F1 Fanatic Live: F1 testing 2017

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1,653 comments on “F1 Fanatic Live: F1 testing 2017”

  1. The anticipation is building as we are about to see the dramatic new 2017 cars running in anger. As always in testing the lap times don’t mean a great deal but there is one important factor to them this year: are the cars going to hit that target for an improvement of five seconds per lap (based on 2015 lap times at this track)?

  2. Haas have chosen a rather grim grey colour for their car last year. It seems a fairly straightforward interpretation of the new regulations, though quite a bit of work has obviously gone on in the nose and bargeboard area, it’s nothing like as refined as some of the other cars.

    Engines firing up in the pits, less than half an hour to go.

  3. When nothing much is happening, tell us more how the life is there during testing. What areas are you allowed to acces around the track or in the pits etc. As it’s F1 I imagine there are even now 10 different access passes :) ?

  4. This is the driver line-up for the week:

    https://www.racefans.net/2017/02/27/driver-line-up-for-first-test-of-2017-confirmed/

    Note hardly anyone doing two days back-to-back. That may be too much with these cars given how much running they could do in a day. Mercedes are splitting their workload between both drivers every day. That suggests they’re expecting to do as they did last year, multiple race distances per day.

  5. I remember Sky was broadcasting Live Testing on their F1 channel a few years ago (it was final Testing days IIRC, and also they broadcasted in the evening), sadly no footage is available now unless you have Sky package, then I think something Live is available in Sky Sports News HQ.
    Anyway, looking not bad after the first hour, fastest time overall last year was around 1:22 mark with SuperSofts IIRC, we’re at 1:23.5 with Mediums now, and on the first day.

    1. It’s just tradition of the last few years. Go do an installation lap, discover a new issue, spend all day fixing it and start again the next testing day. The same cycle gets repeated every day of pre season testing, and then they skip racing for entire season and use it as a test ground for the next year.

  6. 1. Sebastian VettelFerrari SF70H: 1’23.560, 18 laps
    2. Valtteri BottasMercedes W08: 1’24.654 (+1.094), 19 laps
    3. Sergio PerezForce India VJM10: 1’26.171 (+2.611), 10 laps
    4. Felipe MassaWilliams FW40: 1’26.525 (+2.965), 10 laps
    5. Daniel RicciardoRed Bull RB13: 1’28.712 (+5.152), 4 laps
    6. Nico HulkenbergRenault RS17: 1’28.928 (+5.368), 10 laps
    7. Kevin MagnussenHaas VF-17 5 laps
    8. Carlos Sainz JnrToro Rosso STR12 5 laps
    9. Marcus EricssonSauber C36 4 laps
    10. Fernando AlonsoMcLaren MCL32 1 lap Last updated at: 10:41 CET

  7. Bottas does a 1’23.370 which puts him 1.3 inside the 2015 pole position time. That is the reference point for the ‘five seconds faster’ target.

    But Force India has made the biggest gain so far, they’re 1.9s quicker than they were at this track in the 2015 race weekend.

  8. “It’s not good news for McLaren-Honda to be sat in the garage chasing some kind of oil system problem. The engines coming to this test should all be test-bench run and where the engine connects up to the system of the car should be bulletproof. Using the excuse that this is testing and things will go wrong is rubbish because you only have eight days and you need to hit the ground running. Losing a big part of a day is time you will never recover, and by the time the McLaren runs again, most of its rivals will have built up a lot of mileage. We’ve seen a lot of finger problems for McLaren and Honda during the past few years, and maybe this is the same again. Not a good start to testing.”

    Couldn’t agree more.

    1. It just puts in to perspective how Alonso changed his target from fighting for wins to a mere ‘respectable performances’. So far, Mclaren is still far away from respectable.

      As an Alonso fan, I think it’s great. It’s give him more time to walk around the paddock and start contract negotiations with other teams.

  9. 1. Valtteri BottasMercedes W08: 1’23.370, 35 laps
    2. Sebastian VettelFerrari SF70H: 1’23.560 (+0.190), 28 laps
    3. Felipe MassaWilliams FW40: 1’25.956 (+2.586), 17 laps
    4. Sergio PerezForce India VJM10: 1’26.171 (+2.801), 11 laps
    5. Nico HulkenbergRenault RS17: 1’26.500 (+3.130), 17 laps
    6. Marcus EricssonSauber C36: 1’28.235 (+4.865), 16 laps
    7. Daniel RicciardoRed Bull RB13: 1’28.712 (+5.342), 4 laps
    8. Kevin MagnussenHaas VF-17 7 laps
    9. Carlos Sainz JnrToro Rosso STR12 5 laps
    10. Fernando AlonsoMcLaren MCL32 1 lap Last updated at: 11:8 CET

  10. A very positive morning thus far for the Ferrari team. Everyone has been writing them off this season, but I think they could be the surprise this season. Plus with far more downforce and bigger tyres, I suspect this will favour Vettel’s style of driving, unlike the last three years.

    1. I think Ferrari are looking good too, and could be the one battling the Mercs come Melbourne. About new regs suiting Vettel’s style… well… I don’t think the previous didn’t suit him. It just sounded as an excuse when he was underperforming

  11. 1. Valtteri BottasMercedes W08: 1’23.370, 39 laps
    2. Sebastian VettelFerrari SF70H: 1’23.560 (+0.190), 28 laps
    3. Felipe MassaWilliams FW40: 1’25.956 (+2.586), 17 laps
    4. Sergio PerezForce India VJM10: 1’26.171 (+2.801), 11 laps
    5. Nico HulkenbergRenault RS17: 1’26.319 (+2.949), 19 laps
    6. Carlos Sainz JnrToro Rosso STR12: 1’27.762 (+4.392), 7 laps
    7. Marcus EricssonSauber C36: 1’28.235 (+4.865), 16 laps
    8. Daniel RicciardoRed Bull RB13: 1’28.712 (+5.342), 4 laps
    9. Kevin MagnussenHaas VF-17: 7 laps
    10. Fernando AlonsoMcLaren MCL32: 1 lap Last updated at: 11:20 CET

  12. Bottas is already close to the 60 laps mark. It is just remarkable how they start putting miles on that car straight away, it does transpire a sence of confidence that just doesn’t show in other teams. Vettel managed 38 so far, not bad

  13. “A snapshot of how the 2017 Pirelli tyre compounds hold up? Perez did two ‘push’ laps straight away that were very close in time, with the second lap set to be an improvement until it fell away slightly in the final sector. He then backed off for a lap, pushed again on his 4th of this run, and improved to a 1m23.835s. Track temperature is 28.3 degrees, so cooler than we’ll see at a lot of places, but hopefully that’s a sign that the tyres will hold up better this season.”

  14. Rapid time from Vettel puts him top. Bottas closing on a race distance but not lapping right now:

    1. Sebastian VettelFerrari SF70H: 1’22.791, 40 laps
    2. Valtteri BottasMercedes W08: 1’23.169 (+0.378), 59 laps
    3. Sergio PerezForce India VJM10: 1’23.835 (+1.044), 27 laps
    4. Felipe MassaWilliams FW40: 1’25.956 (+3.165), 17 laps
    5. Nico HulkenbergRenault RS17: 1’26.319 (+3.528), 22 laps
    6. Carlos Sainz JnrToro Rosso STR12: 1’26.726 (+3.935), 14 laps
    7. Kevin MagnussenHaas VF-17: 1’27.229 (+4.438), 9 laps
    8. Marcus EricssonSauber C36: 1’27.710 (+4.919), 23 laps
    9. Daniel RicciardoRed Bull RB13: 1’28.712 (+5.921), 4 laps
    10. Fernando AlonsoMcLaren MCL32 1 lap Last updated at: 12:13 CET

  15. 1. Sebastian VettelFerrari SF70H: 1’22.791 50 laps
    2. Valtteri BottasMercedes W08: 1’23.169 (+0.378), 69 laps
    3. Sergio PerezForce India VJM10: 1’23.709 (+0.918), 35 laps
    4. Felipe MassaWilliams FW40: 1’25.552 (+2.761), 31 laps
    5. Nico HulkenbergRenault RS17: 1’26.319 (+3.528), 22 laps
    6. Kevin MagnussenHaas VF-17: 1’26.404 (+3.613), 14 laps
    7. Carlos Sainz JnrToro Rosso STR12: 1’26.726 (+3.935), 14 laps
    8. Marcus EricssonSauber C36: 1’27.710 (+4.919), 23 laps
    9. Daniel RicciardoRed Bull RB13: 1’28.712 (+5.921), 4 laps
    10. Fernando AlonsoMcLaren MCL32 1 lap Last updated at: 12:43 CET

        1. Wait until there’s someone you know you like, you don’t just choose. For example, I like Hulkenberg because I went to Brandshatch in 2007 to watch A1GP, and got a 05/06 season review, during which he won 9 races in a row at one point, so when he came to F1 I instantly liked him.

  16. The chequered flag is out for the lunch break, here are the times so far:

    1. Sebastian VettelFerrari SF70H: 1’22.791 62 laps
    2. Valtteri BottasMercedes W08: 1’23.169 (+0.378), 79 laps
    3. Sergio PerezForce India VJM10: 1’23.709 (+0.918), 39 laps
    4. Felipe MassaWilliams FW40: 1’25.552 (+2.761), 39 laps
    5. Carlos Sainz JnrToro Rosso STR12: 1’25.562 (+2.771), 17 laps
    6. Nico HulkenbergRenault RS17: 1’26.319 (+3.528), 22 laps
    7. Kevin MagnussenHaas VF-17: 1’26.404 (+3.613), 15 laps
    8. Marcus EricssonSauber C36: 1’26.865 (+4.074), 32 laps
    9. Daniel RicciardoRed Bull RB13: 1’28.712 (+5.921), 4 laps
    10. Fernando AlonsoMcLaren MCL32 1 lap Last updated at: 13:02 CET

    1. I don’t think he’ll cut the contract short, I think he’ll see out the season. But he’s made it plain he is prepared to walk at the end of 2017 if he’s not happy. And that appears to go for the direction of the sport as much as the performance of the McLaren. After all a Mercedes deal could be on the table for 2018.

    2. Same feeling as Keith. He’s better off doing a season like the previous one to get a seat at Mercedes next year than just stopping to race and, maybe, watching Bottas doing a good job without being able to respond on the track.

  17. Hamilton has joined the fray and is working his way up the times:

    1. Sebastian VettelFerrari SF70H: 1’22.791 62 laps
    2. Valtteri BottasMercedes W08: 1’23.169 (+0.378), 79 laps
    3. Felipe MassaWilliams FW40: 1’23.269 (+0.478), 44 laps
    4. Sergio PerezForce India VJM10: 1’23.709 (+0.918), 39 laps
    5. Lewis HamiltonMercedes W08: 1’24.756 (+1.965), 7 laps
    6. Carlos Sainz JnrToro Rosso STR12: 1’25.206 (+2.415), 29 laps
    7. Kevin MagnussenHaas VF-17: 1’25.646 (+2.855), 24 laps
    8. Nico HulkenbergRenault RS17: 1’26.319 (+3.528), 32 laps
    9. Marcus EricssonSauber C36: 1’26.865 (+4.074), 42 laps
    10. Daniel RicciardoRed Bull RB13: 1’27.881 (+5.090), 8 laps
    11. Fernando AlonsoMcLaren MCL32 1 lap Last updated at: 14:45 CET

  18. I don’t understand why McLaren put themselves in these positions they use to pride themselves on 100% reliability in testing during the Hakkinen days what’s so wrong with this team its getting a little ridiculous now im thinking honda will pull the plug next season they cant catch the mercs and they know it in my view they will leave McLaren high and dry just like in the brawn days without warning. i just cant see them getting on par with the mercs and even Renault and that’s very sad too see from a supporter.

    1. they say they are on par power wise with the merc 2016 spec ice unit but they can’t even get a year old spec engine running mercs 2016 ice unit was an updated version of the original so the information is widely available to build a resilient reliable unit but its honda and they still can’t do that .

      1. The information is not widely available. The teams know the layout and general technical aspects of the design of mercs engine but they don’y know about the specific detail and design of every single part.

        From what it looks like the issue McLaren have got is not a major design issue it is simply an oil leak which could be caused by any number of simple issues. The problem for them is that most of the fixes include taking the car to pieces so it erodes testing time.

        1. playing catchup isn’t good in f1 though. as for the engine. engineers aren’t silly there are ways and means of getting hold of information (which we don’t know about after all McLaren have done it before ‘Ferrari gate’ doesn’t mean to say they wouldn’t do it again.

          1. As I said, it is unlikely they will be able to get details to copy the engine without risking a severe punishment. The engineers will have gotten as much information as possible but just one small detail could be all that is needed to mess that information up.

            And all the teams are playing catch-up to Mercedes due to the stupid regulations. We have no idea what state that Honda Engine is in. It could for all we know be much better than the Merc engine or it could be worse than last years Honda engine… we simply have not seen it do anything to be able to tell.

  19. @Scribe: probably not a game changer..but the fact that Newey and Co managed to put something in a section of the car that’s really banned by FIA for any development work, is itself interesting.. though it may not be of much value other than cleaning up the disturbed airflow around badgeboards, eventually

  20. It’s frustrating to see such a talented driver, that is Alonso, sitting at the mercy of the crappy Honda engine when we all know he has the skills to beat both the Mercedes cars in say, the current Ferrari.

    Also, he has had bad luck with switching teams. Everytime he switches, the team he leaves become stronger and the team he joins becomes crap. Hopefully it won’t be the case next time.

      1. Aw come on, he almost beat Vettel to the title in what, 2013? That was when Red Bull was the Mercedes of the time, but he still came close. I don’t know about your opinions, but according to me, Fernando is VERY talented.

        Plus, I didn’t say anything about him being good, did I? Just skillful. :)

        1. 1) The RB was never Mercedes in its time. Webber proving this.

          2) Yes Alonso drove good in 2013, but no better than lets say Vettel in 2015. Without checking the exact facts of 2013, I am sure Alonso benefitted some bad luck Vettel had which cost him valuable points.
          And lastly, Hamilton in the same car as a rookie was more than a match. What makes you think he could beat him in a Ferrari?

        2. Skillful is a synonym for good. It was 2012 that Alonso nearly beat Vettel, and the Red Bull certainly wasn’t the mercedes of that year, for much of the season Mclaren were faster and Ferrari had the best car in the wet, bearing in mind there were a lot of wet sessions that year. He drove well, and is a great driver, and but he woudn’t be able to beat a merc were he still driving for ferrari, he’d have enough on his plate trying to beat the red bulls (based on 2016 car performance).

