Helmet cam view of Hulk driving Barcelona with the HALO:

 

https://www.formula1.com/en/video/2018/2/Hulkenberg's_visor_cam_lap_of_Barcelona.html

 

looks awful.

 

 

Edited 27 February, 20188 yr by camelspyyder

+1 - Also I was actively aware of having a blind spot large enough to "lose" a warning signal in.

Mercedes fastest of the week today on mediums with an hour to go. Ferrari's best times are close but on softs. Pretty even between the two. RBR have had reliability trouble and both drivers in the gravel. McLaren running soft tyre compounds to look competitive.

 

New McLaren colour scheme is nice, but with no sponsors it looks like a back of the grid F2 car to be honest.

Do like the McLaren-Renault orangy color.

Huge choice of tyres ie ten.

https://www.autosport.com/f1/live/2750944/barcelona-f1-test-day-four-2018  

 

1	Hamilton		Mercedes		1m19.333s
2	Vandoorne		McLaren		1m19.854s
3	Vettel		Ferrari		1m20.241s
4	Magnussen		Haas		1m20.317s
5	Alonso		McLaren		1m20.929s
6	Sainz		Renault		1m20.940s
7	Stroll		Williams		1m21.142s
8	Perez		Force India		1m21.973s
9	Verstappen		Red Bull		1m22.058s
10	Gasly		Toro Rosso		1m22.134s
11	Hulkenberg		Renault		1m22.507s
12	Bottas		Mercedes		1m22.789s
13	Leclerc		Sauber		1m22.808s
14	Ericsson		Sauber		1m23.825s
15	Sirotkin		Williams		1m31.979s

Last updated: 17:00

Tyre key:

 Hyper-soft Soft Super-hard Unmarked

 Ultra-soft Medium Intermediate

 Super-soft Hard Wet

More than 10. Unmarked could be any experimental tire type Pirelli want to run and the team wont know exactly what it is.

 

 

Edited 2 March, 20188 yr by camelspyyder

Testing week2, day 1, morning roundup.

 

Top 3 teams the usual suspects running loads of laps and very close on laptime.

 

ToroRosso-Honda 4th within 6/10ths and McLaren-Renault 10th - 4 seconds off the pace due to rubbish reliability again. 

 

 

 

Edited 6 March, 20188 yr by camelspyyder

Day 2. Redbull try out the super super super soft and beat Merc by a couple of tenths ( they only ran the super super soft).

13 hours ago, camelspyyder said:

Day 2. Redbull try out the super super super soft and beat Merc by a couple of tenths ( they only ran the super super soft).

Can we shorten these to "super cube" and "super square" respectively?

its ridiculous really, isn't it

 

They have all got names but I cant remember the order - hyper ultra super soft medium hard superhard inter wet I think?

Vettel destroyed the all time Catalunya lap record this morning on hypersofts, getting down to a 1:17.182.

 

That'll give RBR something unpleasant to thing about since they were about a second slower than that on those yesterday.

 

I think Mercedes will be a bit shocked too, although they haven't shown their hand on hypersofts yet.

 

 

Edited 8 March, 20188 yr by camelspyyder

2 hours ago, camelspyyder said:

They have all got names but I cant remember the order - hyper ultra super soft medium hard superhard inter wet I think?

 

so that's 7 types before inter and wet ?, but medium is not in the middle ?

they should just grade them 1-7

 

(or not even bother with all the different types, and have dry, inter and wet)

 

Does the colour coding of the grades add anything to the viewer? If all the dry tyres were black would it matter?

 

In Ye Olden Dayes the Dunlop, Firestone, Goodyear options were all black, and you didn't know what compounds the other teams were running, unless you were a back of the grid outfit - then you knew that everybody else had better rubber than you.

 

More recently we had MIchelin, Bridgestone, Pirelli, Avon - it was just the same. 

 

Clearly, If the others were 2 seconds a lap faster they were on something soft!

 

 

Edited 8 March, 20188 yr by camelspyyder

12 hours ago, camelspyyder said:

Vettel destroyed the all time Catalunya lap record this morning on hypersofts, getting down to a 1:17.182.   That'll give RBR something unpleasant to thing about since they were about a second slower than that on those yesterday.     I think Mercedes will be a bit shocked too, although they haven't shown their hand on hypersofts yet.

