Williams lead day six as Haas manage just one lap

52 comments on “Williams lead day six as Haas manage just one lap”

1. 

   Graham (@guitargraham)
   2nd March 2016, 17:28

   i dont think that anyones foolish enough to consider Williams a threat to Mercedes but they might just bother a Ferrari or two at this rate. we also know there must be some time in their pocket knowing that the 2015 isnt yet fitted. (cant wait to see what a merc-esque nose looks like on a Williams in those colours)
   1. 

      Graham (@guitargraham)
      2nd March 2016, 17:30

      * the 2015 nose and wing
      1. 

         Graham (@guitargraham)
         2nd March 2016, 17:31

         yikes 2016…having a strong word with myself now!
2. 

   Mashiat
   2nd March 2016, 17:31

   Well, it is fairly clear already as to what the order probably will be but we obviously can’t know. This is what I think the grid will look like come Melbourne:

   1. Mercedes
   2. Ferrari
   3. Williams
   4. Force India
   5. Toro Rosso
   6. Red Bull
   7. Renault
   8. McLaren
   9. Haas
   10. Sauber
   11. Manor
   1. 

      Graham (@guitargraham)
      2nd March 2016, 17:32

      that might be pretty close, yes
      1. 

         ColdFly F1 (@)
         2nd March 2016, 17:43

         I’d still give McLaren a bit more – STR territory (even though FA said it would not be form the beginning of the season);
         And I stubbornly believe that Manor will beat their friends at Haas and Sauber.
      2. 

         Optimaximal (@optimaximal)
         2nd March 2016, 17:45

         If I gambled, I’d put some money on Sauber being ahead of Haas on average once they bed their new car in…

         The Americans may have a superior car aerodynamically (and more money), but I’m guessing there are going to be a lot of finger trouble and operational issues this year.

         Both teams (and Manor) could be regularly in the chance for some points if the teams ahead have bad weekends.
   2. 

      AntoineDeParis (@antoine-de-paris)
      2nd March 2016, 17:48

      I think RBR is heavily underestimated.
      1. 

         Mashiat (@mashiat)
         3rd March 2016, 2:28

         @antoine-de-paris I would like to believe so too, but they themselves have stated that they expect to be behind Toro Rosso (at least for the start of the season), and to be honest, I very well think it could be true. Toro Rosso finished 2015 about half a second off their sister team, and they’re going to gain about 1 second from the engine alone, while Red Bull might gain 0.2 seconds on the engine front from last year. And the Toro Rosso looks like a decent chassis, so I think that the year might start out similar to 2015 with Toro Rosso slightly ahead.
   3. 

      SotF1Rules (@sotiris07)
      2nd March 2016, 17:51

      Even though it may soynd too optimistic I still believe that Maclaren is ahead of Renault and Red Bull! But I fairly believe that Force India Toro Rosso and these three are all pretty close to each other…
   4. 

      Boudi
      2nd March 2016, 18:25

      I would put RB ahead of TR though
   5. 

      Mike
      2nd March 2016, 19:33

      I feel like Force isn’t likely to stay that high. There long run times were not that impressive, combined with a fair drop off means they where close to where the car was at even then.

      The other one I’d change is Mclaren, I think they have a good shot at beating Renault.
   6. 

      Lucas
      2nd March 2016, 20:08

      It feels like Mercedes is going to Destroying everyone in this season. It will look like this: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hy8fwdruEGE
      1. 

         Lucas
         2nd March 2016, 20:08

         * destroy =p
   7. 

      gweilo8888 (@gweilo8888)
      2nd March 2016, 20:48

      So basically, the same as last year with the exception of Renault’s continued decline as an engine manufacturer, Honda’s it-couldn’t-really-get-any-worse gradual rise as an engine manufacturer, and the arrival of a new team.

      In fact, it’s barely even that different to 2014, if we’re truthful. And people say this sport isn’t dull as dishwater. One shouldn’t be able to predict the entire podium of almost every race three years ahead of time, but that’s precisely what we’ve been able to do for ages now.
3. 

   Mike (@grippgoat)
   2nd March 2016, 17:43

   Can we infer from the graph that Manor has closed the gap to the field by something like 2 seconds? Or possibly even more?
   1. 

      Illusive (@illusive)
      3rd March 2016, 6:45

      @grippgoat Another way of looking at this, they wont be 4/5 laps down on the front runners atleast :P
4. 

   Paulo Ruiz (@omegadetra)
   2nd March 2016, 18:12

   At this point I’m really curious about the speedtrap data. It was said last week that McLaren were still down on power, but also had an old spec engine. New spec engine this week, new speedtrap data, not to mention that McLaren have said that they’re bringing yet another new engine spec to Melbourne. I’d also like to know where Renault lies compared to the other engine manufacturers so we can see how much of the time deficit is power and how much is chassis and aero.
   1. 