          Also there are only so many times that a driver can be unlucky when they change teams, before some sort of correlation must be considered. For the last decade, every time he has joined a new team they have made little major progress. Perhaps one of his weaknesses is that he isn’t good at helping to develop the car.

    1. Frustrating sure, but no point jumping all over Honda. It’s just one oil leak that may have revealed something that will educate them to never have that happen again this season…for all we know. And as to ‘every time he switches’ I don’t think his last move, away from Ferrari, left them stronger.

    2. And of course Mr Alonso was the undisputed number one driver. That fact is conveniently glossed over by those wearing tinfoil hats because of course, if he had a strong driver next to him he would have taken points off Alonso. Just like 07 and 15.

  21. After blame Dennis and Capisto for the poor results and the problems with the car, it seems that this 2017 model could maintain the MP4 name, because its the same old thing since the arrival of the “Alonso-Honda Era”

  22. Apologies for the lack of updates, have been hearing from Boullier plus the Red Bull top staff. Here’s the current times:

    1. Lewis HamiltonMercedes W08: 1’21.765 38 laps
    2. Sebastian VettelFerrari SF70H: 1’22.370 (+0.605), 76 laps
    3. Felipe MassaWilliams FW40: 1’22.370 (+0.605), 86 laps
    4. Valtteri BottasMercedes W08: 1’23.169 (+1.404), 79 laps
    5. Sergio PerezForce India VJM10: 1’23.709 (+1.944), 39 laps
    6. Carlos Sainz JnrToro Rosso STR12: 1’24.494 (+2.729), 51 laps
    7. Daniel RicciardoRed Bull RB13: 1’24.935 (+3.170), 20 laps
    8. Kevin MagnussenHaas VF-17: 1’25.260 (+3.495), 31 laps
    9. Fernando AlonsoMcLaren MCL32: 1’25.586 (+3.821), 8 laps
    10. Nico HulkenbergRenault RS17: 1’25.966 (+4.201), 32 laps
    11. Marcus EricssonSauber C36: 1’26.841 (+5.076), 64 laps Last updated at: 16:41 CET

    1. The nokia 3310 was originally launched in the year 2000, which coincidentally matches the first year of Ferrari dominance.

      Fast forward to 2017 and a new nokia 3310 reached the market, with a new modern design. Coincidence? I don’t think so

  23. I don’t get why so many are suprised by McLaren-Honda on this test. If they have modified the engine as much as they did, it’s quite normal to have big fixes to do at the beginning (like very team had to). Hopefully it is for the best afterwards…

    1. He was a reserve driver last year and he is a race driver this season. So he should be eligible.

      Would be funny if Stroll gets it though… looking at Mclaren’s challenger this year, it’s entirely possible that Stroll will finish the year with a higher points total than Stoffel

    1. I was at the test yesterday and must say engine noise sounded quite impressive, albeit in the lower gears. For some reason the cars are really quite quiet down the main straight when at top speed. Bottas almost snuck up on me at turn one on a number of occasions! All in all, however, I would say it is an improvement.

  24. Looking at the zero size cars like Red Bull and Ferrari, I almost worry about the driving in close quarters. The floor is so big and so low, that it could be deceptive when going wheel to weel, and the drivers hit each other’s floors. Thoughts?

      1. I like the fact the cars have got difference pieces on which distinguish between them. I don’t want them to all look the same, then it would be NASCAR. I worry that’s where F1’s heading with all this talk of banning this and that because some people don’t like the aesthetics.

  25. As a spectacle, I’ve a feeling Mercedes will ride off into the sunset again this year. Except this year, Rosberg won’t be there to make it half competitive. While bottas is a decent driver I fear he is a yes man. ‘Do as your told or no contract extension for next year’
    Hamilton will walk to the championship unfortunately imo.
    I sincerely hope not

  26. I’ve seen an interesting quote from Autosport regarding Honda.

    It’s worry to see Honda say that there are concerns about its oil tank based on what happened yesterday. To discover an oil tank shape is potentially incorrect suggests something is seriously wrong as normally it only shows up as a pickup problem in fast corners. To discover it on an installation lap at lower speeds suggests it’s a fundamental problem. The oil tank is vital to the engine and something most teams have a very good understanding of and very good test rigs to simulate all the forces and flows. So for McLaren and Honda to come to the first test session with a potential problem is a concern. It seems they are still missing out on the basics.

    If that is true then it’s unacceptable from Honda to do that huge of a mistake on their 3rd year.

    1. From the BBC:
      “Honda’s “oil system” problem that kept Fernando Alonso’s McLaren in the garage for much of yesterday was indeed caused by the shape of the oil tank which did not allow the oil to be properly scavenged.

      The tank was modified prior to the first day of the test, but the problem persisted.

      Further modifications were made to the tank last night.”

  27. 1. Max VerstappenRed Bull RB13: 1’24.794 8 laps
    2. Lance StrollWilliams FW40: 1’26.040 (+1.246), 12 laps
    3. Lewis HamiltonMercedes W08: 1’26.834 (+2.040), 8 laps
    4. Daniil KvyatToro Rosso STR12: 1’28.616 (+3.822), 10 laps
    5. Kimi RaikkonenFerrari SF70H 7 laps
    6. Kevin MagnussenHaas VF-17 5 laps
    7. Stoffel VandoorneMcLaren MCL32 5 laps
    8. Antonio Giovinazzi – Sauber C36 2 laps Last updated at: 9:58 CET

        1. I don’t think Mercedes will ever consider Alonso. Bottas is boringly slow, but if he will deliver good enough results to help the team earn the WCC, then I don’t see any reason to replace Bottas. Especially if Bottas will always be second to Hamilton.

          1. Not unless Red Bull is just slightly behind with 2 very competitive drivers. Honestly, Alonso’s fate lies in the hands of Bottas underperforming/Hamilton exploding/Red Bull catching up.

            Mercedes would be foolish to turn down Alonso if they really need a driver who can deliver them results better than Rosberg did.

  28. All quiet on the track now, Raikkonen still fastest on 1’23.718.

    Incidentally the timing screens don’t include tyre information so the only way to get that is monitor every car while it’s on track. And the same tyre markings used in the races aren’t always used in testing.

  29. Times after two hours:

    1. Lewis HamiltonMercedes W08: 1’21.766 32 laps
    2. Kimi RaikkonenFerrari SF70H: 1’23.359 (+1.593), 18 laps
    3. Max VerstappenRed Bull RB13: 1’24.366 (+2.600), 19 laps
    4. Lance StrollWilliams FW40: 1’26.040 (+4.274), 12 laps
    5. Daniil KvyatToro Rosso STR12: 1’26.161 (+4.395), 16 laps
    6. Stoffel VandoorneMcLaren MCL32: 1’26.204 (+4.438), 22 laps
    7. Kevin MagnussenHaas VF-17: 5 laps
    8. Antonio Giovinazzi – Sauber C36: 2 laps
    9. Esteban OconForce India VJM10: 1 lap Last updated at: 10:58 CET

        1. Nah, I can read Portuguese fluently, I just don’t do it regularly.
          I followed your link and couldn’t resist taking a quick look at the comments. When I reached the second one (“Que erro de amador….”), I remembered that there are annoying people in any given linguistic community.

  30. So, in theory I like the T-Wings, but I don’t doubt they’ll ban them next year as they’re essentially slightly more aesthetically pleasing X-Wings born out of pure regulatory oversight.

    What I’d love to see come back is blown diffusers, now we’re back in the turbo era, surely, cars creating down-force independent of oncoming airflow is exactly what F1 wants?

      1. Do you think it might be a good place to establish a trade off then? For instance, ask Ross Brawn’s team of crack aerodynamics interns what they think causes the most amount of dirty air coming off the cars, including uncovered wheels, devise a regulatory solution and if it takes off a number of points of down-force release an equivalent amount of undercar or exhaust blown areas.

        I mean, we know what causes dirty air, it’s wings! We know there’s a way of creating downforce without them, we know that wings hurt close racing. Much as I like the idea of this years faster cars, are you not concerned by the possibility that 3/4’s of next years races will be processional?

  31. Here are the times after the first three hours:

    1. Lewis HamiltonMercedes W08: 1’21.766 47 laps
    2. Kimi RaikkonenFerrari SF70H: 1’22.831 (+1.065), 29 laps
    3. Max VerstappenRed Bull RB13: 1’24.366 (+2.600), 20 laps
    4. Esteban OconForce India VJM10: 1’24.488 (+2.722), 12 laps
    5. Kevin MagnussenHaas VF-17: 1’24.935 (+3.169), 19 laps
    6. Lance StrollWilliams FW40: 1’26.040 (+4.274), 12 laps
    7. Daniil KvyatToro Rosso STR12: 1’26.161 (+4.395), 27 laps
    8. Stoffel VandoorneMcLaren MCL32: 1’26.201 (+4.435), 29 laps
    9. Antonio Giovinazzi – Sauber C36 2 laps Last updated at: 11:59 CET

          1. still it doesn’t answer why it is embarrassing for the sport. if they don’t get their act together they will be a new Sauber. I believe merc will pull out of F1 after they get enough of people whining. Then it will be domination of Ferrari & RB/Renault. Mclaren doesn’t have the right people to get to the top, that’s the fact.

    1. Impossible to read that from the top speed. In fact, the only conclusion that can be drawn is that this top speed is meaningless. If they had really tuned down the engine so much that they lose 25 kph on the straight, it’d be really difficult to achieve a lap time that’s 3 seconds slower than the leaders’. So there’s a mismatch between lap time and top speed, which indicates that the car was actually faster on the straight than the speed trap shows. Probably due to lifting & coasting before the speed trap.

        1. Well, no, quite the opposite. If the top speed really were that low, the time loss would almost automatically be greater than yesterday’s 3 seconds. The fact that Alonso was ‘only’ 3 seconds slower than Hamilton can only mean one thing: The speed registered by the speed trap cannot be the car’s top speed. It is impossible to tell how fast it really was, and much less if the engine was tuned down more than usual during testing. The only valid conclusion is that the car must’ve been faster than the speed trap shows. Everything else is speculative and/or circular reasoning.

  32. Not a great deal of running right now. Conditions not quite as good as yesterday. Cloud cover has kept a lid on track temperatures – they peaked at 25C half an hour ago but have fallen since. And the wind has increased too. Kvyat has just pitted leaving, inevitably, just the Mercedes of Hamilton still on the track.

  33. Here are the lunchtime times:

    1. Lewis HamiltonMercedes W08: 1’20.983 66 laps
    2. Kimi RaikkonenFerrari SF70H: 1’22.831 (+1.848), 47 laps
    3. Esteban OconForce India VJM10: 1’23.045 (+2.062), 27 laps
    4. Max VerstappenRed Bull RB13: 1’23.212 (+2.229), 36 laps
    5. Kevin MagnussenHaas VF-17: 1’23.523 (+2.540), 31 laps
    6. Daniil KvyatToro Rosso STR12: 1’25.012 (+4.029), 44 laps
    7. Lance StrollWilliams FW40: 1’26.040 (+5.057), 12 laps
    8. Stoffel VandoorneMcLaren MCL32: 1’26.201 (+5.218), 29 laps
    9. Antonio Giovinazzi – Sauber C36: 1’33.741 (+12.758), 5 laps
    10. Jolyon PalmerRenault RS17: 1 lap Last updated at: 13:15 CET

    1. What’s the tyre life they’re aiming for? Can it be expressed in laps per compound on a reference track like Barcelona?
      What’s their working window? How hot do they need to be, what’s the difference between the upper and lower limit?
      Do they still need to impose tyre pressure windows?

    2. Since the tyres are more durable, and since there is still a mandatory tyre to be used in the races, which differences will there be between compounds, what benefits will a team have in going for a harder compound for long periods of time, if that is not the fastest one? The goal of my question is to understand what factor will stop teams making the mandatory tyre change, do a couple of laps or whatever, and get back straight away to the prime tyre.

      Don’t know if I made myself clear, re-reading it did sound like it, hope you understand what I’m trying to say Keith

      1. To be honest i think this is kinda expected. If Honda has truly revamped their entire design with the scrapped tokens it means they will be back at 2014 levels of reliability with an entire new package. The power might be there and they might eventually get te reliability but to expect them to be competive the first two days of testing is ridiculous.

        1. Agree. My prediction was that they would match Mercedes’ power output of 2014 as well… and be a good 100 hp down on the nearest rival for most of the season. What I didn’t expect was this disastrous reliability… I thought maybe if they’re copying the Merc layout, they’ve understood the problems Merc encountered and thus will avoid them.

  34. Keith, I’d like your take on how the cars look out on track. I watched quite a lot of fan footage last evening and the cars looked great on track. It looked like some of them, notably Sainz, were twitching and sliding all over the shop. I just finished reading a piece in Autosport which suggests that all the cars look like they are on rails and don’t look any more impressive. What are they like from what you’ve seen.

  35. I just can’t with McLaren. With apologies to Bottas I really want Alonso to get his seat next year. Seeing one of the most talented drivers of the last 20 years stuck back there is just such a waste. Hamilton vs Alonso is this amazing rivalry we’ve actually seen on track in like 2 seasons in the last 10 years!

    Ugh. Rant over.

    1. They haven’t tweeted a time that they are expecting to fix the car in, so my guess is it’s a wrap. Mechanics and Engineers are sitting around twiddling their thumbs and waiting for the idiots in Sakura to finally figure out what their problems have been over the past 2 days.

  36. Has anyone spotted that double T bar on the Williams, one comes from the top edge of the shark fin like Ferrari and the second seems to attach somewhere above the exhaust exit? looks to be flexing massively in the picture.

