Barcelona Test, Day 2

3rd & 7 37yd

@Mick, Haha, we love a way-too-early prediction on ESPN. Sadly, it all looks somewhat familiar. Mercedes clearly has reliability and good pace, but we have yet to see what the Red Bull can do (because of reliability issues on the car). I only saw the Mercedes, Ferrari, Force India, Toro Rosso, Sauber and Williams when I was watching trackside yesterday and the Merc looked like the class of the field. The Ferrari is definitely up there, but the Mercedes just looked sooo planted to the track. Force India looked a bit ragged and had a tendency to step out on Perez through Turns 1, 2 and three. Based on all that, I'd put Mercedes top with Ferrari closer than last year but not close enough to win. My gut feeling (based on no actual evidence) is that the Red Bull will be very quick on non-power dependent circuits and could challenge Mercedes. Toro Rosso will be a dark horse, Force India and Williams will struggle to fight for fourth and McLaren will come strong as long as the Honda power unit allows. That could all be proven wrong by the end of this week!

by Laurence Edmondson 2/28/2017 9:42:16 AM
I haven't been this excited for a season in a long time. I'm Melbourne born and bred, I love that we'll be seeing these new toys driving around my back yard very soon!
The Toro Rosso needs to take the cake for best looking car!

by TonyTonyTony 2/28/2017 9:42:45 AM
Hamilton has set a 1:21.766, which is 0.001s slower than yesterday's time! Impressive stuff after 1 hour and 45 mins.

by Laurence Edmondson 2/28/2017 9:44:06 AM
@Laurence that's a pretty honest opinion. Again the reg change fails to live upto it's hype. But do you think this time Haas and Sauber will have to fight it out for last place?

by Cin 2/28/2017 9:45:54 AM
@By Cin, I think Haas will be fairly competitive. I fear Sauber will be at the back by themselves.

by Laurence Edmondson 2/28/2017 9:46:40 AM
@Nate What's your take on Torro Rosso's car There is lot of talk about this car ??

by manoj 2/28/2017 9:52:38 AM
The Mercedes from above with aero sensors attached.

by Laurence Edmondson 2/28/2017 9:52:43 AM
@manoj It's very similar to the Mercedes! (which is usually a good thing). The nose and front suspension seem to follow a very similar philosophy, which is different to all the others. I think most of the excitement is that it looks amazing and has a new livery that works really well with shape of the car.

by Laurence Edmondson 2/28/2017 9:54:23 AM
Sorry about the lack of updates, we are experiencing some connection issues here at the track.

by Laurence Edmondson 2/28/2017 10:13:26 AM
What I was trying to show you was the front suspension on the Toro Rosso. Note how high the wishbones mount the chassis and the extra mount to connect to the front uprights.

by Laurence Edmondson 2/28/2017 10:14:59 AM
For comparison, here's the Red Bull

by Laurence Edmondson 2/28/2017 10:15:32 AM
And a better shot of the Toro Rosso

by Laurence Edmondson 2/28/2017 10:15:54 AM
And finally a comparison with the Mercedes, which has similar front suspension to the Toro Rosso

by Laurence Edmondson 2/28/2017 10:16:37 AM
by Laurence Edmondson 2/28/2017 10:16:46 AM
Basically, Ferrari wrote to the FIA asking for clarification on systems pioneered by Mercedes and Red Bull last year. The Italian team wants to know whether it would contravene F1 regulations by adopting a similar hydraulic suspension system or whether it strays to close to active suspension systems that are banned by the FIA. The suspension essentially helps maintain the car's ride height under braking and under load, to help the effectiveness of the aerodynamics. Red Bull and Mercedes claim they are not worried about the responses they have had from the FIA about their suspension this year, but the question is whether Ferrari protest it at the first race of the season.

by Laurence Edmondson 2/28/2017 10:25:26 AM
Hi all. 1.Seems like Honda is back to square one. 2. If they thought the cars would be sexier, they were wrong. The horrid shark fin is now allied with a T-Wing.

by JPMontoya 2/28/2017 10:26:16 AM
Hello Nate a lot was said preseason about rear diffusers and the level of down force that will be generated by them and the floor. No one seems to be posting any pictures / comparisons of the diffusers. Are they nothing special or has no one captured any shots?

by motormouth 2/28/2017 10:30:37 AM
@motormouth The teams do a pretty good job at guarding them. They are definitely a big deal and we'll do our best to get pictures from our agencies.

by Laurence Edmondson 2/28/2017 10:31:45 AM
Here's a pretty clear shot of the diffuser of the Toro Rosso.

by Laurence Edmondson 2/28/2017 10:34:27 AM
Nice to see mclaren do more lap today

by Kato 2/28/2017 10:36:31 AM
Thanks Laurence sorry for the wrong name . Must confess also watching sidecar racing from Scarborough Spring Cup at the same time . Those guys are crazy.

by motormouth 2/28/2017 10:36:39 AM
Raikkonen, Ocon and Magnussen are all on track right now. They've been joined by Hamilton.

by Laurence Edmondson 2/28/2017 10:37:59 AM
... for those wondering where the Renault is today.

by Laurence Edmondson 2/28/2017 10:39:26 AM
For those that aren't interested in the detailed shots of the cars, here's a nice one of Vandoorne in Barcelona's imfamous Turn 3.

by Laurence Edmondson 2/28/2017 10:43:02 AM
Since the introduction of the new wings and wider tyres, are there any new corners now taken flat out?

