F1 Testing 2019: Week 1 Barcelona (18th - 21st)

JRS said:
Ricciardo's wing going bye-bye.

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I really hope reliability doesn't hit him hard again this season. I'd love to see him battling with Verstappen when they're not in the same team considering what went on last year.

Hasn't he come out and said how Baku was handled was the main influence on his decision to leave RBR?
 
gord said:
I really hope reliability doesn't hit him hard again this season. I'd love to see him battling with Verstappen when they're not in the same team considering what went on last year.

Hasn't he come out and said how Baku was handled was the main influence on his decision to leave RBR?
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Speaking about the factors that prompted his decision, Ricciardo said:
“I couldn’t tell you how many little pieces made up the puzzle, the kaleidoscope, but I guess that [Baku] was one of the little pieces.

“We both got a talking to, putting it politely, but in my eyes, I felt like I was not really in the wrong even though I was the one that hit him. I think most people saw the double move.

“Even before that, there was a lot of contact and I think a lot of people thought it went on too long.

"I guess the way it was handled at the time didn’t sit too well with me, so that was like a little thing that bothered me. But it wasn’t the dealbreaker, if you know what I mean.”
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The Ferrari hype is off the charts in testing already. Don't get me wrong, its great that they look solid again, but they've looked solid for the start of the last two years. Redbull looking very promising after slow starts for the last few years, lets hope the Honda can handle race weekend levels of sustained performance.

Merc just doing Merc, same as they have for the last 5 years of winter testing, getting on with putting in the laps, not overly much caring about lap times.

McLaren apparently really stretching to get a headline time, and was still a second off the Ferrari that didn't look pushed.

Would be really nice for not only the top 3 to be interchangeable but also for that top 3 to be a top 5.
 
I know its testing, but cant help but be impressed by the Ferrari times compared to others and consistency. Lets hope everyone turns the wick up at some point so we can get some idea of whats going on before Aus!
 
A last (for me) great day testing today. Cooler in the morning, but warm and a hot track in the afternoon.

I'm finding 2019 quite difficult to read. Testing is a great place to see the cars but also to judge how they'll start the reason. There are normally mistakes and lots of tells as the drivers lose control. 2019 so far is quite different, especially compared to recent times where there are no engine issues so far.

Mercedes aren't sandbagging - they're just not using the full engine power. Hamilton especially was struggling to get the grip he wanted today - we saw big mistakes into T1 and T5 today, lap after lap. The Red Bull looks like it is on rails, and has fantastic acceleration in the shorter corners. The Ferrari is very robotic - faster than everyone else without looking stressed at all - Leclerc had a great day today.

A big night out tonight, so let me compose myself and I'll catch up on a few more things :)
 
The Williams has done an install lap at long last. Hopefully get some meaningful laps in this afternoon trouble free.

Faces in the garage don't look very happy on the pic they tweeted.
 
I think their testing is quite complex. They do rarely show their speed but they appear to do very thorough stint testing. Bottas put in a 15 - 20 lap stint yesterday when he was very clearly running to a set time that looked close to a race stint - far more aggressive on the kerbs than other laps where they're just putting miles on the car.

Nice to see Toro Rosso putting a time in at the end of today. The weather is due to warm up more tomorrow so I guess the times might come down further.
 
Maybe they believe that putting your name in lights will bring with it the engineers that look at the car and question every little detail.

In other words, if you rock up with a funky nose or wing design and stick the car in the top 2 by a long margin other teams will rush out to copy your trick parts. By trundling around the back with your ace up the sleeve you can (hopefully) keep some surprises for when it’s needed.

They know roughly what times they should see so only they really know if their programme is on track or wildly behind the expectations. A lot of it is probably Ferrari trying to goad Mercedes in to showing their hand so they themselves can set a benchmark.

Static rules brings convergence and I predict we will see an even tighter championship because of it. At least until 2021 when it all gets reset again.
 
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