2021 Pre-season testing. Bahrain 12-14 March

[djos]

lol

[hichamo]

https://f1only.fr/moteur-ferrari-news-e ... naux-2012/

If you read Binotto’s quotes it does not say that they have or had the highest top speed. It’s the reporter who wrote that Ferrari was one of the the cars with highest top speeds in testing.

That's why I was asking about a top speed chart, that was my intention , to do a comparison between 2020/2021.
I know how to read in 4 different languages.
My first msg was , the top speed chart .
But people now days are like the press, they take what ever the want from a text written and start offending without taking in note the title.

[Bandit1216]

May I enter the apex speed versus top speed discussion?

The average speed one has between breaking and apex, and the average speed one has from apex throughout the first half of a strait is also important for your lap time. Apex and top speed is not enough info to see who is fastest.

[Fulcrum]

Considering the 1-lap 'pace' of the Williams is apparently within a tenth of Mercedes, I think we can comfortably ignore the times.

Mercedes are the best staffed team on the grid, they have the best technical facilities, likely as not the best driver, and are the most well funded.

If, and it remains an if at this stage, they have a fundamental issue, they are the best placed team to diagnose it, solve it, and implement a fix within the shortest time frame.

That said, I see no evidence of an issue. Teething issues are normal, especially considering they didn't do a pre-test filming run.

Its much more likely to be the case that many people would like to see a more competitive year of racing, and are jumping on any semblance of a problem to confirm their biases.

[LM10]

https://f1only.fr/moteur-ferrari-news-e ... naux-2012/

If you read Binotto’s quotes it does not say that they have or had the highest top speed. It’s the reporter who wrote that Ferrari was one of the the cars with highest top speeds in testing.

That's why I was asking about a top speed chart, that was my intention , to do a comparison between 2020/2021.
I know how to read in 4 different languages.
My first msg was , the top speed chart .
But people now days are like the press, they take what ever the want from a text written and start offending without taking in note the title.

If you mean me by offending people then I must say that I don't know where I might have offended you. If you feel offended, sorry about that.

As for your first message, you wrote this: "Binot saying they have the most top speed on the straight."
...which turned out not to be true. It's simple as that. There is no problem.

[Vasconia]

https://f1only.fr/moteur-ferrari-news-e ... naux-2012/

If you read Binotto’s quotes it does not say that they have or had the highest top speed. It’s the reporter who wrote that Ferrari was one of the the cars with highest top speeds in testing.

The only clear interpretation is that they don´t have that deficit anymore, which means the PU should be good, maybe not at 2019s level but if it is as good as it was in 2018, it would be a very positive improvement.

[Tizz]

Quite some reactions seem to suffer from binary thinking. Yes, Mercedes had a problem with the gearbox. I have not seen any report on that seriousness of that problem but it will probably be somewhere between small and disastrous. Yes, they lost tracktime as a result but they were able to complete more laps than most will want to admit so they may have gotten a fair amount of data anyway. Yes, the car seems nervous but they got reasonable laptimes with car operating with an unknown amount of fuel and an unknown energy-level. No, the test didn't go like usual but that does not mean Mercedes messed up neither does it automatically mean that they will be beaten in the first race or even the whole season but they are on a disadvantage somewhere on the scale from minimal to huge. They have two weeks to work on that. Then we will see...

[mzso]

Another thought, Could the Mercedes token usage be something so special but so easy to copy, they have kept it hidden until Bahrain GP.

The token thing is confounding me. Allison said it would become apparent where they were spent with time.

Still waiting for that lol.

In terms of exterior aero surfaces, Mercedes will have a decent upgrade for Bahrain. That’s their opening race MO every year.

It will be. When they reveal the real car for the season.

[JordanMugen]

Mercedes are the best staffed team on the grid, they have the best technical facilities, likely as not the best driver, and are the most well funded.

They are not allowed to spend more than anyone else now, and they have the least wind tunnel and CFD time.

Its much more likely to be the case that many people would like to see a more competitive year of racing, and are jumping on any semblance of a problem to confirm their biases.

The notion Red Bull will never, ever be able to build the best car "because they are not Mercedes" is also one without basis.

[SiLo]

The interesting thing was that Merc didn't do much running with aero appendages for data gathering, so if they have an issue they clearly believe it's not something to do with a difference in their CFD and windtunnel testing vs real life. Mostly it looked like they were just focusing on setup work to find the right balance. Maybe with a shorter test, their priorities changes vs previous years where they could pound round and do a lot of running.

My other thought is that they were struggling with the rear tyres on a rear limited track. I'd hazard a guess their issues are more tyre related than anything wrong with the car.

[etusch]

Considering the 1-lap 'pace' of the Williams is apparently within a tenth of Mercedes, I think we can comfortably ignore the times.

Is there a rule prevent Williams to compete with Mercedes and prevent Mercedes to build a bad car. What if new floor rule spoilt all advantage of Mercedes ? Why nobody can not accept that Mercedes can build a bad car?

