2018 Post-Season Test (Pirelli 2019 Tyres)Thread

[UnlikeUday]

Today & tomorrow, teams will be running their drivers for testing 2019 Pirelli tyres. For this test, driver changes that were supposed to shape up in 2019 have already shaped up. Sainz will be driving a McLaren, Leclerc will be driving a Ferrari, Raikkonen will be driving a Sauber, Stroll will be driving a Force India, Gasly will be driving a Red Bull etc. Will try posting a live testing link incase anyone wants to follow the same.

Tuesday’s line up:
Mercedes – Valtteri Bottas
Ferrari – Charles Leclerc
Red Bull – Pierre Gasly
Renault – Nico Hulkenberg
Haas – Pietro Fittipaldi
McLaren – Lando Norris
Force India – Sergio Perez/Lance Stroll
Sauber – Kimi Raikkonen
Toro Rosso – Seal Gelael
Williams – George Russell/Robert Kubica

Here's the tyre guide as per Pirelli:


Source - http://uploadscdn.sportnetwork.net/uplo ... 296770.jpg

[UnlikeUday]

Lance Stroll looking different:


Source - https://pbs.twimg.com/media/Ds_TUAlW0AA30TK.jpg

[Covalent]

Wonder how Sainz feels about moving to McLaren... the team may be more prestigious but surely odds are Renault will be the faster car in the year(s) to come.

[Exediron]

Wonder how Sainz feels about moving to McLaren... the team may be more prestigious but surely odds are Renault will be the faster car in the year(s) to come.

I assume that he feels lucky to have a seat at all, considering he was dumped by Renault and obviously out of favor at Red Bull. Macca may not be the power house it once was (for now, at last... ) but it is still a high budget team that can pay him a real salary and keep him in the spotlight of F1. Much better to be where he is than where Ocon is.

[UnlikeUday]

Stroll looks uncomfortable when walking past the F1 photographers:

Stroll takes to the track for the first time in a Force India car:

[UnlikeUday]

Morning times till lunch:


Source - https://pbs.twimg.com/media/DtAT-EJX4AABJn6.jpg:large

[Mayox]

Final times after first day. Stroll...

[UnlikeUday]

Final classification for today:


Source - https://pbs.twimg.com/media/DtBGb4EUUAEkwiA.jpg:large

[SmoothRide]

Final times after first day. Stroll...

Stroll is a good driver. I think he may surprise a few people in a decent car.

[Mayox]

Final times after first day. Stroll...

Stroll is a good driver. I think he may surprise a few people in a decent car.

Cmon, we all know he would have never been in F1 without his Daddy money. And those flying laps on the fastest compound from 2018 during 2019 tyre tests looks like a desperate try to show the world it's otherwise

[Johnson]

Stroll has potential. He isn't top tier but people forget he was still a teenager this time last month. Massa did thrash him at times but he showed true glimpses of being a good driver - like his wet weather driving. He basically came to F1 5 years early. He won every single seater series he ever entered for full seasons.Euro F3 and Italian F4.

It shows how bad that Williams really is, he beat his qualifying time by 1.3 seconds, jumping into a car he has never driven. He is still a second off of the FI qualifying times though but I doubt he went full Q3 mode today.

[Black_Flag_11]

Final times after first day. Stroll...

Stroll is a good driver. I think he may surprise a few people in a decent car.

Cmon, we all know he would have never been in F1 without his Daddy money. And those flying laps on the fastest compound from 2018 during 2019 tyre tests looks like a desperate try to show the world it's otherwise

No we don't know that. He dominated F3 in 2016 and while it was certainly money that got him the Williams drive for 2017 he almost certainly would have gone to F2 without it.

Whether he would have got from F2 to F1 isnt certain but his F3 results do indicate it would be very possible for him to do so.

It's not even that unusual to go straight from F3 to F1 after a season like he had in 2016. Many drivers skip a level and graduate straight from F3 or F3 equivalents. Bottas, Verstappen, Kvyat and Ocon all did and that's just off the top of my head. Often after less convincing campaigns in those lower series.

[pokerman]

Final times after first day. Stroll...

Stroll is a good driver. I think he may surprise a few people in a decent car.

