Formula One 2017

[Katsuya]

Verstappen will be "VER" on the timing screen now and not "VES", with Vergne having moved on from Ferrari. Maybe he'll actually be "JEV" if he ever comes back...

[Gazz]

Should have just had 'MAX'

[Lineker]

Ferrari's Kimi Raikkonen topped the final morning of the first Barcelona Formula 1 pre-season test, as Pirelli's new wet and intermediate tyres made their debuts on an artificially-soaked track.

After being doused by water trucks, the track only remained wet enough for full wet tyres for the first hour, and few drivers took the opportunity to get to grips with the revised rubber.

Raikkonen and Red Bull's Max Verstappen were among those to sample it, with the pair both setting best times in the 1m40s range.

Verstappen made the switch to intermediate tyres 20 minutes into the second hour, and later became the first to break through the 1m30s barrier.

The Dutch driver's 1m29.867s was the best on intermediates by just over two seconds, and remained the morning's benchmark until Raikkonen switched to slicks with just over an hour remaining.

After a cautious start, Raikkonen got down to a 1m25.557s lap on soft tyres, still more than five seconds off what Ferrari team-mate Sebastian Vettel managed on the rubber on Wednesday.

Raikkonen lost top spot briefly to Force India's Sergio Perez, but improved again to a 1m22.305s to lead the morning.

Romain Grosjean made a late appearance on the super-softs to jump up to second with a 1m22.739s for Haas, while McLaren's Stoffel Vandoorne did likewise to go third on a 1m23.918s.

Those improvements at the very end of the session pushed Verstappen - who set his best time with mediums - down to fourth, followed by Perez and his former team-mate Nico Hulkenberg for Renault.

With Williams missing Thursday's running following Lance Stroll's crash on Wednesday, Sauber's Antonio Giovinazzi and Mercedes' Valtteri Bottas completed the timesheets.

Bottas only appeared in the final 15 minutes of the morning, after Lewis Hamilton - scheduled to drive the W08 - sat out the session.

Three-time world champion Hamilton made it clear on Wednesday he was not eager to drive in the wet, and Mercedes reported an electrical fault made it impossible for him to go out.

Daniil Kvyat also lost the chance to drive in the morning because Toro Rosso was forced to replace a Renault power unit, but the Russian will share the afternoon session with team-mate Carlos Sainz Jr.

The afternoon session will also begin in wet conditions, with the Barcelona track to be soaked once again during the lunch break.

DAY FOUR MORNING TIMES:

POS	DRIVER	CAR	TIME	GAP	LAPS
1	Kimi Raikkonen	Ferrari	1m22.305s	1m22.305s	45
2	Romain Grosjean	Haas/Ferrari	1m22.739s	0.434s	49
3	Stoffel Vandoorne	McLaren/Honda	1m23.918s	1.613s	35
4	Max Verstappen	Red Bull/Renault	1m23.920s	1.615s	43
5	Sergio Perez	Force India/Mercedes	1m24.893s	2.588s	25
6	Nico Hulkenberg	Renault	1m24.974s	2.669s	51
7	Antonio Giovinazzi	Sauber/Ferrari	1m25.037s	2.732s	37
8	Valtteri Bottas	Mercedes	1m36.512s	14.207s	9
9	Daniil Kvyat	Toro Rosso/Renault	-	-	1

 

Ferrari topped the final day of the first Formula 1 pre-season test of 2017, with Kimi Raikkonen outpacing Max Verstappen's Red Bull.

On a day disrupted by the Barcelona track being artificially watered overnight and again at lunchtime, the window for useful running was reduced.

Very few teams made use of the wet track after lunch, with Mercedes' Valtteri Bottas one of the few drivers to complete many laps before it was dry enough for slicks.

Verstappen spent a rare spell at the top of the times when he beat Raikkonen's morning benchmark in the middle of the afternoon, but the Ferrari driver then twice went faster on soft tyres to end the day.

In the end, Raikkonen's 1m20.872s was 0.897 seconds clear of the Red Bull.

Mercedes was only eighth on the first day of pre-season that didn't seem to go smoothly for the world champion team.

Lewis Hamilton didn't get any running in the morning as Mercedes said it was working to fix an electrical fault, so by the time the car was ready shortly before lunch - when the track had dried - Bottas was sent out ahead of schedule to get a handful of laps under his belt.

While the Finn ended the day with 68 laps, Mercedes also called time on its running early, after engineers "found something in the data they didn't like" in the final hour.

