Barcelona Test - Day Three

3rd & 7 37yd

I have to say, it's quite interesting seeing the perceptions of Vettel change since his move to Ferrari. Last year we ran a poll similar to this and Vettel had a percentage similar to JB does now.

by Nate Saunders 2/21/2015 3:24:26 PM
Do you have any info on way williams lap count is so low every day??

by Gustavo Echenagucia 2/21/2015 3:24:35 PM
@GustavoEchenagucia: Yesterday Massa told us Williams is ticking a lot of boxes here in Barcelona, getting things done and focusing on aero tests on the car. I doubt we'll see a race simulation until next week.

by Nate Saunders 2/21/2015 3:25:22 PM
From the tests so far Merc engines still holds the advantage over Ferrari and Renault only thing is Ferrari leapfrogged Renault engine but how close they are to Merc? I do believe they are very close but not yet to the level of beating them, can't wait till Melbourne

by Senthil 2/21/2015 3:25:28 PM
@Senthil: I think the pecking order will remain similar to order in terms of the top three to last year (Mercedes - Renault - Ferrari), albeit with reduced gaps between all three. Where Honda fits in that equation is still the key question.

by Nate Saunders 2/21/2015 3:26:20 PM
Mclaren has finally sent Button out on another lap. He completed just 12 laps this morning.

by Nate Saunders 2/21/2015 3:27:03 PM
The Inside Line: Arrivabene welcome
ESPN F1The Inside Line on ESPN F1 is brought to you by Kate Walker, the editor of GP Week magazine, and provides an alternative look at the big issues in Formula 1

by Nate Saunders 2/21/2015 3:44:07 PM
For those of you asking why Arrivabene would only want 'two' wins this seaosn, The Inside Line here explains why a moderate outlook is the best for all parties at Ferrari.

by Nate Saunders 2/21/2015 3:44:32 PM
When will McLaren finally call Button and Alonso for a sabatiical year?

by Racing Fan edited by Nate Saunders 2/21/2015 3:45:10 PM
Why would they do that?

by Nate Saunders 2/21/2015 3:45:16 PM
Are force India still testing out tyres

by Garry 2/21/2015 3:45:21 PM
@Garry: That's all they've really been able to do this week, running an old car has limited the data it can take.

by Nate Saunders 2/21/2015 3:45:41 PM
Button ticks over to lap 17.

by Nate Saunders 2/21/2015 3:46:02 PM
As you can see, the order hasn't changed for a while. Only the lap counter changing at the time being. Buton has just trundled back into the pit lane.

by Nate Saunders 2/21/2015 3:48:51 PM
This year Mercedes will have it a lot tougher to win the championship. All the other teams are having a MUCH better pre season with lots of laps under there belts, and les cars burning in the gravel hahahahaha. Can wait for Melbourne.

by Gustavo Echenagucia 2/21/2015 3:49:08 PM
@GustavoEchenagucia: Mercedes has still accumulated more laps. From what I've heard in the paddock, the engine Renault is running now is basically the one it plans to homologate next week - therefore its effectively its race engine for Australia. So anything extra Mercedes shows next week would be very telling.

by Nate Saunders 2/21/2015 3:50:18 PM
Heading out again, this time on the soft tyres #ME9 #F1 http://pbs.twimg.com/media/B-YRuusIEAAcaAm.jpg

by Sauber F1 Team via twitter 2/21/2015 3:50:35 PM
I have an upgrade on why McLaren's running has been so limited.

by Nate Saunders 2/21/2015 3:51:11 PM
Upgrade? Update.

by Nate Saunders 2/21/2015 3:51:18 PM
Someone find me a Red Bull can.

by Nate Saunders 2/21/2015 3:51:31 PM
After the morning session, we found similar issues to Thursday. We will now resume testing this afternoon with limited power to the MGU-K.

by McLaren via twitter 2/21/2015 3:51:44 PM
A new re-engineered seal is scheduled to arrive and will be applied later this evening. #F1Testing

by McLaren via twitter 2/21/2015 3:51:45 PM
So that means McLaren will be out again later this evening.

by Nate Saunders 2/21/2015 3:51:58 PM
Ericsson moves up to fourth on the soft tyre, slotting in behind Hamilton. Verstappen has just clocked lap number 120.

by Nate Saunders 2/21/2015 3:55:09 PM
Out again later? Isn't it already close to end of day?

by sat edited by Nate Saunders 2/21/2015 3:55:17 PM
@sat: Just over an hour left, yes. But every lap is crucial at this stage so McLaren will go out when it can - even if just for a lap.

by Nate Saunders 2/21/2015 3:55:49 PM
Honda tends to build performance first then add reliability. Problem is there is not a lot of testing time available.

by Michael 2/21/2015 3:55:53 PM
I think Max Verstappen is awesome considering the age he is

by Max edited by Nate Saunders 2/21/2015 3:55:58 PM
As its tough to infer much about the race pace as of now and with limited number of laps the McLaren has put in, I would really like to know the positives that McLaren has in your purview, except of the fact of a strong driver line-up.

by Sitank 2/21/2015 3:57:07 PM
@Sitank: McLaren is demonstrating exactly what testing is for. It knows it's not going to be in an ideal position in Melbourne - it's known that from the moment it signed with Honda for this year. The biggest benefit of Honda, and the main motivator for the switch, is that McLaren is no longer a customer outfit to another team on the grid. Ron Dennis said in the modern world of F1 a customer team could never win a championship and he's right.

