Barcelona Test, Day 2

3rd & 7 37yd

There is one loser in F1 and that is Alonso. A possible world champion and the only way he will see that is with a binoculars

by Bart 2/28/2017 12:01:21 PM
@Nate how likely is it for a driver like Fernando to terminate his contract with Mclaren Honda inseason based on the poor performance and reliability issues?

by Mcf1 2/28/2017 12:01:23 PM
@Mcf1: Well, his contract runs until the end of this season, but Ron Dennis always said it was a watertight deal without any clauses in it. We'll see - he might well be reading the smallprint right about now.

by Nate Saunders 2/28/2017 12:02:11 PM
Quite a few teams taking advantage of the extension - Hamilton, Verstappen, Magnussen out there, as are Giovinazzi and Palmer, who have two laps between them so far today.

by Nate Saunders 2/28/2017 12:03:41 PM
Ferrari seem to be being deliberately coy. What with the media freeze, running the mediums religiously for 1.5 days - very low key. Surely they have enough info on those tyres.

by pieces 2/28/2017 12:03:48 PM
Look like honda still a lot work to do on their engine

by Diogo Anchieta 2/28/2017 12:03:51 PM
@DiogoAnchieta: They have an engine? News to me.

by Nate Saunders 2/28/2017 12:04:02 PM
Hamilton is out on the ultra-softs. Brace for a quick lap time.

by Nate Saunders 2/28/2017 12:04:22 PM
Unspectacular sectors from Hamilton so far however.

by Nate Saunders 2/28/2017 12:05:24 PM
@Nate as we all know every team is sandbagging during posting laps. Can you please put down the lap time by the personal sector time of lewis hamilton as he is sometimes slowing down too much in s2 or s3. It would be helpful I guess

by krishna 2/28/2017 12:05:30 PM
@krishna: I could, but that would literally take up all of my time and I would rather answer questions and give a general overview of what's going on!

by Nate Saunders 2/28/2017 12:05:51 PM
"Hamilton is out on the ultra-softs" - Its at times like these that I miss live sector timing data for testing! Given the data is already shown in the media center, why on earth can't the official F1 website carry the same?

by Siddhesh 2/28/2017 12:05:55 PM
@Siddhesh: Good question. Maybe Liberty will make things easier for the fans to follow these events in future, who knows.

by Nate Saunders 2/28/2017 12:06:14 PM
Even assuming Alonso has an exit clause that allows him to leave early, where will he go? Most other drivers have contracts in place, so even if he goes out of Mclaren, he will just have to sit a year out till a place opens up for 2018.

My prediction is that he will see out this year, but might well be looking towards Mercedes for 2018.

by Siddhesh 2/28/2017 12:06:26 PM
The chequered flag has dropped on the session, that's all she wrote for the morning. Palmer got himself a solitary installation lap in, but only Magnussen imroved on his previous lap times.

by Nate Saunders 2/28/2017 12:08:21 PM
Times to be updated imminently.

by Nate Saunders 2/28/2017 12:08:26 PM
I am already worried about 2017 to be yet another year of boredom.
Merc dominates, Ferrari behind. Renault powered cars not showing great reliability. McLaren.... well, its same old story. Are we looking at a repeat of 2015?

by Kalai 2/28/2017 12:08:29 PM
I think it's still too early to see the pecking order yet. Not all cars are ran flat out or with low fuel so, saying that Mercedes will win right away might be wrong. It is safe to say that they still retain their flawless reliability, shown yesterday with Daniel Ricciardo's car failing after 4 laps and Fernando's McLaren right after the installation lap.

by winzards 2/28/2017 12:12:22 PM
It might come to the point where he would not mind sitting out from the sheer frustration of the "Gp2 engine" and its reliability. Last thing he will take this year is racing with the backmarker. The mid field seems quite competitive among themselves.

