Ruslan wrote: ↑3 years ago
Testing just reinforced my biases.
Team ranking:
1. Mercedes
2. Red Bull (although they are looking strong in testing)
3. Ferrari (confirmed in testing?)
4. McLaren/Alpine
6. Aston Martin (I was rating them equal with McLaren/Alpine before they test. It does not appear they are at the same level as those two teams).
7. Alpha
8. Alfa (as a result of this test they have moved up in my estimation. I still may be underrating them here).
9. Williams
10. Haas
Mercedes did the fewest laps of any teams, the car looked quite sensitive to setup and direction change. Hamilton was all over the track on Day 1, he was in the gravel on Day 2 and spun it on Day 3 as well. Is this Mercedes sandbagging by making themselves look bad?
Because in 2020 pre-season testing they topped the times on three separate days by quite a margin.
So are you stating that Red Bull is clearly the strongest team?
I don't know who is the strongest team, but I feel like Mercedes still haven't got on top of their new car. They might turn it around come the opening race, or maybe a few weekends into the season, but I would be a bit surprised if they were 0.5s+ a lap faster than the rest come the first race as they were last year.
Now, that's what I'm talking about
The board equivalent of the Jody scheckter chicane. Fast but pointless
Ruslan wrote: ↑3 years ago
Testing just reinforced my biases.
Team ranking:
1. Mercedes
2. Red Bull (although they are looking strong in testing)
3. Ferrari (confirmed in testing?)
4. McLaren/Alpine
6. Aston Martin (I was rating them equal with McLaren/Alpine before they test. It does not appear they are at the same level as those two teams).
7. Alpha
8. Alfa (as a result of this test they have moved up in my estimation. I still may be underrating them here).
9. Williams
10. Haas
Mercedes did the fewest laps of any teams, the car looked quite sensitive to setup and direction change. Hamilton was all over the track on Day 1, he was in the gravel on Day 2 and spun it on Day 3 as well. Is this Mercedes sandbagging by making themselves look bad?
Because in 2020 pre-season testing they topped the times on three separate days by quite a margin.
So are you stating that Red Bull is clearly the strongest team?
I don't know who is the strongest team, but I feel like Mercedes still haven't got on top of their new car. They might turn it around come the opening race, or maybe a few weekends into the season, but I would be a bit surprised if they were 0.5s+ a lap faster than the rest come the first race as they were last year.
Now, that's what I'm talking about
Nice bit of kit with the blown diffuser.
Oscar Piastri in F1! Catch the fever! Vettel Hate Club. Life membership.
Ruslan wrote: ↑3 years ago
Testing just reinforced my biases.
Team ranking:
1. Mercedes
2. Red Bull (although they are looking strong in testing)
3. Ferrari (confirmed in testing?)
4. McLaren/Alpine
6. Aston Martin (I was rating them equal with McLaren/Alpine before they test. It does not appear they are at the same level as those two teams).
7. Alpha
8. Alfa (as a result of this test they have moved up in my estimation. I still may be underrating them here).
9. Williams
10. Haas
Mercedes did the fewest laps of any teams, the car looked quite sensitive to setup and direction change. Hamilton was all over the track on Day 1, he was in the gravel on Day 2 and spun it on Day 3 as well. Is this Mercedes sandbagging by making themselves look bad?
Because in 2020 pre-season testing they topped the times on three separate days by quite a margin.
So are you stating that Red Bull is clearly the strongest team?
I don't know who is the strongest team, but I feel like Mercedes still haven't got on top of their new car. They might turn it around come the opening race, or maybe a few weekends into the season, but I would be a bit surprised if they were 0.5s+ a lap faster than the rest come the first race as they were last year.
White six wrote: ↑3 years ago
I feel Lewis will be doing a bit more exhaust sniffing this time
It would be hilarious if Red Bull absolutely smoked Mercedes at 2014 levels of dominance, as the Hamilton/Merc fanboys will have nowhere to run - either Max wins because he has the best car (and so did Lewis), or it's never been about the car (and Lewis is suddenly shit)
I can but dream. We all know what's happened before - Merc have previously turned up to the second part of testing with a complete B-Spec car, and then thrash the competition all season. They'll have probably done similar and have two specs ready to test back to back in P1 and P2 at Bahrain.