  37. Raikkonen goes top:

    1. Kimi RaikkonenFerrari SF70H: 1’20.930 61 laps
    2. Lewis HamiltonMercedes W08: 1’20.983 (+0.053), 66 laps
    3. Esteban OconForce India VJM10: 1’23.045 (+2.115), 32 laps
    4. Kevin MagnussenHaas VF-17: 1’23.200 (+2.270), 70 laps
    5. Max VerstappenRed Bull RB13: 1’23.212 (+2.282), 31 laps
    6. Daniil KvyatToro Rosso STR12: 1’25.012 (+4.082), 44 laps
    7. Jolyon PalmerRenault RS17: 1’25.192 (+4.262), 20 laps
    8. Lance StrollWilliams FW40: 1’26.040 (+5.110), 31 laps
    9. Stoffel VandoorneMcLaren MCL32: 1’26.201 (+5.271), 12 laps
    10. Valtteri BottasMercedes W08: 1’26.201 (+5.271), 29 laps
    11. Antonio Giovinazzi – Sauber C36: 1’26.976 (+6.046), 19 laps Last updated at: 15:19 CET

    1. Considering that Toto has said that most of the parts on the car will not feature in Melbourne, I imagine they are probably not pushing that hard. First days of the test is usually systems checks, tuning the engine, comparing with dyno/wind tunnel results.

    2. Well there’s no way we’ve seen anything like a qualifying lap, which is where the bulk of Mercedes’ advantage lies. A key question will be whether Ferrari or Renault can approach the kind of performance they have there. Keep in mind last year Ferrari were quickest after testing. That alone suggests a margin of error in the order of a full second. But remember also Renault brought a big engine upgrade after just a few races and that was when Red Bull became contenders for victory. So I wouldn’t write off any of the top three at this point.

      1. @Keith I cannot agree more, but also last year Mercedes was using Mediums the whole time, so comparison is more difficult. This year Ferrari actually beats Mercedes’ time on slower tyres, which can mean everything or nothing, but still something to keep hope alive for this season.

  38. Here are the times with just over an hour and a half left today:

    1. Kimi RaikkonenFerrari SF70H: 1’20.930 78 laps
    2. Lewis HamiltonMercedes W08: 1’20.983 (+0.053), 66 laps
    3. Max VerstappenRed Bull RB13: 1’22.200 (+1.270), 56 laps
    4. Esteban OconForce India VJM10: 1’22.509 (+1.579), 43 laps
    5. Valtteri BottasMercedes W08: 1’22.986 (+2.056), 75 laps
    6. Kevin MagnussenHaas VF-17: 1’23.200 (+2.270), 92 laps
    7. Jolyon PalmerRenault RS17: 1’24.139 (+3.209), 26 laps
    8. Daniil KvyatToro Rosso STR12: 1’25.012 (+4.082), 45 laps
    9. Antonio Giovinazzi – Sauber C36: 1’25.983 (+5.053), 33 laps
    10. Lance StrollWilliams FW40: 1’26.040 (+5.110), 12 laps
    11. Stoffel VandoorneMcLaren MCL32: 1’26.201 (+5.271), 29 laps Last updated at: 16:23 CET

  39. it seems Mercedes are ahead by abit. Thankfully Ferrari have upped their game.

    Red bull dont appear to have the pace of Ferrari and seems Renault’s engine will be there downfall.

    Williams are looking third best team currently. As a Force India fan, im abit concern with our pace, looks like we are 5/6 fastest team.

    oh well, too early to tell

  40. Autosport assessment of Bottas’ race simulation: I spent a lot of Bottas’s race run watching from trackside, and it looked…messy. He had quite a bit of understeer early on when the car was heavy, and it was moving around on him in the corners.

    Very surprised to hear this TBH

  41. Kvyat moves up to sixth, here’s the times with an hour left to go:

    1. Kimi RaikkonenFerrari SF70H: 1’20.930 92 laps
    2. Lewis HamiltonMercedes W08: 1’20.983 (+0.053), 66 laps
    3. Max VerstappenRed Bull RB13: 1’22.200 (+1.270), 67 laps
    4. Esteban OconForce India VJM10: 1’22.509 (+1.579), 57 laps
    5. Valtteri BottasMercedes W08: 1’22.986 (+2.056), 80 laps
    6. Daniil KvyatToro Rosso STR12: 1’23.081 (+2.151), 57 laps
    7. Kevin MagnussenHaas VF-17: 1’23.200 (+2.270), 92 laps
    8. Jolyon PalmerRenault RS17: 1’24.139 (+3.209), 43 laps
    9. Antonio Giovinazzi – Sauber C36: 1’24.617 (+3.687), 41 laps
    10. Lance StrollWilliams FW40: 1’26.040 (+5.110), 12 laps
    11. Stoffel VandoorneMcLaren MCL32: 1’26.201 (+5.271), 30 laps Last updated at: 16:59 CET

    1. Keith I’d be interested to know where you think F1 Fanatic comes in the pecking order of other F1 (or general) media. If Paul Hembery is giving you that much time it suggests you’re quite high up. But how do the other journos treat you? Are you part of their gang or a “johnny-come-lately”?

  42. Damn I wasn’t there to propose question for the Pirelli meeting, do anyone knows what happens at the tire end of life ? Cliff or quicker decline ? Difficult to figure out from lap times right now, not sure anyone has pushed the tire to that point.

    1. I’ve heard rumours that if they don’t they will change their slogan to “Honda, the power we can only dream about”

      It still doesn’t worry me to be honest, it’s testing, and as long as they are ready for Melbourne, everything is good. We need more teams at the front

  43. Always good to have a picture of myself looking gormless on my own website, here at a session with Verstappen yesterday (in case you’re wondering, I managed to get someone closer to the front to push my voice recorder in a bit further). Verstappen basically answered the same two questions about how quick is car is and how difficult overtaking will be from the various television crews:

    https://www.racefans.net/2017/02/28/2017-pre-season-testing-day-two-in-pictures/motor-racing-formula-one-testing-test-one-day-2-barcelona-spain-210/

  44. Big day for Mc-Honda today.
    Last of the three engines they brought.(new one is on its way)

    But according to news in Japan they will have to redesign the oil pan. Due to the higher lateral g-force, the pump is starving of oil during high speed turns which causes the engine to run dry momentarily. The sensors show low oil pressure for a second, then it comes back once the car is goin straight again. That doesn’t cause instant damage but resduces engine life dramatically and is believed to be the cause of power loss suffered yesterday.

    McLaren will also have to redesign some body work to accommodate the new oil tank. Unbelievable mistake by a company that also makes MotoGP engines(albeit completely different departments)

  45. Celis makes his first appearance in the Force India. Wonder if they’ve got one of their regular drivers on standby to take over in case he struggles? These cars are a lot more demanding than last year’s and when I saw the three of them at the launch last week Celis didn’t look nearly as built as Perez or Ocon (who did more than a race distance yesterday).

    1. Good point. By the way, I’m amazed that Mercedes are the only ones who regularly switch their drivers after the lunch break. Would make sense for all the teams to do that: Less fatigue for the drivers, more even distribution of mileage if one of your days is rotten.

        1. Yeah, I wonder if they could’ve put in more laps with a driver change. Any chance you’ll get a word with a Ferrari representative, or are they staying true to their ‘low profile’ approach?

  46. Incidentally it’s a very busy day in terms of interviews today – Hamilton and Vettel among those we’re expecting to hear from. Unfortunately Ricciardo’s briefing clashes with Hamilton’s but as Hamilton is only doing one meeting with the written media I’m obviously prioritising that. Heard from Ricciardo on day one:

    https://www.racefans.net/2017/02/27/ricciardo-says-red-bull-has-a-lot-more-to-come/

    It looks like Mercedes have scaled back Hamilton’s media commitments this year, perhaps in light of that tiff at Suzuka.

    1. In some lights they do look quite similar. The McLaren looks a lot better than some of the launch pictures showed. I still think the livery could use a little tidying up, but it’s not as bad as some are saying.

      What I really don’t get is why Renault have spoiled their lovely livery with all that extra black. From a heat rejection point of view alone it seems an odd step. I wish they’d just stick the 2010 livery back on the thing!

  47. Times so far:

    1. Sebastian VettelFerrari SF70H: 1’22.222 16 laps
    2. Valtteri BottasMercedes W08: 1’22.816 (+0.594), 15 laps
    3. Daniil KvyatToro Rosso STR12: 1’24.946 (+2.724), 12 laps
    4. Daniel RicciardoRed Bull RB13: 1’30.108 (+7.886), 7 laps
    5. Alfonso Celis – Force India VJM10: 1’44.478 (+22.256), 6 laps
    6. Fernando AlonsoMcLaren MCL32: 8 laps
    7. Marcus EricssonSauber C36: 6 laps
    8. Jolyon PalmerRenault RS17: 4 laps
    9. Romain GrosjeanHaas VF-17: 4 laps Last updated at: 10:08 CET

  48. A busy start for Ferrari and Mercedes so far, both already up to 20 laps. Kvyat running well too in the Toro Rosso. As you’d imagine a lot of teams doing aero runs with substantial rigs – lots of pictures of those here:

    https://www.racefans.net/2017/03/01/2017-pre-season-testing-day-three-in-pictures/

    McLaren are steadily chipping away with individual runs. Alonso up to nine laps now and has just gone down the start/finish straight so might even be attempted a timed one now.

    Still no sign of Stroll in the Williams though. And Palmer hasn’t reappeared in the Renault since his spin.

    1. That concept is not as simple. If we are talking about slicks, definitely, you have a bigger area, and of course the chances of aquaplaning increase.

      But wit wet weather tyres and intermediates it will depend on the grooves, their design, efficiency on moving water and not to forget that the cars have more downforce and therefore will be able to break trough the water. Also contact patch does not increases proportionally in the wet tyres as it does with slicks, once again it depends on the tyre grooves

  49. Times after two hours:

    1. Valtteri BottasMercedes W08: 1’21.099 32 laps
    2. Sebastian VettelFerrari SF70H: 1’21.609 (+0.510), 34 laps
    3. Fernando AlonsoMcLaren MCL32: 1’23.956 (+2.857), 15 laps
    4. Daniil KvyatToro Rosso STR12: 1’24.190 (+3.091), 21 laps
    5. Marcus EricssonSauber C36: 1’25.174 (+4.075), 25 laps
    6. Lance StrollWilliams FW40: 1’27.848 (+6.749), 7 laps
    7. Jolyon PalmerRenault RS17: 1’28.867 (+7.768), 7 laps
    8. Daniel RicciardoRed Bull RB13: 1’30.083 (+8.984), 14 laps
    9. Alfonso Celis – Force India VJM10: 1’44.478 (+23.379), 6 laps
    10. Romain GrosjeanHaas VF-17 4 laps Last updated at: 11:01 CET

  50. Rosberg’s made a “celebrity” appearance in the Mercedes garage today. Do we think this will be one of several visits throughout the season to potentially play mind games with Lewis ‘from beyond the grave’ as it were?? :P

    1. I don’t think he’ll be playing mind games. He’s probably there for genuine support. Don’t forget that he and Hamilton have known each other since karting. I wouldn’t be surprised if you see more smiles from them both now that they’re no longer competing against each other.

    2. as Illiria mentions, Rosberg doesn’t have the need anymore for that kind of thing. I think it is really more about showing up to have a chat with the team, greet everyone, thank everyone etc. A bit of feel good for the whole team. Including Lewis

  51. Keith is there any sign of concern at RBR or are they playing things close to the chest?

    I get the feeling that they’re not really all that confident in either their PU or set-up as they seem to be doing minimal laps compared to Mercedes & Ferrari.

  52. Any opinions so far on title?
    Imo so far…..
    1- Hamilton , by a distance.(not a fan)
    2- very tight between Seb, valtari, max and ricciardo(any order possible)
    After that – kimi
    Best of rest- Carlos sainz jnr

    Thinking of putting decent bet on Hamilton? Anyone to talk me out of it please?

  53. 1. Valtteri BottasMercedes W08: 1’19.838 57 laps
    2. Sebastian VettelFerrari SF70H: 1’21.609 (+1.771), 48 laps
    3. Marcus EricssonSauber C36: 1’22.326 (+2.488), 38 laps
    4. Lance StrollWilliams FW40: 1’22.351 (+2.513), 31 laps
    5. Daniel RicciardoRed Bull RB13: 1’22.382 (+2.544), 31 laps
    6. Jolyon PalmerRenault RS17: 1’23.387 (+3.549), 29 laps
    7. Fernando AlonsoMcLaren MCL32: 1’23.834 (+3.996), 25 laps
    8. Daniil KvyatToro Rosso STR12: 1’24.190 (+4.352), 21 laps
    9. Alfonso Celis – Force India VJM10: 1’25.524 (+5.686), 21 laps
    10. Romain GrosjeanHaas VF-17: 1’25.898 (+6.060), 11 laps Last updated at: 12:07 CET

  54. 1. Valtteri BottasMercedes W08: 1’19.705 75 laps
    2. Daniel RicciardoRed Bull RB13: 1’21.153 (+1.448), 48 laps
    3. Jolyon PalmerRenault RS17: 1’21.396 (+1.691), 51 laps
    4. Sebastian VettelFerrari SF70H: 1’21.609 (+1.904), 69 laps
    5. Marcus EricssonSauber C36: 1’21.824 (+2.119), 54 laps
    6. Lance StrollWilliams FW40: 1’22.351 (+2.646), 55 laps
    7. Alfonso Celis – Force India VJM10: 1’23.781 (+4.076), 39 laps
    8. Fernando AlonsoMcLaren MCL32: 1’23.832 (+4.127), 28 laps
    9. Daniil KvyatToro Rosso STR12: 1’23.952 (+4.247), 30 laps
    10. Romain GrosjeanHaas VF-17: 1’25.133 (+5.428), 27 laps
    11. Carlos Sainz JnrToro Rosso STR12: 1 lap Last updated at: 13:02 CET

    1. If Pirelli expect them to lap in the 1:17s on the yellow-marked soft tyres in qualifying, none of these laps are anywhere near representative.
      However, a 2 second difference between soft and ultrasoft doesn’t sound wrong. Keep in mind that the tarmac and layout of the Circuit de Catalunya are extremely abrasive, which makes it rather difficult to keep the ultrasoft tyre alive while pushing.

  55. Over at autosport.com Gary Anderson seems impressed with the way the Ferrari handles corners, says it does so better than the Merc. I hope he’s right, F1 needs more than one team fighting for wins.

