Are Mercedes Saving Their Engines?

2018 saw a huge rule change, allowing teams only to use three engines down from four. This causes many issues for many teams such as Toro Rosso, who are using the known to be, unreliable Honda engines among others. However, in the last few races, Mercedes has been unnaturally slow, with China showing Hamilton in 4th and Bottas in 2nd. Is Hamilton just slow or are Mercedes saving their engines for the second leg of the season?

Australia. 2018. Qualifying. Bottas runs wide, putting a tyre on the grass, but pushes on, causing his demise and smashing into the wall at turn 2. The crash wrecked the silver arrow, bending it out of shape. The crash caused the car needing to have a new gearbox, control electronics and energy store. This means Bottas is behind all the other drivers this season and meaning that he could face further penalties as more engines fail or need replacing.

Bahrain. 2018. Hamilton needed a new gearbox meaning he started further down the grid but also that he was also a gearbox down on his rival Vettel. This could cause serious repercussions later in the season.

China. 2018. Mercedes are seriously slow compared to the prancing horses and fiery Bulls. This confused me greatly as the team was so fast in Australia, why would it become so slow and this 'party mode' seems to have had no effect. Such a special effect with no use? I believe this is the only reason why Mercedes are so much slower in the last races with Mercedes leaving China leading the constructors championship and, with Hamilton only 10 points behind the leader, Vettel, why would they stress their engines so much if they are so close to the champion? Mercedes lost Australia due to a technical issue in the gap needed to keep first and Bottas could have won Bahrain if he hadn't been as cautious as he had been. Many argue that he bottled his chances of his first win and I don't doubt this is true. So if they show such strong racing, even if they don't win, why would they wan't to destroy their engines, when last years season was lost in the last races. Ferrari are clearly pushing the car early in order to get as big a lead as they can, compared to Mercedes who seem to be very calm. Toto Wolff has commented, however, on the car's performance not being the best and saying they still have "so much to understand" about the W09's performance. Mercedes need to be careful of how they manage the engines, with such strict rules of only 3 engines, the team being down on both cars does not bode well and therefore, I believe this plan could be the game changer.

So when could this plan be put in action? Well lets think about this logically; there is 21 races this season. That means one engine per 7 races. Mercedes will need to push that to 11 races for Bottas on his gearbox and 10 for Hamilton on his gearbox as well. If they don't do this, they opt for the option to lose positions due to grid penalties of more gearboxes being used and they will want to stay away from this as it will appear further on in the season. Bottas therefore, will have to used his current gearbox until Hungary, which will be a push if he does the same pace as Vettel who can change gear box before then with no penalty issues. Ferrari will change engine most likely at Canada. Bottas will have to make sure his gearbox lasts twice as long and the only way he can truly do that is by preserving the engine and I believe this is what we saw Hamilton do more than him at China. The strategy could work and put them on the positive foot in the second part of the season. They can lose points now, but grid penalties in the second part of the season, like Vettel saw last year in Malaysia, could put Mercedes out of reach of their 5th title.

A Week on from Australia: What the Race Showed

Its been almost a week since the first race of the season and after all the excitement and drama has died down, all is left to do is to analyse the information laid down on the table for us. I always find this week between races more interesting as everything has been said. All the issues talked about. All the words needed to be said by the drivers and team. So what can we analyse? I will be looking into the Haas drama, the Mercedes computer bug causing a loss in the race and many other dramas that happened in the race. Most importantly however, I want to talk about the future of the circuit, with the new generation of cars making it impossible to drive, the track's end seems to be looming.

Absolute Cat-Haas-trophe

The weekend was going to be Haas' best result ever; the scrappy team, only established for two years were running 4th and 5th, showing pure pace and keeping up with the Ferrari of Sebastian Vettel surprisingly well. The car was good. Too good. So it was true fashion of the cruel sport to take all this away at the moment of victory. It started with Kevin Magnussen, pitting for a new pair of super softs. the pit stop seemed solid but around corner 3, Kevin Magnussen pulled his limping Haas to a stop. One of wheels weren't attached. The team’s pain could be seen in the pits with one of the most dramatic scenes of the race being a mechanic slamming a door in K Mag's garage. However, Grosjean was still in the race and his pit was next. But the same issue happened. scenes of a mechanic franticly waving his arms trying to stop romain from going out could be seen but no one stopped and the car went on, only to stop on the straight after turn 2. Haas' dreams were destroyed within a few laps. The best qualifying and almost the best race. All gone too quickly. In the post race interviews, both drivers seemed down, they could have delivered a 4th and 5th for the team quite easily with Verstappen showing a poor race and Ricciardo only gaining position through both their retirements. Magnussen commented it was a "tough one to swallow" but Grosjean almost seemed hopeful saying they will "bounce back" and that they will "forget that one". However, the pain on the team was clear with Grosjean having to comfort the mechanic who clearly messed up one of the tyres and Steiner showing pure agony after both cars had stopped. Any Haas fans must have struggled to watch beyond those moments. Even for me, it was a tough one to watch. After they went out, the race almost seemed a little obsolete; the dark horse story is one every enjoys and hopefully Haas will be able to continue this throughout the season. I would love to see them on the podium. Magnussen hasn't been on the podium since his first start for McLaren in 2014 and with him being booted out the team by Vandoorne in 2015 putting him out of F1 before making a quick return with Renault in 2016 but was found to be frustrating as the team found their feet. He quickly switched to Haas for 2017 but it is yet to be seen if this was a good move, with Renault also being fast this year. Grosjean's career is slightly better with 10 podiums in his name, finishing 2 twice and 3rd 8 times, it would be great to see him make that number 11.

