Lewis Hamilton set a new lap record in Abu Dhabi during the FP2 session and perhaps that’s to be expected given his pace in that new upgraded Mercedes he got in Brazil…it was in another world.
The Force India’s seemed to have re-gained their pace as well. The question could be centered around Renault and Haas and which team will find the pace to beat the other in the constructor’s championship. Haas F1’s Romain Grosjean spent a lot of time in the garage so that didn’t help.
| Pos | Driver | Car | Time | Gap | Laps |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Lewis Hamilton | Mercedes | 1m37.877s | – | 39 |
| 2 | Sebastian Vettel | Ferrari | 1m38.026s | 0.149s | 37 |
| 3 | Daniel Ricciardo | Red Bull/Renault | 1m38.180s | 0.303s | 34 |
| 4 | Kimi Raikkonen | Ferrari | 1m38.352s | 0.475s | 35 |
| 5 | Valtteri Bottas | Mercedes | 1m38.537s | 0.660s | 33 |
| 6 | Max Verstappen | Red Bull/Renault | 1m38.894s | 1.017s | 34 |
| 7 | Sergio Perez | Force India/Mercedes | 1m39.323s | 1.446s | 33 |
| 8 | Esteban Ocon | Force India/Mercedes | 1m39.333s | 1.456s | 36 |
| 9 | Nico Hulkenberg | Renault | 1m39.529s | 1.652s | 41 |
| 10 | Fernando Alonso | McLaren/Honda | 1m39.559s | 1.682s | 28 |
| 11 | Felipe Massa | Williams/Mercedes | 1m39.635s | 1.758s | 36 |
| 12 | Stoffel Vandoorne | McLaren/Honda | 1m39.671s | 1.794s | 31 |
| 13 | Carlos Sainz | Renault | 1m40.201s | 2.324s | 38 |
| 14 | Lance Stroll | Williams/Mercedes | 1m40.329s | 2.452s | 30 |
| 15 | Pierre Gasly | Toro Rosso/Renault | 1m40.694s | 2.817s | 39 |
| 16 | Kevin Magnussen | Haas/Ferrari | 1m41.128s | 3.251s | 31 |
| 17 | Pascal Wehrlein | Sauber/Ferrari | 1m41.270s | 3.393s | 43 |
| 18 | Marcus Ericsson | Sauber/Ferrari | 1m41.302s | 3.425s | 40 |
| 19 | Brendon Hartley | Toro Rosso/Renault | 1m41.496s | 3.619s | 39 |
| 20 | Romain Grosjean | Haas/Ferrari | 1m41.560s | 3.683s | 12 |
I haven’t seen any significant differences between the first and second fastest lap times in FP1 and FP2, In today’s two practice season we don’t know what power unit the first and second lap time setters were using. For tomorrow’s FP3 and qualifying and then for the race car number 44 will be racing/using a power unit for its second race, while car number 5 will be racing/using a power unit for its sixth race. In Brazil car number 44 was the fastest aided by ninety present new parts build-up, new race only settings allowed and a fresh upgraded short… Read more »
Its impressive how McLaren Honda have become consistent mid pack performers this season. Even more impressive if the numbers Martin Brundle was quoting in FP1 are correct, and Honda are 11% down in power on Mercedes, and Renault 6%.
Also its looking like Renault are in a strong position to out point STR for 6th in the championship, but its not looking so good for Haas.
Brundle said during the qualifying season that he has seen some GPS traces that suggest that Renault are 6% down on Mercedes on ICE power, and that Honda are 11% down. These where the same GPS traces that that attributed a 10HP advantage to the number 44 Mercedes short term new developed specification V power unit (ICE/TC and MGUH). I mentioned this on another page here, and also said that what resulted on track in front of my eyes on the on board dashboard graphics was that in the last laps of the 77 lap race when 44 was chasing… Read more »
I’m just thinking of how I would build the system… but if you were allowed a max boost of say 100 HP (to keep it simple), I would design the system to put out say 110 HP and limit it to the 100 HP. This way when the degradation occurs I can still put out 100 HP, I would imagine the teams are doing something similar to this on the MGU-H/K and turbo side of things.
Agree, I too think and dream how I would build the system if I was an engine designer, but with a deference to yours, that is if I were allowed I would go for at least double the over and above numbers you dream of. if only the life of an engine designer was that simple the number of F1 engine designers would be at least halved, which in turn would have made LM’S and Brawn’s plus RBR’S wish more easy to achieve.