F1 2023 Season

It’s incredibly difficult to get a real read on standings during testing.
Agreed. What'll he more interesting is the cars themselves. We'll finally see the real ones instead of just the liveries. Although there probably will be changes to the cars between now and the first race too.
 
an early time sheet.
Latest timesheet

DriverTeamTimeLaps
Carlos SainzFerrari1:33.76713
Max VerstappenRed Bull1:34.89518
Pierre GaslyAlpine1:36.07013
Zhou GuanyuAlfa Romeo1:36.2667
Nico HulkenbergHaas1:37.0608
George RussellMercedes1:37.75212
Yuki TsunodaAlphaTauri1:40.38912
Alex AlbonWilliamsNo time9
Oscar PiastriMcLarenNo time6
Felipe DrugovichAston MartinNo time1
 
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I will be watching some of it, but dont take much notice of times in testing.
Good to see the new car on track, teams are still getting to grips with a new car.
I agree it's really hard to know who is going for it and who is not. But there are some things that can already make out if it. The Red Bull is riding way better than the Ferrari.
 
I agree it's really hard to know who is going for it and who is not. But there are some things that can already make out if it. The Red Bull is riding way better than the Ferrari.

I'm not watching the coverage. Can you tell how much fuel they are carrying? Are they on comparable tyres?
 
I'm not watching the coverage. Can you tell how much fuel they are carrying? Are they on comparable tyres?

No, it's impossible to call anything on testing. All we're seeing is correlation runs to validate wind tunnel and sim data. We'll hear/see some wild assumptions over the next few days and we'll probably won't know till qualifying at the first race till we see who has made any strides forward.
 
Is it safe to make assumptions from testing about porpoising / bouncing or is that too setup dependent? If we can, it's very minimal on the Merc down the straights.
 
Is it safe to make assumptions from testing about porpoising / bouncing or is that too setup dependent? If we can, it's very minimal on the Merc down the straights.

You could probably benchmark it against last years testing, the fact its being spoken about it less is no surprise given most got their heads around it towards the end of last year.

That said, different circuits will have different impacts, street circuits will probably pose the biggest test for those that have had porpoising issues last year.
 
You could probably benchmark it against last years testing, the fact its being spoken about it less is no surprise given most got their heads around it towards the end of last year.

That said, different circuits will have different impacts, street circuits will probably pose the biggest test for those that have had porpoising issues last year.

Thanks, that makes sense. It could be a plus for Mercedes if they're running the setup they want and not really getting it, as the solution for them was supposed to have been to raise the ride height beyond their ideal last season from what I understood.
 
No, it's impossible to call anything on testing. All we're seeing is correlation runs to validate wind tunnel and sim data. We'll hear/see some wild assumptions over the next few days and we'll probably won't know till qualifying at the first race till we see who has made any strides forward.

That's what I thought. I suppose if teams beat their max straight line/ cornering speed from last years quali, that would be a good indicator of a decent step forward. Thinking especially about the Mercs straight line speed. Although with the rakes on and the fact that no team would show all of their potential performance at this stage, I doubt that's at all possible.
 
I'm not watching the coverage. Can you tell how much fuel they are carrying? Are they on comparable tyres?
Same tyres but the Ferrari has grip issues at the back and bounce on high speed sections while the Red Bull looks planted. Ferrari are not known for sandbagging but who knows.
 
A bit of a random question, but the Mrs is trying to arrange a holiday to Mexico which coincides with the Mexican GP, so I was trying to have a look for tickets. The main F1 site only seems to be selling tickets for all 3 days, and ideally we'd only want to go for the Sunday, as we'll be busy sight seeing the rest of the time. I can find tickets on Viagogo and similar sites, but are these legitimate? Has anyone ever used a non-official website to book F1 tickets before? I've been to Silverstone (was working at the event) and Singapore but paid through the official F1 site at the time. Any advice would be welcome!
 