Cmon, we all know he would have never been in F1 without his Daddy money. And those flying laps on the fastest compound from 2018 during 2019 tyre tests looks like a desperate try to show the world it's otherwise

No we don't know that. He dominated F3 in 2016 and while it was certainly money that got him the Williams drive for 2017 he almost certainly would have gone to F2 without it.

Whether he would have got from F2 to F1 isnt certain but his F3 results do indicate it would be very possible for him to do so.

It's not even that unusual to go straight from F3 to F1 after a season like he had in 2016. Many drivers skip a level and graduate straight from F3 or F3 equivalents. Bottas, Verstappen, Kvyat and Ocon all did and that's just off the top of my head. Often after less convincing campaigns in those lower series.

GP3 was a higher level than F3 that's why the likes of Ocon, Leclerc and Russell went from F3 to GP3, Ocon, Bottas and Kvyat all went from GP3 to F1.

[Mayox]

Final times after first day. Stroll...

Stroll is a good driver. I think he may surprise a few people in a decent car.

Cmon, we all know he would have never been in F1 without his Daddy money. And those flying laps on the fastest compound from 2018 during 2019 tyre tests looks like a desperate try to show the world it's otherwise

No we don't know that. He dominated F3 in 2016 and while it was certainly money that got him the Williams drive for 2017 he almost certainly would have gone to F2 without it.

Whether he would have got from F2 to F1 isnt certain but his F3 results do indicate it would be very possible for him to do so.

It's not even that unusual to go straight from F3 to F1 after a season like he had in 2016. Many drivers skip a level and graduate straight from F3 or F3 equivalents. Bottas, Verstappen, Kvyat and Ocon all did and that's just off the top of my head. Often after less convincing campaigns in those lower series.

I respect your opinion. I'm not saying Stroll is a potato who can't drive at all, it's not like every rich guy can buy himself a drive in F1, he's a professional racing driver. I'm talking about F1 though, there is probably a lot of drivers in lower series who would be able to do a similar job to Stroll but they will never have opportunity because they are not good enough to be picked by F1 teams purely on skills, and they don't have a Dad who will buy them seat and in case seat is not good enough he will buy the whole team! xD

[Black_Flag_11]

Final times after first day. Stroll...

Stroll is a good driver. I think he may surprise a few people in a decent car.

Cmon, we all know he would have never been in F1 without his Daddy money. And those flying laps on the fastest compound from 2018 during 2019 tyre tests looks like a desperate try to show the world it's otherwise

No we don't know that. He dominated F3 in 2016 and while it was certainly money that got him the Williams drive for 2017 he almost certainly would have gone to F2 without it.

Whether he would have got from F2 to F1 isnt certain but his F3 results do indicate it would be very possible for him to do so.

It's not even that unusual to go straight from F3 to F1 after a season like he had in 2016. Many drivers skip a level and graduate straight from F3 or F3 equivalents. Bottas, Verstappen, Kvyat and Ocon all did and that's just off the top of my head. Often after less convincing campaigns in those lower series.

GP3 was a higher level than F3 that's why the likes of Ocon, Leclerc and Russell went from F3 to GP3, Ocon, Bottas and Kvyat all went from GP3 to F1.

Half a step up at most IMO. Stroll also put in a similar (perhaps slightly better) F3 than Ocon, who also ended up in F1.

His pre F1 results in no way indicate it would be weird for him to be in F1 now anyway even if his journey hadn't been accelerated by Williams looking for money and his dad having a lot to spare.

[mpls2]

Is Redbull still running with the Renault engine or Honda engine now?

[JN23]

Looking at the graphic posted on the OP there seems to be no SS equivalent next year. Is that correct?

If so, I wonder if they're having a two step difference between compound 3 and 4 or they're going to bring the compounds closer together.

[Mayox]

Is Redbull still running with the Renault engine or Honda engine now?

Pretty sure it's Renault. Impossible to implement completely different engine to the Chassis in 2 days

[Paolo_Lasardi]

Stroll is a good driver. I think he may surprise a few people in a decent car.

