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[Psychotext]

Unrelated mechanical fault, I suspect.

Talking of which, they've got a good haul of laps given how things started for them today.

 

[brotkasten]

lol, what's the head shaking about?

He's shaking his head to get that impartial view right.

The Halo was fitted to the Ferrari on Wednesday night and Sebastian Vettel tried it out in the car in the garage.
However, it was decided that Kimi Raikkonen would be a far better person to conduct early visibility tests on track because he would offer a far more impartial view on its impact on the drivers.

 

[Jezbollah]

HNNG

F1 is back folks

 

[PdotMichael]

He's shaking his head to get that impartial view right.

The Halo was fitted to the Ferrari on Wednesday night and Sebastian Vettel tried it out in the car in the garage.
However, it was decided that Kimi Raikkonen would be a far better person to conduct early visibility tests on track because he would offer a far more impartial view on its impact on the drivers.

Kimi is faster than Vettel confirmed.

I can see a Kimi & Ricciardo pairing for next season.

 

[ElTorro]

The Halo was fitted to the Ferrari on Wednesday night and Sebastian Vettel tried it out in the car in the garage.
However, it was decided that Kimi Raikkonen would be a far better person to conduct early visibility tests on track because he would offer a far more impartial view on its impact on the drivers.

Vettel probably started another rant about the trend towards pussyfication in F1, demanding the return of 1000BHP-engines, crazy aerodynamics, and exploding fuel tanks.

 

[JadedWriter]

HNNG

F1 is back folks

F1 is back only until Mercedes Domination kills it again.

 

[PdotMichael]

Is okay because Rosberg will win this year.

 

[JadedWriter]

Is okay because Rosberg will win this year.

I don't want to endure that season.

 

[Mastah]

Halo is apparently a no-no for Indycars:

Graham Rahal @GrahamRahal

@MichaelShankRac won’t work for us. Ovals you have to look out top left on banking, this would block vision completely.

New livery for McLaren, quite unique:

 

[Ark]

Don't tease me like that.

 

[DD]

 

[Tempy]

how will that protect against what happened to Massa?

It doesn't, but it could've helped Surtees, Bianchi, de Villota, Wilson, etc.

 

[Mastah]

 

[JadedWriter]

Is there a rant gif that comes after this image?

 

[Jezbollah]

"I Haas made a terrible mistake"

 

[DrM]

Pirelli said they expect the difference to be .5 seconds, even though Vettel squeezed out a .7 difference compared to the supersoft. I wonder if Mercedes will even run the ultrasoft. Last season there were some races where their car was eating up tires again more than other teams and the ultrasoft seems to disintegrate after three laps.

I just wonder if ultrasoft compound will be even feasible for the race, because they won't last more than 7 laps
Also, was Kimi on 1:23 lap on softs or ultrasofts? There are mixed reports about that.

Mercedes will use new floor tomorrow and even more new parts were bolted on car today

It is fun to read how people are guessing how far behind teams are behind Mercedes.

 

[Mastah]

Glenn Freeman ‏@glenn_autosport 17m17 minutes ago

Lewis Hamilton on #F1 halo: "I've seen the pictures, but you're not having a soundbite." Followed by a facepalm...

Tobi Grüner ‏@tgruener 5m5 minutes ago

#F1 @HulkHulkenberg slams halo concept: "It looks horrible. You have to accept some risks. There needs to be an element of danger. " #AMuS

Sandra Baumgartner ‏@Sky_SandraB 1m1 minute ago

#Kimi about #haloconcept: visibility is limited, but it's not the final version, so it maybe will change #ssnhd #f1sky

And:

Jules Bianchi's father Philippe says that he is not convinced that the 'Halo' concept is the best solution for protecting Formula 1 drivers.

"For Jules, it would have changed nothing, because it was an extremely violent deceleration that caused the damage that we know happened to his brain.

"I think developments of the HANS device, to better absorb big deceleration in a severe impact, could help in this case."

http://www.motorsport.com/f1/news/bianchi-s-father-not-convinced-by-f1-halo-design-677135/

 

[Theorry]

TR going strong. Everyday so many laps;

 

[Addnan]

Is there much that would have saved Bianchi? A roof would have been crushed and killed him too :/ Not that I am against protection, just is there anything that could have really saved him from that.

 

[brotkasten]

Halo is apparently a no-no for Indycars:



New livery for McLaren, quite unique:

Yeah, it's looking great.

 

[dubc35]

It's not flow vis?