So not a lot to go on today other than how the cars looked going through turns 10, 11, and 12. From what I watched and on some of the onboards on the long runs, both Ferrari and Red Bull look solid, Mercedes probably next. Surprisingly next was Aston Martin (I think they've built a decent base for their season this year) and then a mix of Williams (!), Alpine, Alpha Tauri, Alfa Romeo and Haas

Hate to say it but I think McLaren's lack of confidence prior to testing is confirmed on the track with the car, Norris didn't look overtly comfortable and the car was hampered with technical problems for most of the day.

Aston Martin and Williams certainly look like the teams that have taken a decent step forward from last year.

Drive to Survive season 5 is out tomorrow as well.
 
I think the only thing to really glean from today is that McLaren are still a bit of a joke.
 
Max just did a 31.8 on mediums so we're getting close to Q3 pace in 2022, which was a 30.6. This year should be 1-2 seconds faster than that.
 
Mark Hughes on todays testing.

"....But on the longer runs the Red Bull appeared to carry three to four tenths of a second advantage over Ferrari, Aston Martin and Mercedes, though the Mercedes appeared to not to quite have the single lap performance of the Ferrari or (possibly) the Aston Martin..."

https://the-race.com/formula-1/mark-hughes-take-on-who-was-actually-quick-on-f1-test-day-one/

Aston Martin have recruited a number of significant positions from the other teams. And so I am not overly surprised at the progress they have made
 
Russell already saying Merc aren’t competing for wins. Red Bull lot quicker than everyone else.
It’s just testing but…

New regs really have improved the overtaking but introduced just as we had two very competitive front runners in Merc and Red Bull.
 
Max just did a 31.8 on mediums so we're getting close to Q3 pace in 2022, which was a 30.6. This year should be 1-2 seconds faster than that.

Even with the increased floor distance? That would be impressive.
 
I think the only thing to really glean from today is that McLaren are still a bit of a joke.
To be fair, they literally said they were going to be shit early on in the season at the start in their car launch.

It's only the first test though, so plenty of time to turn it around.
 
When did this happen to Stroll again? That’s a very fast recovery time for broken wrists …

Lance Stroll operated on for wrist fracture in Barcelona

Aston Martin is being secretive about Lance Stroll's injury and his possible participation in the Bahrain Grand Prix, but Motorsport.com has learned that the Canadian has already undergone surgery in Barcelona for the fracture he suffered in a bicycle accident.
Motorsport.com has learned that the incident took place in the southern Spanish city of Malaga, the diagnosis was a wrist fracture. The driver was then flown to Barcelona where he was operated on by renowned surgeon Xavier Mir. Mir is the regular doctor of many MotoGP riders, having had multiple MotoGP world champion Marc Marquez on the treatment table in the past, among others.
What is not clear, however, is when the incident and surgery took place.

Lance was present Feb. 13 at the launch, so by then the accident had not occurred.
 
Even with the increased floor distance? That would be impressive.

General improvements in downforce combined with the minimum weight on cars dropping by 2kg is the main reason. Tyres aren't that different from last year, just more robust construction to deal with the increased downforce.
 
General improvements in downforce combined with the minimum weight on cars dropping by 2kg is the main reason. Tyres aren't that different from last year, just more robust construction to deal with the increased downforce.
Hasn't the minimum weight stayed the same since the tyres are heavier?
 
Russell already saying Merc aren’t competing for wins. Red Bull lot quicker than everyone else.
It’s just testing but…

New regs really have improved the overtaking but introduced just as we had two very competitive front runners in Merc and Red Bull.
Really hope ferrari have produced a great car otherwise it will be another precession of a season for RedBull.
 
Merc just died on Russell, more problems for the team?
A hydraulic failure can happen to any team at any point. I wouldn't see it as a problem unless it became a regularity.
 
Hasn't the minimum weight stayed the same since the tyres are heavier?

Probably a 2022 regulation that one. 2023 regulations have the minimum weight of the car reduced by 2kg, which is why you're seeing an awful lot of carbon fibre on display on the liveries.
 
What has gone wrong for McLaren for being a consistent podium car to what ever they are now? Seems like a waste of Landon's talent.