Rosberg flies as Button hits 100 laps for McLaren

64 comments on “Rosberg flies as Button hits 100 laps for McLaren”

1. 

   fullcoursecaution
   27th February 2015, 17:32

   Great to see McHonda eating up the miles at last. Does anyone know what JBs longest run was?
   1. 

      anon
      27th February 2015, 17:54

      It’s not clear, but it seems that he did do one stint that was 13 laps long with the following times (1:30.963, 1:30.870, 1:30.969, 1:31.111, 1:30.861, 1:31.057, 1:31.268, 1:31.135, 1:31.365, 1:31.355, 1:31.302, 1:31.502) and another 12 laps long (1:30.676, 1:30.903, 1:31.036, 1:31.041, 1:30.994, 1:31.086, 1:31.091, 1:31.427, 1:31.309, 1:31.433, 1:31.463, 1:31.892).

      That’s similar to what a number of other teams were doing in terms of stint length, so that is somewhat more promising for McLaren – mind you, they are still reportedly operating at reduced power, so they are still struggling in some ways.
      1. 

         JCost (@jcost)
         27th February 2015, 18:13

         His times look sharp. Apparently their not running anywhere close their full power…
      2. 

         Michael C
         27th February 2015, 19:58

         That’s really good information. The times… not so good.
      3. 

         Carlos Furtado das Neves
         27th February 2015, 20:43

         Great info!
         Where did you get the lap times?
         For ages I’ve been looking for that kind of information, but it seems I didn’t do it properly… I can’t find it anywhere…
         Please help. Thanks a lot. Best regards.
         1. 

            Ivan B (@njoydesign)
            27th February 2015, 21:06

            check the records of the live feeds at F1Today.net, they have been providing stint times for a few drivers each day.
            1. 

               Carlos Furtado das Neves
               27th February 2015, 23:12

               Thanks a lot!
               Very usefull!
         2. 

            anon
            28th February 2015, 11:11

            I picked the times up from the F1Technical forums, where somebody was reposting the times from Sky’s feed – and, as IvanB recommends, the f1today.nl site are now posting times from some of the longer stints that the drivers are doing too.
2. 

   Mashiat (@mashiat)
   27th February 2015, 17:35

   Good for McLaren. Finally they managed to have a trouble free day (almost), and if they can run like this for another two days before Melbourne, then I’m sure they’ll be satisfied. But there is something even more worrying. In race simulations simultaneously by Vettel and Button, the Ferrari was 1 sec a lap quicker on hard tyres, compared to mediums on the McLaren. Finger crossed that they’ll not that slow, and that they were running more fuel or lower revs.
   1. 

      Antonio
      27th February 2015, 18:21

      Thats quite normal, as McLaren is not using its full power performance yet. Just hope the car can take it with all the performance power ON.
   2. 

      Edgar
      27th February 2015, 18:55

      You have to remember that Mclaren, in terms of development, is still in Jerez.

      They are behind. But if the package is as good as it looks, they’ll catch up quickly.
   3. 

      Blackmamba (@blackmamba)
      27th February 2015, 19:27

      Neither Ferrari nor McHonda did a race sim today, unless I’m completely mistaken. Therefore it’s quite difficult to compare their times and come to a reasonable conclusion.
      1. 

         Mashiat2 (@mashiat2)
         28th February 2015, 3:08

         They did 12-13 lap runs with heavy fuel, which I assume meant that they were running in race trim.
3. 

   Paul (@frankjaeger)
   27th February 2015, 17:38

   I think all the gross speculation as to what Mclaren’s 2015 will be like is so silly and overblown. All over, people are writing them off and reading waaaay too much into their test performance. I highly doubt that engine was ran today at anywhere near full potential. Mercedes are remarkably, yet depressing quick + reliable.
4. 

   Jim PROFIT (@jim0profit)
   27th February 2015, 17:42

   Good for McLaren an Honda.
   Mercedes will still be unbeatable therefore
5. 

   Lance (@lancelot)
   27th February 2015, 17:44

   Sauber’s time was more surprising to me than Mercedes’s. It’s a very good time. Ferrari sandbagging?
6. 