Jolyon Palmer improved late on in the Renault - which he took over from Nico Hulkenberg for the afternoon - to jump up to third on softs.

Romain Grosjean and Antonio Giovinazzi - two of the busier drivers in the wet morning running for Haas and Sauber respectively - leapt up to fourth and fifth late on.

Giovinazzi briefly ran fourth following a series of ultra-soft runs, but he was bumped down a place when Grosjean took super-softs in the final 15 minutes of a day where he completed 118 laps.

Sergio Perez had got himself up to third with a super-soft run mid-afternoon, getting several laps at a decent pace out of the 2017-spec tyres that are designed to be more durable than their predecessors, but other teams' improvements pushed him back to sixth by the chequered flag.

Seventh place was filled by the McLaren of Stoffel Vandoorne, which used ultra-softs again to go fractionally faster than team-mate Fernando Alonso managed on the same tyre on Wednesday.

At the bottom of the order, Toro Rosso had a day to forget, only completing one lap first thing in the morning with Daniil Kvyat.

The team then opted to change its Renault engine, with the target of giving both Kvyat and Carlos Sainz Jr some running in the afternoon, but the STR12 never made it out of the garage.

Williams was unable to run at all on the final day, owing to damage sustained on Wednesday when rookie Lance Stroll crashed the FW40.

The second pre-season test at Barcelona starts on Tuesday, March 7.

DAY 4 TESTING RESULTS:

POS	DRIVER	CAR	TIME	GAP	LAPS
1	Kimi Raikkonen	Ferrari	1m20.872s	-	93
2	Max Verstappen	Red Bull/Renault	1m21.769s	0.897s	85
3	Jolyon Palmer	Renault	1m21.778s	0.906s	39
4	Romain Grosjean	Haas/Ferrari	1m22.309s	1.437s	118
5	Antonio Giovinazzi	Sauber/Ferrari	1m22.401s	1.529s	84
6	Sergio Perez	Force India/Mercedes	1m22.534s	1.662s	82
7	Stoffel Vandoorne	McLaren/Honda	1m22.576s	1.704s	67
8	Valtteri Bottas	Mercedes	1m23.443s	2.571s	68
9	Nico Hulkenberg	Renault	1m24.974s	4.102s	51
10	Daniil Kvyat	Toro Rosso/Renault	-	-	1

 

[Lineker]

Felipe Massa put Williams on top on the first morning of Formula 1's second pre-season test, coming within two hundredths of a second of the fastest time of the first week.

The Brazilian's best lap of 1m19.726s came in the final half-hour of running, deposing the Red Bull of Daniel Ricciardo, which led the way for most of the morning at Barcelona.

Using super-soft tyres, Massa ended up 0.174 seconds clear of Ricciardo, whose best time was set on ultra-softs, but fell short of Valtteri Bottas' benchmark recorded last Wednesday by just 0.021s.

Bottas was on ultra-softs when he set last week's quickest time in his Mercedes, with Massa's lap the fastest of testing so far on super-softs.

Ricciardo went off off at Turn 4 on his first ultra-soft run, but was able to return to the track in the final five minutes, posting a 1m19.900s to cement second.

Lewis Hamilton was third-fastest in the Mercedes - 0.730s slower than Massa, albeit using softs - followed by Sebastian Vettel's Ferrari on mediums.

It was Vettel who logged the most miles during the morning, the German racking up 80 laps, 13 more than Massa as the next best.

Hamilton, who spent some of the morning in the garage while Mercedes carried out adjustments on the front of the car, only managed 49.

Fifth fastest was the Force India of Esteban Ocon, using super-softs, followed by Haas newcomer Kevin Magnussen on softs.

After losing the final day of last week's first test to a Renault power unit change, Toro Rosso's Daniil Kvyat logged 44 laps on his way to the seventh best time.

There was more drama for McLaren and Honda towards the end of the session, as another engine problem requiring a change limited Stoffel Vandoorne to just 34 laps.

The Belgian was eighth fastest, 2.972s off the pace set by Massa, using soft tyres.

On his first run in Sauber's C36 after missing the first test due to a back injury, Pascal Wehrlein was ninth, ahead of Jolyon Palmer.

Palmer's morning was curtailed by a sensor issue on the Renault RS17 after he had posted only 15 laps.

