Ferrari hit the top in final practice

15 comments on “Ferrari hit the top in final practice”

1. 

   SuperDuperSofts
   2nd April 2016, 14:14

   Looking interesting. Qualifying will be exciting, let’s see if it doesn’t suck! :D
2. 

   Scalextric (@scalextric)
   2nd April 2016, 14:19

   Very impressed with Haas. I wonder if they have the same warm track advantage as Ferarri or if they really are ahead of the midfield. Either way, this is great. I hope we see a Williams or Red Bull ‘semi-customer’ team in a year or 2. Or both.
   1. 

      kpcart
      2nd April 2016, 14:23

      what, like Toro Rosso?
   2. 

      Markp
      2nd April 2016, 14:25

      Sauber or Torro Rosso may become Alfa Romeo.
      1. 

         evered7 (@evered7)
         2nd April 2016, 14:28

         If that means a more competitive field, I am all for it. Right now Manor and Sauber doing a disservice to the Merc/Ferrari engines.
3. 

   Shreyas Mohanty (@ssm0304)
   2nd April 2016, 14:23

   Don’t know what to make of this. Robert posted a 1:31.001 yesterday so obviously Mercedes have another second in their bag, at the very least. Question is how much do Ferrari have?
   1. 

      OmarRoncal - Go Seb!!! (@)
      2nd April 2016, 15:58

      @ssm0304 Robert Kubica?
      1. 

         Shreyas Mohanty (@ssm0304)
         3rd April 2016, 7:35

         @omarr-pepper Autocorrect! I meant Rosberg.
4. 

   ColdFly F1 (@)
   2nd April 2016, 14:27

   @scalextric, certainly looks good. But ahead of midfield all depends on how we define midfield nowadays.
   I’d say that (besides MER & FER) WIL, RBR, STR, and even FI are still ahead of them. And ButLaren was very impressive yesterday and should still be ahead tomorrow.
5. 

   Scalextric (@scalextric)
   2nd April 2016, 14:41

   @coldfly Probably true in general. Time will tell. I was simply looking at the visual gaps plot above. That, plus P6 in Aus, puts them in contention for some recognition.
   1. 

      Markp
      2nd April 2016, 14:55

      A very sensible approach to entering F1 and I really hope they make a success of this and beat teams that have been around for a while as it shows others what can be done and maybe more teams enter. The top teams that help them will not oppose it as they get a revenue stream from this. It could form a new type of garagisti. In the old days they had the Ford DFV now they get big team help, of course unlike the past there is not a way they could win but it is better than nothing and nice to have a grid of healthy teams.
      1. 

         Scalextric (@scalextric)
         2nd April 2016, 15:22

         I think the Ford DFV was crucial to the garagistas being competetive. Obtaining a current-year Ferrari or Mercedes engine now may be a problem. Maybe Renault or Honda will catch up in a year or two and also be an option. But this is streets ahead of where HRT, Lotus/Caterham and Virgin/Marussia ever were.
      2. 

         Solo (@solo)
         3rd June 2016, 7:49

         The current paying structure makes it hard to have more than 10 teams since only the first 10 get money.
         If Manor stays 11th the next two years it will stop existing.
         So no matter how good the Haas model is, in the end F1 itself does not promote the idea of more teams.
6. 

   Sandbag
   2nd April 2016, 15:04

   Expect Mercedes to be sandbagging.
   Ferrari gained 7 tenths since FP2, but the Mercs dropped by 1.5 seconds – they only gained 1 tenth in comparison to FP1, which was held under similar daylight conditions (albeit cooler).
   I’m pretty sure they didn’t show their hand in FP3, because they are pretty confident that they’ll be untouchable in quali, so they focussed on more race-relevant simulations. I fully expect them to stun the competition when it counts.
7. 

   digitalrurouni
   2nd April 2016, 16:16

   So it still seems that Ferrari have their traditional advantages of being softer on tire wear and also being able to extract more performance out of said tires when the temps are hot. Is that a correct statement? I think FP3 is held more during the day time and not in the cooler evenings like FP4 and Qualifying and the race, right? I wonder if their kindness to tires = less friction and less heat equals to it’s more difficult for them to switch the tires on compared to Mercedes. But that then turns in to an advantage on an already hot track. Either way is it just me or is this season already a bit more exciting than last year? I think Rosberg has the advantage over Lewis in terms of getting the most out of the material given to both.

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