Cmon, we all know he would have never been in F1 without his Daddy money. And those flying laps on the fastest compound from 2018 during 2019 tyre tests looks like a desperate try to show the world it's otherwise

No we don't know that. He dominated F3 in 2016 and while it was certainly money that got him the Williams drive for 2017 he almost certainly would have gone to F2 without it.

Whether he would have got from F2 to F1 isnt certain but his F3 results do indicate it would be very possible for him to do so.

It's not even that unusual to go straight from F3 to F1 after a season like he had in 2016. Many drivers skip a level and graduate straight from F3 or F3 equivalents. Bottas, Verstappen, Kvyat and Ocon all did and that's just off the top of my head. Often after less convincing campaigns in those lower series.

GP3 was a higher level than F3 that's why the likes of Ocon, Leclerc and Russell went from F3 to GP3, Ocon, Bottas and Kvyat all went from GP3 to F1.

Half a step up at most IMO. Stroll also put in a similar (perhaps slightly better) F3 than Ocon, who also ended up in F1.

His pre F1 results in no way indicate it would be weird for him to be in F1 now anyway even if his journey hadn't been accelerated by Williams looking for money and his dad having a lot to spare.

Really?

Ocon won F3 Euro in 2014 on his first year in the series from second year driver Tom Blomqvist and co-rookie Max Verstappen.

Stroll finished his first year in F3 Euro in 2015 on P5 behind co-rookie Leclerc (but just ahead of also-rookies Russel and Albon).
He then won his second year in 2016 from Günther and Russel.

Both Ocon and Stroll were driving for Prema.

[Black_Flag_11]

Cmon, we all know he would have never been in F1 without his Daddy money. And those flying laps on the fastest compound from 2018 during 2019 tyre tests looks like a desperate try to show the world it's otherwise

No we don't know that. He dominated F3 in 2016 and while it was certainly money that got him the Williams drive for 2017 he almost certainly would have gone to F2 without it.

Whether he would have got from F2 to F1 isnt certain but his F3 results do indicate it would be very possible for him to do so.

It's not even that unusual to go straight from F3 to F1 after a season like he had in 2016. Many drivers skip a level and graduate straight from F3 or F3 equivalents. Bottas, Verstappen, Kvyat and Ocon all did and that's just off the top of my head. Often after less convincing campaigns in those lower series.

GP3 was a higher level than F3 that's why the likes of Ocon, Leclerc and Russell went from F3 to GP3, Ocon, Bottas and Kvyat all went from GP3 to F1.

Half a step up at most IMO. Stroll also put in a similar (perhaps slightly better) F3 than Ocon, who also ended up in F1.

His pre F1 results in no way indicate it would be weird for him to be in F1 now anyway even if his journey hadn't been accelerated by Williams looking for money and his dad having a lot to spare.

Really?

Ocon won F3 Euro in 2014 on his first year in the series from second year driver Tom Blomqvist and co-rookie Max Verstappen.

Stroll finished his first year in F3 Euro in 2015 on P5 behind co-rookie Leclerc (but just ahead of also-rookies Russel and Albon).
He then won his second year in 2016 from Günther and Russel.

Both Ocon and Stroll were driving for Prema.

Yeah I meant their winning years, stats wise it was better but with the caveat of it being his 2nd year compared to Ocon's first.

[UnlikeUday]

Wednesday’s line up:

Mercedes: Valtteri Bottas
Ferrari: Charles Leclerc
Red Bull: Pierre Gasly
Force India: Lance Stroll
Williams: Robert Kubica (AM), George Russell (PM)
Renault: Artem Markelov
Toro Rosso: Daniil Kvyat
Haas: Louis Deletraz
McLaren: Carlos Sainz Jr.
Sauber: Antonio Giovinazzi

[Covalent]

Wonder how Sainz feels about moving to McLaren... the team may be more prestigious but surely odds are Renault will be the faster car in the year(s) to come.

I assume that he feels lucky to have a seat at all, considering he was dumped by Renault and obviously out of favor at Red Bull. Macca may not be the power house it once was (for now, at last... ) but it is still a high budget team that can pay him a real salary and keep him in the spotlight of F1. Much better to be where he is than where Ocon is.