  56. 1. Valtteri BottasMercedes W08: 1’19.705 75 laps
    2. Daniel RicciardoRed Bull RB13: 1’21.153 (+1.448), 67 laps
    3. Jolyon PalmerRenault RS17: 1’21.396 (+1.691), 51 laps
    4. Sebastian VettelFerrari SF70H: 1’21.517 (+1.812), 75 laps
    5. Marcus EricssonSauber C36: 1’21.824 (+2.119), 32 laps
    6. Lance StrollWilliams FW40: 1’22.351 (+2.646), 31 laps
    7. Nico HulkenbergRenault RS17: 1’23.137 (+3.432), 22 laps
    8. Alfonso Celis – Force India VJM10: 1’23.781 (+4.076), 36 laps
    9. Fernando AlonsoMcLaren MCL32: 1’23.832 (+4.127), 39 laps
    10. Daniil KvyatToro Rosso STR12: 1’23.952 (+4.247), 31 laps
    11. Carlos Sainz JnrToro Rosso STR12: 1’24.029 (+4.324), 15 laps
    12. Romain GrosjeanHaas VF-17: 1’25.133 (+5.428), 27 laps
    13. Lewis HamiltonMercedes W08: 1’25.688 (+5.983), 15 laps
    Last updated at: 15:06 CET

    1. We can’t take pre season tests as conclusive, but it’s very likely that Mclaren will be battling at the back of the grid along with the Saubers come Melbourne. It’s like 2015 all over again, but this time, there isn’t a Manor to fight.. but a Sauber.

    2. It is often more important to get consistent lap times in order to correlate the data properly. Also they may well be sandbagging while they check to see if their engine issues have gone away as there is little point in doing a fast lap and blowing the engine and therefore possibly ruining the whole test. The early tests are often used for checking systems, car characteristics and correlating the wind tunnel and simulator results. If they are still this far off the leaders come the last test day before the season starts then yes they have a problem, but right now we have no idea what tests they are running.

  57. Mercedes have just passed the 2,000 kilometre mark. Only two other teams have done more than 1,000km (Ferrari and Sauber):

    Mercedes – 2006.305km
    Ferrari – 1508.22km
    Sauber – 1024.1km
    Red Bull – 958.93km
    Haas – 958.93km
    Williams – 921.69km
    Renault – 884.45km
    Toro Rosso – 814.625km
    Force India – 763.42km
    McLaren – 521.36km

  58. Watching Vettel through Turn 1-3 is definitely my ‘wow’ factor of the day. The Ferrari is just planted and, even on used tyres, it doesn’t budge one millimetre off line.
    Gary Anderson

    intriguing.

      1. Although now that he’s out on a fresh set of softs with less fuel, Anderson’s saying it looks a lot better round turn 3 and more stable. I think if you take any car on the grid, Ferrari included, and simulate first-stint race conditions then the car is always going to be twitchy when pushed close to the limits, despite improved aero.

  59. Looks like he’s spun towards the inside of the circuit at the exit of turn five. That’s his third error in two days. Massa went off on day one as well, so let’s not rule out the possibility the FW40 is a bit tricky.

    That might be being a bit generous to Stroll however. I asked him yesterday if he was going to leave more of a margin today due to Williams’ parts shortage:

    https://www.racefans.net/2017/02/28/stroll-wary-of-spare-parts-shortage-after-early-end-to-first-day/

    1. I’m just writing up some quotes from their media session! But Alonso’s three laps off a race distance which has got to be an improvement. And these aren’t massively slow laps either, they appear to be in the ballpark. Causes for a little optimism, though it could hardly have got worse.

  60. One hour left of running today.

    1. Valtteri BottasMercedes W08: 1’19.705 75 laps
    2. Sebastian VettelFerrari SF70H: 1’19.952 (+0.247), 112 laps
    3. Daniel RicciardoRed Bull RB13: 1’21.153 (+1.448), 67 laps
    4. Jolyon PalmerRenault RS17: 1’21.396 (+1.691), 51 laps
    5. Marcus EricssonSauber C36: 1’21.824 (+2.119), 113 laps
    6. Lewis HamiltonMercedes W08: 1’22.216 (+2.511), 74 laps
    7. Lance StrollWilliams FW40: 1’22.351 (+2.646), 98 laps
    8. Fernando AlonsoMcLaren MCL32: 1’22.598 (+2.893), 64 laps
    9. Romain GrosjeanHaas VF-17: 1’22.884 (+3.179), 43 laps
    10. Nico HulkenbergRenault RS17: 1’23.137 (+3.432), 32 laps
    11. Carlos Sainz JnrToro Rosso STR12: 1’23.540 (+3.835), 32 laps
    12. Alfonso Celis – Force India VJM10: 1’23.619 (+3.914), 54 laps
    13. Daniil KvyatToro Rosso STR12: 1’23.952 (+4.247), 31 laps
    Last updated at: <17:02 CET

  61. Keith, don’t know if you saw my other post. The F1 Fanatic site when clicking to get to live testing, says, follow the first day and not the 3rd day. I wasn’t sure if that’s how you wanted it. I thought I’d get a rehash of the 1st days events, went looking elsewhere, eventually came back.

  62. Are Stroll’s offs indicative of the fact these brawnier cars are more challenging to muscle around a circuit? Perhaps an inexperienced 18yo simply isn’t up to the task in this revised formula, and the ‘age-to-F1’ regression has now reached its zenith.

      1. Well really in fairness he is a kid and he has only had a few sessions in F1…new everything…tires tricky to warm up especially when it’s been cool there…the car perhaps without all it’s new gear on…let’s give the lad a chance. And he’s not in a top 3 car.

  63. Good morning from the Circuit de Catalunya everybody. Wet tyre testing is the plan for the morning and the track has been drenched accordingly – though I have to say it looks more like intermediate conditions and it’s the full wet weather tyres they want to test.

  64. Today’s times mean even less than usual but here they are anyway:

    1. Max VerstappenRed Bull RB13: 1’38.286 21 laps
    2. Kimi RaikkonenFerrari SF70H: 1’40.803 (+2.517), 13 laps
    3. Nico HulkenbergRenault RS17: 1’40.961 (+2.675), 8 laps
    4. Stoffel VandoorneMcLaren MCL32: 1’41.826 (+3.540), 18 laps
    5. Romain GrosjeanHaas VF-17: 1’42.842 (+4.556), 9 laps
    6. Antonio Giovinazzi – Sauber C36: 1’42.940 (+4.654), 11 laps
    7. Daniil KvyatToro Rosso STR12: 1 lap
    Last updated at: 10:25 CET

  65. 1. Kimi RaikkonenFerrari SF70H: 1’36.041 21 laps
    2. Romain GrosjeanHaas VF-17: 1’36.310 (+0.269), 19 laps
    3. Antonio Giovinazzi – Sauber C36: 1’37.438 (+1.397), 18 laps
    4. Nico HulkenbergRenault RS17: 1’38.107 (+2.066), 18 laps
    5. Max VerstappenRed Bull RB13: 1’38.148 (+2.107), 27 laps
    6. Stoffel VandoorneMcLaren MCL32: 1’41.826 (+5.785), 18 laps
    7. Daniil KvyatToro Rosso STR12: 1 laps

    Last updated at: 10:58 CET

  66. Big improvement from Verstappen: 1’29.867. At this rate the afternoon running should be representative.

    Should note there won’t be a ‘lap time watch’ at lunch time unless anyone improves their best times for the test so far, which seems unlikely. Speaking of which, here they are:

    1. Mercedes W08 – 1’19.705
    2. Ferrari SF70H – 1’19.952, +0.247s
    3. Red Bull RB13 – 1’21.153, +1.448s
    4. Renault RS17 – 1’21.396, +1.691s
    5. Sauber C36 – 1’21.824, +2.119s
    6. Williams FW40 – 1’22.076, +2.371s
    7. Haas VF-17 – 1’22.118, +2.413s
    8. Force India VJM10 – 1’22.509, +2.804s
    9. McLaren MCL32 – 1’22.598, +2.893s
    10. Toro Rosso STR12 – 1’22.956, +3.251s

  67. 1. Kimi RaikkonenFerrari SF70H: 1’25.707 35 laps
    2. Max VerstappenRed Bull RB13: 1’29.867 (+4.160), 30 laps
    3. Sergio PerezForce India VJM10: 1’31.315 (+5.608), 10 laps
    4. Romain GrosjeanHaas VF-17: 1’32.946 (+7.239), 33 laps
    5. Nico HulkenbergRenault RS17: 1’36.710 (+11.003), 25 laps
    6. Antonio Giovinazzi – Sauber C36: 1’37.438 (+11.731), 28 laps
    7. Stoffel VandoorneMcLaren MCL32: 1’41.826 (+16.119), 18 laps
    8. Daniil KvyatToro Rosso STR12: 1 lap
    Last updated at: 11:58 CET

  68. This is scary…

    Sky Sports understands Mercedes have been running their 2017 engine in conservative power modes to be sure of complete reliability.

    It’s not known if Mercedes have suffered engine component failures on their factory-based test dynos but a team source confirmed that failures are a desirable occurrence – the point about running engines on test beds is so that it happens close to home, where quick and accessible fixes can be applied, rather than on the track

    Mercedes will introduce an upgraded engine for the season-opening Australian GP on March 26, meaning that while Bottas and Hamilton’s lap times in the W08 are already impressive, there is likely to be even more performance gains to come from the world champions –if the engine is reliable.

    I really hope Ferrari and Redbull can match/beat Merc this year.

  69. Here are the lunch time times:

    1. Kimi RaikkonenFerrari SF70H: 1’22.305 45 laps
    2. Romain GrosjeanHaas VF-17: 1’22.739 (+0.434), 49 laps
    3. Stoffel VandoorneMcLaren MCL32: 1’23.918 (+1.613), 35 laps
    4. Max VerstappenRed Bull RB13: 1’23.920 (+1.615), 43 laps
    5. Sergio PerezForce India VJM10: 1’24.893 (+2.588), 25 laps
    6. Nico HulkenbergRenault RS17: 1’24.974 (+2.669), 51 laps
    7. Antonio Giovinazzi – Sauber C36: 1’25.037 (+2.732), 37 laps
    8. Valtteri BottasMercedes W08: 1’26.512 (+4.207), 9 laps
    9. Daniil KvyatToro Rosso STR12: 1 lap
    Last updated at: 13:02 CET

  70. What’s the point wetting the track when so few cars are actually testing? Most of the teams seem to be waiting for the track to dry. No point to risk it in wet conditions when you don’t have spare parts? They should have specific wet tests separately in a better fitting track like Paul Ricard.

    1. at least 4 drivers did more than 40 laps. Stoff and Giovanizzi more than 30.

      Only mercedes and STR didn’t do much running, but they had problems during the morning.

      At the beginning of the day it appear that it wouldn’t be worth much, but it wasn’t been that bad

        1. most of it was on dry/inter

          the conditions aren’t ideal, but definitely some good that was collected.

          You are right in one point, don’t know if it will be worth it doing the same in the afternoon, it quite hot now, and it will dry quickly

  71. I’m pretty impressed with the competitive times put up by some of the midfield and back marking teams this year. Sauber, Haas, Force India, Toro Rosso, Renault have all posted times below the 1:22 mark on either softs or Super softs. This could either mean that the gap between the front runners and back markers isn’t all that large this year. It could also mean that Mercedes are sandbagging.

  72. The first driver past the pits is Bottas and it seems he’s kicking up quite a bit more spray than the drivers were first thing this morning. Perhaps they’ve managed to get more water down. The surface is 35C though so it’ll dry up pretty quickly I suspect.

  73. Having looked around a few sites it seems there is a general consensus the teams aren’t happy about the wet test and prefer dry testing. Feels like a bit of a poor response after all the general moaning about the quality of the wet weather tyres. What are the FIA and Pirelli supposed to do exactly?

      1. Agreed. Supporting Alonso now is like supporting Timo Glock or Heikki Kovalainen five or six years ago….. skillful drivers confined to horribly bad cars. I’m jumping on the Mad Max bandwagon for 2017, but let’s see what Alonso does eh

        1. This year’s F1 season still has four world champs now that Button is not racing; my favorite is Alonso, no doubt. It is hard to wake up so early to watch many races to see the McL so far from the lead and Alonso in -I guess- such dispair for not being able to challenge. If I think of supporting someone else I wouldn’t like VET or HAM to win again; I’d rather see RAI go for the second one or even VERS win the first one. For the future, SAINZ jr., another great pilot lacking a good car.

  74. The track is drying out again, lap times still in the high thirties. The frustration for teams will be they’re nowhere near the performance level at which they can carry out most useful tests. Cooling, for example, will be nowhere near the limit at the moment.

  75. Two hours to go in the first test:

    1. Kimi RaikkonenFerrari SF70H: 1’22.305 62 laps
    2. Romain GrosjeanHaas VF-17: 1’22.739 (+0.434), 72 laps
    3. Max VerstappenRed Bull RB13: 1’22.949 (+0.644), 56 laps
    4. Valtteri BottasMercedes W08: 1’23.590 (+1.285), 49 laps
    5. Stoffel VandoorneMcLaren MCL32: 1’23.918 (+1.613), 43 laps
    6. Sergio PerezForce India VJM10: 1’24.893 (+2.588), 32 laps
    7. Nico HulkenbergRenault RS17: 1’24.974 (+2.669), 51 laps
    8. Antonio Giovinazzi – Sauber C36: 1’25.037 (+2.732), 53 laps
    9. Daniil KvyatToro Rosso STR12 1 lap
    Last updated at: 15:57 CET

  76. Whilst I doubt the MCL32 is a championship contender, writing them off today is a bit rash. After their oil tank issues on days 1 and 2 they are effectively only on their second test day and likely haven’t done any performance runs yet. I suspect it will be left for the next test to turn the wick up and even then it’ll be on high fuel so I would say down be too down trodden to the Alonso fans. He might just pull a few rabbits out of hats this year. If anyone can its him.

  77. One hour left in the first test. We’re still waiting to see if Sainz will appear and if any team will improve on their best time so far. Force India are closest – just 0.025s away.

    1. Kimi RaikkonenFerrari SF70H: 1’21.263 77 laps
    2. Max VerstappenRed Bull RB13: 1’21.839 (+0.576), 71 laps
    3. Sergio PerezForce India VJM10: 1’22.534 (+1.271), 56 laps
    4. Romain GrosjeanHaas VF-17: 1’22.739 (+1.476), 92 laps
    5. Stoffel VandoorneMcLaren MCL32: 1’22.845 (+1.582), 57 laps
    6. Valtteri BottasMercedes W08: 1’23.443 (+2.180), 68 laps
    7. Jolyon PalmerRenault RS17: 1’24.312 (+3.049), 17 laps
    8. Nico HulkenbergRenault RS17: 1’24.974 (+3.711), 51 laps
    9. Antonio Giovinazzi – Sauber C36: 1’25.037 (+3.774), 64 laps
    10. Daniil KvyatToro Rosso STR12 1 lap
    Last updated at: 17:03 CET

    1. Same here. Renault (in the sun) is much more orange than expected.
      BTW the FI looks a lot better than expected (nose doesn’t bother me in the wild).
      And Sauber looks like STR, at least what I expected the STR to look like.