      2face
      2nd March 2016, 18:27

      They also have new fuel starting from yesterday.
   2. 

      Balue (@balue)
      2nd March 2016, 18:48

      @omegadetra
      Jenson Button: “The improvements are good, but we are still a long way off the other guys and you can see that in the speed traps. But you can definitely feel the difference on the initial part of the straight.”
      http://www.skysports.com/f1/news/24180/10189208/jenson-button-new-honda-engine-biggest-step-forward-in-14-months
      1. 

         Paulo Ruiz (@omegadetra)
         2nd March 2016, 18:54

         Promising news from those guys, then. Would love to see McL up in the top 5 for the constructors, but that might be asking a bit much given how close together the midfield is looking to be.
   3. 

      sunny stivala
      3rd March 2016, 8:15

      speedtrap data and hp output. day 5 top speed.
      nasr 346.1 km/h. camag 341.7. Lulu 338.5. bottas 337.5. haryanto 336.4. Verstappen 334.3. raikkonen 332.3.
5. 

   lockup (@)
   2nd March 2016, 18:14

   It’s a Ferrari turbo on the Haas, part of an all-Ferrari system, so what’s prevented it being fixed all day? It was working fine last week. Ferrari must have spares. I thought the whole idea was that Haas themselves wouldn’t have to gear up to fix their own turbos and things like this.

   Anyone know? Otherwise hopefully we’ll get some detail later on. Meanwhile I’m liking Haas’ openness.
   1. 

      reh1v2.0 (@reh1v2-0)
      2nd March 2016, 22:48

      “The complexity of the cars and engines and what we are doing with them is way beyond anything I ever expected,”
      “It is a very complex process, it is a complex car, it’s a complex way to race cars, and right now, it’s a little bit overwhelming to be honest with you.”
      Gene Haas

      http://beta.autosport.com/news/report.php/id/123053/haas-overwhelmed-by-complex-f1
      1. 

         lockup (@)
         2nd March 2016, 23:31

         True @reh1v2.0 though I was trying to work out how it was Haas’ problem rather than Ferrari’s.

         It seems now that Gene was being nice and eventually Ferrari had to change the turbo again, with maybe the Haas crew doing some of the huge amount of dismantling.

         Ted Kravitz was saying the word is there have been 9 problems with Ferrari’s PU’s across all their teams, so far.
         1. 

            reh1v2.0 (@reh1v2-0)
            3rd March 2016, 11:59

            Ok. I tried to point out the complexity of the process as a possible reason that lasted all day,
            regardless of who solves the problem. And yes, they (Haas) had other problems with the PU as fuel system issues the day before.
   2. 

      reh1v2.0 (@reh1v2-0)
      2nd March 2016, 22:58

      @lockup
   3. 

      sunny stivala
      3rd March 2016, 12:39

      lockup, be assures that no customer team personal will or can or will be allowed to have anything to do with the PU being supplied, each team is supplied with at least 5 PU personal by the PU manufacturer.
6. 

   peejay
   2nd March 2016, 18:20

   Renault’s pace and reliability is a big surprise to me. The power loss going from Mercedes to Renault PU is significant, and there have been very little development of the chassis and aero during 2015 and during the off season. If they can stay midfield rather than drop back into backmarker territory, 2016 is a success imho.
7. 

   FrankFH (@frankfh)
   2nd March 2016, 18:33

   It would be interesting if we had an adjusted overall ranking based on what we know of the tires, not all of us pay enough attention to fully understand what the gap between each time and what tire they were set on works out to be… anyone up for that challenge?
8. 

   Kingshark (@kingshark)
   2nd March 2016, 18:38

   I’m still trying to compare Mercedes to Ferrari’s times. Vettel just put in a lap time that was better than anything Mercedes has managed on the medium tyres so far. Raikkonen yesterday did a 1’24.8 on medium tyres in an 8 lap stint. Hamilton is on 1 second faster tyres, and is about 1 second faster than Vettel. It is the S-SS-US tyres where the gap becomes a bit blurry and much smaller, mainly because of how heavy Barcelona is on tyres. Ferrari this week is running on full power (from what I’ve heard), unlike last week. A new front wing is coming in either this week or in Melbourne.

   Very difficult to read, some insiders claim that the gap between the two cars is 0.2-0.3 s in Merc’s favor around this particular circuit.
   1. 

      uan (@uan)
      2nd March 2016, 19:28

      @kingshark

      that would be good news if the gap is .2-.3. That Ferrari in with a real chance of snatching some poles or splitting the Mercs in qualifying. If they can get in front of a Mercedes, they may be able to stay in front for the race as well.