 

[brotkasten]

It's not flow vis?

It is, but one can dream, right?

 

[dubc35]

It is, but one can dream, right?

haha yep, sure can. Man it's depressing that flow vis makes a livery significantly better, lol.

 

[Psychotext]

Also, was Kimi on 1:23 lap on softs or ultrasofts? There are mixed reports about that.

It was originally reported as supersoft, but it was done on softs.

 

[nature boy]

Is there much that would have saved Bianchi? A roof would have been crushed and killed him too :/ Not that I am against protection, just is there anything that could have really saved him from that.

Virtual safety car.

And it could've been a marshall dead as well.

 

[Mastah]

https://www.instagram.com/p/BCgW_mcr01r/

lewishamilton

Please no! This is the worst looking mod in Formula 1 history. I appreciate the quest for safety but this is formula 1, and the way it is now is perfectly fine.

 

[andshrew]

Virtual safety car.

And it could've been a marshall dead as well.

They're still going pretty fast under VSC, so a full safety car really. Biggest lesson to take away is not to send heavy machinery onto the circuit while there are terrible conditions, low visibility, without first neutralising the race with a full safety car.

Lot of mixed messages with the head protection. It's the drivers association that has demanded head protection by next year, yet drivers are coming out saying they don't want the halo and their happy with the current level of risk?

 

[Kuros]

Aesthetically I prefer an enclosed cockpit but then there are issues in heavy rain and making sure its easy to get out in an accident.

Yes the halo is just for blocking large objects. Unlikely to have stopped the Massa incident and wouldnt have helped Bianci.

There really isn't much that can help when decelerating from 150kmh to 0 in a split second. Though obviously refinements in the HANS device are the best bet.

 

[DrM]

It was originally reported as supersoft, but it was done on softs.

Yeah I found out later, 5 lap soft stint

AMuS reporting that Mercedes is left with medium tyres only for the last day. Looks like they are a bit obsessed with medium component. This still baffles me a bit. And they are doing their best times on mediums in the first or second lap of 15 lap stint.

 

[Staab]

Well folks, looks like "Qualifying Knockout" has the full go ahead from the WMSC, FIA, FOM starting the first race of the season in Melbourne.

From Autosport :

The three qualifying periods will remain, with Q1 to run for 16 minutes, with the slowest car eliminated after seven minutes, and then every 90 seconds thereafter until 15 remain to head into Q2.

The second period is to run for 15 minutes, and will follow the same process as Q1, with the first driver to be eliminated after six minutes until eight remain.

For the 14-minute Q3, the first driver will be knocked out after five minutes, with the session continuing until only the man on pole is left standing.

At least it won't be a weird half new, half old system...
We'll see how it goes but I'm not a fan by the sounds of it.

 

[Kölsch Bloot]

Well folks, looks like "Qualifying Knockout" has the full go ahead from the WMSC, FIA, FOM starting the first race of the season in Melbourne.

From Autosport :


At least it won't be a weird half new, half old system...
We'll see how it goes but I'm not a fan by the sounds of it.

I'd bet my ass on it that we'll see the 2006-2015 format return for 2017 at the latest.

 

[tomtom94]

The session lengths are weird, I reckon there will be some tweaking of those (much like how Q3 was shortened after about three races because fuck all was happening in the first five minutes).

Otherwise I think this sounds pretty fun, should be exciting to watch, and puts a whole new form of pressure on the drivers.

 

[Zeknurn]

It all depends on if drivers will do more than one hot lap per session. Because if they don't it's no different from now.

 

[Cheeseman Battitude]

It all depends on if drivers will do more than one hot lap per session. Because if they don't it's no different from now.

I've been wondering this. And if they've got to keep circulating we'll probably have the eliminated drivers after the first timed laps because of the tyres.

 

[Wax Free Vanilla]

Looks like these are part of the Channel 4 F1 team, the full line up to be confirmed next week:

Steve Jones
David Coulthard
Ben Edwards
Lee Mckenzie
Mark Webber
Susie Wolff
Karun Chandhok

James Allen has been replaced on 5Live by the ITV Formula E commentator and is expected to join as well.

 

[Cheeseman Battitude]

Chandhock, yes!!

 

[tomtom94]

Looks like these are part of the Channel 4 F1 team, the full line up to be confirmed next week:

Steve Jones
David Coulthard
Ben Edwards
Lee Mckenzie
Mark Webber
Susie Wolff
Karun Chandhok

James Allen has been replaced on 5Live by the ITV Formula E commentator and is expected to join as well.

