Quote:
Originally Posted by DLSTR
Strong data suggest Mercedes were running race trim and very high fuel loads. Pushing for reliability. If true they never were at 100%. I dont see anyone beating them again this year. I see others getting close but not taking the lead over Mercedes. Early days yet!
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Pre-season test is like FP1, things could be all over the place, plus we don't know what fuel load and what kind of programs the teams are running.
But one thing can tell is Mercedes is still the team to beat and they are reliable, since the highest top speed and most mileage.
interesting thing is the top 3 on the speed trap are all running merc-engines and they are less than 1 km/h difference on top speed.
during the test, merc were never on the top of the lap time, it's possible they are running certain programs ie. race pace with high fuel load or collecting data for tires degradation and their prime window.
thus they don't have the fastest laptime, but the fastest top speed means they are pushing the engine to the limit to see what can if offers on both speed and reliability.
Ferrari might be upbeat by the laptime but it's only the first pre-season testing, most of the teams haven't put out the true pace... yet.