    1. I wish I knew. Perhaps the Formula 1 Machines of Today are too complicated for them. It’s certain that Mclaren will ditch them if they don’t show Progress for a third straight year.

    2. Honda hired Gilles Simon – a famous engineer who worked with Renault and Ferrari at their engine departments – to get some help when building their engine. Honda didn’t listen to Gilles at all, that’s why he left. I assume Honda thinks that they can build the best engine themselves. That’s overconfidence that doesn’t (and won’t) pay off.

        1. It’s definitely be tyre-related. They may be interested in the quality of the contact patch with the ground and how well the suspension is working. These new tyres are huge, and ensuring consistent contact with the ground across their full width is important.

          1. 305Km is approximately 1,000,000 feet, not sure if that has any significance historically. I thought it was originally 300Km +1lap which was changed to completed 305km which is much the same.

          2. I don’t think it ever had anything to do with miles, since the Grand Prix sport originated in France. I don’t know why they chose 305 km, but historically a race had to be at least 500 km long to be a Grand Prix. This minimum distance was shortened to 300 km in 1950 in order to enable Monaco to hold a Grand Prix.
            I don’t know when or why they increased the distance to 305 km, though. I’ve read theories that this corresponds to 1,000,000 feet (304.8 km), but again: This would be ahistorical, since the roots of F1 lie in France, where the ‘imperial’ system (derived from the measurements used in the Roman Empire; i.e. not identical to the measurements used in the imperial system) was abolished after the French Revolution in the 1790s. Also, the use of a non-metric system is a very peculiar archaism of the former British Empire. The rest of the world has been almost exclusively using the metric system for centuries.

            Another explanation I’ve found is that 305 km were originally meant to be 300 km + another full lap. I think this sounds reasonably plausible, but I couldn’t find any reliable sources that back this claim up.

  78. 1. Daniel Ricciardo – Red Bull RB13 1’20.790, 18 laps
    2. Lewis HamiltonMercedes W08: 1’21.080 (+0.290), 27 laps
    3. Sebastian VettelFerrari SF70H: 1’21.321 (+0.531), 37 laps
    4. Felipe MassaWilliams FW40: 1’21.867 (+1.077), 31 laps
    5. Stoffel VandoorneMcLaren MCL32: 1’22.698 (+1.908), 29 laps
    6. Daniil KvyatToro Rosso STR12: 1’23.408 (+2.618), 20 laps
    7. Esteban OconForce India VJM10: 1’23.691 (+2.901), 28 laps
    8. Kevin MagnussenHaas VF-17: 1’23.897 (+3.107), 18 laps
    9. Jolyon PalmerRenault RS17: 1’24.790 (+4.000), 15 laps
    10. Pascal Werhlein – Sauber C36: (+), 11 laps
    Last updated at: 11:05 CET

        1. Doesn’t appear so, Merc still look uncomfortably dominant heading into the new season. There adjusted speed on long runs is seriously impressive.

          It will be interesting to see how close RB and Ferrari are but the signs for the new season are more of the same but faster.

          1. Not really, the long stint pace of RB was equal last week and Ferrari was better. I understand the desire everyone has not to get optimistic and be let down but it will be closer this season.

    1. I’d be chuffed if the car turns out to be competitive, because I was seriously annoyed by the flood of negativity Williams received when they first presented their car. For a lot of people, it was a foregone conclusion that Williams will finish 9th or lower, before the car had even completed a single lap. I’ll have a good laugh if reality has other plans.

    1. Another engine replacement on the Mclaren. Honda are still investigating the issue… along with their investigations of last week… and of course the last 2 years list of pending investigations.

      That’s 6 power units in 5 days of testing. Surely, they’re gunning for some sort of record

  79. Sky reporting that McLaren have another engine problem. Hence there lack of action for the last 2 odd hours and are unlikely to be seen for at least another couple of hours.

    What a disaster. It can’t continue, surely they should go crawling back to Merc.

    1. Focusing on their race pace, checking their aero at more constant speeds, checking all their engine systems before they turn the thing up and therefore looking for the more consistent running provided by the harder compounds.

      Still a while left in the test.

        1. Its really becoming an annoying trend.Honda are on their 3rd year and they have gone backwards instead of forwards.Perhaps it is time they pull the plug and talk with a serious manufacturer.

        2. It’s pretty unfortunate at this point. McLaren hitches their wagon to one of the worlds biggest car manufacturers and it’s Honda that end up being the problem.

          It’s so frustrating, we have no idea what the quality of the chassis is. I wonder what they can do? Phone BMW? Audi? Audi developed pretty sexy engines for their LMP1 cars. Uuuughghghghghghhh

          Also, they are not getting a good sponsor running like this. The whole programme is in crisis.

    1. Short answer: No.

      Long answer: At present the only way to get this information would be to have someone sat in the media centre nine hours a day writing every lap time down. I don’t think that’s the best use of the costs involved of attending these tests which is why we don’t do it. Particularly when we’re talking about under-developed cars on a green and cold track, running tyres which may not even be used for this race. And all the usual other caveats regarding fuel loads would apply too. The amount of work involved doesn’t make sense for the very limited relevance of the data gathered.

  80. Ferrari’s testing reminds me of Merc’s testing last year. Just run on the mediums forever and ever. And come Australia, don’t sample mediums at all during practice or qualifying but put them on after the stoppage and go win a 1-2.

    I hope Ferrari also gets a start like this

    1. I mean gaaawwwddd, it’s so depressing. I’ve always had a soft spot for McLaren and I may not be totally unbiased but this is embarrassing for the sport. The second great mark of the sports whole history is a total mess with no end in sight.

      I wonder if there’s a new supplier they can go to. Merc engines again?

        1. It wasn’t embarrassing in 2013 when the rot started, teams have off years. It wasn’t too bad in 2014, a new project was in the offing, they were prepping for that, in 2015 it was understandable, brand new supplier but it looked very bad, in 2016 it was just sad to see Button and Alonso wasted and it had to be fixed imminently.

          This year? To see them actually go backwards? It’s cripplingly embarressing for Honda, very bad for McLaren and pretty an ugly look for a sport that needs better teams to improve it’s competition.

          For the last 3 years, there hasn’t been a competition. It’s been an intermural practice between Mercs two drivers. The word for this isn’t embarrassment perhaps, it’s certainly not good.

          1. They started in 2015, got MUCH better in 2016, and in 2017 we do not know their speed yet. You are judging on 4.5 days testing and not in season pace.

        1. Their in season development was nothing spectacular.. they were more competitive in Monaco, Barcelona and Canada than they were later on at Brazil and Abu Dhabi.

          As I’ve mentioned before, when you start at ground zero, anything can be considered progress. It in no signifies that Mclaren have the ability to catch up on front runners.

          1. Nah, thinking logically the cars are covering the same distance, but quicker. The distance covered dictates the potential for interactions and covering the distance quicker merely changes the speed at which they occur relative to one another.

            Take last year, not a lot happened in some races and a lot happened in others. If they where driving cars that where 5 seconds faster and everything else remained the same it would have been the same season, compressed.

            Action happening with smaller interludes of no action creates the impression that more happened.

            Good thing!

            (Not saying this year is going to be good though, the other thing that’s changes is those cars are going to be pumping out massive wakes, certainly a bad thing)

  81. Looking at the whole test so far, the gap between the fastest car and the slowest is just 2.8 seconds. I’d be amazed if it’s that low once the season begins. It could easily be twice as much. To me this is an indication the cars are still well within their potential.

    1. Its a farce, Honda is really in my view really hurting their reputation, they just can not sort it out, a problem with baffles in the oil tank, maybe causing oil starvation, hence engine out, now second test and more problems. ML should just full stop work, be done with Honda and work to be back by third GP with any of the existing suppliers, hell at this point ask for a 2016 Ferrari engine and rely on your chassis know how to get in the points

  82. Personally Im tired of waiting for Honda to get their act together.It would have been a different matter if they were fast but unreliable keeping the progress from last year but now they have gone backwards.This new Honda is unregognisable and clearly a disgrace to the Historical partnership that holds the record of 15/16 GP. Either they bring a fast engine in Melbourne or Mclaren should seriously go back to Mercedes. Mclaren fans cannot wait anymore. 17 years without a championship.

        1. True maybe they are not ready or interested for F1….. but they could run a F1 project and we don’t know that…. few years back and even last years there was rumors about AUDI running a project for F1… but like i said was only rumors…. will be exiting to see them back again

        2. Could they do worse? The only positive thing Honda has done in F1 for years was to create the double-diffuser but even then, they managed to mess it up and quit the sport before they got to see it on track.

          So far this millennium, Honda have made Pirelli look professional….

        1. yeah Renault and Mercedes could be the answer but i can’t see Mclaren going back to Mercedes and about Renault i don’t know red bull could not be happy about it………one thing for sure is Mclaren are not seen the light at the end of the tunnel yet

      1. It’s hard to see any new manufacturers coming in until the regulations change simply because they’d be so far behind.

        Besides which, BMW have said they’re not interested and Audi have just canned their WEC programme because VAG need to save a fortune to pay for dieselgate.

        And even if they accepted being a customer team again, who’s to say Mercedes would agree to supply them? Like Red Bull, they would surely threaten to be too competitive…

        1. Not so sure if other teams would think of Mclaren as being “too competitive”, DEFINITELY not in the league of Red Bull.

          2013 and 2014 showed that Mclaren wasn’t the top Mercedes customer team.
          2015 and 2016 don’t show the relative greatness of Mercedes chassis as Mclaren are the only one using Honda engine
          In 2016, team bosses went on record saying that Toro Rosso had the weakest engine but Toro Rosso was still fighting tooth and nail with Honda. Implying that the Mclaren chassis was definitely not “too competitive” but at par or below the Toro Rosso chassis.

  83. It is pretty dramatic to see McL with no main sponsor, with an engine partner that cannot put together a package drivers can go all out with after three years, both companies having spent huge amounts of money and leaving their sponsors and fans (not to say the drivers) with the feeling that once again they have a full year ahead until getting any kind of decent result. In a normal company that would be a shutdown, sale or drastic change of direction, at least.

    1. Not only dramatic but bad for the sport. F1 is nothing without the big battles of Mclaren Ferrari and Williams. Nobody cares about the rest. These are the most important teams and those who dominate the sport.

  84. Massa and Vettel comfortably over 700 km each, Massa returned to the pits after 760 km, giving Vettel a chance to catch up in the remaining 15 minutes.
    Impressive stuff. I didn’t expect such mileages, but the drivers are obviously well prepared.

      1. … and the red flag stops them after 167 laps, or 777 km, each. They fall just short of Mercedes’ record-breaking 170 laps from Day 3, but they improve Vettel’s individual record of 139 laps (achieved on the same day) by almost half a race distance. Things are looking pretty good for Ferrari and Williams in terms of stamina and reliability.

  85. The only good thing I have seen from Mclaren in those test sessions is the fact that the engine is not the one that they will bring in Australia. I keep my fingers crossed that the race engine will be superior and trouble free.

  86. Here are the overall best times for all the teams for the full test at the end of day five:

    1. Mercedes – 1’19.705
    2. Williams – 1’19.726 (+0.021)
    3. Red Bull – 1’19.900 (+0.195)
    4. Ferrari – 1’19.906 (+0.201)
    5. Force India – 1’21.347 (+1.642)
    6. Renault – 1’21.396 (+1.691)
    7. Haas – 1’21.676 (+1.971)
    8. Toro Rosso – 1’21.743 (+2.038)
    9. Sauber – 1’21.824 (+2.119)
    10. McLaren – 1’22.537 (+2.832)

        1. I though I read somewhere the abbreviation was kept safe for the drives for 3 years, so it only became available now.

          To me this makes sense, sort of… I guess the personal numbers of nowadays are also kept safe. I imagine some will maybe be retired for good along with the pilots (thinking of Rossi’s 46 there).

        2. The problem was that Verge stayed as reserve driver at Ferrari – as result VER was still occupied when Verstappen joined F1. As Verge no longer is reserve driver at Ferrari the abbreviation VER became available.

  87. 1. Valtteri BottasMercedes W08: 1’21.229 13 laps
    2. Max VerstappenRed Bull RB13: 1’22.172 (+0.943), 13 laps
    3. Felipe MassaWilliams FW40: 1’22.455 (+1.226), 16 laps
    4. Kimi RaikkonenFerrari SF70H: 1’22.926 (+1.697), 13 laps
    5. Nico HulkenbergRenault RS17: 1’24.417 (+3.188), 13 laps
    6. Sergio PerezForce India VJM10: 1’24.566 (+3.337), 7 laps
    7. Fernando AlonsoMcLaren MCL32: 1’35.717 (+14.488), 6 laps
    8. Romain GrosjeanHaas VF-17: (+), 9 laps
    9. Pascal Werhlein – Sauber C36: (+), 8 laps
    10. Carlos Sainz JnrToro Rosso STR12: (+), 1 laps
    Last updated at: 10:04 CET

  88. 1. Max VerstappenRed Bull RB13: 1’20.516 29 laps
    2. Valtteri BottasMercedes W08: 1’21.229 (+0.713), 31 laps
    3. Felipe MassaWilliams FW40: 1’21.618 (+1.102), 32 laps
    4. Kimi RaikkonenFerrari SF70H: 1’22.926 (+2.410), 15 laps
    5. Carlos Sainz JnrToro Rosso STR12: 1’23.569 (+3.053), 12 laps
    6. Sergio PerezForce India VJM10: 1’24.059 (+3.543), 17 laps
    7. Romain GrosjeanHaas VF-17: 1’24.201 (+3.685), 25 laps
    8. Nico HulkenbergRenault RS17: 1’24.417 (+3.901), 23 laps
    9. Pascal Werhlein – Sauber C36: 1’24.951 (+4.435), 28 laps
    10. Fernando AlonsoMcLaren MCL32: 1’34.732 (+14.216), 11 laps
    Last updated at: 11:03 CET

  89. I’m guessing there are problems in the Mclaren garage again. If there aren’t any problems, then it looks even more ridiculous that Alonso has put in only one timed lap which is 14 seconds off the pace he should be doing.

