017, 12:16

Re: 2021 Pre-season testing. Bahrain 12-14 March

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F1 Testing Data from FOM

Single Lap Pace

Image

Race Pace

Image

MKlaus
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Joined: 30 Aug 2020, 08:22

Re: 2021 Pre-season testing. Bahrain 12-14 March

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zibby43 wrote:
17 Mar 2021, 06:25
F1 Testing Data from FOM
Race Pace

Image
this is the prediction that i did, immediately after the 3rd day, based on long runs.

viewtopic.php?p=957838#p957838

1. mercedes
2. aston martin
3. redbull/mclaren
4. alpine/ferrari/alfa
5. alpha tauri
6. williams
7. haas

I still think aston's numbers looked a touch better than that of red bull's on long runs.
i also mentioned in my post there that, the caveat there was, perez did the race sim on 2nd day and 3rd day was much better for testing overall and red bull could be second.
i put alfa romeo above alpha tauri based on what i saw on long runs.

zibby43
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Joined: 04 Mar 2017, 12:16

Re: 2021 Pre-season testing. Bahrain 12-14 March

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MKlaus wrote:
17 Mar 2021, 07:25
zibby43 wrote:
17 Mar 2021, 06:25
F1 Testing Data from FOM
Race Pace

https://www.formula1.com/content/dam/fo ... /image.jpg
this is the prediction that i did, immediately after the 3rd day, based on long runs.

viewtopic.php?p=957838#p957838

1. mercedes
2. aston martin
3. redbull/mclaren
4. alpine/ferrari/alfa
5. alpha tauri
6. williams
7. haas

I still think aston's numbers looked a touch better than that of red bull's on long runs.
i also mentioned in my post there that, the caveat there was, perez did the race sim on 2nd day and 3rd day was much better for testing overall and red bull could be second.
i put alfa romeo above alpha tauri based on what i saw on long runs.
Just read through your post and agree with your observations. Good stuff.

Seems like Merc’s issue with single-lap pace is setup-related. I’m sure they were running a bit heavier than usual for those single lap runs, too.

Marble
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Joined: 11 Mar 2017, 22:30

Re: 2021 Pre-season testing. Bahrain 12-14 March

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Best times team by team with tyre, day (AM/PM), and run info (not on the tweet but it appears on the blog).
For Aston, the first line is missing on the tweet but it correctly appears on the blog :

https://blog.autoplus.fr/moncet/2021/03 ... naux-2021/


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El Scorchio
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Joined: 29 Jul 2019, 12:41

Re: 2021 Pre-season testing. Bahrain 12-14 March

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langedweil wrote:
17 Mar 2021, 03:57
NathanOlder wrote:
16 Mar 2021, 14:29
Can they spend the tokens later in the year ? Or they need to be handed back at round 1 if not used ?
I believe I read a while ago they are allocated per the season, so could be used later on.
If it's really a copyable silver bullet (which it couldn't be if it's token related) that is being withheld, then one shouldn't be surprised the rabbit comes out of the hat only at race 3 or 4. Merc would just wait and take any pain in optimal scoring the first few GP's, only to hit back hard after that.
I read that all unused tokens expire at the first race. Don’t know if that’s completely true or not, though.

Just_a_fan
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Joined: 31 Jan 2010, 20:37

Re: 2021 Pre-season testing. Bahrain 12-14 March

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zibby43 wrote:
17 Mar 2021, 06:25
F1 Testing Data from FOM

Single Lap Pace

https://www.formula1.com/content/dam/fo ... /image.jpg

Race Pace

https://www.formula1.com/content/dam/fo ... /image.jpg
It seems quite surprising that Mercedes single lap and race pace are so very different. Using those figures, one might expect RedBull to get a lot of poles but Mercedes to get a lot of wins, ceteris paribus.

If that does run through to the season, it could make for an interesting time for both teams, with strategy being key to either winning.
If you are more fortunate than others, build a larger table not a taller fence.

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Big Tea
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Joined: 24 Dec 2017, 20:57

Re: 2021 Pre-season testing. Bahrain 12-14 March

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Any indication yet of if any car is particularly kind or hard on the tyres? The Merc looks twitchy and the Bull looks stable so do Red Bull have a slight advantage over last year?
When arguing with a fool, be sure the other person is not doing the same thing.

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SiLo
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Joined: 25 Jul 2010, 19:09

Re: 2021 Pre-season testing. Bahrain 12-14 March

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Just_a_fan wrote:
17 Mar 2021, 11:47
zibby43 wrote:
17 Mar 2021, 06:25
F1 Testing Data from FOM

Single Lap Pace

https://www.formula1.com/content/dam/fo ... /image.jpg

Race Pace

https://www.formula1.com/content/dam/fo ... /image.jpg
It seems quite surprising that Mercedes single lap and race pace are so very different. Using those figures, one might expect RedBull to get a lot of poles but Mercedes to get a lot of wins, ceteris paribus.

If that does run through to the season, it could make for an interesting time for both teams, with strategy being key to either winning.
Maybe it will be more like 2018 were Merc take a few races to figure out their car setup, but the race pace was generally strong throughout.
Felipe Baby!

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