Is Nico Rosberg was right, and Scuderia finally began to show their true potential?
No one doubts that the new Ferrari chassis previous order of magnitude stronger. In addition, and to the Mercedes team from Maranello seriously approached. Yet in the first two races of the season scarlet cars were only the second force in the peloton, and to deny it is pointless.
Yes, in Melbourne Scuderia missed a brilliant chance to take advantage of errors rivals and win the race, and two weeks later in Bahrain Ferrari drivers started not so well and hopelessly far released Rosberg.
Frighten fans Reds and problems with the reliability of the new chassis in Australia Kimi Raikkonen failed to finish iz-za problems in the turbine, and at Sakhir Sebastian did not even I managed to start in the race – reason was the failure of the valve
But if you look at the whole picture, the fans, “Silver arrows” should not be so confident in their pets.. Ferrari pace, in spite of all these problems, the cabinet can not hide – in addition, in the Mercedes is well aware of, and over and over again repeated, like a mantra, that the Scuderia firmly seated on their tail
And it is. not simply an attempt to artificially create a competitive environment in the sport. Potential red cars this year is really visible to the naked eye. In Australia, where Ferrari had all the chances to catch the victory, they are just a little bit inferior to the leaders at the sheer speed in the final training session, despite the fact that the track at Albert Park absolutely not suitable for them.
After the step Bahrain head Maurizio Arrivabene team confirmed that Kimi little did not have luck to win the race, and the potential of Sebastian in the race the Italian praised very highly, if not with an engine problem.
Rosberg admitted again that if the weekend went smoothly and without a hitch, the Ferrari would be a good chance to fight for victory.
However, if you remember last season in China pilots Mercedes could go with great optimism for the continuation of winning streak .
last year, Vettel lost time pole 0.905 seconds. In addition, Lewis Hamilton could win the race much more confident if deliberately dropped the pace at the end of the race, which caused fury team mate.
But this year, Scuderia looks much stronger, Kimi and Seb is rightly headed protocol day training session on Friday
Net tempo
- Ferrari -. 1.36,896 (Raikkonen) – SS
- Mercedes – 1.37,133 (Rosberg) – SS
- Red Bull – 1.38,143 (Riccardo) – SS
- Toro Rosso – 1.38,268 (Verstappen) – SS
- Force India – 1.38,527 (Hulkenberg) – SS
- Williams – 1.38,723 (Bottas) – SS
- McLaren – 1.38,728 (Alonso) – SS
- Renault – 1.39,774 (Palmer) – SS
- Haas – 1.39,890 (Grosjean) – SS
- Manor – 1.39,941 (Verlyayn) – S
- Sauber – 1.39,979 (Ericsson) – S
The advantage of 0.127 seconds after qualifying simulations can not be regarded as a true difference in the pace of the two teams. Do not repeat once again about the different fuel load and modes of operation of the engine.
In addition, it is worth noting that the Scuderia drivers drove their best efforts to later competitors, when the state of the roadway was more favorable.
But the Ferrari was faster in all three sectors of the track: Raikkonen set the fastest time on the first two segments, and Vettel was in the lead at the final long sector. And if you combine them the best of times for the sector, advancing Mercedes could be even more impressive.
Kimi lost to teammate on the last sector of the order of two tenths, which theoretically means that the advantage of red over silver could rise to 0.446 seconds.
And Given the fact that last year the Finn conceded in the second training in China Hamilton 0.443 seconds, you can imagine how much weight s claims the Scuderia to lead this season.
With regard to the composition of rubber, one of the pilots are not satisfied with stiffer compound Kimi called his segment to Soft terrible, and Vettel has suggested that in this area the team is still serious work
«I do not know why, but today we can normally go only on the super soft tires, -. said Raikkonen. – The machine we have is good, but for some reason I was not able to make other compounds cling
canvas “In this analysis conducted by a team Mercedes and Ferrari segments on the soft and medium compound shall say that the Reds. in this respect, not all so sad.
Kimi drove a 11-circular cut on Soft with an average time of 1.43,096. Rosberg in similar conditions, but in eight circles, represents an increase of 0.131 seconds worse.