Now that you put it like that

[UnlikeUday]

Morning times till lunch:

1. C. Leclerc - 1:36.559
2. Gasly - 1:37.976
3. L. Stroll - 1:38.044
4. V. Bottas - 1:38.590
5. D. Kvyat - 1:38.862
6. A. Markelov - 1:39.803
7. L. Deletraz - 1:40.154
8. C. Sainz - 1:40.383
9. A. Giovinazzi - 1:40.435
10. R. Kubica - 1:44.208

[Jezza13]

Wonder how Sainz feels about moving to McLaren... the team may be more prestigious but surely odds are Renault will be the faster car in the year(s) to come.

I assume that he feels lucky to have a seat at all, considering he was dumped by Renault and obviously out of favor at Red Bull. Macca may not be the power house it once was (for now, at last... ) but it is still a high budget team that can pay him a real salary and keep him in the spotlight of F1. Much better to be where he is than where Ocon is.

Do you reckon Sainz would gladly sit out next year if it meant he was in with a real chance of the 2nd Merc seat in 2020?

It'd be a tempting choice.

[UnlikeUday]

Wonder how Sainz feels about moving to McLaren... the team may be more prestigious but surely odds are Renault will be the faster car in the year(s) to come.

I assume that he feels lucky to have a seat at all, considering he was dumped by Renault and obviously out of favor at Red Bull. Macca may not be the power house it once was (for now, at last... ) but it is still a high budget team that can pay him a real salary and keep him in the spotlight of F1. Much better to be where he is than where Ocon is.

Do you reckon Sainz would gladly sit out next year if it meant he was in with a real chance of the 2nd Merc seat in 2020?

It'd be a tempting choice.

Ocon in different colours as well at the test:


Source - https://pbs.twimg.com/media/DtBWHs5WsAIYRGS.jpg

[pokerman]

Stroll is a good driver. I think he may surprise a few people in a decent car.

Cmon, we all know he would have never been in F1 without his Daddy money. And those flying laps on the fastest compound from 2018 during 2019 tyre tests looks like a desperate try to show the world it's otherwise

No we don't know that. He dominated F3 in 2016 and while it was certainly money that got him the Williams drive for 2017 he almost certainly would have gone to F2 without it.

Whether he would have got from F2 to F1 isnt certain but his F3 results do indicate it would be very possible for him to do so.

It's not even that unusual to go straight from F3 to F1 after a season like he had in 2016. Many drivers skip a level and graduate straight from F3 or F3 equivalents. Bottas, Verstappen, Kvyat and Ocon all did and that's just off the top of my head. Often after less convincing campaigns in those lower series.

GP3 was a higher level than F3 that's why the likes of Ocon, Leclerc and Russell went from F3 to GP3, Ocon, Bottas and Kvyat all went from GP3 to F1.

Half a step up at most IMO. Stroll also put in a similar (perhaps slightly better) F3 than Ocon, who also ended up in F1.

His pre F1 results in no way indicate it would be weird for him to be in F1 now anyway even if his journey hadn't been accelerated by Williams looking for money and his dad having a lot to spare.

Ocon won F3 as a rookie and then had to prove himself further in GP3 which he also won as a rookie, Ocon had no money and if the results had dried up then he was finished, F3 alone did not get him into F1.

With Stroll the target was simply to get 40 F1 super license points then straight into F1, to facilitate this his father bought Prema the team that Ocon had just won the F3 title with, and hired Felix Rosenqvist to mentor his son. Rosenqvist was a F3 veteran who got beat by the rookie Ocon the year before, Rosenqvist won the title whilst Stroll finished 5th.

The following year teammates were hired to assist Stroll to win the title, also they terminated their Ferrari F1 junior contract and signed up with the Williams F1 team, the paid for deal being that Williams developed parts for Stroll's F3 car only plus he had an extensive testing schedule with a year old F1 Williams car at circuits all around the year with a private tutor, Gary Paffett.

Stroll also bought their own exclusive F3 test simulator which was better than Williams own F1 test simulator.

When the F3 title was won then it was straight to F1 without the need to prove himself at a higher level like Ocon had to do, the comparisons between Stroll and Ocon couldn't be more different.

