2015 "start-up"

[Monty]

McLaren clearly have massive reliability worries but a friend who was at the test said that the McLaren Honda seemed to pull out of corners better than any other car. He felt the Honda engine seemed to have a different level of torque to the others. Of course it could be gearing or he could just be plain wrong but it would be great if they came up with a different range of performance to the others (if the Honda keeps running long enough!)

[John S]

The one thing we can deduce from the 1st Barca test is that lap times are getting faster than last year, obviously we can't make a direct comparison as no test happened at Barca last Feb.

Figures suggest that both Sauber & Torro Rosso have gained over 3 secs a lap, have the cars really improved that much    - or are the tyres much better????

F1fanatic has posted this analysis of the 1st Barca test times versus the times from the race last year, it makes for fascinating reading.  However I'm not totally convinced that some teams like Sauber have really improved, the best time they set was on Super softs whilst others around that time were on Softs or even mediums.

Lap time improvement since last year

As there was no pre-season test at the Circuit de Catalunya in 2014 the fastest lap times from the qualifying session for the race give an indication how far the teams have progressed since then.

The medium and hard tyres were provided for last year’s race so Mercedes lap time improvement of one second is probably the most representative as they did not use the soft or super-soft tyres at the test.

As you would expect the four teams who posted the biggest lap time improvements – Sauber, Toro Rosso, Force India and Lotus – were all those who used the super-soft tyre compound. Force India’s presence with their well-developed 2014 car alongside the early 2015 machines is a further indication how much of the lap time gain can be put down to the softer tyres.

Mercedes aside, the first among those who did not use the super-soft tyres was Ferrari. That indicates the promise they showed at Jerez may be borne out in under more representative circuits and conditions.

Sauber gained the most time at the Circuit de Catalunya compared to last year and Mercedes found the least – but it’s the latter who look strongest

Extracts from longer piece by Keith Collantine, F1fanatic, Mon 23rd Feb.

[J.Clark]

It is an interesting read, and I tend to agree in general.

I think however, that much more is to come in testing.  We shall see in the four days beginning tomorrow what the true pace of the cars may be.  We will also likely see the pecking order begin to show.  The sand-bagging will probably not be in the equation, or not to much extent in the next few days, as teams need to really see what the cars can do when all of the stops are pulled.

Here is the driver line-up for the next round of testing:
Mercedes: Hamilton (Thursday, Saturday), Rosberg (Friday, Sunday)
Red Bull: Ricciardo (Saturday, Sunday),  Kvyat (Thursday, Friday)
Williams: Bottas (Friday, Sunday), Massa (Thursday, Saturday)
Ferrari: Raikkonen (Thursday, Saturday), Vettel (Friday, Sunday)
McLaren: Button (Thursday), Magnussen (TBA)*
Force India: Perez (TBA), Hulkenberg (TBA)
Lotus: Grosjean (Thursday, Saturday), Maldonado (Friday, Sunday)
Sauber: Nasr (Friday, Sunday), Ericsson (Thursday, Saturday)
Toro Rosso: Verstappen (TBA), Sainz Jr (TBA)

[Irisado]

Testing hasn't really given us that much to go on regarding relative team performance so far.  It seems to me that quite a few teams are keeping their powder dry.

Williams are starting to look like a possible threat to Mercedes and Red Bull at the front though, so that might spice the pecking order up a bit.

The big stories are Force India's lack of preparation, and McLaren's woes.  The former's problems are not a major surprise, given their financial problems, but what's going on at McLaren?  Honda is having a lot more difficulty than I thought that they would.  I knew that it wouldn't be plain sailing, but they seem to have taken on the Renault engine gremlins from this time last year.  It does not look encouraging for Alonso and Button.

[J.Clark]

Day 1 of the final pre-season test times:
1. Massa          Williams   103 laps   1m 23.500s
2. Ericsson      Sauber   122 laps   1m 24.276s
3. Hamilton   Mercedes   48 laps   1m 24.881s
4. Kvyat      Red Bull   74 laps   1m 25.947s
5. Grosjean      Lotus    75 laps   1m 26.177s
6. Raikkonen   Ferrari   80 laps   1m 26.327s
7. Sainz Jr      Toro Rosso   85 laps   1m 27.261s
8. Button      McLaren   7 laps   1m 31.479s

Absent - Force-India 

Really big problem as I see it for McLaren.  Hydraulics they said were to blame.  Do they have even as many laps as RBR  at this point in last year's testing?

A lot of laps by Williams and Sauber.

Massa stuck the Williams up on the top slot with about two hours left of testing, and I fully expected to see Mercedes and Hamilton out there to run at least second on the sheet, but the Merc had a little glitch it seems and so Hamilton never made it back out.