Sets Medium tested Vettel and Hamilton, the first 11-lap segment showed the average time 1.43,487, while current world champion I have not held up to this result, 0.123 seconds, traveling at three laps less.
and given the fact that in the Mercedes initially assumed that China’s compositions Soft and Medium better suited for the race in Ferrari can gently rub the palms . Yes, do riders are unhappy with his pace, but the figures show that they were faster Mercedes both at short and at long intervals.
Later, the pilots championship squads tried again to drive segments on a hard tire , but it turned out they had it even worse. So Scuderia fans can look forward to an exciting race …
Long stretches of the composition Supersoft coached all the teams except for two, with the assumption of technical director Mercedes Paddy Lowe that these tires will not survive five rounds, apparently, were not far from the truth.
Raikkonen, Vettel and Rosberg drove for four relatively fast laps on the super soft tires used, and then the pace has fallen sharply. Hamilton’s speed decreased after just three laps.
In this case, the pilots used various approaches. Kimi drove an 8-circular segment with a slow but steady pace, while others attacked hard, and then waited for the bus to come back to normal.
On average, faster than the others appeared Rosberg (0.6 0.7 seconds), but is based on the fact that he drove a second faster lap out of the boxes.
As for Mercedes and Ferrari rivals, while everything indicates that we will have a very tight battle between the related teams Red Bull and Toro Rosso, which this track is better suited than the previous two.
Daniel Riccardo in the qualifying pace ahead of Max Verstappen at 0.125 seconds, while Carlos Sainz drove a par with the Australian on the Soft tire, and Supersoft on long stretches. Verstappen, in turn, are not too far behind in the composition of Medium.
Daniil Kvyat still to concede in this season, his partner on the team – this time the Russians complained that the super soft tires did not work on his car, as well as the fact that he failed to pass a single pure circle.
The pilots Force India joined the struggle with Toro Rosso in qualifying pace, and even a little Nico (0.015 seconds) ahead of Sainz. However, the pace at long intervals showed that, most likely, they will have to fight with Williams.
In this group, the best on the Medium tires looked Valtteri Bottas, but on the super soft tires Finn seriously inferior not only to teammate, . but the pilots Force India
Perez showed a rather weak result in the composition of Soft – an average of a second slower than Massa, moreover, seems to have its tires are destroyed faster than direct competitors. But Supersoft racers Force India look at this group of clear favorites
McLaren-Honda The team still looks the seventh team in the peloton -. Fernando Alonso and Jenson Button, though were able to catch the results of experiencing problems Massa and Kvyat, but long segments compete with Williams and force India, they were simply not able to do
«We lacked stability on acceleration and traction of the rear wheels, -. Fernando lamented. – If the race we want to be competitive, you need to change something »
« I think everything here is experiencing problems with the tires, -. Noticed Button. – Granulation and overheating of the rubber is simply huge. This serious problem, especially on long
segments. »
the same can be said about the pilots Haas, whose first day of the Grand Prix When was just awful. Romain Grosjean was the slowest of those who have tried to go to the qualifying pace on the part of Supersoft, and constantly complained of not optimal tire pressure.
The long stretch Grosjean on the super soft tires was a success, although in time it is located between Williams . and McLaren
Renault team also spent a very difficult day – Kevin Magnussen any fatal problems with the suspension in the second training session, while his teammate Jolyon Palmer is seriously inferior in race pace on hard tires pilots Sauber
As for the Manor pilots, they looked extremely competitive on the background Sauber at one lap, but their race rhythm was much worse. And still on the tires Soft Pascal Verlyayn managed to drive a wedge between the two pilots McLaren, while Rio Haryanto in the composition of Medium was faster than Button and Palmer.
Frankly bad today looked Felipe Nasr, continues to complain about the behavior of its C35 in the corners despite the identical configuration with a second machine. Especially bad he managed short and long segments to Soft, whereas the tires Medium favored Brazilian a little more, but to them he was an average of 0.379 seconds slower than team-mate
translated and adapted the material:. Alexander Ginko
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