Gavle Yule Goat Predictor 2018, 2019 and 2021 Champion
MonteCristo wrote: ↑2 years agoVettel: Not a fan at all on track. But off track, good guy.
Mercedes HAS spent their 2 tokens, but nobody knows (or can see) where. It’s likely we’ll see something more about this on/after their ‘filming day’.
No one can see where Merc spend their tokens, but James Allison said they'd become obvious "in good time" or something to that effect.
Yay, Merc are going to bring their silver bullet 2021 version of a double diffuser, and the fanboys will claim Hamilton has turned a twitchy car into a championship winner, when in reality it's actually just that Merc didn't use their actual 2021 car in testing.
Gavle Yule Goat Predictor 2018, 2019 and 2021 Champion
MonteCristo wrote: ↑2 years agoVettel: Not a fan at all on track. But off track, good guy.
White six wrote: ↑3 years ago
I feel Lewis will be doing a bit more exhaust sniffing this time
It would be hilarious if Red Bull absolutely smoked Mercedes at 2014 levels of dominance, as the Hamilton/Merc fanboys will have nowhere to run - either Max wins because he has the best car (and so did Lewis), or it's never been about the car (and Lewis is suddenly shit)
I can but dream. We all know what's happened before - Merc have previously turned up to the second part of testing with a complete B-Spec car, and then thrash the competition all season. They'll have probably done similar and have two specs ready to test back to back in P1 and P2 at Bahrain.
I'd settle for a wdc with a bit of excitement. I think max can beat hammy in a straight fight, would be happy if they were close enough for that. If hammy won, fair enough. Hopefully he'd then retire
Would seem a bit risky for Merc to turn up to the only 3 days of testing with a total b spec. Ok, they were sandbagging massively in 2019, but not last year
The board equivalent of the Jody scheckter chicane. Fast but pointless
Breakdown of times and laps by team and by driver.
I was a little surprised to see Gasly at the top of the lap count.
At the other end of the scale Vettel had the fewest laps troubled by unreliability.
Aside from this I was I have to say fairly underwhelmed by the performance and reliability of the Aston Martin. The hype has far surpassed the achievment.
* I started life with nothing, and still have most of it left
“Good drivers have dead flies on the side windows!” (Walter Röhrl)
* I married Miss Right. Just didn't know her first name was Always
PTRACER wrote: ↑3 years ago
I don't know who is the strongest team, but I feel like Mercedes still haven't got on top of their new car. They might turn it around come the opening race, or maybe a few weekends into the season, but I would be a bit surprised if they were 0.5s+ a lap faster than the rest come the first race as they were last year.
Watching some of testing live, the commentators were talking about how these regulations look like they suit the high rake cars. Given the RBR was driving around like this all weekend there's a possibility they may be right:
It does look like there is some play here. On the other hand, this is not the first time that Mercedes didn’t start the season with a perfect car. They do tend to develop the car well over the course of a season, but some of that may be constrained by the budget cap.
But after seeing the results of testing I would not be surprised if Red Bull grabbed the first couple of races. It does appear the Red Bull has resolved the drivability issues with their high rake design that was bedeviling Gasly and Albon.
So yea, we may actually have to watch the first couple of races this season to see how it plays out.
White six wrote: ↑3 years ago
Let's be fair, by all measures that's great from Tsunoda
Couldn't agree more. Cant think of any other rookie, certainly not recently, who came out and finished second fastest overall in their first pre season test. More impressive was that reliability problems kept him out of the top 10 in terms of laps completed.
Probably too premature to say he is the real deal, but I will be watching his progress with interest
* I started life with nothing, and still have most of it left
“Good drivers have dead flies on the side windows!” (Walter Röhrl)
* I married Miss Right. Just didn't know her first name was Always