   Brian Frank (@brianfrank302)
   27th February 2015, 17:49

   Finally! McLaren needs 100 laps on the next two days. I read somewhere that the Honda PU is development version, so lap times aren’t important right now.
   Cosidering Massa’s lap time yesterday, Mercedes are still ahead of others by almost 1 sec. .
   1. 

      patriots_fan (@f1007)
      27th February 2015, 18:09

      i doubt honda PU is dev version in this test, it must be very close to racing spec, coz they have to homologate on monday, but its running with power turned down.
      1. 

         Michel S. (@hircus)
         27th February 2015, 19:40

         That brought to mind… if a Honda engine were to fail after homologation, and a part needs to be redesigned, does that count against the tokens available or not since it’s a reliability fix?
         1. 

            patriots_fan (@f1007)
            27th February 2015, 20:03

            no all changes related to safety, cost or reliability are free (need FIA’s approval) and do not cost any tokens. Which is again a disadvantage if it takes 1 or 2 races to fix.
   2. 

      Michael
      27th February 2015, 18:10

      They are around 5 tenths on 1 lap run. On long run race stints they were 1.5 secs a lap faster than everyone else. So the gap is still huge.
7. 

   Joao (@johnmilk)
   27th February 2015, 17:50

   Being an engineer at mercedes must be an incredible feeling at the moment, they really built an amazing car, lets not forget that championships are not only between drivers. I personally don’t care too much about Hamilton Or rosberg, not even the brand if that matters but I do like to see records being smashed, and see professionals excel on what they do, so good on them for making an extraordinary piece of machinery.

   And maybe williams can bring the fight back to them in some races
8. 

   Justafan
   27th February 2015, 17:50

   As a McLaren fan, I am greatly relieved by JB’s 100 laps. And middle of the pack is about as good as can be expected, speed-wise.
   1. 

      MarkM
      27th February 2015, 18:32

      don’t get your hope’s up, although it is a breakthrough for them, its very late, on day 10 of 12 for testing. They have yet to do a race simulation in distance without having to bring the car in.

      They don’t know their reliability yet as they haven’t yet turned everything up and run int anywhere near the distance it needs to be. Still pretty scary when you think about it but if they failed today that would pretty much seal their fate for Australia, so good on them to make some progress. Hoping for more tomorrow.
9. 

   tmax (@tmax)
   27th February 2015, 17:54

   Ominous signs from Mercedes…. I will be disappointed if this is how another year of F1 is going to be. No thrill in a Lewis – Rosberg battle anymore.

   Ferrari back to good old SLOW COACH days I guess LoL.

   Happy for McLaren getting some mileage.
   1. 

      MarkM
      27th February 2015, 18:33

      I remember when Vettel was at RBR and racing Monaco, how he called the the “Silver Buses” cause they were holding him up. Boy is he ever eating his words now…
      1. 

         Keith Collantine (@keithcollantine)
         27th February 2015, 19:07

         But on that occasion the Mercedes were deliberately lapping way off their potential pace to preserve their tyres, because that’s how you win the Monaco Grand Prix these days. It’s not as if they were lapping at a representative pace and Vettel was calling them slow.
   2. 

      Diego (@ironcito)
      27th February 2015, 19:04

      Ferrari seemed to be doing mostly long stints today.
10. 

    Nick
    27th February 2015, 17:59

    Back in 2009 when Brawn announced they’d secured a supply of Mercedes engines I had a good feeling about that car. That it could just turn out to be a blessing in disguise. I have a similar feeling about this McLaren I may be proved wrong but when they bolt the Melbourne spec PU in the back it could just turn into a rocket ship. It may well be flaky and unreliable to begin with but I hope it turns out to be quick. I’d rather be quick and have to fix reliability issues than be bulletproof and have to find speed from nowhere.
11. 

    mike
    27th February 2015, 18:00

    Regarding Mercedes’ pace it’s over guys let’s go home. Lol
    1. 

       koren
       27th February 2015, 21:29

       No, they were only 1.2s up on a Sauber on the same tyre which is really not that impressive tbh.
12. 

    lockup (@)
    27th February 2015, 18:01

    That’s not bad pace from McLaren, considering they’re right at the bottom of the development curve, on Day 1 in effect. I wouldn’t be surprised if they end up quick.
13. 

