Apparently, George Russell is actually sitting in the FW42. We’ll find out soon enough whether it’s a real car.
And it currently looks like the Haas is the problem child…
They did a lap!! Hallelujah!
And I just watched a video, and it doesnt sound terrible
The Haas just broke down again. Third time this week, apparently. It seems quick enough but maybe a touch fragile.
In the first session this morning it was the breaks, now I wonder what is causing this breakage
I know Sainz also lost some body parts
Here is the FW42, at last. The livery is a bit boring but it doesn’t look terrible out in the real world.
Apparently a piece of that interesting beam wing of theirs came off. He was running again soon afterwards.
On the topic of Haas, I just tried to google Rich Energy. There’s a rabbit hole I’m not going to fall down.
Yeah, this picture of the guy behind it should tell you everything you need to know. Next we’ll hear he’s looking to contribute to Trump’s Space Defence Force.
Haha well he has space something on his sleeve there. Perhaps he beat you to the punchline?
Day 3 done and dusted in Barcelona. Running was brought to a slightly premature end 5 minutes from the close by another Red Flagged Grosjean in the Haas breakdown.
The timing screens had top 3 teams look that you don’t see very often:
Both Kvyat and Raikkonen’s 1:17s were set on the C5 tyre (the softest compound available, Super Softs?), while Ricciardo’s P3 time was on C4s (the normal Softs?). The 2 Mercs at the bottom end of the time chart really should not be an issue right now. Mercedes have always been cagey about their machine’s true pace in the early part of Testing, choosing to rather focus on long runs and aero work, and taking the time to test the different tyre compounds. The reality is that Testing times are mostly meaningless as the teams all follow their own programmes and testing requirements. (In other words, don’t be fooled by Mercs apparent lack of speed.)
A context note on those times: Hamilton’s Spanish Grand Prix pole time last year was 1:16.173 while Ricciardo’s fastest race lap was 1:18.441. Last year’s pre-season Test 1 fastest time was Hamiltons’ 1:19.333, and the fastest time in testing overall last year was Vettels’ 1:17.182 set in the 2nd test session.
The days lap counts look like this:
Total laps:
Raikkonen - 138
Kvyat - 137
Vettel - 134
Verstappen - 104
Hamilton - 94
Sainz - 90
Bottas - 88
Ricciardo - 80
Grosjean - 69
Perez - 67
Hulkenberg - 63
Fittipaldi - 48
Russell - 23
Pretty much a shakedown session for the Williams, and a big performance by Lewis and Bottas in the Merc splitting the day to add a massive 182 laps for the team today. Individual 100+'s from Raikkonen, Kvyat, Vettel, and Verstappen and team centuries for Mercedes, Haas (despite the regular issues) and Renault all point again to some remarkably reliable machines this year. Honourable mention too to Sainz for his 90 laps today.
Mmm they made this look real interesting, plus last year was actually an action packed season with all the drama and crashes.
Right, time for a quick review of Test Day 3’s highlights before the final day of the first test gets underway:
And then some interesting take-aways from an AMuS article (very roughly Google translated and edited for clarity):
Mercedes team boss Toto Wolff admits that Ferrari has a faster car. Then he and his technical director James Allison packed their bags and started the journey home. In Brackley and Brixworth the lights will not go out in the next few days.
"The picture is slowly building. Ferrari is faster on a lap, more consistent and incredibly reliable. That presents us with a great challenge. We have to fight back. That alone will keep the motivation in the team high.”
New Ferrari team boss Mattia Binotto warns: “Mercedes is good at solving problems. If they are behind, they’ll catch up quickly.”
Red Bull sees that differently. “We are ahead of Mercedes, and the times of Ferrari do not cause much concern,” said Motorsport Director Helmut Marko.
The gap to Ferrari is currently difficult to quantify. In any case, half a second, but possibly more. “It’s hard to read the lap times because everyone seems to be driving a different program this year,” the engineers explain.
At Mercedes, the hopes are now focused on a large aerodynamic upgrade package, which should come to the car in the second week of testing.
And Helmut Marko promises: “The car you see here is not the car that will drive in Melbourne.”
I think the point that Wolff and Allison are already heading back to the factory before the end of the test is pretty telling. Can’t recall a time that’s happened before? It suggests that they’ve accepted there’s not much more they can get out of the car at the circuit right now, and their time would be better spent analyzing the data collected so far and pushing for improvements before the next round of testing.
Also, I’m not sure if Marko’s comment about not being the car that will be in Melbourne is a reference to the Red Bull or the Merc specifically, but it’s an important point either way. And in reality applies to all of the cars. Testing is testing. Racing is where it matters.
Lewis definitely looks like he’s taken advantage of the new minimum driver weight changes and bulked up over the season break. First time I’ve noticed it in this pic from yesterday, and he’s fully clothed in it.
Expect to see him stripping off his race suit at any and every opportunity throughout the season 
Fascinating piece of analysis. I wonder how much of it is true. There is no doubt Ferrari have looked very good, but Mercedes in typical fashion have not done soft tyre runs and have not gone for out and out pace just yet. They have also done tons of laps, 180 yesterday alone, with no breakdowns. So I’m not convinced all the alarm bells are genuine.
If anything, the Mercedes may be a touch too conservative, and perhaps cannot be pushed further in its current configuration. Then again, the Ferrari is also markedly similar to last year’s car. Both teams have clearly stuck to concepts that they understand and have worked for them in the past. So I’m not quite sure how Ferrari have suddenly found half a second over the Mercs, if indeed they have.
I also seem to think that Mercedes is sandbagging and have likely done the tests they needed. Sadly I think Melbourne will be another Mercedes Blitzkrieg