Pointless to get excited about testing. Mercedes probably doing race simulation & focusing on long-term reliability.

Yeah, not much point looking at day 1 testing times. Good to see Ferrari top the lap count on the first day though. Usually Mercs top the lap count in testing

The most interesting news is RB+Honda went without trouble, and quite fast. Unlike with mclaren Honda.

And william will dominate the back of the grid this year too

Yeah Williams staying at the bottom seems the only sure thing. 😀

I don't know why the media made a big deal of Kimi spinning out in the gravel in his outlap. I felt it was impressive he put the Alfa in 5th with a lot of trouble free laps. I don't remember Alfa(Sauber) ever being that far up in so many years. Usually they are in the bottom half. His teammate also a respectable 6th on the 2nd day.

Media needs to make news on everything la. Sauber Alfa has massively improved last year so not too surprised it can continue to do well now.

https://amp.sportsmole.co.uk/formula-1/ferr...ost_350888.html
Ferrari at least 0.5s ahead of Mercedes! Now they have secret weapon on engine power, front wing, and rear lowered during high speed runs! Wow, what a revolution.

Last year also Ferrari dominated the testing and Mercs seldom were at the top.

Seriously, curb ur enthusiasm. And this is only the first test. And pretty sure Merc know what they’re doing. They’re experienced and good enough to either not show their hand early or improve throughout the year as what they did last year

Mercedes just responded, Hamilton on 3rd in morning session, running on softer C4 tyre, but not impressive enough..
Quote: "Ferrari on c3 was only 1 tenth slower than Mercedes on c4 faster tyre and surprisingly Renault were an equal for Mercedes in c4. "

The Toro Rosso Honda seems fast(and reliable), really a kick in the face for McLaren. Renault also pretty strong. And again, Sauber pace quick and consistent despite Kimi saying he is not pushing the car yet. Hopefully we get a lot of different winners this season.

Hoping Mercedes to become backmarker this season like Williams 2018, hehe.

This post has been edited by voscar: Feb 22 2019, 01:47 PM

The problem with ferrari last year is lack of focus, unlike mercedes who straight up use team order to helps Hamilton, and strategy all priorities him over bottas. Then driver and team errors and more importantly, lacking in season development, which saw RB catch up to them. Imo, too much politics involved inside ferrari, especially when the old boss died.

Interestingly, Mercedes is the only team using low rake design. Either they know something nobody else knew, or they just made a mistake with the new regulations

Honestly I don't want Mercs to be at the back coz I don't want Lewis to end up like Alonso then we 'd loose another champ due to just bad car.

Not the back. Midfield would be good enough for me. Time for new era. Hopefully teams like Alfa and Torro Rosso can get podiums regularly for a change.

Combined test times
https://www.crash.net/f1/results/913670/1/b...-times-combined

Mercs is actually faster than Ferrari with Renault and TR as top 3. So yeah, it proves nothing can be proven by just testing times!

Mercedes use softer tyres

After lap time corrected by Pirelli with tyre factor-in, Ferrari, Alfa Romeo and Haas far ahead yo!
https://www.formula1.com/en/latest/article....epMbEju5rv.html

Could be this year Mercedes racing with Renault and Red Bull for Formula 1.5