TUESDAY MORNING TIMES:

POS	DRIVER	CAR	TIME	GAP	LAPS
1	Felipe Massa	Williams/Mercedes	1m19.726ss	1m19.726s	65
2	Daniel Ricciardo	Red Bull/Renault	1m19.900ss	0.174s	50
3	Lewis Hamilton	Mercedes	1m20.456ss	0.730s	49
4	Sebastian Vettel	Ferrari	1m21.127ss	1.401s	81
5	Esteban Ocon	Force India/Mercedes	1m21.347ss	1.621s	59
6	Kevin Magnussen	Haas/Ferrari	1m21.876ss	2.150s	47
7	Daniil Kvyat	Toro Rosso/Renault	1m21.965ss	2.239s	45
8	Stoffel Vandoorne	McLaren/Honda	1m22.698ss	2.972s	34
9	Pascal Wehrlein	Sauber/Ferrari	1m23.336ss	3.610s	47
10	Jolyon Palmer	Renault	1m24.790ss	5.064s	15

 

Williams driver Felipe Massa set the pace on the first day of Formula 1's second pre-season test at Barcelona.

Massa's best time from the morning session, a 1m19.726s on super-softs, went unbeaten for the rest of the day, as most teams opted to focus on longer runs.

The fastest time of the afternoon came courtesy of Sebastian Vettel and Ferrari, with the German logging a 1m19.906s on soft tyres with just under two hours of the day remaining.

That however was only enough for third behind Massa and Daniel Ricciardo, who was second fastest in the morning on ultra-softs, Vettel slotting in just 0.006s behind his former Red Bull team-mate.

Vettel and Massa set an identical amount of laps, both drivers completing 168.

After Lewis Hamilton only managed 49 laps in the morning with a damaged floor, Valtteri Bottas was able to rack up 86 in the afternoon to give Mercedes a combined total of 135 for the day.

Bottas's best time was a 1m20.924s on soft tyres, putting the Finn fifth ahead of Esteban Ocon, who managed 142 laps in the Force India.

Seventh was Renault's Nico Hulkenberg, who completed 57 laps after the power unit problem that curtailed team-mate Jolyon Palmer's morning running - but the German came to a halt on track just moments before the chequered flag, causing the day's only red flag.

A best lap of 1m21.989s on softs was enough to put Hulkenberg clear of Kevin Magnussen (Haas), Daniil Kvyat (Toro Rosso) and Stoffel Vandoorne (McLaren).

Vandoorne recovered from McLaren's latest Honda engine change to record a total of 80 laps for the day, setting a marginally quicker time in the afternoon than he had done in the morning, albeit still 2.811s off the pace.

Sauber's Marcus Ericsson slotted in between team-mate Pascal Wehrlein and Palmer in 12th place, just under four seconds slower than Massa.

TEST TWO DAY ONE TIMES

POS	DRIVER	CAR	TIME	GAP	LAPS
1	Felipe Massa	Williams/Mercedes	1m19.726s	-	168
2	Daniel Ricciardo	Red Bull/Renault	1m19.900s	0.174s	89
3	Sebastian Vettel	Ferrari	1m19.906s	0.180s	168
4	Lewis Hamilton	Mercedes	1m20.456s	0.730s	49
5	Valtteri Bottas	Mercedes	1m20.924s	1.198s	86
6	Esteban Ocon	Force India/Mercedes	1m21.347s	1.621s	142
7	Nico Hulkenberg	Renault	1m21.589s	1.863s	58
8	Kevin Magnussen	Haas/Ferrari	1m21.676s	1.950s	81
9	Daniil Kvyat	Toro Rosso/Renault	1m21.743s	2.017s	83
10	Stoffel Vandoorne	McLaren/Honda	1m22.537s	2.811s	80
11	Pascal Wehrlein	Sauber/Ferrari	1m23.336s	3.610s	47
12	Marcus Ericsson	Sauber/Ferrari	1m23.630s	3.904s	53
13	Jolyon Palmer	Renault	1m24.790s	5.064s	15

 

• Honda is parting company with engine consultant Gilles Simon as pressure mounts on the Japanese manufacturer to turn around its fortunes in Formula 1. Simon, who is most famously known for his work on Ferrari's engines during the dominant Michael Schumacher era, had joined Honda in 2013 after previous spells at the FIA and the stillborn PURE project.
• Ferrari Driver Academy member and GP2 racer Charles Leclerc is in contention for a reserve driver role at Sauber this year.
• Three-time world champion Lewis Hamilton says Ferrari should be considered favourite for the new Formula 1 season based on testing so far.