    JCost (@jcost)
    27th February 2015, 18:15

    Oh my God. So much faster than last year pole… who said Hybrids are slow? I just hope the gap is not that wide come Australia… hoping for the best but expecting the worst
    1. 

       schooner (@schooner)
       27th February 2015, 18:36

       Only a bit over a second off the lap record from 2008. Not bad!
       1. 

          Edgar
          27th February 2015, 19:26

          That time is probably going to fall this year.
          But at that time they carried fuel for the race on qualifying so…
       2. 

          reiter (@reiter)
          27th February 2015, 21:15

          I think the fastest lap overall is Mark Webber’s 2010 pole of 1:19.995. This year’s time is almost 3 seconds slower than that but considering the restrictions imposed upon the cars I think it’s even more impressive.
          1. 

             greg-c (@greg-c)
             28th February 2015, 0:24

             Not bad for a No.2 driver
    2. 

       petros pavlogiannis (@mrflatout87)
       28th February 2015, 0:52

       Besides the previous years better times (2010 pole), last year’s pole position time has been achieved on medium tires.
14. 

    maxthecat
    27th February 2015, 18:16

    It’s going to be as you were isn’t it. Merc about a second ahead of Williams, Red Bull and Ferrari with the rest another 1-1.5 seconds behind them.
15. 

    Quant
    27th February 2015, 18:16

    Keith, this may just be an interpretation issue, but “The Williams FW37 set its quickest time of the test… in the hands of Valtteri Bottas”, reads to me as if it was the fastest time by a Williams, rather than just Bottas’ quickest time so far; Massa having been quicker yesterday.
    1. 

       Sam
       27th February 2015, 18:33

       Indeed I was going to comment the same thing, Massa was half a second quicker yesterday
       1. 

          juan fanger (@juan-fanger)
          27th February 2015, 23:56

          Poor Felipe. I’m sure it’s concidental, but his achievements do occasionally get downplayed/forgotten.
16. 

    Patrick (@paeschli)
    27th February 2015, 18:24

    77 laps for Force India, not bad
17. 

    Aldoid
    27th February 2015, 18:27

    Merc finally twitching a muscle… can hardly call two hot laps flexing. They couldn’t have done much in the way of setup changes, but it didn’t seem to matter. That car is a rocket ship. Good to see McLaren finally logging a good amount of laps as well. I sincerely hope they get it together before Melbourne.
    1. 

       greg-c (@greg-c)
       28th February 2015, 4:56

       2013 pole
       Rosberg 1.20.718
       Fastest race lap
       Gutierrez 1.26.217

       2014 pole Ham
       1.25.232
       Fastest race lap SebVet
       1.28.918

       @ Aldoid

       Good call
       But a twitch
18. 

    Irejag (@irejag)
    27th February 2015, 19:43

    Can we just give the trophy to Hamilton, and skip this season! It’s just going to be another snorefest…
    1. 

       greg-c (@greg-c)
       28th February 2015, 0:35

       @irejag

       Noooooooooo!

       And possibly miss out on a Bahrain , Monaco , Spa , Hungary , Canada,

       It seems ( my guess) Nico has leant a lot from last season ,
       How he relates to Webber’s career is amazing ,
       Finally getting your hands on a great car and having a team mate that keeps finishing ahead despite your best efforts ,

       Does one deserve a WDC?
       I think it’s a bit random for that ,

       Teflon Fred drove some spectacular races in a car that others couldn’t drag up to the podium/points

       There’s enough money in F1 for it to be rigged
       But there’s also enough money and glory if you slip up then someone is happy to stomp on you head using it as a step up :)

       I’ll watch this season ,

       Somehow
       Someway
19. 

    72defender (@72defender)
    27th February 2015, 19:56

    W06 is not even in beast mode yet. I can only imagine the gap once they get set up sorted.
20. 

    bull mello (@bullmello)
    27th February 2015, 20:18

    The only thing worse than a Mercedes runaway in 2015 will be all the Hamilton/Rosberg extremist fans complaining all season long that -one/or the other- is -all good/all bad- with endless mostly made up speculation and completely unfounded rumors and hearsay flaunted as fact that the rest of us are too thick to realize. *yawn*
    1. 