Do they still lift on Turn 9?

by Jason Arellano 2/28/2017 10:48:08 AM
@JasonArellano: I am taking over comms now as Laurence is heading over as we speak. His destination? Turn 9, so we will feed back what he says as soon as he lets us know.

by Nate Saunders 2/28/2017 10:48:44 AM
Niiiiiiiiiiiiice! What a job you guys have! I hate this circuit in the F1 videogame, that turn 9 always catches me out. I just want to prepare my racing lines, when F1 2017 is released. hahaha kidding.

by Jason Arellano 2/28/2017 10:54:37 AM
@JasonArellano: It's a tough one! I'm doing a track run later this evening and can confirm that's always the toughest part...

by Nate Saunders 2/28/2017 10:54:59 AM
The Mercedes mileage-fest continues as Hamilton flashes past the media centre window for his 45th lap of the morning. Raikkonen not having quite the same success Vettel had yesterday in getting out and compiling a lot of laps straight away.

by Nate Saunders 2/28/2017 10:56:45 AM
Where is Daniel Ricciardo? Are Red Bull getting over yesterdays issues today? Very interested to see how they mix it with Ferrari and Merc

by Harvey 2/28/2017 10:56:58 AM
@Harvey: Danny Ric is not in the car today, Red Bull is alternating days between drivers, so this is Max Verstappen's session.

by Nate Saunders 2/28/2017 10:57:23 AM
actually haven't given renault a thought beyond those hideous racesuits at the launch...

by mfbull 2/28/2017 10:57:27 AM
Hi Laurence

No time or laps from Renault and Haas, do either team have any issues ?

by John K 2/28/2017 10:57:57 AM
@JohnK: Magnussen has been out for a while now, he's just come back in for medium tyres and gone out again. He's climbed up to fifth in the order with his last lap. Times to be updated imminently.

by Nate Saunders 2/28/2017 10:58:24 AM
Times have been updated, and you will notice a new name at third - Ocon moved up as I was typing, the Force India showing some good pace with the Frenchman. The team is making up for lost time after an exhaust issue cost an entire afternoon of running yesterday.

by Nate Saunders 2/28/2017 11:06:17 AM
I just hope that the time difference between the first and the second, right now, doesn't become a norm for the rest of the year. Pray McLaren gets well soon enough to be challenging for the top step.

by BIkram 2/28/2017 11:06:33 AM
why merc is lapping slower on softs compared to ferrari which is on mediums

by Sai Kancharla 2/28/2017 11:10:02 AM
@SaiKancharla: Could be for a number of reasons, mainly that Mercedes rarely turns its engine up fully at these tests and is likely doing heavier fuel runs. Times really not that important at this stage of testing.

by Nate Saunders 2/28/2017 11:10:44 AM
Verstappen goes green in the first two sectors and improves to a 1:23.627, but he stays fourth.

by Nate Saunders 2/28/2017 11:11:13 AM
@NATE Can you see the cars doing sub 1:19s by the end of testing?

by F1 fan 2/28/2017 11:12:56 AM
@F1fan: I think so - these cars are supposed to shave about five seconds off last year's times. Pole here last year was a 1:22.000 flat. I doubt we'll see all five of those seconds disappear from lap times in the next two weeks as there's so much data to be gathered on tyres, the new cars, etc, but they'll keep dropping as the week goes on for sure.

by Nate Saunders 2/28/2017 11:13:52 AM
@nate, what's up at the ferrari garage? They seem a bit low on mileage compared to yesterday, when they were matching mercs by the lap

by Cin 2/28/2017 11:13:56 AM

Live Sports

Communication error please reload the page.

Football
- Results
- Today
- Fixtures
Cricket
- Results
- Today
- Fixtures
Rugby
- Results
- Today
- Fixtures
- Days
- Hrs
- Mins
- Secs
F1 - Chinese GP
Chinese Grand Prix April 10-12

April 10: Free practice 1
10:00 local | 02:00 GMT | 03:00 BST
April 10: Free practice 2
14:00 local | 06:00 GMT | 07:00 BST
April 11: Free practice 3
12:00 local | 04:00 GMT | 05:00 BST
April 11: Qualifying
15:00 local | 07:00 GMT | 08:00 BST
April 12: Race
14:00 local | 06:00 GMT | 07:00 BST

Race home

Circuit profile
ESPNOtherLive >>

Snooker - China Open
Tennis - Miami Open

Barcelona Test, Day 2

Live Sports

Football

Cricket

Rugby

F1 - Chinese GP

ESPNOtherLive >>