[John S]

We still know nothing Massa set his time on Softs, Ericsson in the Sauber on Super softs, whilst Hamilton in his Mercedes, Red Bull and Ferrari times were on Mediums.

At this point last year Red Bull managed 39 laps on the first day of the 2nd Bahrain test, they were however 2.68 secs off the pace of Force India of all people in No 1 spot.  Merc were even going for reliability last season in the tests holding only 4th fastest behind FIF1, Williams and Ferrari. 

 

[J.Clark]

Well, we don't know much.  I would not go so far as to say "nothing" since this was the first time we have seen Williams make an attempt at the time sheets. 

I think we know that Williams has so far, the quickest lap time in the five days we have seen testing in Barcelona, by half a second.  It suggests to me that they are in good form at present. 

We will obviously get a clearer picture as the next three days unfold.

[Monty]

Great to see Button with around 50laps completed and not last on the timing sheets.
FIF1 finally appear. Wonder what they can do?

[Alianora La Canta]

They can get a puncture, apparently...

[J.Clark]

This is good news from Alonso.


Meanwhile, back at the track, Button is about to set a record for McLaren with the most laps completed in a single day of testing (for the team).

Additionally, Bottas breaks into the 1:23s so now he and Massa are the only two to have done that so far.

[J.Clark]

Merc ups the ante in the 2^nd Day of the final test.

End of the day times:

1. Rosberg      Mercedes   105 laps   1m 22.792s
2. Bottas      Williams   90 laps   1m 23.995s
3. Nasr      Sauber   140 laps   1m 24.017s
4. Vettel      Ferrari   142 laps   1m 25.339s
5. Button      McLaren   101 laps   1m 25.590s
6. Maldonado   Lotus    139 laps   1m 26.705s
7. Verstappen   Toro Rosso   139 laps   1m 26.766s
8. Kvyat      Red Bull   83 laps   1m 26.965s
9. Hulkenberg   Force India   76 laps   1m 28.412

McLaren actually put in a 100+ lap day.  They have to be happy with that and their time was also well in the mix.

I didn't see what rubber Rosberg was on for his fast lap.  I can only hope it was the softest available. 

[John S]

I didn't see what rubber Rosberg was on for his fast lap.  I can only hope it was the softest available. 

Rosberg set his fastest time on softs, in fact all the times apart from the last 3 - STR, RBR & FIF1 were on softs. Not a Supersoft in sight today. 

[J.Clark]

Saturday's times:
1. Hamilton   Mercedes   76 laps   1m 23.022s
2. Massa      Williams-Mercedes   102 laps   1m 23.262s
3. Raikkonen   Ferrari   136 laps   1m 23.276s
4. Sainz Jr      Toro Rosso    132 laps   1m 24.191s
5. Grosjean   Lotus    116 laps   1m 24.200s
6. Ericsson      Sauber   122 laps   1m 24.477s
7. Hulkenberg   Force India   157 laps   1m 24.939s
8. Magnussen   McLaren   39 laps   1m 25.225s
9. Ricciardo   Red Bull   128 laps   1m 25.742s

Massa and Williams are happy and finished early.

Two weeks from right now we will have a grid set for the first race.

[John S]

Well if Massa is happy with being 2nd, or even 3rd or 4th in the pecking order when we get to the 1st race, then I for one think he has misread Williams F1 reason for existence.

To put my remark in context you have to look at the tyres Sat times were set on, Merc was on Softs and all the other runners down to KMag were on Supersofts, Macca was on Softs. However, and I think it's crucial, Honey Badger's Red Bull was on Mediums, they obviously were on a very different test schedule for the day.

Still looks likely Merc will have the same advantage over the rest at the season opener, and this year if they've nailed the reliability as well are we in for utter domination by the silver machines?  Sure hope not.   

[J.Clark]

Pre-season testing is now history.
Today's times:
1. Bottas      Williams   89 laps   1m 23.063s
2. Vettel      Ferrari   127 laps   1m 23.469s
3. Nasr      Sauber   159 laps   1m 24.023s
4. Verstappen   Toro Rosso    84 laps   1m 24.527s
5. Ricciardo      Red Bull   70 laps   1m 24.638s
6. Perez      Force India    127 laps   1m 25.113s
7. Rosberg      Mercedes   146 laps   1m 25.186s
8. Button              McLaren   30 laps   1m 25.327s
9. Maldonado      Lotus    36 laps   1m 28.272s

Bottas marginally quicker than Massa's time yesterday.
Mercedes out of fresh tires, but up a a couple of tenths on Williams.
Ferrari looked good throughout the three sessions with both good times and good reliability.
McLaren are the only team really with problems of both reliability and speed.

Now only 11 days away from true competition.