[Lineker]

Alonso has had a massive pop at how shit the Honda engine is.

[Lineker]

Valtteri Bottas set the fastest time of 2017 Formula 1 testing so far, to lead the way on the second morning of the second test.

After a low-key Tuesday for Mercedes, Bottas catapulted F1's reigning champion outfit to the head of times on Wednesday morning with a 1m19.310s on super-soft tyres, which came just over two-and-a-half hours into the session.

That was a full 0.395 seconds clear of the Finn's best time from the first week of testing, which was set using the ultra-soft compound.

Bottas did try ultra-softs on Wednesday morning, but could only match rather than improve his best time.

Tuesday pacesetter Felipe Massa enjoyed another strong morning for Williams and ended up second fastest, just 0.110s shy of his former team-mate, albeit using ultra-softs.

Bottas and Massa led the way on mileage as well as speed, logging 69 and 63 laps respectively, before they hand over to Lewis Hamilton and Lance Stroll for the afternoon.

Kimi Raikkonen was third on a 1m20.406s set on soft tyres, his best time following a two-hour spell in the garage while Ferrari carried out a 'fluid systems check'.

That restricted Raikkonen to 37 laps, the least of all bar Red Bull's Max Verstappen and McLaren's Fernando Alonso, who wound up at the foot of the times, 3.731s off the pace.

Although Alonso avoided a repeat of the Honda power unit troubles that plagued Stoffel Vandoorne on Tuesday and required an engine change during the day, he managed only 27 laps in the MCL32.

Verstappen still managed to set the fourth-fastest time on softs, 0.026s behind Raikkonen.

Nico Hulkenberg completed the top five with a best effort of 1m21.213s on super-softs, less than a tenth clear of Sergio Perez, who used the super-softs in the dying stages to vault to sixth.

That demoted the soft-shod Toro Rosso of Carlos Sainz to seventh, ahead of Romain Grosjean (Haas), Pascal Wehrlein (Sauber) and Alonso.

WEDNESDAY MORNING TIMES:

POS	DRIVER	CAR	TIME	GAP	LAPS
1	Valtteri Bottas	Mercedes	1m19.310ss	1m19.310s	70
2	Felipe Massa	Williams/Mercedes	1m19.420ss	0.110s	63
3	Kimi Raikkonen	Ferrari	1m20.406ss	1.096s	39
4	Max Verstappen	Red Bull/Renault	1m20.432ss	1.122s	34
5	Nico Hulkenberg	Renault	1m21.213ss	1.903s	61
6	Sergio Perez	Force India/Mercedes	1m21.297ss	1.987s	49
7	Carlos Sainz	Toro Rosso/Renault	1m21.872ss	2.562s	46
8	Romain Grosjean	Haas/Ferrari	1m22.428ss	3.118s	54
9	Pascal Wehrlein	Sauber/Ferrari	1m23.000ss	3.690s	59
10	Fernando Alonso	McLaren/Honda	1m23.041ss	3.731s	27

 

Mercedes driver Valtteri Bottas ended the second day of the final Formula 1 pre-season test at Barcelona on top, as Kimi Raikkonen crashed the new Ferrari.

Bottas set the fastest time of the winter so far on Wednesday morning, a 1m19.310s on super-soft tyres, and this proved enough to keep the Finn on top at the end of the day.

Lewis Hamilton took over driving duties in the Mercedes W08 after the lunch break, and recorded a best time of 1m20.782s on softs, 1.392 seconds off the pace.

That put the three-time champion only sixth on the leaderboard, although he completed 79 laps, including a 20-lap stint on ultra-softs, giving Mercedes a total of 149 for the day.

Felipe Massa remained second for Williams by virtue of his morning time, ahead of Raikkonen, who caused the second red flag of the test when he spun and hit the barriers at Turn 3 just under two hours into the afternoon.

The impact damaged the front and the left side of the Ferrari SF70H, and prevented Raikkonen from running again for the rest of the day. He only managed 53 laps.

There was another red flag when Max Verstappen came to a stop at Turn 12 towards the end of a race simulation with 20 minutes left on the clock.

Despite his stoppage, the Dutchman ended up with 102 laps to his credit, more than any other driver, with his morning time proving enough to keep him fourth in the order.

Williams rookie Lance Stroll took over from Massa during the lunchbreak and set the best time in a smooth afternoon, after an incident-strewn first week.

The young Canadian logged 59 laps, recording a best effort of 1m20.579s on super-soft tyres to beat Hamilton by just over a tenth.

