2017 Williams Martini Racing Team - Mercedes

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Watching the kid!

[Sevach]

Is Wurz still driver coach for Williams? Has this position opened up again with the hiring of Stroll?

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Is Wurz still driver coach for Williams? Has this position opened up again with the hiring of Stroll?

He is involved into coaching of young Lance. I do not know the details.

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BARCELONA TEST TWO – DAY TWO
08 MAR 2017


Driver: Felipe Massa / Lance Stroll
Chassis / Engine: FW40-02 / Mercedes-AMG F1 M08 EQ Power+
Location: Circuit de Barcelona-Catalunya, 4.655km
Weather: Warm and Dry
Maximum air & track temps: 27ºC / 22ºC

Rod Nelson, Chief Test & Support Engineer: Today was a pretty busy day again, and also included a driver change at lunchtime. Felipe was driving this morning and we tried the ultrasoft tyres for the first time, so we’ve got some good data to look at. Lance was back in the car in the afternoon and he did a good job. He’s never tried the supersoft tyres before but he acquitted himself really well considering the circuit conditions he had at the time. Overall we had a good clean day and completed 122 laps in total, which means we have a lot of useful data to look through tonight.

Felipe Massa: It was a good morning. We completed all of our programmes and, like yesterday, I had a good feeling in the car. We’re happy with everything we tried in terms of set-up and trying different tyres. I’ve had a very good day and a half, but hopefully this is just the beginning and we can finish testing well. I’m very happy with what I’ve seen and what I feel in the car. It’s still difficult to know where we are compared to the others, but the car is definitely looking positive.

Lance Stroll: I am quite happy with the afternoon and pleased with the morning watching Felipe do some solid running. I think it was a good day. As a team we got a lot of laps in, so we have a lot of positives to take out of today. I am not really focussed on laptimes, as it is testing and we are exploring a lot of different things on the car and trying to move forward. I am just happy with getting some good running in, trying some stuff on the car and moving in the right direction. That is what we are focusing on over these few days, and so far so good. We did some short runs, and tried some different compounds. I went to the softer compounds today. I tried the supersofts but still have the ultrasoft remaining that I haven’t tried. It was good to get a feel for them for the first time.

[djos]

No pictures of Lowe in uniform or anything, De Beers is kinda expected, i don't even know what he looks like, more of a factory guy.
This has been such an impressive run that i'm wondering if we should've let our former aero chief go lol.


These rules might suit Massa, he was always naturally harsher on tires than his team mates, Kimi, Bottas, Alonso... cheese Pirelli's may have been terrible for him.
On videos he's looking super aggressive, kinda like young Massa, even before Ferrari.

Edit: Just found an article on the Brazilian press about how Massa enjoys this car a lot more than last years, compared last years to "driving like a granny".
http://grandepremio.uol.com.br/f1/notic ... o-uma-vovo

Tires were a big factor in Mark Webber quitting, he hated the "mickey mouse" tires Pirelli brought as he was from the race flat out, every lap generation.

[Sevach]

More news from Brazil.

http://globoesporte.globo.com/motor/for ... lgado.html

I quick rundown of what Massa said:

"I gave it the maximum today, showed all we got"
"There are people who are hiding what they can do, we know. best answer to that is the Australian GP. What i can say is that our car is consistent, doesn't break, but i can't tell where we are in relation to others"

In comparison to 2016.
"We gave it everything from the car, like today, and i didn't reach the top 3. I'm going to Melbourne satisfied, optmist and excited even".

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Comments from Martin Brundle - Sky F1

Here's someone you'll want to hear from in regards to how these 2017 cars are looking out on track: Martin Brundle.

Standing trackside with Sky Sports News HQ's Rachel Brookes at the chicane, the Sky F1 analyst had this to say:

"You can see they are carrying a little bit of extra speed everywhere. You don't go there and go 'wow' and stand back in amazement, but what I have noticed is the drivers have got a lot more certainty in the turn-in and braking phase plus better traction through the exit.

"I've seen a lot less errors at Turn 10 than I'd normally see. Normally one in four cars coming through there in practice in particular would lock a wheel, run a bit wide.

"I can see why the drivers are enjoying the cars more, they are less ponderous through the small corners. I'm also hearing a lot less tyre degradation - they can do a 25-lap run and still have some sensible tyres underneath them. You can just see the drivers homing in on the line and the driveability.

"But whether that's more exciting or not is another matter."

And that wasn't all from Martin Brundle. The Sky F1 expert also had his say on the potential pecking order, overtaking, and the dreaded shark fins...

"Talking to a few people in the paddock it seems that Mercedes might have the edge," he added. "But Ferrari and Red Bull are quite close behind them, so that bodes well. Williams are pretty strong as well, and the midfield is very strong. My concern was maybe Mercedes might run and hide, but at the moment at least it looks like they're in touch.

"We're in for some close racing - I hope there's some organic overtaking. I'm getting mixed messages about what they're like to follow, how easy it is to follow and catch another car. And it seems like that might be a little car specific, with the front wing setup and the sidepods, particularly the way they use the shark fin on the back.

"The shark fins actually don't look as ugly track side as they did in all of the photographs, but I'm still not a fan of them. We were promised gorgeous looking cars - low, wide, sexy cars. Fundamentally they are, they've just got some extraneous bits hanging off them that we simply don't need to add to the show."

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