Mercedes are the best staffed team on the grid, they have the best technical facilities, likely as not the best driver, and are the most well funded.

Only based on dominance right? there are many variables.

If, and it remains an if at this stage, they have a fundamental issue, they are the best placed team to diagnose it, solve it, and implement a fix within the shortest time frame.

They can find out and solve but will they do both overnight or will they winn last race of season ?

That said, I see no evidence of an issue. Teething issues are normal, especially considering they didn't do a pre-test filming run.

teething issue at a car mainly transferred from previous season at a team started to work on this car earlier than main rivals?

Its much more likely to be the case that many people would like to see a more competitive year of racing, and are jumping on any semblance of a problem to confirm their biases.

so what is your base, being Mercedes fan? or a belief that teachs what happened last year must be happen this year too dominance?

[mzso]

Considering the 1-lap 'pace' of the Williams is apparently within a tenth of Mercedes, I think we can comfortably ignore the times.

Is there a rule prevent Williams to compete with Mercedes and prevent Mercedes to build a bad car. What if new floor rule spoilt all advantage of Mercedes ? Why nobody can not accept that Mercedes can build a bad car?

The rule of probability. The car is mostly the same as last year to begin with, and I doubt they forgot how to design good aero during last year. The cost cap wasn't in place and they openly said that they started developing for this year, early on.
Meanwhile were producing dud after dud, the past several years. As well as going near bankrupt and changing ownership.

It's not 2022 yet, where everything's possible.

[MKlaus]

The notion Red Bull will never, ever be able to build the best car "because they are not Mercedes" is also one without basis.

its been 7 years that they haven't built one. its mercedes who have. until redbull wins the championship, they won't get that credit. certainly not on the basis of winter testing. let them prove it and people would respect back and i hope they do. but until then, they will be regarded as the second best.

[Juzh]

Mercedes is obviously right up there. Everyone who is discounting Mercedes this year in their heart know that Mercedes is strong but is hoping that we have a close and a hard fought season this year with Red Bull also right up there from the first race.

Last year, Red Bull had a good second week of testing but despite that we know how strong Mercedes proved to be

2020 - Week 2 testing
Day1
Max (P2) Albon (P6) Lewis (P7) Bottas (P9)

Day2
Max (P6) Bottas (P7) Albon (P10) Lewis (P13) - Merc suffered reliability issues

Day3
Bottas (P1) Max (P2) Lewis (P5) Albon (P14)

2021 - Testing
Day1
Max (P1) Lewis (P10) Bottas (P17) - Merc suffered reliability issues

Day2
Bottas (P1) Perez (P8) Lewis (P15)

Day3
Max (P1) Lewis (P5) Perez (P8) Bottas (P16)

So back in 2020, Max was ahead in 2 days and on the 3rd day was behind Bottas by only 0.073 sec.

Lets hope for a closely fought battle this year!

Bottas did 1.15.7 last year on second day of first test and that made it instantly clear they were in very good shape. They ended the test comfortably fastest with a very planted car that didn't exhibit erratic behaviour, while red bull was fishtailing everywhere and ferrari was generally a mess with understeer and oversteer. Verstappen tried multiple times towards the end to beat bottas' time but was unable to do so. Red bull even felt compelled they have to turn up the engine for those final laps (they had the same top speed in tests and in Q3) while this year they haven't done so.

Last year's test were one of the most representative we've had in a long time. This year's tests not so much because it's only 3 days and it's bahrain. Still, mercedes never seemed particularly well settled these 3 days, not even close to their showing last year. Let's not forget hamilton was on a C5 tyre on his personal best lap and Tsunoda said C5 is basically made of glue, even compared to C4.

That's not to say merc can't turn it around, if anyone can, they can, but imo if the race is today RB wins comfortably.

[El Scorchio]

Considering the 1-lap 'pace' of the Williams is apparently within a tenth of Mercedes, I think we can comfortably ignore the times.

Is there a rule prevent Williams to compete with Mercedes and prevent Mercedes to build a bad car. What if new floor rule spoilt all advantage of Mercedes ? Why nobody can not accept that Mercedes can build a bad car?

The rule of probability. The car is mostly the same as last year to begin with, and I doubt they forgot how to design good aero during last year. The cost cap wasn't in place and they openly said that they started developing for this year, early on.
Meanwhile were producing dud after dud, the past several years. As well as going near bankrupt and changing ownership.

It's not 2022 yet, where everything's possible.

Exactly. It would be extremely unlikely they are the ONLY team that's made a mess of it. Not impossible but highly improbable. More likely is that they've made another 'diva' (like in 2018, was it??) that is hard to find the sweet spot on, or that they are really downplaying things, or that they've got something still to come.

This 'where have they spent the tokens? It will become clear.' stuff is really intriguing. I'm sure it would have become clear over the previous three days already, but no-one knows, still.

Also interesting that James Allison remained in the UK.