Nico Hulkenberg (Renault), Sergio Perez (Force India) and Carlos Sainz Jr (Toro Rosso) stayed seventh, eighth and ninth with their morning times, while Romain Grosjean (Haas) completed the top 10 with a best time just 0.015s shy of Sainz.

McLaren's Fernando Alonso failed to improve on his morning time, and ended the day in 12th, between Sauber duo Pascal Wehrlein and Marcus Ericsson, with 46 laps completed.

Ericsson caused a third and final stoppage just moments after Verstappen's car had been recovered, as he came to a halt at Turn 7.

Jolyon Palmer, taking over from Renault team-mate Hulkenberg in the afternoon, completed the leaderboard in 14th, some 5.4s off the pace.

WEDNESDAY TEST TIMES:

POS	DRIVER	CAR	TIME	GAP	LAPS
1	Valtteri Bottas	Mercedes	1m19.310s	-	70
2	Felipe Massa	Williams/Mercedes	1m19.420s	0.110s	63
3	Kimi Raikkonen	Ferrari	1m20.406s	1.096s	53
4	Max Verstappen	Red Bull/Renault	1m20.432s	1.122s	102
5	Lance Stroll	Williams/Mercedes	1m20.579s	1.269s	59
6	Lewis Hamilton	Mercedes	1m20.702s	1.392s	79
7	Nico Hulkenberg	Renault	1m21.213s	1.903s	61
8	Sergio Perez	Force India/Mercedes	1m21.297s	1.987s	100
9	Carlos Sainz	Toro Rosso/Renault	1m21.872s	2.562s	92
10	Romain Grosjean	Haas/Ferrari	1m21.887s	2.577s	96
11	Pascal Wehrlein	Sauber/Ferrari	1m23.000s	3.690s	59
12	Fernando Alonso	McLaren/Honda	1m23.041s	3.731s	46
13	Marcus Ericsson	Sauber/Ferrari	1m23.384s	4.074s	47
14	Jolyon Palmer	Renault	1m24.774s	5.464s	29

 

[Chris2K]

Guess which car has stopped twice on track today due to an electrical fault in the engine?

 

No, seriously, guess.

[Lineker]

HRT?

[JasonM]

23 minutes ago, Lineker said:

HRT?

Could sure as hell be one.

[Chris2K]

I'd rather trust an HRT with any other make of engine to finish a race than a McLaren Honda right now.

[MDK]

1 hour ago, Lineker said:

HRT?

I blame the menopause 

[Lineker]

Ferrari's Sebastian Vettel set the fastest lap so far in Formula 1 pre-season testing on the penultimate morning at Barcelona, as McLaren breakdowns caused two red flags.

Vettel became the first F1 driver to break the 1m20s barrier on Thursday when he set a 1m19.341s on soft tyres, coming within 0.031 seconds of the winter benchmark established by Mercedes' Valtteri Bottas on Wednesday.

At the start of the final hour, Vettel edged even closer to the Finn's best with a set of super-softs, falling short by just 0.004s, despite clearly backing off along the start/finish straight.

The Ferrari man continued to sandbag in the final sector on his subsequent runs using ultra-softs, which came after the first stoppage caused by Stoffel Vandoorne's McLaren grinding to a halt just after the pit exit with around half an hour left to run.

Once the action resumed, Vettel finally beat Bottas's Wednesday time, first with a 1m19.164s, before improving to a 1m19.024s on ultra-softs, despite clearly keeping lap time in reserve.

Vettel's nearest challenger was Lewis Hamilton, who moved up to second on super-softs late before posting a further improvement on ultra-softs to end up with a best time of 1m19.352s.

The Mercedes driver's fastest lap came moments before the red flag was brought out for a second time, again the result of Vandoorne coming to a halt - this time at Turn 10 - which effectively ended the session.

Esteban Ocon set the third-fastest time for Force India, a 1m20.161s on ultra-softs entering the final hour, which had him in second place before Hamilton's final gains.

Daniil Kvyat was another late improver for Toro Rosso, going fourth fastest on super-softs, four tenths ahead of Daniel Ricciardo, who was 1.800s off the pace using softs on the Red Bull.

Kevin Magnussen was sixth for Haas, just 0.039s slower than Ricciardo but using super-softs, followed by Vandoorne, who at least set the Honda-powered squad's fastest time of the winter so far before his MCL32's two stoppages.

