F1 - GP (General Purpose)

Chode ^ | 8/5/2009 | Chode

[Yo-Yo]

I was noticing how small the side pod air ducts are on the McLaren.

[clintonh8r]

Thanks. Nice to see papaya on a McLaren again!

[Chode]

100%!!!

[Lockbox]

When the engine does not constantly blow up you can design for less cooling.

[Chode]

Formula 1 testing: Snow and rain ruins day three of pre-season testing

Snow settled on the circuit during day three of winter testing at Circuit de Catalunya

The third day of pre-season testing was a write-off as a result of snow, rain and freezing weather at Spain's Circuit de Barcelona-Catalunya.

The start was delayed for more than three hours because the medical helicopter was unable to fly in the poor conditions after overnight snow.

Only five drivers left the pits and only Fernando Alonso set a timed lap.

McLaren's Alonso was the first out on track and he joked that the "car is performing well in the snow so far".

His fastest time of two minutes 18.545 seconds was a minute off a fast dry lap time as the Spaniard managed 11 laps in total.

Alonso, Red Bull's Daniel Ricciardo and Toro Rosso's Brendon Hartley were the only drivers to complete more than one lap - two each for Ricciardo and Hartley - and Ricciardo had a trip through the gravel but was able to extricate his car and return to the pits.

As temperatures climbed slowly above freezing in the afternoon, the early snow and sleet turned to heavy rain, but Ricciardo's mishap emphasised why running was so restricted - teams wanted to avoid risking damaging their cars.

The weather is expected to improve for the final day of this week's first test on Thursday, with highs of 15C predicted on a cloudy day with intermittent showers.

The second and final pre-season test runs from 6-9 March. The opening race is the Australian Grand Prix in Melbourne's Albert Park on 23-25 March.

• Day three testing - live
• Vote: Who has the best-looking car?
• When testing gets testing

Snow also affected the end of the second day of testing on Tuesday.

Haas team principal Guenther Steiner said: "You don't learn anything. We will never race in this circumstance, and the only thing you do is risk the car.

[Doogle]

.....good thing the chains didn’t slow em down

[Chode]

heh heh heh heh... wonder if rain tires work as good as snow tires

[Doogle]

...wonder if the seats are absorbent?

[Chode]

maybe the desert county race seats where their butt must sweat a gallon

[Lockbox]

Ok, McLaren fastest today! We take any victory no matter how small. Pray for snow for Australia race.

[Doogle]

Must hose them down with Aqua Ve....
LOL.....by the time they get to the
podium

[Chode]

LOL!!! pretty much

[ROCKLOBSTER]

You don't learn anything. We will never race in this circumstance, and the only thing you do is risk the car.

Yeah, they already have rain tires, they just haven't discovered studded snow tires yet.

[Chode]

100%

[Yo-Yo]

Mercedes may be in for some real competition this year.

Sebastian Vettel and Ferrari Obliterate Circuit De Catalunya's F1 Lap Record

Four-time Formula 1 World Champion Sebastian Vettel set a blistering lap that put the rest of the field on notice.

BY JERRY PEREZ MARCH 8, 2018

After hovering near the top of the timesheets for several days now, Ferrari's Sebastian Vettel managed to squeeze the most out of his SF17H to clock in the fastest time ever for a Formula 1 car around the famous Circuit de Catalunya, near Barcelona, Spain. The German driver eclipsed the previous best time set by Daniel Ricciardo at the wheel of his RB14 by almost one whole second.

The four-time F1 champ took advantage of the cool ambient temperatures and dry track conditions to push his Ferrari and its new Pirelli Hypersoft tires to the limit for a total of 84 laps, with the scorching lap recorded shortly before the track closed for lunch break. In order to comprehend just how quick Vettel's lap really is, The Drive went back to the archives and unearthed the following: Lewis Hamilton's pole-setting lap time in 2016 was 1:22.000 and 1:19.149 in 2017. Vettel's recent lap was 1:17.182, that's nearly five seconds faster than Hamilton's 2016 pole.

The second-to-last testing day is only halfway over, which means that there's plenty of time for Mercedes-AMG, Red Bull, and even Ferrari to dip into the one-sixteens. Unfortunately, according to the FIA rules, lap times set during pre-season tests do not count as official track records, which means that Vettel's laps will go down in history as an "unofficial track record" unless it's bested today or tomorrow, of course.

[Chode]

compliments of Yo-Yo

[Chode]

Do you feel like Formula 1 could use a healthy dose of risqué restarts in order to drum up some artificial excitement? Well, the FIA thinks so, and it’s already giving its master plan a trial at this week’s second and final pre-season test in Barcelona, Spain. Needless to say, the stunt was received with mixed emotions in the paddock, as well as in the grandstands.

Drivers for Mercedes, Ferrari, Williams, Haas and Red Bull F1 teams were the guinea pigs in the first-ever systems-check, which took place at the end of open track testing on Tuesday, according to Motorsport. The standing restart system will operate via the same trackside light panels that currently announce the presence of a safety car (SC) or virtual safety car (SFC) to the drivers, but they will display standing start (SS) or rolling start (RS) instead. Drivers will also receive warning lights on their steering wheels, as well as confirmation via their onboard radios on which type or restart will be taking place.

Perhaps the most important tidbit that still isn’t clear is what criteria the FIA will follow or what the deciding factors will be to implement a standing restart, or not, during a Grand Prix. Of course, this is merely an attempt to artificially enhance the quality of racing for the sake of viewership, but it’s far from being fair. Why should a leading driver be forced to bring his car to a halt and further degrade his clutch, engine, and tires for the sake of “spicing things up?”

Most of the drivers kept to themselves about the restart gimmick, with the exception of Renault’s Kevin Magnussen. “This surface needs a lot of temperature,” said Magnussen. “The restart stuff we did at the end was impossible. We couldn’t have done that in a race, I couldn’t get my tires to work at all - I could barely get going.”

http://www.thedrive.com/accelerator/19055/formula-1-drivers-test-new-standing-restart-system-in-spain

[Lockbox]

Better tires count for a lot.

[Yo-Yo]

Pirelli said that last year’s compounds were too long lasting, making for too many one-stop races. They may have softened up the entire range of tires in hopes of lowering their longevity.

[Lockbox]

More tire options and greater wear makes for interesting racing!