by Mcf1 2/28/2017 12:12:31 PM
@nate how are the ultrasoft tyres holding up on the Merc? (I remember Ricciardo saying last year how they lost performance after two laps in testing i.e. one out lap and one flying lap)

by MB99999 2/28/2017 12:12:34 PM
@MB99999: I reckon he hit traffic or didn't get a good warm up lap on them, as he had all yellow sectors and returned to the pits. It might well have just been a cursory lap on them to get a general feel while they had a throwaway five minutes at the end of the session.

by Nate Saunders 2/28/2017 12:13:13 PM
That's lunch for us here at the Circuit de Catalunya - though doubt it will actually be lunch for me as I'm dashing down to Haas to speak to Magnussen about his second day in the car so far. Updates to follow later this afternoon.

by Nate Saunders 2/28/2017 12:13:55 PM
Lunchtime is over and we are green for the afternoon session at the Circuit de Catalunya.

by Lewis Larkam 2/28/2017 1:01:06 PM
During the lunch hour, Williams has confirmed it has been forced to cut-short its running for the day following F1 rookie Lance Stroll's spin earlier in the morning.

by Lewis Larkam 2/28/2017 1:01:57 PM
Full story:
Stroll spins on debut, ends Williams' day early
ESPN.comWilliams has cut the second day of 2017 testing short after teenage rookie Lance Stroll spun in testing, prompting a repair job for the FW40.

by Lewis Larkam 2/28/2017 1:02:29 PM
A brief red flag before the Sauber of Giovinazzi is able to complete his outlap. However, the circuit quickly returns to green with the Italian managing to get his car back to the pit lane under his own steam.

by Lewis Larkam 2/28/2017 1:05:58 PM
Lewin, Any issues with Renault so far, no lap time registered by them yet?

by Vinay 2/28/2017 1:07:20 PM
@Vinay: No confirmation from Renault as to why Palmer did not set a lap time before lunch. He is, however, on track now and setting about completing his first timed runs.

by Lewis Larkam 2/28/2017 1:08:21 PM
Palmer does finally get a time on the board, recording a 1:27.712s to go ninth.

by Lewis Larkam 2/28/2017 1:08:59 PM
Lewis, welcome back! Seeing you for the first time since 2016! Nate and Laurence ran away for interviews?

by Siddhesh 2/28/2017 1:11:47 PM
@siddish Thank you! They have indeed both headed to the paddock, so I'm afraid you will have to put up with me for the time being until they get back!

by Lewis Larkam 2/28/2017 1:13:45 PM
Palmer continues to improve with every lap he sets. He remains ninth but moves to within 0.6s of Vandoorne.

by Lewis Larkam 2/28/2017 1:14:47 PM
Bottas is the latest man to hit the track, having taken over from Mercedes teammate Hamilton who ran this morning. Hamilton completed 66-laps this morning, which is exactly the race distance of the Spanish Grand Prix.

by Lewis Larkam 2/28/2017 1:16:14 PM
The Finn has gone straight out on the soft tyre. It will be interesting to see if he follows the same run plan as his teammate did this morning by getting a go on the super-soft compound later on.

by Lewis Larkam 2/28/2017 1:17:26 PM
Bottas' first lap puts him eighth. He is over five seconds slower than Hamilton's best time at this stage.

by Lewis Larkam 2/28/2017 1:18:43 PM
Bottas has moved himself up to seventh with a further improvement, displacing his former team in the process as Stroll (who is not running this afternoon) drops to eighth.

by Lewis Larkam 2/28/2017 1:21:51 PM
Merc car setup the same as yesterday with shark fin/t-wing?

by TxTodd 2/28/2017 1:21:57 PM
has mclaren hit the track ? or are they still sorting the issue

by AspiringAcca 2/28/2017 1:21:59 PM
@TxTodd No Shark Fin on the Merc today as yet. It is once again running a T-Wing, this time with a second tier.

by Lewis Larkam 2/28/2017 1:24:01 PM
And here is that double T-wing. What are your thoughts?

by Lewis Larkam 2/28/2017 1:25:38 PM
Raikkonen joins the action in his Ferrari.

by Lewis Larkam 2/28/2017 1:26:48 PM

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Stroll spins on debut, ends Williams' day early

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