The 2014 GP2 champion's best effort was a 1m21.348s on ultra-softs, putting him 2.324s off the pace set by Vettel.

Jolyon Palmer was eighth for Renault ahead of Sauber's Marcus Ericsson - the morning's most-productive man with 88 laps on the board - and Williams rookie Lance Stroll, who racked up 85 laps in another trouble-free session.

THURSDAY MORNING TIMES:

POS	DRIVER	CAR	TIME	GAP	LAPS
1	Sebastian Vettel	Ferrari	1m19.024ss	1m19.024s	60
2	Lewis Hamilton	Mercedes	1m19.352ss	0.328s	52
3	Esteban Ocon	Force India/Mercedes	1m20.161ss	1.137s	51
4	Daniil Kvyat	Toro Rosso/Renault	1m20.416ss	1.392s	34
5	Daniel Ricciardo	Red Bull/Renault	1m20.824ss	1.800s	41
6	Kevin Magnussen	Haas/Ferrari	1m20.863ss	1.839s	45
7	Stoffel Vandoorne	McLaren/Honda	1m21.348ss	2.324s	33
8	Jolyon Palmer	Renault	1m22.418ss	3.394s	31
9	Marcus Ericsson	Sauber/Ferrari	1m23.330ss	4.306s	88
10	Lance Stroll	Williams/Mercedes	1m24.863ss	5.839s	85

 

Sebastian Vettel and Ferrari ended the penultimate day of 2017 Formula 1 pre-season testing at Barcelona on top of the timesheets.

The German driver set the fastest time of the winter yet on Thursday morning with a 1m19.024s on ultra-softs.

Despite there being more than a hint of sandbagging from Ferrari, that was almost three tenths up on Valtteri Bottas's previous best, recorded on Wednesday.

Vettel's effort went unbeaten in the afternoon, as the top runners focused on completing race simulations, and it was the Ferrari driver who topped the lap count as well as the times, racking up 156 laps.

Morning times were also enough to keep Lewis Hamilton second for Mercedes, ahead of Force India's Esteban Ocon and Daniil Kvyat, who caused the first red flag of the afternoon when his Toro Rosso ground to a halt at Turn 5 around 90 minutes into the session.

Kevin Magnussen moved up to fifth in the Haas with a best time of 1m20.504s on ultra-softs, the best lap of the afternoon.

That demoted Red Bull's Daniel Ricciardo and McLaren's Stoffel Vandoorne to sixth and seventh, as neither improved on their personal bests from earlier in the day.

After his two stoppages in the morning, both caused by electrical issues, Vandoorne left the garage with around two hours of the afternoon remaining, but managed only a further 16 laps on top of the 32 he logged before lunch.

Bottas, taking over the Mercedes W08 from Hamilton for the afternoon, was eighth fastest with a best effort of 1m21.819s set on softs, which left him 2.795s off the pace of Vettel.

The Finn completed 95 laps, giving Mercedes a total of 147 for the day.

Sauber's Pascal Wehrlein and Marcus Ericsson were ninth and 11th for the day, split by Renault's Jolyon Palmer, who managed only 53 laps.

The Briton was responsible for the afternoon's second stoppage - and fourth of the day - when he came to a stop at Turn 10 following a power unit change.

Nico Hulkenberg was originally scheduled to take over the Renault after lunch, but the change of engine combined with Palmer's problem meant he never appeared on track.

Williams pair Felipe Massa and Lance Stroll propped up the times but did not complete any performance running as they logged 165 laps between them.

THURSDAY TESTING TIMES:

POS	DRIVER	CAR	TIME	GAP	LAPS
1	Sebastian Vettel	Ferrari	1m19.024s	-	156
2	Lewis Hamilton	Mercedes	1m19.352s	0.328s	52
3	Esteban Ocon	Force India/Mercedes	1m20.161s	1.137s	137
4	Daniil Kvyat	Toro Rosso/Renault	1m20.416s	1.392s	94
5	Kevin Magnussen	Haas/Ferrari	1m20.504s	1.480s	119
6	Daniel Ricciardo	Red Bull/Renault	1m20.824s	1.800s	128
7	Stoffel Vandoorne	McLaren/Honda	1m21.348s	2.324s	48
8	Valtteri Bottas	Mercedes	1m21.819s	2.795s	95
9	Pascal Wehrlein	Sauber/Ferrari	1m22.347s	3.323s	44
10	Jolyon Palmer	Renault	1m22.418s	3.394s	53
11	Marcus Ericsson	Sauber/Ferrari	1m23.330s	4.306s	88
12	Felipe Massa	Williams/Mercedes	1m24.443s	5.419s	80
13	Lance Stroll	Williams/Mercedes	1m24.863s	5.839s	85

 

[JasonM]

https://hasmclarenbrokendown.com/

[Lineker]

10 minutes ago, Jasonmufc said:

https://hasmclarenbrokendown.com/

amazing 

[Lineker]

John Surtees has died.