      It’ll be interesting how the tire choices the teams have play out over the first few races too. The crap shoot will be if top teams come with different tire compounds. But I suspect they’ll all be about the same, with some teams further down the grid perhaps taking a riskier strategy. Let’s say Red Bull is very easy on it’s tires (or Force India), they may select SS-S instead of S-M for the weekend.
      1. 

         Kingshark (@kingshark)
         2nd March 2016, 22:35

         @uan
         A 0.2-0.3 second deficit around Barcelona, mind you. In both 2014 and 2015, Barcelona was Mercedes’ most dominant circuit. It wouldn’t surprise me the least if around more stop-and-go circuits, like Australia, Bahrain, Monaco, Canada, Austria, etc… Ferrari could be even closer than that if not on par.
   2. 

      Mr. X
      2nd March 2016, 20:14

      Some insiders have said Ferrari is running in a de-tuned engine mode because of a problem when running on 100%. They arent expected to fix this problem until Melborne AND perhaps not even by then. They feel comfortable enough with their power unit running in a detuned setting to race and beat everyone except Merc.

      IF thats true, reading into these laptimes is pointless. Oh wait, reading into pre-season laptimes is always pointless. Let’s all remember that next year!
      1. 

         ColdFly F1 (@)
         2nd March 2016, 22:41

         At least those lap times are verifiable facts as opposed to what ‘some insiders have said’!
         1. 

            Mr. X
            2nd March 2016, 23:17

            Yes, the most pointless verifiable facts in F1!
   3. 

      Kgn11
      2nd March 2016, 22:14

      Did Rosberg not do a 24.3 on the medium tires before he set his time on the softs?
      1. 

         reh1v2.0 (@reh1v2-0)
         2nd March 2016, 23:11

         @kingshark
         Test Two, Day One
         “Just to underline, that 1:24.329 lap of Rosberg’s is the fastest set on the medium tyres so far at either test and the eighth quickest overall.”
         skysports
      2. 

         kpcart
         3rd March 2016, 2:49

         Yep, just .3 ahead of vettel.
9. 

   HUHHII (@huhhii)
   2nd March 2016, 18:49

   Kimi having loads of problems with his car all days but not a single issue in the car once Vettel sits in.
   #JustKimiThings
   1. 

      Diego (@ironcito)
      2nd March 2016, 20:23

      It happens. When Vettel has a problem and Kimi doesn’t, nobody notices. It was the same thing with Webber at Red Bull.
      1. 

         Keith Collantine (@keithcollantine)
         2nd March 2016, 20:47

         @ironcito

         It was the same thing with Webber at Red Bull.

         No it wasn’t.
         1. 

            Diego (@ironcito)
            2nd March 2016, 23:15

            @keithcollantine
            By “it” I meant that some people said that Webber suffered all the problems at Red Bull, implying some sort of sabotage or carelessness to favor Vettel. The accusations are the same now with Kimi at Ferrari. Both times they were false.
            1. 

               HUHHII (@huhhii)
               2nd March 2016, 23:25

               @ironcito I wasn’t blaming the team though. Just thinking out loud about Kimi’s rotten luck which has followed him from his first years at McLaren to this day.
   2. 

      Kgn11
      2nd March 2016, 22:18

      Seb was also running a new power unit as well.

      I’ve got sneaky suspicion that problems Haas are experiencing is related to what’s been hampering Kimi hence the new PU for Seb.

      Arrivabene said the sent it back to Maranello for dyno testing. Kimi has picked up the Webber jinx.
      1. 

         Mr. X
         2nd March 2016, 23:19

         Kimi has been cursed for a long time. Long time fans will remember.

         Webber’s jinx is nothing compared to Kimi and I’d think kimi would be happy to have Webber’s.
         1. 

            Matthijs (@matthijs)
            3rd March 2016, 8:00

            Kimi was very lucky with his 2007 championship. So there.
   3. 

      reh1v2.0 (@reh1v2-0)
      2nd March 2016, 23:23

      @huhhii
      Vettel stopped on track at the end of the second day of the first test, although a few minutes before the end of the session. (And he left a broken Ferrari to Raikkonen) :)
10. 

    uan (@uan)
    2nd March 2016, 19:20

    If mega mileage was awesome last week for Mercedes, gotta give some kudos to Ferrari for doing 151 laps with their 2016 engine, and another 166 laps with their 2015 engine (w/STR). Impressive reliability.
    1. 

       @HoHum (@hohum)
       2nd March 2016, 20:50

       @uan, you left out Haas with the 2016 Ferrari engine, how impressive was that ?
       1. 

          kpcart
          3rd March 2016, 2:48

          Oh please
11. 

    John H (@john-h)
    2nd March 2016, 19:30

    Taking into account tyre selection, Ferrari seem just as fast as Mercedes to my untrained brain.

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