Sebastian Vettel not worried about winter testing results
- Published on 14 Mar 2018 08:45
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- By: Rob Veenstra
Sebastian Vettel says he has faith in Ferrari ahead of the 2018 season. After winter testing, the general consensus is that Ferrari may not only be trailing Mercedes, but also Red Bull in terms of pace. But Vettel said testing can be deceptive.
Indeed, when the German did a record laptime late in the Barcelona testing season, Mercedes' Lewis Hamilton wasn't sure what to think. "We never drained the fuel or used the softest tyres, so it's only Saturday in Melbourne that we'll find out," he said.
Hamilton's teammate Valtteri Bottas agrees, saying the reigning world champions "didn't feel the need" to push for every last thousandth in testing. A week before the circus arrives in Melbourne, Vettel says he isn't worried. "We're starting from a good base with our car," he said. "Now we'll have to work on development to further explore and improve its potential."
While that might sound like an admission that Ferrari is trailing, Vettel said the simulations done by Mercedes and Red Bull cannot be trusted. "I have a lot of confidence in our team. I know how skilled and committed the guys in Maranello are," he said.
"We did not experience any major issues with the car, and I had fun driving it while our competitors used one type of tyre for their race distance simulations. This is something you can't do in a grand prix. It has an impact on the strategies and ultimately on the result," Vettel added. "I can't wait to be in Australia, because once we get on track there, we will all be driving and racing under the same conditions."
Vettel told Sport Bild: "We can build on last season and we believe we know what screws need to be turned to improve. But it's important that our car is immediately competitive." (GMM)
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Replies (3)
Login to replycalle.itw
Posts: 8,527
...How... How did we conclude that Ferrari would lag behind RB from the winter testing, testing that Ferrari mostly dominated in all but amount of laps... I dont even...
Drawing conclusions from testing based on speed and laptimes really wont help. I find amount of difficulties coupled with amount of laps more representative, and even that doesnt tell half of it.
Pauli
Posts: 140
Ferrari was faster only on qualification simulation runs. If you look race simulation lap times there trend was that Mercedes was clearly fastest and RB was ahead Ferrari.
mclarenfan1968
Posts: 1,027
Nope, CALLE is right. Even the engineers themselves can't make out anything by merely observing a rival without knowing the mixture levels and modes the engines were set to run. The older days of using acoustics to guess the rpm and then derive possible engine modes is no longer practical today due to other interference from the turbines et cetera. They are all guessing, what they aim to do is try and match a performance metric they have setup for themselves and hope the immediate rivals do not match or beat that.