F1 2019 - News & Rumours

Merc laying a spot of corn down just in case they don't end up on top in Melbourne. I doubt we've seen anything like their genuine performance yet, either with regards to laptime or car handling.
 
JRS said:
Merc laying a spot of corn down just in case they don't end up on top in Melbourne. I doubt we've seen anything like their genuine performance yet, either with regards to laptime or car handling.
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The general consensus I’ve seen across most sites and journos is that Ferrari appear to be ahead at the moment and the car is easy to drive fast and compliant to the driver as well as being responsive to changes. Mercedes have some catching up to do.
 
MissChief said:
The general consensus I’ve seen across most sites and journos is that Ferrari appear to be ahead at the moment and the car is easy to drive fast and compliant to the driver as well as being responsive to changes. Mercedes have some catching up to do.
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Well, sure. But it's a consensus based on a whole 4 days of testing, with the Mercs clearly not going all-out in search of the top of the timesheets. Just like in previous years.

I'll be the first one to jump up and down and be ecstatic if we get to Melbourne and the Ferrari is well ahead of the Mercedes. But I'm sure as hell not going to start crowing just yet!
 
cuke2u said:
In watching the tests though the Ferrari did appear to be handling better with different fuel loads whereas the Mercedes didn't at all....
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Mhm. https://www.autosport.com/f1/news/141690/pirelli-data-hints-at-ferrari-actual-advantage

Pirelli's estimated differences between its 2019 Formula 1 tyres suggest Ferrari ended the first test with an advantage of half a second.
The top three teams in outright times at the end of the opening week at Barcelona were Renault, Toro Rosso and Alfa Romeo, with Mercedes the best of the traditional benchmarks in fourth.
Ferrari was only fifth, 0.7 seconds behind pacesetter Nico Hulkenberg, but Leclerc's best time was set on the middle of Pirelli's five compounds.
The top six drivers, including Mercedes' Valtteri Bottas, used the softest of the five compounds - which Pirelli estimates is 1.2s faster than the C3 used by the Ferraris to set their best times.

Applying Pirelli's estimates of the gaps to the C5 tyre reshuffles the top 10 lap times from testing considerably.
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Adjusted to the softest compound tyres times:
 
4K8KW10 said:
Adjusted to the softest compound tyres times:
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Just to point out how lazy this bit of journalism was...

They took Pirellis advice that the difference between the C3 and C5 was 1.2 seconds, and adjusted the best times of people who didn't run the C5 and compared them to people who did. Putting Ferrari in the sub 1:17's for lap time.

What they neglected to do was actually take everyones best relative time on the other compounds and adjust them down. Hamilton and Bottas for example both did a low 1:18:3 (or lower) on the C2 tyre, which has a 1.7s delta to the C5, so both were in the mid 1:16's according to this. I believe a few others including the Ferraris also did similar.

So according to the way they adjust the times based purely on tyres, Merc were fastest.

I absolutely don't like the utter laziness of this piece of work, totally pointless.
 
8 former F1 drivers, I suppose that allows them to have 2 at each race and still allows them to go do some racing each year if the want to.

Good to see Ted in the list though.
 
F1 continues to simplify the sport every day in every way...

Will the lesser teams in the top 10 risk their track position in order to gain just an extra point? There'll probably be a couple of races a year finish under the safety car as they go for last lap glory. Or, more likely, there'll be a second car of Mercedes or Red Bull adrift of the leaders but with sufficient gap to the midfield to come in and change tyres without risking position and then do a glory lap.

What problem is this exactly trying to solve, I wonder?
 
Bug One said:
You'd see everyone outside of the top 10 pitting just before the last lap to get a fastest lap right at the end.

I can see many more Verstappen / Ocon incidents happening.
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You haven’t read the link. It’s for top 10 finishers only.

Also, the driver and the constructor get a point which could be valuable if you’ve got a Williams in the top 10 (because of a dodgy safety car) who need WCC points.
 
I like the idea of fastest lap point for a top 10 finisher. 21 points over the year means the top teams really will have to pay attention to it, even if its just their 2nd drivers that nab it so the main contenders don't.
 
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