Yeah, weâll see. All the analysts say the same thing. When Ferrari or Red Bull does a quick time, itâs ominous. When McLaren does it, itâs a glory run and everyone else is sandbagging. Gmph.
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Its just because I donât want heartbreak from Mclaren again - I dont want that hope yet
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I think we can all agree that there is nothing wrong with McLarenâs straight line speed. Sainzâ lap was purple in all 3 sectors not just in time but also in speed, and heâs topping the speed trap as well. Vettelâs 2018 test time topper was 1:17.182 which he did on the Hypersoft tyre. Sainz did his on a cold surface with C4 (Soft) tyres.
BUT (you know I like big buts!) not long after setting the time, Sainz stopped on exiting the pits and brought out the red flag. âSainz stopped on track because of a loss of water pressure - he should be out again soon.â It was a short break - only 20 mins - but, a lot like Norris yesterday, it does speak to the possibility of mechicals ruining McLarensâ party. Itâs early days yet though, and this is exactly what testing is for, so hopefully they get things sorted and you Macca lovers can actually have something genuine to smile about come Melbourne.
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Straight off at Turn 3 at fair speed. Contact with the barriers. Vettel out of the car and walking around it
Ferrari says a âmechanical problemâ caused Vettelâs off. Those track to barrier straight lines across the gravel definitely indicate that. No specifics on what the problem was yet. Vettelâs been taken to the medical centre as a precaution. Depending on the problem, this may eat into Leclercâs scheduled running again.
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McLaren keeping the headlines hyped⌠Hereâs the reason that Fernando never officially âretiredâ from F1 and was being retained by McLaren as a âTeam Ambassadorâ.
Heâs back! Well, sort of, as @McLarenF1 and Fernando Alonso formalize a partnership that will see the Spaniard actively support the development of the teamâs F1 cars in 2019 and 2020. f1i.com/news/331379-fe
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Just a quick âcurb-your-enthusiasmâ post.
Below was the final best times achieved during last yearâs pre-season testing at the same track
Do not read into times and pace for ANY car, be it a red one, blue one, silver one or orange one or any other colour for that matterâŚ
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Hammer, destroyer of dreams.
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Yes, maybe Iâm falling into the old overoptimism trap⌠Fact is, based on what weâve seen so far, that 1:17.1 is a quick time. Maybe itâs a flash in the pan, may the car actually has some pace in it.
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Let me say this though. The comments last year was one of woe and issues for McLaren during testing, with them having more mechanical breakdowns than the top 3 teams combined. The comments were also that the car seemed slow and sluggish, and McLaren even commented that themself.
This is year different. The talk in the paddock is not one of worry for McLaren, it is one of optimism. Last year they got to that time once, on a low fuel qualifying simulation run. This year they have consistently proven they can get the quick times in. While the overall time sheet means nothing, HOW those times are achieved is more telling than anything else.
So I would be you can be cautiously optimistic about their upcoming season.
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And now rebuilder of dreams also
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No sign of Leclerc yet, so Ferrari have lost almost half the afternoon session already. Most other teams seem to be doing long runs on medium or harder tyres.
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Just 2 days of 2019 F1 pre-season testing left to go in Barcelona. Hereâs the highlights from Day 6:
And the end-of-day times and lap counts:
Clearly an excellent all round day for Sainz and McLaren. His 1:17.144 stands as the fastest time in pre-season testing so far this year. And having set it early on in the morning session, it remained the only 1:17 time on the board until late in the afternoon when it was joined by Sergioâs +0.698 time.
A extra big plus on the McLaren testing scorecard was their joint lap count topping P1 yesterday as well, despite the water pressure problem that Sainz experienced soon after setting that top time. 130 laps on the day, pleasing matched by Robert Kubica in the still-playing-catch-up Williams, and Max Verstappenâs 128 laps for the Honda powered Red Bull. The top team lap count for the day again went to Mercedes with Hamilton and Bottas combining a number of race simulation drives to complete a total of 176 laps.
Biggest talking point for the day was (obviously) the Sebastian Vettel off circuit excursion midway through the morning session. The heavy impact crash necessitated a trip to the circuit medical centre for the German and a 40-minute halt to proceedings to repair the barriers.
The cause has not been detailed, although images seen by Motorsport.com revealed the left side of the front wing was making contact with the track as Vettel went off.
Vettel said he did not know âmuch more than everyone knowsâ when asked during Wednesdayâs lunch break what happened to cause the crash.
âBy the feeling, there was an issue with the front left corner,â he said. "From there, there was nothing I could have done to avoid the impact.
"I wasnât in control anymore and went more or less straight into the barriers. We are flat out trying to understand [what happened].
Isolating the cause of the failure amongst the heavily damaged front-end of the car must be very frustrating for the team. They spent the remainder of the day investigating, rebuilding and analysing things. All of which resulted in Charles Leclercâs scheduled afternoon session being spent in the garage. They did manage to get the car moving again enough for a single installation lap late in the day, but that was it. Leclercâs driving time this week has been seriously hampered and the team has decided to revert to their full day per driver approach for today and tomorrow.
Ferrari noted that it âhas decided to have its drivers do a complete day each at the wheel, so that the work can progress in a more linear fashion," adding: âCharles will drive tomorrow, before handing over to Sebastian for the final day.â
Hopefully the youngster can get a decent and full day on track today on his last opportunity before Australia.
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I saw a video of the accident, it was from a crappy angle, but just before he went off track something went poof - big cloud of white could be seen from the front of the car.
It looked like a huge lockup to me, but then again we cant see much
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Yeah, definitely something big on the left side as he goes into the turn. Based on the very straight trajectory he takes from there to the barrier, Iâm leaning towards a major steering and brake failure possibly connected to some sort of hydraulics failure.
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Day 7 of 8 is almost upon us. Iâd love to see some other teams do glory ru⌠I mean, show ominous pace.
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