[Siao7]

Morning times till lunch:

1. C. Leclerc - 1:36.559
2. Gasly - 1:37.976
3. L. Stroll - 1:38.044
4. V. Bottas - 1:38.590
5. D. Kvyat - 1:38.862
6. A. Markelov - 1:39.803
7. L. Deletraz - 1:40.154
8. C. Sainz - 1:40.383
9. A. Giovinazzi - 1:40.435
10. R. Kubica - 1:44.208

Brain freeze; I was looking for the Ferraris! D'oh

[Mayox]

Wonder how Sainz feels about moving to McLaren... the team may be more prestigious but surely odds are Renault will be the faster car in the year(s) to come.

I assume that he feels lucky to have a seat at all, considering he was dumped by Renault and obviously out of favor at Red Bull. Macca may not be the power house it once was (for now, at last... ) but it is still a high budget team that can pay him a real salary and keep him in the spotlight of F1. Much better to be where he is than where Ocon is.

Do you reckon Sainz would gladly sit out next year if it meant he was in with a real chance of the 2nd Merc seat in 2020?

It'd be a tempting choice.

Honestly I think second Merc seat for now is one of the worst seats in F1. It's a tempation to get a seat in a winning car, but the facts are different. Bottas didn't win sh... this year and even when he was able to win, he was denied by his own team. This is a place similar to second Ferrari seat during Schumacher era, car is fast but you not gonna win anything with it and your F1 career will be broken. Not worth.

[pokerman]

Wonder how Sainz feels about moving to McLaren... the team may be more prestigious but surely odds are Renault will be the faster car in the year(s) to come.

I assume that he feels lucky to have a seat at all, considering he was dumped by Renault and obviously out of favor at Red Bull. Macca may not be the power house it once was (for now, at last... ) but it is still a high budget team that can pay him a real salary and keep him in the spotlight of F1. Much better to be where he is than where Ocon is.

Do you reckon Sainz would gladly sit out next year if it meant he was in with a real chance of the 2nd Merc seat in 2020?

It'd be a tempting choice.

Honestly I think second Merc seat for now is one of the worst seats in F1. It's a tempation to get a seat in a winning car, but the facts are different. Bottas didn't win sh... this year and even when he was able to win, he was denied by his own team. This is a place similar to second Ferrari seat during Schumacher era, car is fast but you not gonna win anything with it and your F1 career will be broken. Not worth.

I appreciate you comparing Hamilton with Schumacher.

[UnlikeUday]

Classification of the times & standings:


Source - www.imgur.com

[UnlikeUday]

Overall fastest times during the 2 days:


Source - www.imgur.com

[dompclarke]

Wonder how Sainz feels about moving to McLaren... the team may be more prestigious but surely odds are Renault will be the faster car in the year(s) to come.

I assume that he feels lucky to have a seat at all, considering he was dumped by Renault and obviously out of favor at Red Bull. Macca may not be the power house it once was (for now, at last... ) but it is still a high budget team that can pay him a real salary and keep him in the spotlight of F1. Much better to be where he is than where Ocon is.

Now that you put it like that

Think Renault would have kept him happily if they didn't have to deal with red bull to sort out, it was easier for them to get DR as he was out of contract.

[Siao7]

Pardon the ignorance, what is Compound 5?

[Black_Flag_11]

Pardon the ignorance, what is Compound 5?

The 2019 equivalent of hypersoft. If you look at the OP there's a useful graphic that shows the current tyre and it's 2019 equivalent labelled compounds 1-5.

[Exediron]

Wonder how Sainz feels about moving to McLaren... the team may be more prestigious but surely odds are Renault will be the faster car in the year(s) to come.

I assume that he feels lucky to have a seat at all, considering he was dumped by Renault and obviously out of favor at Red Bull. Macca may not be the power house it once was (for now, at last... ) but it is still a high budget team that can pay him a real salary and keep him in the spotlight of F1. Much better to be where he is than where Ocon is.

Now that you put it like that

Think Renault would have kept him happily if they didn't have to deal with red bull to sort out, it was easier for them to get DR as he was out of contract.

They were going to replace him with Ocon if Ricciardo hadn't become available. That implies they were planning to replace him either way.

[Mort Canard]

Final times after first day. Stroll...