[Lineker]

Kimi Raikkonen kept Ferrari on top on the final morning of Formula 1 pre-season testing at Barcelona, as McLaren ran into more trouble.

After Sebastian Vettel set the fastest time of the winter yet on Thursday, F1 team-mate Raikkonen finally broke through the 1m19s barrier on Friday morning with a best time of 1m18.634s, set with a little over 20 minutes remaining.

Towards the start of the final hour, Raikkonen had come within five thousandths of Vettel's benchmark, which was set on ultra-softs but also affected by the German backing off in the last sector.

Raikkonen's subsequent run on super-softs put him 0.490 seconds clear of his team-mate.

While Raikkonen went out for a run on ultra-softs in the dying moments, he did not improve on his earlier best, although he dipped under the 1m19s barrier again.

The Ferrari driver ended up 0.804s ahead of nearest rival Max Verstappen, who used super-softs to set his best lap of 1m19.438s, Red Bull's fastest of testing by nearly half-a-second.

The morning was punctuated by four red flag-periods, with McLaren's troubled start to 2017 accounting for two of those.

Fernando Alonso caused the second of the session when he stopped on the approach to Turn 10 just over two hours in, and suffered another breakdown on his outlap some 30 minutes later, the MCL32 making it as far as Turn 4.

Limited by what McLaren called "intermittent electrical shutdown", the same issue that Stoffel Vandoorne faced on Thursday, Alonso therefore only completed 19 laps.

The Spaniard's best lap of 1m22.731s on ultra-softs left him last and just over four seconds off the pace of former Ferrari team-mate Raikkonen.

With a late effort on ultra-softs, Carlos Sainz Jr vaulted up to third for Toro Rosso, his 1m19.837s just 0.008s clear of the Mercedes of Valtteri Bottas, whose best lap of the morning came on super-softs.

Sainz's late charge demoted Renault's Nico Hulkenberg and Force India's Sergio Perez, both of whom used ultra-softs on their best laps, to fifth and sixth.

Williams rookie Lance Stroll was seventh using the soft tyre and ended up the joint-most productive driver of the morning along with Sauber's Marcus Ericsson on 59 laps.

Stroll finished a second clear of Haas driver Romain Grosjean, who caused the morning's other two red flags.

The first came in the second hour when the Frenchman spun into the gravel at Turn 5, the other was a result of the Haas VF-17 grinding to a halt along the back straight with around 15 minutes remaining.

FRIDAY MORNING TIMES:

POS	DRIVER	CAR	TIME	GAP	LAPS
1	Kimi Raikkonen	Ferrari	1m18.634ss	1m18.634s	48
2	Max Verstappen	Red Bull/Renault	1m19.438ss	0.804s	33
3	Valtteri Bottas	Mercedes	1m19.845ss	1.211s	53
4	Nico Hulkenberg	Renault	1m19.885ss	1.251s	45
5	Sergio Perez	Force India/Mercedes	1m20.116ss	1.482s	46
6	Carlos Sainz	Toro Rosso/Renault	1m20.281ss	1.647s	39
7	Lance Stroll	Williams/Mercedes	1m20.335ss	1.701s	59
8	Romain Grosjean	Haas/Ferrari	1m21.429ss	2.795s	44
9	Marcus Ericsson	Sauber/Ferrari	1m21.670ss	3.036s	59
10	Fernando Alonso	McLaren/Honda	1m22.731ss	4.097s	19

 

Kimi Raikkonen and Ferrari ended Formula 1 pre-season testing at Barcelona fastest, despite causing a red flag during the final afternoon.

Following the pattern of the first three days of the second test, the morning's best times were not beaten in the afternoon session, as the majority of F1 teams turned their focus towards longer runs.

That meant Raikkonen's morning effort of 1m18.634s, set on super-soft tyres, stood as the best time of the day, as well as overall after eight days of winter testing.

It wasn't all smooth sailing for Ferrari however, as Raikkonen caused the first red flag of the afternoon - and the fifth of the day - when he stopped pointing the wrong way on the disused section of track by the chicane complex at the end of the lap.