Allen...AND Edwards? Hmm. Interesting. Wonder if that means Allen will be back to his old role in the pit lane alongside Lee?

 

[SictorVullivan]

Looks like these are part of the Channel 4 F1 team, the full line up to be confirmed next week:

Steve Jones
David Coulthard
Ben Edwards
Lee Mckenzie
Mark Webber
Susie Wolff
Karun Chandhok

James Allen has been replaced on 5Live by the ITV Formula E commentator and is expected to join as well.

Great lineup. Shame they dont have more live races.

 

[Lach]

Red Flag! Mercedes stopped! Season over for them!


C4 team looks great! Looking forward to the first coverage!

 

[brotkasten]

Red Flag! Mercedes stopped! Season over for them!


C4 team looks great! Looking forward to the first coverage!

And since Vettel is leading the charts, he's basically the WDC.

Season saved.

 

[Psychotext]

Looks like Mercedes has worked out that their transmission will only do about a million miles before failing.

 

[brotkasten]

Looks like Mercedes has worked out that their transmission will only do about a million miles before failing.

Probably still using the old one from the post-Abu Dhabi test.

 

[dubc35]

Gaf is back!

Testing is almost done

2 weeks to go!

 

[tomtom94]

I think the teams that will be most disappointed post testing are Mclaren, Williams and Sauber. Renault, Manor and Haas have had problems, but they have demonstrated better pace than I was expecting. Mclaren are still off the pace, Williams seem to have failed to keep up with Ferrari, and Sauber are still stuck in a bit of a rut.

 

[Wax Free Vanilla]

Chandhock, yes!!

Looks like he will be a pitlane reporter:

I think the teams that will be most disappointed post testing are Mclaren, Williams and Sauber. Renault, Manor and Haas have had problems, but they have demonstrated better pace than I was expecting. Mclaren are still off the pace, Williams seem to have failed to keep up with Ferrari, and Sauber are still stuck in a bit of a rut.

McLaren are sandbagging in data capture and reliability mode "there will be much more performance" - King Eric today.

McLaren will be sandwiched between Mercedes and Ferrari come Melbourne.

Albert Fabrega ES ‏@AlbertFabrega 7h

Honda engine being used today by JB is the same used for the past three days. It has a total of 330 laps

2016 Arai PU #bulletproof, the Honda insider at vtec forums says the new engine team's PU won't arrive until July / August time.

 

[DD]

I think the teams that will be most disappointed post testing are Mclaren, Williams and Sauber. Renault, Manor and Haas have had problems, but they have demonstrated better pace than I was expecting. Mclaren are still off the pace, Williams seem to have failed to keep up with Ferrari, and Sauber are still stuck in a bit of a rut.

Massa did an amazing fast lap yesterday. Williams looks strong, and they believe that they can put a fight against Ferrari. And on Sauber, Nasr said that the car is better than last year's, with a much more stable rear. The problem, he believes, is that the other teams seemed to have improved as well.

 

[Psychotext]

Massa did an amazing fast lap yesterday. Williams looks strong, and they believe that they can put a fight against Ferrari. And on Sauber, Nasr said that the car is better than last year's, with a much more stable rear. The problem, he believes, is that the other teams seemed to have improved as well.

Yeah, Massa's lap is within a reasonable distance of the Merc and Ferrari laps, only question is how lean they were running the car.

 

[Zeknurn]

James Allen has been replaced on 5Live by the ITV Formula E commentator and is expected to join as well.

Day ruined. Jack Nicholls and Dario Franchitti was a great combo and far better than what BBC had and what Sky have for F1. It's a shame he's going to be wasted on radio commentating a dying sport.

At least there's some positive Formula E news today:

http://www.fiaformulae.com/en/news/...battery-and-chassis-supply-out-to-tender.aspx
The FIA World Council has approved the launch of two tenders: one to find a sole supplier for the battery and one for the chassis, at a meeting held today in Geneva.
The tenders are for season five of the all-electric championship, which will take place during 2018/2019. The decision lays the foundations for reaching a dual strategic aim: the use of a single car for the entire duration of the race, while also keeping costs under control.
The tender for the battery is for a sole supplier, as has been the case with Williams for seasons one to four. The chassis supplier - currently Dallara - will also be for an exclusive arrangement.

 

[Psychotext]

Surely you'd see way more innovation on the batteries if there was some competition?

 

[Zaru]

Ultrasoft tyres really don't seem worth it at this point, at least from an outsider's perspective