2018 pre-season testing thread

[rogazilla]

Speculation for the fans during testing is the fun during off season. Just watching a bunch of car going around and not form any kind of opinion, I might as well go watch Nascar... :p

[dans79]

So, who do we believe now?

I personally would be really surprised if the article you quoted was correct and Ferrari actually is quite behind.
Also, Vettel told last week that the car has been like they expected it to be and feels good. These exceptations must have been high since in the process of producing the car it was told that Ferrari had very good numbers in the wind-tunnel.

Having said that, either Ferrari achieved their numbers, but still are behind because they underestimated the potential of the opponents or these are just rumors we shouldn't interpret much into it.

Most of the reputable press is reporting Merc clearly ahead, and RBR and Ferrari close.

[DiogoBrand]

What I'm curious about is: If Haas was able to get around a second slower than Ferrari on Softs, why does Mercedes think they won't reach it without Hypersofts? I mean, shouldn't Mercedes be able to beat Haas by over a second?

[Giblet]

Reversing at speed in the pit lane. How very safe of him.

I'm sure nobody was on the radio telling him it was clear, and he was just endangering everyone.

Or not and you are being silly.

Formula one sporting regulation 28.3 specifically forbids it. Why do you think they put that rule in?
If this was an 'official' event Vettel would be due a major slapping.

While a race is going on, yes. But this is a test. I'm just saying I am sure he did it safely and it's silly to assume otherwise.

These are all professionals, and I assume professionalism until I see otherwise.

[DiogoBrand]

I'm sure nobody was on the radio telling him it was clear, and he was just endangering everyone.

Or not and you are being silly.

Formula one sporting regulation 28.3 specifically forbids it. Why do you think they put that rule in?
If this was an 'official' event Vettel would be due a major slapping.

While a race is going on, yes. But this is a test. I'm just saying I am sure he did it safely and it's silly to assume otherwise.

These are all professionals, and I assume professionalism until I see otherwise.

The same way he was very professional when banging cars to vent his anger.

[Sieper]

Stop saying other people are silly when you do not agree. It is playing on the man and not allowed here.

It was a brash move, something we do see Vettel do more often.

[LM10]

There is a thing I don't understand. Why do the teams try their best sandbagging if GPS data is told to be so precise?
Taking this into consideration, if they can't hide anything anyway wouldn't it be logical to perform at peak to optimize and understand the car the best way?

[NathanOlder]

I'm sure nobody was on the radio telling him it was clear, and he was just endangering everyone.

Or not and you are being silly.

Formula one sporting regulation 28.3 specifically forbids it. Why do you think they put that rule in?
If this was an 'official' event Vettel would be due a major slapping.

While a race is going on, yes. But this is a test. I'm just saying I am sure he did it safely and it's silly to assume otherwise.

These are all professionals, and I assume professionalism until I see otherwise.

Baku 2017 destroys your argument

[PhillipM]

Because they generally don't have other teams GPS data...or know the fuel loads, or setup, or whether they have a block of wood under the pedals.

[NathanOlder]

There is a thing I don't understand. Why do the teams try their best sandbagging if GPS data is told to be so precise?
Taking this into consideration, if they can't hide anything anyway wouldn't it be logical to perform at peak to optimize and understand the car the best way?

I don't believe anyone really sandbags, James Allison said the teams don't have time to sandbag, they cant waste any time to do so when testing is so limited.

P.S just watching Teds notebook, and he just said Hamilton told Ted today that Merc haven't done a low fuel run yet. I guess Bottas car was low fuel at the end of his race sim ??
Hamilton also says this years car is NO DIVA.

All on Ted's notebook.

[foxmulder_ms]

https://twitter.com/_/status/971791597548421120

Reversing at speed in the pit lane. How very safe of him.

I'm sure nobody was on the radio telling him it was clear, and he was just endangering everyone.

Or not and you are being silly.

haha you are thinking too much of Vettel, Ferrari and F1. No one in F1 can really punish Ferrari. It is against the nature of the beast.

[TAG]

Because they generally don't have other teams GPS data...or know the fuel loads, or setup, or whether they have a block of wood under the pedals.

Teams get the same on track telemetry for all cars, they put those into their respective formulas and make a very educated guess from there. No different than what they do during a race to figure out optimum pit window to place cars in open air.

We've seen examples of Mercedes and Red Bull last year commenting on the performance pick up from Ferrari in Canada, Ferrari was asked to remove the separate oil tank and plumbing the next race. So I'm sure they know where each other stands.

If you've read comments from principals about how they feel from testing, it's obvious that all teams have entire staff dedicated to just this.

[PhillipM]

They do indeed, but they still don't know for certain where they are until qualifying.
They do know a lot more than the casual observer gets to see, but not everything.

[Restomaniac]

I'm sure nobody was on the radio telling him it was clear, and he was just endangering everyone.

Or not and you are being silly.

Formula one sporting regulation 28.3 specifically forbids it. Why do you think they put that rule in?
If this was an 'official' event Vettel would be due a major slapping.

While a race is going on, yes. But this is a test. I'm just saying I am sure he did it safely and it's silly to assume otherwise.

These are all professionals, and I assume professionalism until I see otherwise.

So because it's not a race weekend he gets to act like an idiot. Ok, gotcha. I also see you didn't want to answer why you thought the FIA put it in the rules in the first place.

You're making excuses for him and I'm silly. Yeah ok

[giantfan10]

There is a thing I don't understand. Why do the teams try their best sandbagging if GPS data is told to be so precise?
Taking this into consideration, if they can't hide anything anyway wouldn't it be logical to perform at peak to optimize and understand the car the best way?

GPS data is not and never will be a tool to predict anything in testing...dont let the people with agendas on this message board con you into believing nonsense.
GPS can tell you that car X went around a certain corner at a certain speed and car Y went around the same corner at a faster or slower speed...that is ALL gps data can tell you.
GPS doesnt indicate engine modes.. driver intent...fuel loads...tire wear or any of the other important variables...keep that in mind the next time somebody tells you that the GPS says a certain car is faster than another