Poll: Australian Grand Prix 2017, Melbourne - Race 1/20

Rate the race: 2017 Australian Grand Prix


  • Total voters
    79
  • Poll closed .
Am I right in thinking that tonight (1am) I can watch some racing!? Yay!
Also did you see the presser with Alo/Ham/Ric/Vet ? I've only seen a tiny bit but was quite funny.

They were asked what they wanted in F1..

Ric: A Race in Vegas.
Vet: A Race in Germany
Ham: Miami
Alo: Equal Enginies!
Ham: I don't agree with that
 
Am I right in thinking that tonight (1am) I can watch some racing!? Yay!
Also did you see the presser with Alo/Ham/Ric/Vet ? I've only seen a tiny bit but was quite funny.

They were asked what they wanted in F1..

Ric: A Race in Vegas.
Vet: A Race in Germany
Ham: Miami
Alo: Equal Enginies!
Ham: I don't agree with that

Brilliant :D
 
Mercedes I think have hired an engineer from Gillette in recent months:

C7liLxmVwAACvRO.jpg:orig
 
http://www.planetf1.com/news/merce-red-bull-forced-to-change-suspensions/

If true it will cement Ferrari's testing pace into real world performance at the front. Mercedes currently denying it though.
My view of this is Merc and RB were ahead of Ferrari on engine power and trick suspension. Take that away and Merc still have a cracking engine... RB, well it depends on the progress of Renault. Unless Ferrari have made MASSIVE progress with their engine then I can't see the trick suspension hurting Merc as much as RB, although this is my interpretation.
 
This marks 20 years since Martin Brundle started commentating!! :eek:
Crazy.
That makes me feel really old - I still remember his "turn" at the 3rd? corner as a driver like it was yesterday

That must have been 96 I guess

Not sure Im looking forward to this season, the cars look fabulous and it should be more competitive but Im just gutted at the state of McLaren (even if JB is no longer there).
And Bottas now being in a Merc, who I cant support as much as I did with him in a Williams (and the odds are against him vs the tool)

I suppose now SV is out of RBR I can support them but I just dont feel anything for the team even if the drivers are decent-ish

(will still be up at 5am to watch the race though in all liklihood, but might well be the only one I watch live)
 
My view of this is Merc and RB were ahead of Ferrari on engine power and trick suspension. Take that away and Merc still have a cracking engine... RB, well it depends on the progress of Renault. Unless Ferrari have made MASSIVE progress with their engine then I can't see the trick suspension hurting Merc as much as RB, although this is my interpretation.

Their engine wasn't the weaker part of their 2015/16 cars, it was the aero.

Aero wise, it's very different to everyone else but the level of complexity of it is absolutely massive compared to their 2015-16 cars.

My take is this, Ferrari saw the chance to get utterly unlimited testing 'within' the rules(in a grey area really). FIA sent someone down to check on what they were doing but found it legal and Merc went on the record saying what they were doing was clever... this all leads me to believe that this definitely happened.

Everyone stupidly thought hey, they will be amazing in 2016 because they have more testing so they can finally fix the car. They made changes but not that many and it wasn't great. Me, I said at the time, new regulation period, do a Mclaren and put everything into a massive change in the last year of old regs, or put everything into the new regulations? You're allowed limited models and limited time when it comes to aero testing meaning testing next years aero is very difficult without hurting the current year within the time limits. If you're unlimited, you can make 10 different 2017 cars, shedloads of parts and test them all day long in the tunnel.

I think Ferrari engine wasn't as far off as people think in 2016, their aero/chassis/suspension wasn't remotely close to Merc though and it showed. But I think Ferrari have tested vastly more different concepts for 2017 than anyone else, by 10 fold and used 2015 to try all sorts of things and then refined the one they thought worked the best for 2017.

Even with unlimited testing you can still fail to get the last few tweaks working required to make the whole package work as intended, or you can completely miscalculate what you are doing. But from the way the car handled and looked on track, it's entirely possible that Ferrari have just made huge strides in aero and can really compete this year.
 
Have to disagree there @drunkenmaster. There were races which showed the slow speed corner traction was worse in the Ferrari. Sure they had good aero at the end, but they seemed down on power at the start.

Wasn't it also the case that RB made a massive jump in performance mid way through last year. Rumours are that's when they developed the trick suspension, which makes me think if they have been forced to get rid of it then RB will be more reliant on aero. Will aero be enough to pull back the difference between the merc power plant? Maybe given this year's changes but I'll stick my neck out and say it'll still be Merc, Ferrari then RB. With Ferrari and RB being much closer to Merc.
 
Back
Top Bottom