This forum contains threads to discuss teams themselves. Anything not technical about the cars, including restructuring, performances etc belongs here.
“We’re seeing some interesting things out there,” Russell said. “That’s what testing is for.
Asked how Mercedes compared so far to those two, he said: “Certainly not ahead – pretty sure of that. They seem to have things well under control and they are on top of everything and they look very strong, low fuel and high fuel. And with the tyre management.”
Russell, however, did not shy away from making at least an initial comparison, albeit well-aware that the cars will be developing quickly from here on out.
“We all know we’re on different [run] programmes but we definitely know from the average of all the different runs we’re behind them at the moment,” he said of McLaren and Ferrari.
“Some teams are looking pretty fast, a red team [Ferrari] and an orange team [McLaren] in particular look very, very competitive.
I had a feeling after Lando topped the times yesterday, that Mclaren really didn't mean to do that. Just the way he and the team reacted to it. Not that i'm getting ahead of myself but Brawn in pre season testing in 2009 came out in the first test session and were quickest without trying, then sandbagged the rest of the test to not give anything away..
my feeling is for 1st time after many years the team are big team again ....i dont know why but i dont like reb bull car this year ...so i give top3 teams spot for mclaren-ferrari-mercedes ....its only start of the season but that my view for now ...i think mclaren is up there ....lets go boys
Repeat after me… It’s only testing… It’s only testing… It’s only testing:
I just screamed into a pillow!
What I'm not sure about is how often that happens anyway
It all sounds good but Merc have a history of bigging up everyone else. It does sound a bit different this time but let's see.
When Lando was talking about wishing he wasn't P1 yesterday he did look like he was trying to contain himself perhaps they expected other teams to have more?
They may yet well have, others could easily be hiding pace.
It's only day 2 of test 1!
Last edited by mwillems on 24 Feb 2022, 20:36, edited 1 time in total.
And not pushing yhrough corners. Do the teams see telemetry on the other teams at this test?
They do have GPS trace data if I’m not wrong… So in theory, they have available data to tell how others are doing (within a margin of error of course)
Not sure how good GPS is, but good enough to get a good handle on it.
Still, I prefer to err on the side of smoke and mirrors. I recall when Merc bigged up RB and Ferrari before a couple of seasons and come race 1, Merc were on it. The press all buy into it even though it happens every year, in fact every race. Classic Toto.
And not pushing yhrough corners. Do the teams see telemetry on the other teams at this test?
They do have GPS trace data if I’m not wrong… So in theory, they have available data to tell how others are doing (within a margin of error of course)
Not sure how good GPS is, but good enough to get a good handle on it.
Still, I prefer to err on the side of smoke and mirrors. I recall when Merc bigged up RB and Ferrari before a couple of seasons and come race 1, Merc were on it. The press all buy into it even though it happens every year, in fact every race. Classic Toto.
There is copious amount of sandbagging I’m sure… That wouldn’t be surprising at all.
Maybe the only take for me is that we are part of the conversation, while in the past the reference may have been in regards to Red Bull (and Ferrari except for last season)… McLaren is once again part of that conversation of teams looking “strong”… Ahead or behind, no one knows… But if we are in the fight, I’m happy!
“A good day from many angles. I think reliability was great. That’s on the team and everyone who’s worked hard to put this car together, so massive thank you to them. They’re pretty awesome to build a whole new car, put it on track and have it run so smoothly, so big thanks to them again. Both days have been over 100 laps, which for me and Lando gives us more opportunity to learn the car and push ourselves, so really pleased with that. We’ve got some good strengths and we just need to keep working on a few of the areas where we can improve.”
ANDREA STELLA, Executive Director, Racing
“Our second day of testing in Barcelona has been very productive. With Daniel in the car today, we were able to put together a lot of laps with no particular problems, either from an operational or a reliability point of view. We’ve completed a series of tests and acquired a lot of information on tyre performance, set-up and aerodynamics. We’re learning more about this new car with each run, and this is helping us extract the most from the MCL36 in preparation for the season ahead.”
I never take the words of Merc people seriously during testing. They always claim that some other team is much faster and they need to catch up. They sandbag a lot and unleash their car in the first race.
I am only happy that McLaren have a good foundation; zero expectations until 4-5 races get over. Even if Merc, Ferrari and Redbull leapfrog us as the season starts, I won't be concerned because the team themselves have stated they will fight for championships only in 2024. I am not concerned about whether they are good enough to win races yet or not.
