re: F1 Car Reveals 2017

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1. Kimi Raikkonen FIN Ferrari-Ferrari 1m 20.960s (108 laps)
2. Lewis Hamilton GBR Mercedes-Mercedes 1m 20.983s (66)

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FYI, Kimi set his time on softs and Lewis was on super-softs.

Bottas' time was only a tenth better than his time on supersofts so there's probably a lot more to be gained there. Also observers are saying that the Ferrari looks very stable and planted while the Mercedes looks a little understeery*. This could be due to the fact that the Mercs are running an "engineering setup" designed to give them the data they need. They so far haven't attempted to optimize the setup to achieve better times.

ETA: Vettel just ran a 1:20.6 on softs...
ETA2: ...and now a 1:19.952 on softs.

*For example, Hamilton is running a race simulation on mediums. He is having to lift on the entry to turn 3 in order to get the front end to bite. Normally that turn is flat out or very nearly so. As his tires wear, he is having to lift more and more coming into that sweeper.

ETA3: Stroll binned it coming out of turn 5. Williams can't catch a break.

I don't think it's a case of deliberate sandbagging. I think they're just running a very vanilla setup so that they acquire the data they want in the way they want. I expect to see their times drop substantially next week. I'm hoping the same is true of the Ferraris.

Today was for testing wets and inters but it doesn't look like many teams ran on the wet track. Most teams have a shortage of spare parts this early in the season and I don't think they wanted to jeopardize further testing if one of their drivers had an incident in the wet.

Kimi and Max did run in the wet, turning in 1:40-ish times. Lewis didn't seem too interested in running in the wet and the team said they were working on "an electrical problem". Mmmmkay.

The reviews of the full wets were positive but Pirelli said they were planning to improve the compound further by China. Nobody much cared for the inters though, which is odd because that compound wasn't changed from last year. The complaint was that they were only good for a lap or two before they fell off.

Overall Kimi set the best time at 1:20.9 on softs and a total of 93 laps. Grojean got in a full day of work with 118 laps. Hamilton didn't run at all and Bottas put in 68 laps in the afternoon session once the track dried out.

That's it for this round of testing. They're back at it next week.

Poor guy.

He has a ways to go yet to beat the Maldozer. Grosjean was a wrecking ball at first too. You learn more from your mistakes than your successes so he must be learning a lot.

The joke in the Williams garage is "you break it, your daddy buys it."

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I like the amount of laps HAAS has been able to log this year. Much needed after the rookie campaign's testing had a lot of (expected) bumps & hiccups.

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Sounds like they're still dealing with the brake issue they had last year.
LINK

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Pretty cool video Formula 1 posted to YouTube. It's a side by side comparing last years pole to Raikkonen this year. It's amazing how much faster the cars are. I'm officially excited.