Who saw this? I hadn’t. Interesting fact is Sainz was on track to improve his time. So another good bit of news, even though he didn’t get to complete his lap: https://racer.com/2021/03/14/raikkonen-on-sainz-clash-i-guess-he-was-pissed-off/
I missed that...was 2am here when testing ended so turned it straight off. Amazing how quick Kimi's spatial awareness is still, during testing especially you don't expect a move like that. They didn't even touch....Old man what?
Ferrari's thick nose amazes me. I commented on it at launch and each time I see it I just don't understand the excuse for it.
I suppose they were really just planning to cruise through 2020, relying on big hp numbers and work on the 2021 (now 2022) car. How they didn’t figure out that Merc, RBR and all the others that followed the narrow nose design found some advantage in it, I’ll never know! I’m pretty sure designer Resta said last year that they couldn’t find any benefit going to a thin nose so worked other areas of the car instead. What areas? I guess this may be one reason they shuffled him off to Haas this year
So current pecking order for me post testing: 1-2) Red Bull - Mercedes. With the amount of times Mercedes has fooled us in the past, and the fact that they started development in August 2020, I just don't buy it that they've dropped the ball 3-4) Mclaren - Alpha Tauri. Another close battle. That Alpha Tauri proves pretty capable already, and Yuki has adapted rapidly already. Sign of a very stable chassis. Mclaren has the more experienced drivers and a great powerunit. 5-6-7) Alpine - Ferrari - Aston. Alpine looks very stable. Not quite there to match the Mclaren. Ferrari I don't think looked all that good out there but I believe they are hiding something...I don't understand the smiles on Leclerc/Sainz faces otherwise. Astons' test went bad. They've got a near copy of the Mercedes but they had few laps, lots of reliability issues, and it just didn't look all that good out there. 8) Alfa Romeo - They actually looked quite good out there, but with the midfield being very tight someone has to drop....and sadly by all logic that must mean Alfa. 9) Williams - Close to Alfa but not quite there I think. Car looks pretty decent out there though. Russell a very good driver as we know and may find himself ahead of the Alfa's quite often. 10) Haas - A long, long way back. Practically no upgrades apart from the new Ferrari engine and adjusted floor and a new lick of paint. They're going to be absolutely awful. Car looked **** out there. 2017 this won't be. Midfield will be super tight and looks to be quite exciting. I truly hope we haven't fallen for the Mercedes trap and that we'll hear the inevitable ''oh we found this loose bolt so we tightened it up and now we're 1-2 by a full second" after Q3 in 2 weeks.
I can’t see your 3-4 couple being ahead of your 4-5-6 trio, especially AM and, of course Ferrari. Remember that Leclerc beat the McLarens a few times last year with the “mule” they had. I know people were impressed with the McL’s times these days but Sainz being 3rd seems to have been completely ignored. Like Leclerc being second (I think) to Perez this morning. Maybe that’s why they’re smiling Also, Bahrain (and the test conditions) is a very particular track so not necessarily representative for the rest of the year. All I know is that in rating the looks of the cars—and, don’t get me wrong, they’re ALL ugly; long and crappy looking—despite all the flack Ferrari got, especially for the puke green stain, the absolute worst looking car award for me goes to the McLaren. Deformed like the elephant man or Quasimodo, random bulges everywhere, random mix of colours and a rainbow to boot, I can’t stand looking at it. The AT looks like the back is on stilts, the effect accentuated by the graphics on the sidepod/engine cover. The slickest design and livery is the Merc, in both the black and green of its AM brand But the AM, despite looking quite sophisticated, is too bland for TV. The Alpine is also very nicely turned out in the frozen blue metallic even if it too suffers a bit of the Quasimodo syndrome with its fat engine cover.
Good point regarding Leclerc and Mclaren last year...but of course last year Mclaren had that ****box Renault engine in the back, which was only really good for a quali lap and a banzai opening lap, before it ran out of useful power. I can't get over Alpine's Thick airbox, it looks so awkward! Aston really had a bad couple of days. Ferrari isn't a good looking car to me either. Hate the livery and the thick nose. Best looking car for me is the Red Bull. Short and supertight packaging. That 2022 engine seems to be pretty reliable so far...I'm very impressed with how their testing went. If it was any other team than Mercedes doing their usual smoke and mirrors, I would put Red Bull #1 with ease. Image Unavailable, Please Login
Finally, the two main questions remains: 1/ Will Max have a car to fight for the title all year long ? 2/ Will Ferrari recover to third place ?