by Nate Saunders 2/21/2015 3:58:33 PM
With the personnel at the disposal of both teams, too, it won't be long until things get back on track.

by Nate Saunders 2/21/2015 3:58:56 PM
As a Ferrari fan Its sad to see a McLaren one of the most successful team in history of F1 to start at this low reliability. They should have continued with Mercedes until Honda perfected their power unit. Hope for some kind of miracle from now till Australia.

by Bart 2/21/2015 3:59:59 PM
@Bart: Honda cannot perfect its power unit if it does not have a car to put it in.

by Nate Saunders 2/21/2015 4:00:11 PM
Do you think ferrari sandbagging their pace?

by Kriz 2/21/2015 4:08:54 PM
@Kriz: No.

by Nate Saunders 2/21/2015 4:08:59 PM
This whole 'sandbagging' thing is really overrated - especially during testing. There is no benefit for the teams holding back pace and no point just chasing headline times, they are all collecting more data than just "are we quick over one lap".

by Nate Saunders 2/21/2015 4:09:40 PM
Then why mercedes have not tested their engines to full power?

by Kriz 2/21/2015 4:11:59 PM
@Kriz: All sorts of reasons. You keep pushing the limits of the engine until you find something. There are also fuel loads to consider, aero tests, all sorts of things. Fans think the times are the only story here and frankly it gets repetitive making the same point over and over again.

by Nate Saunders 2/21/2015 4:12:49 PM
@Nate. You really got the point here. Testing is all about getting datas in any configurations, and with different drivers, it even help more. the most important thing is to have the right thing when it is time to go... (Melbourne)

by MIKEB 2/21/2015 4:12:59 PM
I think Honda was quite naïve when decided to make of McLaren the only team to provide engines for.

by Racing Fan 2/21/2015 4:13:08 PM
@RacingFan: McLaren wouldn't have it any other way. It may have benefited from a customer car, like a McLaren B Team, but for the time being they are pooling all of their collective resources together.

by Nate Saunders 2/21/2015 4:13:57 PM
hmmm, can you please explain the term " homologate " for this straight, milk drinker with no gates at his home.

by burnettbull 2/21/2015 4:15:04 PM
@burnettbull: Homologate means the manufacturers have to present an engine to the FIA which is then effectively locked in for the season. Unlike last year, though, each team has the ability to use tokens to make upgrades in the seasons, though these are limited to 48% of the engine.

by Nate Saunders 2/21/2015 4:15:53 PM
redbull was in same position last year as same as mclaren but they were winning too after bad pre season testing..... who knows honda come up with some serious pace and power that would cause aome serious threat to other teams

by ankur 2/21/2015 4:25:08 PM
40 laps and no time yet? What's up with Williams

by Sulaiman 2/21/2015 4:25:18 PM
@Sulaiman: Massa set a time earlier today. Bottas has been doing pit stop practice and other little aero tests today, coming back into the garage every time.

by Nate Saunders 2/21/2015 4:25:41 PM
We have another stoppage at the end of the pit lane.

by Nate Saunders 2/21/2015 4:38:40 PM
It's Verstappen's Toro Rosso.

by Nate Saunders 2/21/2015 4:39:17 PM
This red flag could is likely to take us to the final ten minutes. Fifteen minutes remain and everyone waits patiently to see if they can complete any final laps.

by Nate Saunders 2/21/2015 4:45:57 PM
How does one make out a race sim being conducted as against multiple 10 lappers while building up a 100+ lap count for the day ?

by Turboy 2/21/2015 4:46:12 PM
@Turboy: Usually a pit wall is fully functional, with every team member there, and a team will complete stints you would expect to see in a race, at consistent pace. You can tell when you're here which teams are doing a race sim from what's happening out there.

by Nate Saunders 2/21/2015 4:46:49 PM
Red flag halts proceedings. It may be a bit of a scramble for the pit lane once the session goes green again! Every lap counts #FeelTheForce

by Sahara Force India via twitter 2/21/2015 4:47:47 PM
Green flag just as we hit the final minutes.

by Nate Saunders 2/21/2015 4:50:28 PM
wats the closing time for todays testing

by vishwa 2/21/2015 4:50:59 PM
1800 at all the Barcelona tests.

by Nate Saunders 2/21/2015 4:51:06 PM
Button one of the drivers to venture out for late lap.

by Nate Saunders 2/21/2015 4:53:21 PM
Nate do you think mercedes will bring update to the power unit before Melbourne?

by Max 2/21/2015 4:55:12 PM
@Max: I would imagine Mercedes is going to save some tokens for the season but it all depends how it feels with testing tomorrow. Teams are not privy to giving us journalists too much information on this sort of stuff.

by Nate Saunders 2/21/2015 4:56:00 PM
Bottas finally completes a lap and relegates Button to last.

by Nate Saunders 2/21/2015 4:56:27 PM
Glad to see that Ferrari has delivered a car that seems to suite both drivers. It will be exciting to see how it shakes out between these two ex champs. Kimi is a benchmark to several drivers and will be a good gauge of Seb's true performance. Wouldn't it be interesting if Kimi gets the better of him?

by SanjayA 2/21/2015 4:58:40 PM
Chequered flag is out! Report and reaction all to come on ESPNF1.

by Nate Saunders 2/21/2015 5:00:29 PM

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