Stroll is a good driver. I think he may surprise a few people in a decent car.

Cmon, we all know he would have never been in F1 without his Daddy money. And those flying laps on the fastest compound from 2018 during 2019 tyre tests looks like a desperate try to show the world it's otherwise

Stroll joins Nelson Piquet Jr. as the only two drivers in the history of Formula One to be outqualified for an entire season by their team mate.

The driver who did this to both of them???? Fernando Alonso.

[Remmirath]

Final times after first day. Stroll...

Stroll is a good driver. I think he may surprise a few people in a decent car.

Cmon, we all know he would have never been in F1 without his Daddy money. And those flying laps on the fastest compound from 2018 during 2019 tyre tests looks like a desperate try to show the world it's otherwise

Stroll joins Nelson Piquet Jr. as the only two drivers in the history of Formula One to be outqualified for an entire season by their team mate.

The driver who did this to both of them???? Fernando Alonso.

That would be Vandoorne, no? Stroll's team mate was Sirotkin, who he outqualified a few times (at least six). He outqualified Massa twice last season, which is hardly great, but also not zero.

I do think that Stroll got to F1 too early, and there are some question marks over his worthiness to be there at all, but he has also shown flashes of promise - particularly in the wet - so I wouldn't rule out him doing better than expected in the Force India. I expect him to be soundly beaten by Pérez, however. We'll see.

[Mayox]

Final times after first day. Stroll...

Stroll is a good driver. I think he may surprise a few people in a decent car.

Cmon, we all know he would have never been in F1 without his Daddy money. And those flying laps on the fastest compound from 2018 during 2019 tyre tests looks like a desperate try to show the world it's otherwise

Stroll joins Nelson Piquet Jr. as the only two drivers in the history of Formula One to be outqualified for an entire season by their team mate.

The driver who did this to both of them???? Fernando Alonso.

That would be Vandoorne, no? Stroll's team mate was Sirotkin, who he outqualified a few times (at least six). He outqualified Massa twice last season, which is hardly great, but also not zero.

I do think that Stroll got to F1 too early, and there are some question marks over his worthiness to be there at all, but he has also shown flashes of promise - particularly in the wet - so I wouldn't rule out him doing better than expected in the Force India. I expect him to be soundly beaten by Pérez, however. We'll see.

Outqualified Massa twice is very bad result, Massa was never great but after his accident he was clearly not the same driver anymore. Normally a drivers after such a bad performance in the rookie season are just out of F1 as Vandoorne, Sirotkin, Hartley etc. teams simply are not giving second chance to this kind of drivers. He might show some decent performance and score good result from time to time under right circumstances, he would probably be even able to win races sometimes in car like 2010 Red Bull but He's not the F1 level and it's more than clear. I can promise you that as soon as Lawrence will stop paying he's out of F1 and no one will offer him a seat in normal conditions.

[Siao7]

Final times after first day. Stroll...

Stroll is a good driver. I think he may surprise a few people in a decent car.

Cmon, we all know he would have never been in F1 without his Daddy money. And those flying laps on the fastest compound from 2018 during 2019 tyre tests looks like a desperate try to show the world it's otherwise

Stroll joins Nelson Piquet Jr. as the only two drivers in the history of Formula One to be outqualified for an entire season by their team mate.

The driver who did this to both of them???? Fernando Alonso.

That would be Vandoorne, no? Stroll's team mate was Sirotkin, who he outqualified a few times (at least six). He outqualified Massa twice last season, which is hardly great, but also not zero.

I do think that Stroll got to F1 too early, and there are some question marks over his worthiness to be there at all, but he has also shown flashes of promise - particularly in the wet - so I wouldn't rule out him doing better than expected in the Force India. I expect him to be soundly beaten by Pérez, however. We'll see.

I was thinking the same, when was Stroll a team mate with Alonso?

[Exediron]

Normally a drivers after such a bad performance in the rookie season are just out of F1 as Vandoorne, Sirotkin, Hartley etc. teams simply are not giving second chance to this kind of drivers.

Nitpicking a bit, but Vandoorne wasn't dropped after his rookie season. He got a second chance and didn't manage to improve.