1) remains to be seen. One wouldn't bet against Mercedes. Especially given the car they just came from, and W12 development since august 2020. 2) My money is on a hard no
This will put AT performance in perspective (a bit) and note also that Leclerc was just 3 km/h shy of the AT’s speed, though maybe with a tow—I don’t know. https://www.motorsport.com/f1/news/tsunoda-drs-trick-bahrain-test/5738532/amp/
Some helpful videos from Jolyon Palmer F1 Explained: Testing Technology F1 Explained: How Does Telemetry Data Help Teams Go Faster?
Alpha Tauri overtaking Alpine, Ferrari and AM would be a huge story. I have to say my favorite livery so far this year is that of Alpha Tauri and Tsunoda is making the car look faster. I read a story today that he was taking advantage of the DRS that would normally have had deleted those laps, but still, pretty impressive.
Agree, I love the livery on the AT. Prefer to call the team Toro Rosso though....lol. Still an italian based team we can root for Ferrari remains a big question mark for me. Kimi was very positive about his Alfa, says the car already is faster than last years Alfa...
I wonder if we will have a close fight this year. That Mercedes rear looks a bit loose. I am really looking forward to this season. If we get a Max and Lewis title fight it will revive the sport. Max looks fast...but for all that people say about him, Lewis is a resourceful bastard. This looks to be a cracking season.
The tech gun helping teams to master F1’s 2021 tyres By: Franco Nugnes Co-author: Jonathan Noble Mar 16, 2021, 4:56 AM Formula 1 teams have been spotted using an innovative Italian 'gun' in testing in what could be the latest move to get on top of the new 2021 tyres. Image Unavailable, Please Login F1 teams well know that mastering knowledge of tyres is key to unlocking performance from their cars in both qualifying and in races. It’s why so much work is done in checking on tyre temperatures and durability over the course of every F1 test and practice session. But eagle-eyed observers at Bahrain’s F1 pre-season test last weekend spotted a select number of technicians doing something slightly unusual with the tyres - using a mysterious gun on them as they came off the cars. This gun appeared to hammer into the rubber and, while those using it tried their best to keep their work secret, the answer as to what they were doing can be revealed. The ‘gun’ is known as the VESevo – derived from the Latin name of the famous volcano – and is produced by Italian start-up company MegaRide. It stands for ‘Viscoelasticity Evaluation System – EVOlved’ – and is the result of a research project by the Group of Vehicle Dynamics Simulations from the University of Naples Federico II. What the gun does is help collect information on the tyre tread to understand how it has reacted and behaved while running out on the track. Using a unique post-processing algorithm, the gun allows its user to fully understand the physical properties of the tyre: offering better analysis of inner temperatures, the stiffness of the compound, the wear of the treat and its damping properties. These can all be mapped out on graphs (below) and then used as a tool to better understand what impact tyre temperature and track surface is having on the performance and durability of the rubber. Image Unavailable, Please Login This information can be crucial for offering added insight into the behaviour of a certain tyre compound, which can then help teams better predict how to get the most out of the rubber. While Pirelli already provides teams with extensive data on the correct working range of the tyres, that does not stop drivers sometimes complaining to their engineers that the tyre is still not working perfectly when in that window, or its degradation is much worse than had been expected. While the VESevo gun has a ‘hammer’ motion on the tyre when it’s used, it is actually a non-destructive testing tool, so the rubber itself is not damaged. Instead, the motion is simply there to help the tool better understand the viscoelastic characteristic of the tread and rubber. It is unclear exactly how many F1 teams are using the VESevo gun, but the fact that several MegaRide technicians were seen downloading information on to computers suggests that several teams have already signed up – with more likely to follow now they have seen what their rivals are doing. The MegaRide gun has already been used by Trident in F2, F3, while other squads have used it in Formula E, DTM and MotoGP. However, it is understood that Bahrain testing was the first time it’s been put to use in the F1 pitlane. Image Unavailable, Please Login VESevo Photo by: MegaRide
Could be a great battle, but I feel sorry for Hamilton's dog, he wasn't given a choice. https://www.independent.co.uk/sport/motor-racing/formula1/lewis-hamilton-dog-vegan-diet-roscoe-animal-welfare-b1222337.html
Interesting comparison with the times of Vettel vs Lance: they basically flip flopped with who was ahead of the other Hard to come to a conclusion since testing/schmesting but I can't wait for the first quali run at Bahrain. There is a good chance that they will be evenly matched. Wouldn't that be a hoot!
Vettel's new tenure is mainly about helping the team and Lance progress. Then you have Stroll Snr in the background. Kudos to Vettel for taking on that particular challenge.
Not to mention, Vettel is getting used to a complete new steering wheel and software parameters according to MercedesAMGF1.