 

Cracking lap by Seb.  

Just maybe we might get more teams in the mix for a scrap.  

Where is the other Ferrari?  Let us see what they bring out for the last day of testing later today.

Weather looking partly cloudy later today so times may not improve much if at all.

 

https://www.autosport.com/f1/news/134730/vettel-stays-on-top-with-record-test-pace 

Thursday test times

POS	DRIVER	CAR	TIME	GAP	LAPS
1	Sebastian Vettel	Ferrari	1m17.182s	-	188
2	Kevin Magnussen	Haas/Ferrari	1m18.360s	1.178s	153
3	Pierre Gasly	Toro Rosso/Honda	1m18.363s	1.181s	169
4	Nico Hulkenberg	Renault	1m18.675s	1.493s	79
5	Carlos Sainz	Renault	1m18.725s	1.543s	69
6	Stoffel Vandoorne	McLaren/Renault	1m18.855s	1.673s	151
7	Marcus Ericsson	Sauber/Ferrari	1m19.244s	2.062s	148
8	Lewis Hamilton	Mercedes	1m19.296s	2.114s	84
9	Valtteri Bottas	Mercedes	1m19.532s	2.350s	97
10	Robert Kubica	Williams/Mercedes	1m19.629s	2.447s	73
11	Sergio Perez	Force India/Mercedes	1m19.634s	2.452s	159
12	Max Verstappen	Red Bull/Renault	1m19.842s	2.660s	187

There is no other Ferrari. Cost clampdowns years ago limit testing to 8 single car days pre season. In the past Ferrari might have tested at a couple of circuits in addition to their own - all at once in some cases. Annual team budgets would be over a billion by now if unlimited testing was allowed.

 

 

Is it me or are there some different sounds there?

Exhaust, gear-changing, regen, other?

 

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=39TL-WuWq0Y&feature=youtu.be 

Well, the Renault engine sounds very different in the Little White Bull to how it sounds in the Team Irn Bru car!

 

More seriously, yes the 4 power plants sound different to each other, but this is the first time I've heard the "unpolluted" sounds of each.

Today:

 

Red Bull advisor Helmut Marko told Autosport: "We know that our chassis is absolutely ahead on the GPS data and so on.

"There's a problem with the engine. It is difficult to even begin to achieve the excellent Mercedes performance that has been delivered."

 

Does that bloke ever stop moaning about the Renault/Infiniti/TAG engine.

 

It already makes them look quite keen to take STR's works Hondas next year.

 

I expect the Honda works deal would mean the end of the Aston-Martin one too.

 

 

Edited 22 March, 20188 yr by camelspyyder

Perhaps "Little White Bull" would care to point out where the performance of a car is controlled solely by the chassis (and aero) with the brakes, tyres and suspension having no differential effects?

It's been a few weeks since the last time, but on the eve of the season Bernie can't resist sticking the knife into Liberty Media's F1 future again:

 

https://www.autosport.com/f1/news/134971/ecclestone-liberty-cant-ignore-breakaway-threat

Verstappen mighty quick in P2 - only 0.12 behind Hamilton.

Riccardo has 3 place grid penalty already. Rule infringmeent - not a broken engine .

Impressive lap from Hamilton. 0.664 seconds faster than Raikkonen.

5 hours ago, moley said:

Impressive lap from Hamilton. 0.664 seconds faster than Raikkonen.

 

Blistering qually lap from the Merc turning the wick up. Can Valtari handle the power. Wrecked car and starting 15th.   Two Ferraris and Verstappen within 5 hundreds for 2nd to 4th hopefully giving a promise of some closer racing than the two horse & rider it has been in this second turbo era.  Well done Haas too.

Toto says the wick was turned up before Q2. There was no more power later, the driver just got a decent lap done on his last run, then smashed Seb in the post session banter -  I mean interviews.

 

RBR may have the tactical ace in their reverse tyre strategy; a few quid on Max is probably the best bet available tonight.

 

BTW I think last year was more than a 2 horse race - there were 5 different winners for a start and the championship winner is still less predictable than in MotoGP over the last 5 years. There's a whole lot less droning on about the domination of Marquez/Honda than there is about the (less-dominant) Hamilton/Mercedes combo.

 

 

 

Edited 24 March, 20188 yr by camelspyyder