F1 2019 Pre-Season Testing Thread

[Wil992]

Mercedes doing a deviation from their routine of previous years by using all rubber compounds and chasing faster lap times. They were very happy with just running the mediums the last 2-3 seasons in pretesting.

Whatever triggered this change of program.....it is certainly a different approach. This might indicate more than any laptime that they are less sure about where they stand.

As i remember they were surprised in '18 by their lack of performance on softer tyre circuits and assigned some of that surprise to a lack of pre-season testing on the softer tyres. I imagine they decided a year ago to make sure they did some running on all compounds in future.
Related to above, do teams have to "pre-order" the tyres in advance for these tests as they do for races? (albeit with a much shorter lead time than the race tyres).

[F1T]

Albon tops morning session at Barcelona

Toro Rosso's Alexander Albon has kept his team atop the timesheets after Daniil Kvyat already went fastest on Wednesday. Albon though did so by setting the fastest time in testing so far.

[Juzh]

1:15.13 was the predicted time

You mean 18.1?

No, definitely 15.13

This seems unlikely. On live timing stream best sector times currently are by Albon, ric, ric and they've only managed mid 17.5.

[Sieper]

With downtuned engines and some fuel load in lets say subtop cars (fwiw). This is nowhere near the limit.

[dans79]

With downtuned engines and some fuel load in lets say subtop cars (fwiw). This is nowhere near the limit.

Which the weather and these tires I don't think any of the teams could put the car on the limit right now even if they wanted to.

Honestly, that's why I think testing in Spain is so ridiculous.

[The Engineer]

You mean 18.1?

No, definitely 15.13

This seems unlikely. On live timing stream best sector times currently are by Albon, ric, ric and they've only managed mid 17.5.

15 is possible, however my point is that nobody knows, i could make up a time and nobody could prove me wrong because we know nothing, the times are pointless now because we don't know the determining factors. It's like me asking you what colour lego brick i have in my hand, but it's dark and my hand is closed.

[Capharol]

You mean 18.1?

No, definitely 15.13

This seems unlikely. On live timing stream best sector times currently are by Albon, ric, ric and they've only managed mid 17.5.

in Quali last year they drove 1.16.1 to 1.16.8 (Merc, Ferrari, RB) so a high to mid 1.15.xxx should be possible this year (not saying they can already do that at the moment)
so the cars are DEFINITLY not on there topspeed during testing

[AMG.Tzan]

16.1 was last years Pole Position I think...the 15.1 you state right there means already 1 second faster even with new rules ??? I don't think so...

[iotar__]

Preseason testing means nothing. First sign is Friday free practice, but even then, we're not sure what true pace of the cars are.

Quali on Saturday we will finally know.

Pre-season only tells if the cars keeps running without breaking down unexpectedly

Do you work for Williams?

[HPD]

16.1 was last years Pole Position I think...the 15.1 you state right there means already 1 second faster even with new rules ??? I don't think so...

GP españa 2018 Q2 Pierre Gasly 1:18.463
España 2019 test Albon 1:17.637

[Jambier]

16.1 was last years Pole Position I think...the 15.1 you state right there means already 1 second faster even with new rules ??? I don't think so...

GP españa 2018 Q2 Pierre Gasly 1:18.463
España 2019 test Albon 1:17.637

Yes but it seems that smaller teams have made big progress this year, surprisingly.

OCON said that the new Mercedes is not quite as fast as the old one for now.
But maybe track is one second faster than last year ?

[Sieper]

The asphalt was roughed up I believe.

[motobaleno]

completely wrong
at least last four years that I attended personally at the track, If you watched with some material inside your head, you had a pretty precise idea of the pecking order at the begin of the season. then later on, after much developing, is another question

Mercedes smashed the opposition in Australia, then Ferrari had the fastest car for the first half of the season. What from last year's testing proved with precision that it would be the case?

I'm amazed the bookies keep getting it wrong too. It's worth tens of millions for them so I can't imagine why they keep missing these super-obvious facts.

You dont'have considered my last words, anyway you (and other similar posts) are just confirming what I said: last year testing told of mercedes and ferrari with quite similar performance...and that's precisely what the first part of the season was: which one was slightly ahead is of no importance here but the bottom line was ferrari and mercedes really near each other...and that was. Beyond this: RB was very good and top competitive in a track where engine is not the key...and that was

[Jozsusz]

Well, the thing is, that many people try to deny it, but this year so far Merc got it wrong.

It'll be interesting to see if they can come back again.

Well, they have the best driver for sure...

[motobaleno]

completely wrong
at least last four years that I attended personally at the track, If you watched with some material inside your head, you had a pretty precise idea of the pecking order at the begin of the season. then later on, after much developing, is another question

Mercedes smashed the opposition in Australia, then Ferrari had the fastest car for the first half of the season. What from last year's testing proved with precision that it would be the case?

I'm amazed the bookies keep getting it wrong too. It's worth tens of millions for them so I can't imagine why they keep missing these super-obvious facts.

You dont'have considered my last words, anyway you (and other similar posts) are just confirming what I said: last year testing told of mercedes and ferrari with quite similar performance...and that's precisely what the first part of the season was: which one was slightly ahead is of no importance here but the bottom line was ferrari and mercedes really close each other...and that was. Beyond this: RB was very good and top competitive in a track where engine is not the key...and that was

As for you last sentence, please don't confuse my posts with other ones: I nowhere wrote that this testing have already given their final response. but at the end of the 8 days something we will know.
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