The SF70H had suffered a problem earlier in the lap, with Raikkonen using the old circuit layout as he cruised back to the pits, only to lock the rears and spin to a halt.

The Finn returned to the track for the final 15 minutes, and completed 111 laps in total.

Max Verstappen stayed second for Red Bull, 0.804 seconds behind Raikkonen on the same tyre, followed by Carlos Sainz Jr, who put Toro Rosso third with a late-morning run on ultra-softs.

The Spaniard was responsible for the sixth and final red flag of the day when the STR12 eased to a stop along the start/finish straight at the start of the last hour.

Valtteri Bottas stayed fourth, a mere 0.005s ahead of Mercedes team-mate Lewis Hamilton, who took over the W08 for the afternoon and posted a best of 1m19.850s using ultra-softs.

Morning times were enough to put Nico Hulkenberg and Force India's Sergio Perez sixth and seventh, while Hulkenberg's Renault team-mate Jolyon Palmer slotted into eighth on ultra-softs with a time set in the afternoon

Lance Stroll was ninth for Williams on his final test day before his grand prix debut in Melbourne, topping the lap count with a total of 132 laps.

Romain Grosjean completed the top 10 for Haas, enjoying a smoother afternoon after causing two red flags in the morning, just ahead of McLaren's Fernando Alonso.

After a morning disrupted by a pair of electrical problems that also caused red flags, Alonso improved on his best time from the morning with a 1m21.389s on ultra-softs, although he was baulked by Stroll on that particular lap.

The two-time champion ended up with a total of 43 laps to his name, with McLaren again completing fewest laps of any outfit.

Sauber team-mates Marcus Ericsson and Pascal Wehrlein completed the times, the latter taking over the C36 for the afternoon and ending up just under five seconds off the pace on softs.

F1 TESTING RESULTS:

POS	DRIVER	CAR	TIME	GAP	LAPS
1	Kimi Raikkonen	Ferrari	1m18.634s	-	111
2	Max Verstappen	Red Bull/Renault	1m19.438s	0.804s	71
3	Carlos Sainz	Toro Rosso/Renault	1m19.837s	1.203s	132
4	Valtteri Bottas	Mercedes	1m19.845s	1.211s	53
5	Lewis Hamilton	Mercedes	1m19.850s	1.216s	54
6	Nico Hulkenberg	Renault	1m19.885s	1.251s	45
7	Sergio Perez	Force India/Mercedes	1m20.116s	1.482s	128
8	Jolyon Palmer	Renault	1m20.205s	1.571s	43
9	Lance Stroll	Williams/Mercedes	1m20.335s	1.701s	132
10	Romain Grosjean	Haas/Ferrari	1m21.110s	2.476s	76
11	Fernando Alonso	McLaren/Honda	1m21.389s	2.755s	43
12	Marcus Ericsson	Sauber/Ferrari	1m21.670s	3.036s	59
13	Pascal Wehrlein	Sauber/Ferrari	1m23.527s	4.893s	42

 

[JasonM]

So the general gist of the pre-season testing this year is...
- Honda is a fucking mess, and Alonso looks prepared to throw in the towel on life
- Mercedes seemingly has lost its edge over the rest
- Ferrari and Red Bull seem to be right up there with Merc, and it's gonna be interesting for the title (probably not...)

 

[Lineker]

All of the top three were probably sandbagging, too

[JasonM]

Also, someone on reddit repurposed a classic meme to illustrate McHonda...

[Lineker]

Force India has revealed a dramatic new pink colour scheme that it will race from the start of the 2017 Formula 1 season.

The switch to the pink, magenta and silver livery has come in the wake of the team signing a new sponsorship deal with water technology specialists BWT.

As well as the pink colours on the car, Sergio Perez and Esteban Ocon's helmets will also switch paint schemes too.

Force India team boss Vijay Mallya said: "The arrival of BWT in Formula 1 is huge news and represents one of the most significant partnerships in our ten-year history.

"It's a sign of how far we have come as a team with our strong results and completes a solid commercial performance over the winter.

"For 2017 our cars will sport a vibrant new colour scheme with a smart matte finish.

"Changing the colour of our cars is an indication of the strength of this new partnership and a real statement of intent from BWT as they begin their relationship with the sport of F1."

http://www.forceindiaf1.com/news/sahara-force-india-signs-partnership-agreement-bwt

I actually love it.