What's the data behind this?
I think they had a solid day today so what do you mean by SUCK ?
So that's where the post went...lol
upsidedowntoast wrote: ↑18 Feb 2026, 18:25So that's where the post went...lol
I posted this during day 1 week 1 when Merc mentioned they had balance issues compared to Barcelona, and the post disappeared. Now suddenly it's back and making me look silly haha
Even with multiple lockups that doesn't make it any less impressive, maybe even moreFittingMechanics wrote: ↑19 Feb 2026, 23:27He had multiple lockups and offtrack excursions before he nailed that lap and it was much later than Piastri.
If you check the telemetry between their best laps, Oscar gains 2 tenths on deployment in the start/finish straight and 2 tenths under braking in T1. The gap remains nearly static (4 tenths) the whole way through from T2 exit up to T11. That's where Oscar gives up 4 tenths in deployment to Kimi. The other loss is T14 exit (I think Oscar had a snap on the rear), 0.120s, which goes down to 0.06s by the end of the lap due to deployment differences.FittingMechanics wrote: ↑19 Feb 2026, 23:27He had multiple lockups and offtrack excursions before he nailed that lap and it was much later than Piastri.
upsidedowntoast wrote: ↑19 Feb 2026, 23:30Does anyone know what the context for this run was (as well as George's run earlier in the day + their runs yesterday)? Looks like on both days they were all doing setup testing?
Andrew Shovlin:
We've had another good day of running, completing 157 trouble free laps. That has helped us to recover a good chunk of the ground we lost with several stoppages last week. We have continued to split our days with George running this morning and Kimi in the cooler conditions of the evening. Despite the difference in conditions, the programme for both was mainly focused on set-up work on the C3 tyre. We managed to get through several test items which is useful as we build our understanding of the W17 and the 2026 Pirelli tyres.
As it was Kimi's last evening session, we had a look at lower fuel running towards the end of the day with the conditions closest to those that we'll see here in qualifying in a few weeks’ time. That providing him with useful learning and showed just how competitive the front of the field seems to be already. Hopefully we can have another solid day tomorrow to round off pre-season testing before we head to Melbourne.
- 18.02George Russell:
After a solid opening day yesterday, we had more productive running in Bahrain this morning. Once again, our programme wasn’t necessarily focused on finding pure performance but understanding our updates and more about the W17. We were able to do that whilst completing the most laps of anyone in the morning session.
We now have one final day on-track before we head to Melbourne. Whilst we have made up for the lost running in test one, we still have a very full programme to work through tomorrow. I’m looking forward to getting back out in the car in the afternoon and focused on helping the team leave Bahrain in the strongest possible position. We’ve seen some impressive single lap work and long runs from our competitors yet again today so adding to our mileage on Friday is very important.
George Russell:
It was good to get back on track here in Bahrain. With only three days of pre-season running left before we head to Melbourne, every lap is precious. We didn't enjoy the best reliability in the first test, but we've started off on the front foot this week, completing 147 laps between myself and Kimi.
We have brought several updates to the W17 this week, so our programme was focused on evaluating those and ensuring we didn't encounter any nasty surprises. We were able to complete most of the work we had planned and can now continue to build our learning over the final two days of running.