    1. And that’s the first time the five second benchmark time has been beaten (1’19.681). Worth nothing super softs are unlikely to be used at this year’s Spanish Grand Prix, though, and the weather conditions will be a lot warmer. But even so it’s a sign of progress.

  90. There’s a lot of talk about Mc Laren and Sauber are more or less surviving so going around slowly is ok… But what’s up with Toro Rosso ? Their car looked pretty sleak, they have a 2017 engine…. Any information ?

        1. True. Haas might be saved from second season syndrom due to Renault engine lagging (still they don’t seem to have the same step in performance as other cars). Renault (team) seem to be doing ok though. Force India seem also quite far from n°4 potential. Never mind, it’s only testing.

  91. 1. Valtteri BottasMercedes W08: 1’19.310 52 laps
    2. Felipe MassaWilliams FW40: 1’19.909 (+0.599), 49 laps
    3. Max VerstappenRed Bull RB13: 1’20.432 (+1.122), 34 laps
    4. Nico HulkenbergRenault RS17: 1’21.213 (+1.903), 40 laps
    5. Kimi RaikkonenFerrari SF70H: 1’21.324 (+2.014), 21 laps
    6. Carlos Sainz JnrToro Rosso STR12: 1’22.139 (+2.829), 32 laps
    7. Romain GrosjeanHaas VF-17: 1’22.428 (+3.118), 40 laps
    8. Pascal Werhlein – Sauber C36: 1’23.000 (+3.690), 45 laps
    9. Fernando AlonsoMcLaren MCL32: 1’23.041 (+3.731), 25 laps
    10. Sergio PerezForce India VJM10: 1’24.059 (+4.749), 37 laps
    Last updated at: 12:12 CET

  92. A quick look at the driver mileage chart: Bottas has covered the most so far, followed by Vettel, they’re the only two drivers to have passed 2,000 kilometres. Bottas has done seven race distances in five-and-a-half days of testing!

    Out of the regular race drivers it’s no surprise to see Wehrlein at the bottom (428km) followed by Stroll (512km). Massa has now done almost three times as much running as his young team mate.

  93. Times as we break for lunch:

    1. Valtteri BottasMercedes W08: 1’19.310 67 laps
    2. Felipe MassaWilliams FW40: 1’19.420 (+0.110), 63 laps
    3. Kimi RaikkonenFerrari SF70H: 1’20.406 (+1.096), 36 laps
    4. Max VerstappenRed Bull RB13: 1’20.432 (+1.122), 34 laps
    5. Nico HulkenbergRenault RS17: 1’21.213 (+1.903), 58 laps
    6. Sergio PerezForce India VJM10: 1’21.297 (+1.987), 49 laps
    7. Carlos Sainz JnrToro Rosso STR12: 1’21.872 (+2.562), 43 laps
    8. Romain GrosjeanHaas VF-17: 1’22.428 (+3.118), 51 laps
    9. Pascal Werhlein – Sauber C36: 1’23.000 (+3.690), 56 laps
    10. Fernando AlonsoMcLaren MCL32: 1’23.041 (+3.731), 27 laps
    Last updated at: 13:00 CET

  94. Here’s the quickest times by each team over all six days:

    1. Mercedes – 1’19.310
    2. Williams – 1’19.420 (+0.11)
    3. Red Bull – 1’19.900 (+0.59)
    4. Ferrari – 1’19.906 (+0.596)
    5. Renault – 1’21.213 (+1.903)
    6. Force India – 1’21.297 (+1.987)
    7. Haas – 1’21.676 (+2.366)
    8. Toro Rosso – 1’21.743 (+2.433)
    9. Sauber – 1’21.824 (+2.514)
    10. McLaren – 1’22.537 (+3.227)

  95. So did FI have a trouble free morning? Below I see talk of how McLaren still has issues, which somewhat masks the issues Renault teams, and especially Torro Rosso have been having, but in the 1st week, and yesterday, FI also weren’t impressive – has that changed today?

          1. Except if MercedesGP have been rumbled mixing oil into the fuel perhaps the non-works Mercs powered teams can get closer :D

  96. A lot of people, myself included, suspect the times we’ve seen so far are nowhere near what the cars can actually do right now. With that in mind let’s make a realistic assumption and see where it gets us.

    Last year Williams were just under 1.7% slower than Mercedes on average. It would be a surprise if they’re closer than that this year for two reasons. They have the same engine, so they can’t gain any ground there. And Mercedes have a much larger team with far greater resources to explore the potential of the relaxed aerodynamic rules. If Williams have just kept pace with Mercedes’ rate of development and are still 1.7% behind, that will have been a good winter’s work for them.

    So if we assume Williams are at least as far behind Mercedes as they were last year, what kind of times can Mercedes do? Williams has set a best of 1’19.420, just a tenth off Mercedes. But if that 1.7% gap is still there, Mercedes can get down to a 1’18.0.

    Of course this is purely hypothetical. But based on what we know I think it’s realistic. Particularly as Pirelli were predicting the teams could break into the 1’17s when it comes to qualifying at this track.

    1. I mostly agree with your analysis, as a lap time of 1:18.0 sounds feasible. On the other hand, I don’t think Williams have shown 100% yet, and if they do have more performance in hand, those 1.7% become increasingly difficult to achieve.
      I don’t think that a 1.7% gap is some kind of soft limit for Williams. The 2016 Williams was their weakest creation under the old aero regulations, whereas Mercedes and Red Bull achieved a breakthrough that resulted in massive performance gains. These gains might have vanished under the new regulations, potentially allowing Williams to start the season quite a bit closer to Mercedes even with an undeniably much smaller development budget. Mercedes will probably use that budget to increase their advantage during the season, but I think it’s quite possible that they haven’t reached a development stage where their concept is vastly superior to most other cars.

      1. I recall having read an article about that last week (from Williams perhaps?) – the size of the tyres will apparently be more an issue with maneuvering them than the weight, and with the nuts deeper inside, will be harder to operate the wheel guns.

        1. Hopefully in the last 2 days we see some long runs from the engine without issues. Mclaren deserve to be with the top three battling for podiums and wins not trying to get a point or 2. Have to wait and see but the light at the end of the tunnel seems still far away.

  97. Worth noting this year’s engines need to cover five grands prix between changes to avoid penalties. That’s 1,525km in the races alone, never mind qualifying and practice. Some teams haven’t done that much yet over six days, and they’ve had engine changes too. Mercedes and Ferrari have already done more than twice that much.

    1. Alonso got a few days in the hospital in what appeared to be a minor crash… some claim he got an electric shock…so yeah they should overreact in those situations no matter how little the incident looks like..in my opinion every second count

  98. 1. Valtteri BottasMercedes W08: 1’19.310 67 laps
    2. Felipe MassaWilliams FW40: 1’19.420 (+0.110), 63 laps
    3. Kimi RaikkonenFerrari SF70H: 1’20.406 (+1.096), 52 laps
    4. Max VerstappenRed Bull RB13: 1’20.432 (+1.122), 37 laps
    5. Lewis HamiltonMercedes W08: 1’20.702 (+1.392), 41 laps
    6. Nico HulkenbergRenault RS17: 1’21.213 (+1.903), 58 laps
    7. Sergio PerezForce India VJM10: 1’21.297 (+1.987), 70 laps
    8. Carlos Sainz JnrToro Rosso STR12: 1’21.872 (+2.562), 64 laps
    9. Lance StrollWilliams FW40: 1’22.217 (+2.907), 33 laps
    10. Romain GrosjeanHaas VF-17: 1’22.428 (+3.118), 57 laps
    Last updated at: 15:59 CET

  99. A red flag for Ericsson has brought today’s running to an end. Thanks for joining in everyone. Here’s today’s report:

    https://www.racefans.net/2017/03/08/bottas-sets-new-benchmark-as-raikkonen-crashes/

    And here’s the fastest times for each team so far:

    1. Mercedes – 1’19.310
    2. Williams – 1’19.420 (+0.11)
    3. Red Bull – 1’19.900 (+0.59)
    4. Ferrari – 1’19.906 (+0.596)
    5. Haas – 1’21.000 (+1.69)
    6. Force India – 1’21.297 (+1.987)
    7. Renault – 1’21.396 (+2.086)
    8. Toro Rosso – 1’21.743 (+2.433)
    9. Sauber – 1’21.824 (+2.514)
    10. McLaren – 1’22.537 (+3.227)

  100. When Hamilton does his 18th lap today Mercedes will have reached 4,000 kilometres of pre-season testing. Ferrari are next-best, they started the day just over 3,200km.

    As you’d expect McLaren is at the bottom of the pile on 1,550km. Alonso said yesterday: “We’re not fully ready to complete a race distance at the moment, and we’re only two weeks away from the first race.”

    1. Keith, do you remember if they completed a race distance in pre season testing in 2015. I remember that they had longer stints in 2015 than they do this year. I believe their longest stint this year in pre season testing has been lesser than 20 laps.

  101. As things are still warming up… What really happened at McLaren behind the curtains, with the exit of Dennis and the recently hired Capito ? I don’t anything about Formula 1 politics, but seems to me there was obviously a power struggle. We all know the problem Dennis had with some major investors, but on the Formula 1 side, looking at how Capito was out without even practical having time to “begin”, means that internal politics ousted him. I always thought there was a conflict in both Boullier and Capito having similar jobs, albeit with different names, in the structure. Everyone seems to be fighting for their jobs in that team. Why haven’t we heard any sacking rumours for Boullier? Maybe that was what Dennis wanted to do?

    1. Capito was definitely a Dennis hire which is why he was straight out of the door afterwards. Boullier had been brought in a while earlier. I haven’t read anyone claiming to know the inner workings of the board but I think it’s significant that many long-term McLaren sponsors have gone in recent years such as Boss and TAG. These were names which came in the early Dennis glory years. How have they become alienated from the team? That will have factored in the board’s loss of faith in Dennis I’m quite sure. It may well be more that than the team’s recent lack of results, because the strategy of teaming up with a manufacturer does make sense, Honda’s problems aside.

      1. Definitely, the McLaren-Honda partnership makes sense and going “costumer”doesn’t make much sense if one is to compete for constructors and drivers titles. Red Bull is a bit of a different situation with their history with Renault, and I would say Williams is the best case scenario I would envision a costumer relationship with an engine supplier would take McLaren to. But there should be something fundamentally wrong not only on Honda’s side for these developments. While this is McLaren Honda, its fundamentally McLaren the Manufacturer responsible overall to make everything come together. I can’t help but think there was a big reason for Dennis to hire Capito.

  102. With two hours completed:

    1. Lewis HamiltonMercedes W08: 1’20.626 35 laps
    2. Daniel RicciardoRed Bull RB13: 1’20.824 (+0.198), 16 laps
    3. Sebastian VettelFerrari SF70H: 1’21.615 (+0.989), 31 laps
    4. Kevin MagnussenHaas VF-17: 1’22.427 (+1.801), 18 laps
    5. Daniil KvyatToro Rosso STR12: 1’22.529 (+1.903), 21 laps
    6. Esteban OconForce India VJM10: 1’22.887 (+2.261), 28 laps
    7. Jolyon PalmerRenault RS17: 1’23.283 (+2.657), 25 laps
    8. Stoffel VandoorneMcLaren MCL32: 1’23.298 (+2.672), 14 laps
    9. Marcus EricssonSauber C36: 1’24.085 (+3.459), 22 laps
    10. Lance StrollWilliams FW40: 1’25.887 (+5.261), 42 laps
    Last updated at: 10:57 CET

  103. That may be the best time yet for McLaren but they’re still bottom of the pile on combined times:

    1. Mercedes – 1’19.310
    2. Williams – 1’19.420 (+0.11)
    3. Red Bull – 1’19.900 (+0.59)
    4. Ferrari – 1’19.906 (+0.596)
    5. Renault – 1’21.213 (+1.903)
    6. Force India – 1’21.297 (+1.987)
    7. Haas – 1’21.676 (+2.366)
    8. Toro Rosso – 1’21.743 (+2.433)
    9. Sauber – 1’21.824 (+2.514)
    10. McLaren – 1’22.055 (+2.745)

    And yes, I know I keep saying it, but no way is the entire field covered by just 2.7 seconds!

          1. Why is everyone expecting the gap to be bigger this year?
            Last year the backmarkers where two teams that barely made it to the starting grid and then teams like McLaren and Renault figuring new stuff out and taking an off year. Only McLaren seems to be struggeling like last year so i fully expect the backmarkers being more competive this year.

      1. He definitely needs more time in the car and less time with whoever’s doing his media training. Trying to get him to say anything remotely interesting is tricky. It’s a shame because I’ve read past interviews with him where he’s been interesting and candid. But he seems to be another rookie who’s caught the F1 disease of speaking in press releases.

      1. last year Mercedes fastest preseason lap was 7tenths slower than Ferraris, then in melbourne they are 4tenths quicker than Ferrari. If we take their sandbagging into account Ferrari is still need to optimise their setup and improve their engine. Dont they?

  104. Some news that Kimi ran a new spec of PU and hence the issue with fluids and the rear spin causing the accident.

    Hope Ferrari have gotten over those problems. That is more important that the times themselves.

    Ferrari will be comfortably third. It is the gap to first/second that needs to be closed.

    1. They’ve moved up from last though!

      1. Mercedes – 1’19.310
      2. Ferrari – 1’19.341 (+0.031)
      3. Williams – 1’19.420 (+0.11)
      4. Red Bull – 1’19.900 (+0.59)
      5. Renault – 1’21.213 (+1.903)
      6. Force India – 1’21.297 (+1.987)
      7. McLaren – 1’21.671 (+2.361)
      8. Haas – 1’21.676 (+2.366)
      9. Toro Rosso – 1’21.743 (+2.433)
      10. Sauber – 1’21.824 (+2.514)

  105. 1. Sebastian VettelFerrari SF70H: 1’19.341 46 laps
    2. Esteban OconForce India VJM10: 1’20.161 (+0.820), 43 laps
    3. Lewis HamiltonMercedes W08: 1’20.626 (+1.285), 43 laps
    4. Daniel RicciardoRed Bull RB13: 1’20.824 (+1.483), 28 laps
    5. Kevin MagnussenHaas VF-17: 1’21.129 (+1.788), 36 laps
    6. Stoffel VandoorneMcLaren MCL32: 1’21.671 (+2.330), 27 laps
    7. Jolyon PalmerRenault RS17: 1’22.418 (+3.077), 31 laps
    8. Daniil KvyatToro Rosso STR12: 1’22.529 (+3.188), 21 laps
    9. Marcus EricssonSauber C36: 1’23.330 (+3.989), 67 laps
    10. Lance StrollWilliams FW40: 1’24.863 (+5.522), 79 laps
    Last updated at: 12:05 CET

      1. They are breaking into 1:18s on SS as Vettel backed off by about 0.7 seconds in S3 on the 1:19.314 lap.. evidenced by the fact that the next lap’s S3 was 0.7 seconds faster (total time was 1:19.4xx).