       Irejag (@irejag)
       27th February 2015, 21:30

       I am in total agreement with you.
    2. 

       John H (@john-h)
       27th February 2015, 22:15

       Its a shame we don’t somehow have Alonso and Hamilton in those mercs. Could have been a golden period to rival 1989.
       1. 

          lockup (@)
          27th February 2015, 22:24

          Lol, you’re not wrong.
          1. 

             greg-c (@greg-c)
             28th February 2015, 0:45

             @john-h
             @lockup

             I’m guessing Merc considered this pairing .

             If Bernie wanted action and controversy then he sould have made this happen,

             I sat and imagined scenarios :)

             2xWDC each, a race to be the first to 3xWDC , wow,

             fireworks,
             dummy spits,
             kaboooom,

             would have been spectacular.
    3. 

       Michael Brown
       28th February 2015, 1:16

       So pretty much every year in F1.

       Well, for the past few years Vettel has been the worst driver in F1, so a change of pace is nice.
       1. 

          Robbie (@robbie)
          28th February 2015, 13:56

          I disagree. I think FA/LH would just implode again, whereas last year had great elements to it with respect to rivalry, and this year, now that Nico has one season behind him of having a WDC capable car, has great potential to be even better. So for me if it must be another dominant Mercedes year, at least the team is making way better effort and progress and succeeding at managing this rivalry than Mac did with FA/LH. I think it helps that NR and LH are friends and in the end had things fairly well in perspective. This season could be just all about the racing without the engine mode switching, nor the Monacos nor the Spas. If they had replaced Nico with FA it still would have been perceived as FA coming to LH’s team, and as I say I think that would just implode. Especially since most people would assume FA would really grind LH’s gears…at least…why else is it being suggested FA/LH would be a better rivalry.
21. 

    SauberS1 (@saubers1)
    27th February 2015, 20:32

    McLaren have to improve, because the laptimes is not too good.
22. 

    Jim
    27th February 2015, 21:03

    Truly Well done Mercedes for superb engineering. But onfurtunatly F1 is loosing fans fast. As less and less fans wants to see one team dominance. Try imaging just for a sec what a race would be if there be only 0.100s difference between ALL cars!
    1. 

       Irejag (@irejag)
       27th February 2015, 21:31

       I see carnage… and a lot of tears.
    2. 

       Engineer
       27th February 2015, 21:34

       And when has that ever happened?
23. 

    evered7 (@evered7)
    28th February 2015, 0:39

    A lot of over-reaction going on. But its predictable. People who have been saying this is just testing when Ferrari were fastest are now going bonkers over Mercedes times. Is it not testing too?

    Considering Sauber’s pace, I expect Ferrari can do a similar time as Mercedes.

    Mercedes might have more time on hands but the time set today is not as impressive as it seems.

    Many are letting their imagination see a Zebra while in reality it is only a Horse.

    Will it be Prancing come Melbourne; only time will tell.
24. 

    tmax (@tmax)
    28th February 2015, 1:57

    Last year’s Pole Lap was 1.25.232 on Medium tire ( Faster compound) . I am assuming that Pirelli would bring similar compounds (hard & medium) this year too. Assuming that cars have developed and tires have improved and it will be a dry sunny day at Barcelona, We are looking at a Pole Lap time of around 1.23.2 to 1.23.5 using medium tires. That should be target for Qualifying.

    As far as race is concerned the fastest lap would be in the 1.26 range with the average running happening at 1.28 and 1.29

    This is the target all the teams would be trying to achieve in the next 3 months before they come back to the Circuit Catalunya in May.
25. 

    Abba
    28th February 2015, 6:21

    Correction.

    Williams clocked 1.23.500 in the hands of F. Massa the day before
26. 

    smudgersmith1 (@smudgersmith1)
    28th February 2015, 6:24

    COTD, one of the best ever, in my job, I started in a very unglamorous way at the bottom learning my craft, those early years served me for the next 30 !
    And every so often a gem of a driver can show their talent when the conditions allow, think Vettel in a Torro Rosso in the wet. Webber in a Minardi.
27. 

    smudgersmith1 (@smudgersmith1)
    28th February 2015, 6:31

    Welcome to the party JB !!!

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