Lap time watch: 2017 pre-season testing day six

2017 F1 season

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Has Formula One got five seconds faster under the new rules? Here’s the full data from the first test of 2017.

Have they hit the ‘five seconds faster’ target?

The new regulations have been created to make F1 cars five seconds faster compared to the pole position time at the 2015 Spanish Grand Prix. This was the most recent race at the track which hosts pre-season F1 testing at the time the regulations were finalised.

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Valtteri Bottas became the first driver to lap more than five seconds quicker than the target time on the morning of day six of testing.

How do their lap times compare to 2015?

Mercedes set the pole position time at the 2015 Spanish Grand Prix. The graph below shows how much of an improvement each team has made compared to their own performance in that race weekend.

For reference the lap times for 2015 pre-season testing have also been included.

How do their lap times compare to last year?

Lap times fell last year after Pirelli introduced softer compounds at some races. For this reason, plus the usual car development, teams will not have improved by as much compared to 12 months ago.

Mileage watch

Here’s how much distance each team has covered so far in 2017 pre-season testing:

Mercedes3919.51km
Ferrari3202.64km
Sauber2578.87km
Force India2420.6km
Haas2415.945km
Williams2341.465km
Red Bull2257.675km
Renault2118.025km
Toro Rosso1666.49km
McLaren1550.115km

2017 F1 season

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Author information

Keith Collantine
Lifelong motor sport fan Keith set up RaceFans in 2005 - when it was originally called F1 Fanatic. Having previously worked as a motoring...

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5 comments on “Lap time watch: 2017 pre-season testing day six”

  1. McLaren is the new Manor.

    1. Sadly, looks like that way thanks to incompetent Honda. At this point head of Honda should paint his face black and take his pride back to japan and rot in a toilet where it belongs.

    2. It even looks like the old Marussia MR01/02, which is eerie.

    3. Duncan Snowden
      8th March 2017, 16:41

      Comments from this website’s announcement that Manor would have Mercedes power for 2016:

      “McLaren-Honda are really under pressure now.”
      “It will surely be strange seeing Manor being competitive in the midfield next year!”
      “Mclaren are going to finish dead last in next year’s championship.”
      “With McLaren and Renault seemingly at the very back next year, it will basically be the reverse of 2005!”
      “McLaren 2016 tailenders confirmed.”

      Check them all out here. I haven’t made any up.

      Now let’s look at the championship table at the end of the season:
      McLaren, 76 points, 6th. Manor, 1 point, 11th.

      I’m not saying it doesn’t look bad for McLaren, but let’s wait for the actual racing, eh?

  2. Honda are still a few years behind everyone else and have also completely redesigned the engine. They’re not going to run them at 100% and blow them up. PR nightmare.

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