        So, witht he US, a high 1:17s must be possible.

  106. At the Red Flag:

    1. Sebastian VettelFerrari SF70H: 1’19.314 52 laps
    2. Esteban OconForce India VJM10: 1’20.161 (+0.847), 46 laps
    3. Lewis HamiltonMercedes W08: 1’20.626 (+1.312), 43 laps
    4. Daniel RicciardoRed Bull RB13: 1’20.824 (+1.510), 34 laps
    5. Kevin MagnussenHaas VF-17: 1’21.129 (+1.815), 36 laps
    6. Stoffel VandoorneMcLaren MCL32: 1’21.348 (+2.034), 30 laps
    7. Jolyon PalmerRenault RS17: 1’22.418 (+3.104), 31 laps
    8. Daniil KvyatToro Rosso STR12: 1’22.529 (+3.215), 21 laps
    9. Marcus EricssonSauber C36: 1’23.330 (+4.016), 76 laps
    10. Lance StrollWilliams FW40: 1’24.863 (+5.549), 85 laps
    Last updated at: 12:20 CET

  107. It seems inherently, the Ferrari has outright pace. That said, I remember the W04 had inherent one lap pace but chewed the tyres leading to not so impressive race pace. Or the 2012 Ferrari which was slow in qualy but electric in the races. Qualifying pace is one thing, race pace quite another.

  108. Here are the updated fastest times by each team for the whole test so far:

    1. Ferrari – 1’19.024
    2. Mercedes – 1’19.310 (+0.286)
    3. Williams – 1’19.420 (+0.396)
    4. Red Bull – 1’19.900 (+0.876)
    5. Force India – 1’20.161 (+1.137)
    6. Toro Rosso – 1’20.416 (+1.392)
    7. Haas – 1’20.863 (+1.839)
    8. Renault – 1’21.213 (+2.189)
    9. McLaren – 1’21.348 (+2.324)
    10. Sauber – 1’21.824 (+2.8)

  109. It hasn’t been a seamless start to the 2017 season for last year’s ‘best of the rest’ Force India, with the team looking like a middle-of-the-pack team so far.

    On top of balance and exhaust issues, Auto Motor und Sport report that the VJM10 is 10 kiograms too heavy. That comes down to the bigger-than-expected new Mercedes engine, and the fact that both Sergio Perez and Esteban Ocon have increased muscle mass.

    “We told them that they can only weigh 70 kilos in Melbourne,” technical director Andrew Green said.

    Because of this extra weight, it is claimed that Force India will not be running any qualification sims in Barcelona.

  110. Some of the hype which is being posted about the lap times is very silly. Apparently Ferrari have “blistering Barcelona pace”. They’re 0.286 seconds faster than the next car (Mercedes).

    They may well be quickest and if they are good for them. But hype like this gets very wearisome. We had it last year when Ferrari were also quickest in testing. Their advantage 12 months ago was 0.257s – just a few hundredths less than it is right now.

    So to start talking them up to extent some people are is ridiculous. And it will only fuel the sense of disappointment if they turn up to the first race and Mercedes are still the best part of a second ahead.

    1. Well said Keith, every lap time during testing should be taken with a pinch of salt. To me the standout lap so far was Hamilton’s 1:20.4 yesterday on soft tyres and at least 16 laps worth of fuel.

    2. Strange seeing this post from your Keith. If the new members are indeed looking at absolute lap times and thinking Ferrari is the fastest, they will get their answer in the first race.

      Or maybe Ferrari are indeed faster and it is what is seen in the tests.

      Why get worked up over that hype?

        1. Ah! ok. I know that Gary has been crowing from the top about Ferrari this year.

          Makes me think, if they did end up using a similar testing method as last year, it still means Ferrari did a good job this year and Merc are a lil’ worse this year.

          Since last year it was all about how the Merc was a spaceship while the Ferrari looked good but lil’ nervous around the corners, not able to gracefully ride the kerbs etc.

          28th Mar is only a few weeks away. Can’t wait.

  111. An hour into the afternoon session:

    1. Sebastian VettelFerrari SF70H: 1’19.024 71 laps
    2. Lewis HamiltonMercedes W08: 1’19.352 (+0.328), 52 laps
    3. Esteban OconForce India VJM10: 1’20.161 (+1.137), 69 laps
    4. Daniil KvyatToro Rosso STR12: 1’20.416 (+1.392), 58 laps
    5. Daniel RicciardoRed Bull RB13: 1’20.824 (+1.800), 51 laps
    6. Kevin MagnussenHaas VF-17: 1’20.863 (+1.839), 55 laps
    7. Stoffel VandoorneMcLaren MCL32: 1’21.348 (+2.324), 33 laps
    8. Jolyon PalmerRenault RS17: 1’22.418 (+3.394), 31 laps
    9. Marcus EricssonSauber C36: 1’23.330 (+4.306), 88 laps
    10. Valtteri BottasMercedes W08: 1’23.515 (+4.491), 12 laps
    11. Pascal WehrleinSauber C36: 1’23.536 (+4.512), 9 laps
    12. Lance StrollWilliams FW40: 1’24.863 (+5.839), 85 laps
    13. Felipe MassaWilliams FW40: 1’25.341 (+6.317), 14 laps
    Last updated at: 14:59 CET

  112. Times at the Red Flag with two hours 23 minutes left in the day:

    1. Sebastian VettelFerrari SF70H: 1’19.024 96 laps
    2. Lewis HamiltonMercedes W08: 1’19.352 (+0.328), 52 laps
    3. Esteban OconForce India VJM10: 1’20.161 (+1.137), 87 laps
    4. Daniil KvyatToro Rosso STR12: 1’20.416 (+1.392), 76 laps
    5. Kevin MagnussenHaas VF-17: 1’20.760 (+1.736), 60 laps
    6. Daniel RicciardoRed Bull RB13: 1’20.824 (+1.800), 75 laps
    7. Stoffel VandoorneMcLaren MCL32: 1’21.348 (+2.324), 33 laps
    8. Valtteri BottasMercedes W08: 1’22.038 (+3.014), 32 laps
    9. Jolyon PalmerRenault RS17: 1’22.418 (+3.394), 43 laps
    10. Pascal Werhlein – Sauber C36: 1’23.208 (+4.184), 15 laps
    11. Marcus EricssonSauber C36: 1’23.330 (+4.306), 88 laps
    12. Lance StrollWilliams FW40: 1’24.863 (+5.839), 85 laps
    13. Felipe MassaWilliams FW40: 1’25.195 (+6.171), 28 laps
    Last updated at: 15:36 CET

      1. I’m pretty sure it is. I’m expecting them to hit number 10 tomorrow… which is the exact number of power units they’re assigned for the entire season.

        Glad to see Mclaren Honda finally breaking some records in formula 1

  113. Good afternoon everybody. Can’t follow the test as I did last year, so thank you all for feeding in the info. And Will for the great insight over at the circuit

    In other news, it seems that the McLaren has an electical issue today. Anyone knows if there is at least one component that works properly on that PU?

  114. Interesting long run comparisons…

    Vettel (medium tyres): 1:23.22; 1:23.493; 1:23.792; 1:23.859; 1:23.795; 1:23.734; 1:23.679; 1:23.618; 1:23.546; 1:23.403; 1:24.390; 1:24.197; 1:24.268; 1:25.106; 1:25.818; 1:25.900; 1:29.662; 1:24.716; 1:24.978; 1:26.457; PITS

    Bottas (soft tyres): 1:24.151; 1:23.855; 1:23.383; 1:23.530; 1:23.508; 1:23.643; 1:23.849; 1:23.641; 1:23.637; 1:23.816; 1:23.927; 1:23.637; 1:23.563; 1:23.629; 1:23.537; 1:23.577; 1:23.604; 1:36.581; 1:23.177; PITS

    Ricciardo (soft tyres): 1:24.470; 1:24.530; 1:24.850; 1:24.556; 1:24.586; 1:24.586; 1:24.171; 1:24.184; 1:24.638; 1:24.274; 1:24.784; 1:24.715; 1:24.641; 1:24.743; 1:24.544; 1:24.652; 1:24.591; 1:24.939; 1:24.859; 1:24.902; 1:25.226

    1. I put this into a chart and it’s very interesting. Vettel and Bottas even until around lap 10 when Vettel starting to drop off his pace, whereas Bottas remained consistent throughout. Ricciardo very consistent, about 1-2 seconds slower than both Bottas and Vettel.

      1. Worth noting of course that Vettel is on the medium tyre, which makes his drop off after lap 10 questionable. Still consistently faster than the RBR however, although the number of laps suggests RBR could be much more heavily fuelled.

          1. do the tyres without thermal degradation still have the ‘cliff’ or is it now merely a ‘slight decline’?

    1. Very much appreciate all pictures, and a big ‘well done’ for always finding the appropriate pictures with your articles.

      Just out of interest, where do you find those images, and do you have to pay for them or does copyright mentioning suffice.

  115. The times with only 25 minutes remaining:

    1. Sebastian VettelFerrari SF70H: 1’19.024 146 laps
    2. Lewis HamiltonMercedes W08: 1’19.352 (+0.328), 52 laps
    3. Esteban OconForce India VJM10: 1’20.161 (+1.137), 134 laps
    4. Daniil KvyatToro Rosso STR12: 1’20.416 (+1.392), 93 laps
    5. Kevin MagnussenHaas VF-17: 1’20.504 (+1.480), 102 laps
    6. Daniel RicciardoRed Bull RB13: 1’20.824 (+1.800), 112 laps
    7. Stoffel VandoorneMcLaren MCL32: 1’21.348 (+2.324), 48 laps
    8. Valtteri BottasMercedes W08: 1’21.819 (+2.795), 81 laps
    9. Pascal Werhlein – Sauber C36: 1’22.347 (+3.323), 33 laps
    10. Jolyon PalmerRenault RS17: 1’22.418 (+3.394), 53 laps
    11. Marcus EricssonSauber C36: 1’23.330 (+4.306), 88 laps
    12. Felipe MassaWilliams FW40: 1’24.443 (+5.419), 67 laps
    13. Lance StrollWilliams FW40: 1’24.863 (+5.839), 85 laps
    Last updated at: 17:35 CET

  116. Thanks as always for joining in guys, here’s today’s session report:

    https://www.racefans.net/2017/03/09/ferrari-fastest-but-vettel-keeps-pace-in-reserve/

    And as we head into the final day of testing a look at the fastest times by each team so far:

    1. Ferrari – 1’19.024
    2. Mercedes – 1’19.310 (+0.286)
    3. Williams – 1’19.420 (+0.396)
    4. Red Bull – 1’19.900 (+0.876)
    5. Force India – 1’20.161 (+1.137)
    6. Toro Rosso – 1’20.416 (+1.392)
    7. Haas – 1’20.504 (+1.48)
    8. Renault – 1’21.213 (+2.189)
    9. McLaren – 1’21.348 (+2.324)
    10. Sauber – 1’21.824 (+2.8)

      1. But for teams with drivers who have different driving styles, it causes more time for tune-ups, isn’t it?

        Time would be wasted aligning the car to suit the needs of a different driver during different halves of a day.

        Anyway, seems that the approach is doing something positive. Else why would more teams adopt it.

  117. After the first hour:

    1. Lance StrollWilliams FW40: 1’22.123 25 laps
    2. Carlos Sainz JnrToro Rosso STR12: 1’22.638 (+0.515), 11 laps
    3. Kimi RaikkonenFerrari SF70H: 1’22.704 (+0.581), 7 laps
    4. Valtteri BottasMercedes W08: 1’22.731 (+0.608), 10 laps
    5. Fernando AlonsoMcLaren MCL32: 1’22.731 (+0.608), 3 laps
    6. Sergio PerezForce India VJM10: 1’22.970 (+0.847), 15 laps
    7. Nico HulkenbergRenault RS17: 1’23.345 (+1.222), 9 laps
    8. Marcus EricssonSauber C36: 1’25.345 (+3.222), 20 laps
    9. Romain GrosjeanHaas VF-17: (+), 10 laps
    10. Max VerstappenRed Bull RB13: (+), 4 laps
    Last updated at: 9:59 CET

  118. Other than Hulkenberg in the Renault, there have been no major improvements, milestones or incidents to really shout about so far this morning.

    Emphasis seems to be on longer runs. Stroll is already approaching 40 laps in the Williams.

    1. Massa’s lap times were just as slow yesterday. I think they simply ran a completely different programme. I’m pretty sure they did tell Stroll to get his act together after last week, but seeing as that didn’t stop him from posting (relatively) fast lap times on Wednesday, it’s pretty unlikely that that was the reason for his slow pace.

      1. If your watch was slow and unreliable.

        Could understand one bad trait.
        “McHonda is slow, but at least it’s reliable” or “McHonda is unreliable, but at least its fast”

        But, for three seasons its been this brutal combo. When will it end for this once great team?

  119. Times at the Red Flag:

    1. Nico HulkenbergRenault RS17: 1’19.885 25 laps
    2. Max VerstappenRed Bull RB13: 1’20.110 (+0.225), 12 laps
    3. Lance StrollWilliams FW40: 1’20.335 (+0.450), 47 laps
    4. Valtteri BottasMercedes W08: 1’21.311 (+1.426), 25 laps
    5. Kimi RaikkonenFerrari SF70H: 1’21.891 (+2.006), 19 laps
    6. Marcus EricssonSauber C36: 1’22.101 (+2.216), 42 laps
    7. Sergio PerezForce India VJM10: 1’22.622 (+2.737), 28 laps
    8. Carlos Sainz JnrToro Rosso STR12: 1’22.638 (+2.753), 17 laps
    9. Romain GrosjeanHaas VF-17: 1’22.670 (+2.785), 23 laps
    10. Fernando AlonsoMcLaren MCL32: 1’22.731 (+2.846), 16 laps
    Last updated at: 11:20 CET

    1. The point is that although they’d be faster than they are now, they would be too dependent on Merc for their liking. For example, apparently FI has weight issues because Merc lengthened the gearbox and they had to adapt.

      Not sure if it’s even true, but they point is of course Mercedes will build the engine first and foremost for their car, not their customers.

      McLaren wants to have the same relationship with Honda, and I can 100% agree that it’s the right idea to beat the likes of Ferrari and Mercedes instead of being dependent on them.

      They only thing is of course it’s not working out because the Honda engine is a piece of ….

      1. True but McLaren is no strager to Mercedes and had to act cause this situation is terrible. Look at RBR being good only their engine is not that great (Renault), McLaren know how to build good chassis but they lack a good engine so going back to Mercedes is the best option IMO

        1. Short term: absolutely. No doubt about it.

          Long term not so much because Merc will always be better at being Merc than Williams, FI and McLaren.

          McLaren weren’t satisfied with being a better Williams or FI, they wanted to be a long term championship contender. However, it’s quite obviously not working out. At all. The thing is, if they give up on their long term idea and go back to another engine supplier, where do they go from there?

          1. If I remember correct Mercedes had the same problems back in 2010 and needed 4 years to be a Top winning team but you could see every year making Progress. Honda hasn’t shown any Progress at all which is unnaceptable for one of the best manufacturers worldwide, not to mention their good past in terms of engines since the teams they worked with had the best results with their engines (Championships with Williams, Mclaren, 1999 Jordan Honda 3rd in the Championship, Prost Honda having their best finishes, BAR Honda). Their performance is unnaceptable today. Mclaren has to do something. Either they get their shit together and deliver in record time of 1 or 2 GP an engine that is close to the Top and reliable or remove themselves from F1 and stop torturing Mclaren with their amateurish ways.

      2. Mclaren needs to arrange a similar relationship with Mercedes as Red Bull did with Renault. I’m sure it will be more difficult to arrange as Mercedes’ works team is in a different league as compared to Renault…. but they will have to try and at least become Mercedes’ #1 customer team to stand a chance of even reaching the podium. With Honda, the best they can aim for is making it in to Q3.

    2. Not sure you can say they have no intention to get their act together, the Japanese have a very proud culture and don’t like to be embarrassed publically (more so than most other cultures) so this would be hurting Honda greatly.
      If they can actually get it together, well maybe that’s another story- I hope they do!

  120. Current times:

    1. Max VerstappenRed Bull RB13: 1’19.491 18 laps
    2. Valtteri BottasMercedes W08: 1’19.845 (+0.354), 36 laps
    3. Nico HulkenbergRenault RS17: 1’19.885 (+0.394), 33 laps
    4. Lance StrollWilliams FW40: 1’20.335 (+0.844), 47 laps
    5. Carlos Sainz JnrToro Rosso STR12: 1’20.896 (+1.405), 22 laps
    6. Sergio PerezForce India VJM10: 1’20.950 (+1.459), 33 laps
    7. Kimi RaikkonenFerrari SF70H: 1’21.382 (+1.891), 25 laps
    8. Marcus EricssonSauber C36: 1’21.670 (+2.179), 52 laps
    9. Romain GrosjeanHaas VF-17: 1’21.714 (+2.223), 30 laps
    10. Fernando AlonsoMcLaren MCL32: 1’22.731 (+3.240), 18 laps
    Last updated at: 11:57 CET

    1. I started watching F1 around 1996-97, and I don’t remember them being massively handicapped with a Mercedes engine ever. Sure, it wasn’t as reliable as the Ferrari and Renault, but it could match them in performance pretty often.

      At no point would I say that Mercedes had severely handicapped Mclaren. Honda on the other hand has literally made Mclaren a back marker.

      1. Agreed, Mercedes always had performance even if they didn’t have reliability. Honda have not produced a good engine in some time. Their V8 engine was not good, deemed as heavy, not fuel efficient and peaky in its not so impressive power. The last competitive engine they produced was in the V10 era.

        McLaren though have little in the way of alternative options. It is very unlikely that Mercedes or Ferrari would give them an engine. Their original point is still valid, you are unlikely to win a championship as a customer engine team. However Honda really need to get some help in and listen to it!

          1. McLaren as you say do not deserve these engine troubles. MaddMe, where do you think they could go for an alternative engine supply?

  121. 1. Kimi RaikkonenFerrari SF70H: 1’18.634 42 laps
    2. Max VerstappenRed Bull RB13: 1’19.438 (+0.804), 26 laps
    3. Carlos Sainz JnrToro Rosso STR12: 1’19.837 (+1.203), 37 laps
    4. Valtteri BottasMercedes W08: 1’19.845 (+1.211), 46 laps
    5. Nico HulkenbergRenault RS17: 1’19.885 (+1.251), 45 laps
    6. Sergio PerezForce India VJM10: 1’20.116 (+1.482), 43 laps
    7. Lance StrollWilliams FW40: 1’20.335 (+1.701), 55 laps
    8. Romain GrosjeanHaas VF-17: 1’21.429 (+2.795), 39 laps
    9. Marcus EricssonSauber C36: 1’21.670 (+3.036), 59 laps
    10. Fernando AlonsoMcLaren MCL32: 1’22.731 (+4.097), 19 laps
    Last updated at: 12:50 CET

    1. Well i would assume they are 1 second or more quicker because of development and the rulechange is maybe adding another 5sec to that so its all in order. Maybe they didnt expect the teams making such huge improvements on their own.

  122. Ferrari have made the fastest times on super softs and softs and mediums by over half a second if my calculations are correct. online comments from press at the circuit says they are the most stable car out there also. I think at the moment Mercedes only has enough to nearly match Ferrari. should be a great season. Redbull have not got much aero on their car yet, and are setting up a perfect base with their car to install quick aero upgrades. I think Ferrari v merc up to the Monaco gp, and then Redbull come to the fight.

        1. Why not? It’s the last day of testing? You don’t sandbag, then turn the car up to max at Melbourne and something breaks there…. that would be lunacy. Personally, I would put Ferrari and Merc about level going into the first race.

          1. Why would they? if you lift on top speed on one of the straights you get to test everything and not reveal to the rest what times you can achieve, but still easily calculate them. Everybody’s hiding something, it’s what makes it exciting.

  123. these cars should break f1 record lap times, but I they are 100kg heavier than the old 600kg cars, so they should be quite physical on the drivers. I wonder about the g forces on some hot days at some tracks…

    1. Physically Singapore seems to be the hardest on the drivers as is so humid, but not a high G force circuit, so it will be interesting so see at what tracks they struggle and who done their gym work, as opposed to posting photos at the gym :)

      1. Likely the race in Malaysia as it’s a high G track with plenty of high speed corners and hard deceleration zones plus the usual hot and humid conditions. That should be a real test of driver stamina his year!

        1. Yes good call there, same climate of Singapore of course.

          Some are saying it will be like the 80′ & 90’s where some drivers needed to be pulled out of the car, I don’t think it will as the physical fitness and diets are so much more advanced these days, but it will make them stand up and take notice- that’s ok, they get paid ok.

    2. The car weight doesnt affect how “physical” it is. If its high G forces its high G forces no matter what you are in. Theres no heavy wheel or janky shiftlever to hustle with so its basicly just keeping up with G forces while staying focused. With the drivers racking up several racedistances a day without braking a sweat i wouldnt be to worried about it though. Its mostly pr talks.

  124. Does any one have the information regarding best sector times per team for all three sectors? Usually this can be an indication of who is sandbagging. I know we all want to figure out if Ferrari or Redbull are actually going to challenge Mercedes this year, this might point to something.

  125. I think Merc’s problem right now is trying to tame a beast as opposed to finding more. Corner exit speed on that merc is immense, Bottas having a bigger lift thru turn 9 than the rest, Lewis referring to the car as a ‘beast’ and just general opinion from track side observers (including Martin Brundle) kinda points to the fact that the car might be too fast. I could be wrong.

    1. it would be REALLY interesting if the expected horsepower advantage of the Mercedes unit turned out to be a hindrance. it would make for a really good season, with Mercedes dominating the faster tracks and struggling in the slower ones…

    1. Well, in Sauber’s case, I’d argue their largest constraint there would be money @rethla! But seriously, since it is a Ferrari engine, their einge supplier will have made it VERY clear that they are not able to even come close to anything like that. The Engines aren’t sold to a team, they are leased, including a crew to operate them, to analyse everything and to advice on setttings.
      Off course things are different for the ones that make the engines, but there is a process, because there are rules about providing the same engine to all supplied teams.

  126. Excellent use of ‘post-prandial’ by whoever’s manning the Force India Twitter account at the moment. There’s a phrase you don’t see often enough in F1.

    Fairly quiet at the moment, I think we may have seen the fast lappery for now, meaning Ferrari bag another two weeks of good publicity!

  127. So the latest 2017 issue seems to be that teams will have serious fuel amount issues (especially in Melbourne and Bahrein). The amount of fuel allowed is too little for the new changes, which means races will be … wait for it… fuel saving races! (oh the banter)

    1. Even if the fuel amount is increased, they are always going to run with the minimum amount required. So this will always be there I suppose.

      Until the other teams are equal in performance and adventurous in strategies to go for an extra pitstop and push all the way to the end.

      But the 4 PU rule is going to put an end to that I suppose.

      So it’s all dark either way :)

    2. There always has been and always will be fuel saving in F1 (without refueling) as any excess KG cost them dearly.
      Fuel saving is not as bad a tyre saving as it allows for more – and more strategic – racing during ‘non-saving parts’ of the GP

  128. 1. Kimi RaikkonenFerrari SF70H: 1’18.634 48 laps
    2. Max VerstappenRed Bull RB13: 1’19.438 (+0.804), 33 laps
    3. Carlos Sainz JnrToro Rosso STR12: 1’19.837 (+1.203), 44 laps
    4. Valtteri BottasMercedes W08: 1’19.845 (+1.211), 53 laps
    5. Nico HulkenbergRenault RS17: 1’19.885 (+1.251), 45 laps
    6. Sergio PerezForce India VJM10: 1’20.116 (+1.482), 65 laps
    7. Lance StrollWilliams FW40: 1’20.335 (+1.701), 71 laps
    8. Lewis HamiltonMercedes W08: 1’21.020 (+2.386), 6 laps
    9. Romain GrosjeanHaas VF-17: 1’21.429 (+2.795), 44 laps
    10. Marcus EricssonSauber C36: 1’21.670 (+3.036), 59 laps
    11. Fernando AlonsoMcLaren MCL32: 1’22.731 (+4.097), 19 laps
    12. Pascal Werhlein – Sauber C36: 1’24.940 (+6.306), 10 laps
    Last updated at: 14:59 CET

    1. well.. not sure if only Honda is to blame here. There are lots of parts made by MCL and looking at last year there were some amateuristic designs ( like a broken rearwing and so on)
      So i do not count out MCL for some of the errors.

    2. if i was MCL Fan i would blame Honda all the way because,OK last few years with the token changing the design was impossible, but this year they started and here again seems another trouble season…..

  129. 1. Kimi RaikkonenFerrari SF70H: 1’18.634 72 laps
    2. Max VerstappenRed Bull RB13: 1’19.438 (+0.804), 33 laps
    3. Carlos Sainz JnrToro Rosso STR12: 1’19.837 (+1.203), 68 laps
    4. Valtteri BottasMercedes W08: 1’19.845 (+1.211), 53 laps
    5. Nico HulkenbergRenault RS17: 1’19.885 (+1.251), 45 laps
    6. Sergio PerezForce India VJM10: 1’20.116 (+1.482), 90 laps
    7. Lewis HamiltonMercedes W08: 1’20.199 (+1.565), 19 laps
    8. Lance StrollWilliams FW40: 1’20.335 (+1.701), 97 laps
    9. Jolyon PalmerRenault RS17: 1’21.211 (+2.577), 10 laps
    10. Romain GrosjeanHaas VF-17: 1’21.429 (+2.795), 54 laps
    11. Marcus EricssonSauber C36: 1’21.670 (+3.036), 59 laps
    12. Fernando AlonsoMcLaren MCL32: 1’22.412 (+3.778), 25 laps
    13. Pascal Werhlein – Sauber C36: 1’24.940 (+6.306), 23 laps
    Last updated at: 15:47 CET

        1. Yeah, I’ve seen a video now (apparently just before the spin), looks like something broke, either a suspension or oil leaking onto the tyres, because the handling looked way too wobbly for his speed at that moment.

  130. 1. Kimi RaikkonenFerrari SF70H: 1’18.634 97 laps
    2. Max VerstappenRed Bull RB13: 1’19.438 (+0.804), 47 laps
    3. Carlos Sainz JnrToro Rosso STR12: 1’19.837 (+1.203), 116 laps
    4. Valtteri BottasMercedes W08: 1’19.845 (+1.211), 53 laps
    5. Lewis HamiltonMercedes W08: 1’19.850 (+1.216), 28 laps
    6. Nico HulkenbergRenault RS17: 1’19.885 (+1.251), 45 laps
    7. Sergio PerezForce India VJM10: 1’20.116 (+1.482), 118 laps
    8. Jolyon PalmerRenault RS17: 1’20.205 (+1.571), 30 laps
    9. Lance StrollWilliams FW40: 1’20.335 (+1.701), 113 laps
    10. Romain GrosjeanHaas VF-17: 1’21.110 (+2.476), 76 laps
    11. Marcus EricssonSauber C36: 1’21.670 (+3.036), 59 laps
    12. Fernando AlonsoMcLaren MCL32: 1’21.811 (+3.177), 37 laps
    13. Pascal Werhlein – Sauber C36: 1’24.940 (+6.306), 37 laps
    Last updated at: 17:17 CET

  131. I get this feeling that Mclaren-Honda is set to retire both cars in the first GP. And even if they finish, they’d be behind everyone else.

    4 years of R&D, yet Honda seems unable to build a PU capable enough lasting a whole weekend, let alone closing performance gaps.

  132. Thanks for joining in everyone, here’s the report on the final day:

    https://www.racefans.net/2017/03/10/raikkonen-leaves-ferrari-on-top-as-mclarens-misery-goes-on/

    And here’s the updated Lap Time Watch:

    https://www.racefans.net/2017/03/10/lap-time-watch-2017-pre-season-testing-day-eight/

    Thanks for following our coverage from the track over the last two weeks. We’ll be back in less than two weeks for the Australian Grand Prix!

    Before then the new IndyCar season will begin, see you this Sunday for the first race from St Petersburg.