The team was given a 10,000 euro fine for unsafe release and now are under fire for being "Ferrari Replicas" with teams like McLaren and Force India requesting investigations. I believe the weekend issues were down to a small team having to run as fast as bigger teams; the pressure is a lot and under that pressure, cracks are found. As this continues, they will become stronger and its important to remember, Haas hires around 200-300 people, Mercedes higher 4 times more than that. Being able to show themselves as a threat to the big teams by being visible in their wings mirrors is an impressive feat and should not be looked down on. I think its important teams like Haas can do this because it shows a future in the sport that has been driven by big teams for years now.

Mercedes Bugged by a Ferrari Win

Mercedes saw a heartbreaking loss leaving them confused and dazzled as Ferrari's Vettel came out of the pits under Virtual Safety Car (VSC) in front of Mercedes' Lewis Hamilton. Hamilton's confusion was clear as he said to the team once he saw the backing of the Ferrari, "what happened?...is this my fault?". Hamilton's confusion was not misplaced however; usually the team works out every possible issue and give a time 'safety' barrier of about 15 seconds for safety. However, the team announced earlier this week they discovered a fault in the offline tool used to create delta lap times. Mercedes' trackside engineering director, Andrew Shovlin commented on the issue on the youtube series by the team called 'Pure Pitwall Debrief' .

However, discussions of what would happen if the VSC hadn't happened or the bug hadn't occurred have been heard; personally I think Hamilton would have won and put Vettel in third as his team mate would have also overtaken him. Raikkonen was the faster Ferrari all weekend and I think at the end of the day, there was only one happy man on that podium as both Raikkonen and Hamilton could be seen with frowns. A lot of people also started talking of a conspiracy of Haas breaking down on purpose for Ferrari's benefit as the team has many Ferrari benefits including the engine. This seems far fetched but it's F1, who truly knows what happens.

The End of the Beginning for the Melbourne GP?

The Melbourne GP has been around 1996, making the 2018 race, it's 22nd race; however with the track seeing very few overtakes, even with 3 DRS zones, the future of the track is uncertain. The track is here until 2023 under the contract deal made in the late months of 2015; before the deal was made, talks of a GP is Sydney was all the rage and, at the time, this seemed unlikely, with comments like "Daniel Ricciardo won't be racing over Sydney harbour bridge anytime soon" even being thrown about. Street races are also easy to access and therefore ticket sales are more likely, causing more money surplus. All this I think puts Albert Park at risk of being another track lost in the near future as F1 is revolutionised.

Hamish Shackleton

Australia 2018: My Predictions

F1 is raring to go with only 3 days until lights out; what will happen this season? Will it be a 3 team race or another Mercedes dominating season? As this is the first race of the season, it makes it possibly the hardest to predict; we haven't seen the raw pace of every car and driver and therefore we don't know where they sit. However, based on last season and the Albert Park track, I reckon we can give it a pretty good guess.

Albert Park is a track that consists of high speed corners and straights; it requires speed and therefore, I predict it will be a track where Mercedes powered cars will be best. 2017 saw Mercedes as the best engine manufacturer and, from what it seems, not much has changed, Ferrari are still fast putting in the fastest times in testing, but I believe not Mercedes fast. Moreover, a third DRS zone has been put in place from turn 12 to 13, hoping 'more overtakes' to take place. In qualifying, I believe this will give Mercedes once again the advantage and therefore I wouldn't be surprised to see Lewis on pole position on Saturday, but more on Qualifying later. The Renault engine, however improved, I think will still struggle with Red Bull possibly not being as fast as we all hoped. I think they will be fighting among Ferrari and Mercedes but, like last year, I believe they may be fighting for third more than first in Australia. However, I would like to see an Aussie on the podium for the first time since Webber in a Minardi car. Ricciardo has a lot to prove this season with his seat not secure for 2019 and a possible seat in Mercedes being waved about; he won't shy away in his home Grand Prix and so I would put him third in the race. I don't think his car has the power to win but he, personally, has the drive to reach the podium. We all know his skill, outdoing Vettel throughout his first season with Red bull in 2014, lets hope he has a similar season to that one.

Qualifying:

The first qualifying is always intense due to no one knowing who is truly faster, however, this season it should be even more intense than usual with no one knowing who is faster than the other and McLaren possibly making a return.

Pole Position:

As I said, pole position in my mind will go to Lewis; we have seen him for a decade being the fastest on track and I don't think anything will change. He is truly the master of qualifying and I reckon he will be wanting to remind us and Ferrari that he’s not going anywhere.

2nd Place:

However, the question of who will sit next to him on the grid is a harder one; my mind automatically wants to choose a Ferrari with Vettel wanting vengeance for last season. However, it could be Verstappen or even Bottas. Verstappen is fast, especially for his age; he's spends time being called the 'new Senna' and I believe this season, I think he will finally 'unleash the lion'.I think Vettel will have an issue competing with him and Red bull clearly think so too, renewing his contract until 2020.

Third Place:

Third place I must give to a Ferrari in that case, but theres only one obvious choice, Vettel. As much as I hope to Raikkonen put more of a fight in Ferrari this year, he hasn't shown to have the pace to compete with Vettel. Raikkonen is no longer the speed demon we saw in the early 2000s and, while this is sad for the fans, it means Vettel is always going to be the faster Ferrari driver and therefore I believe he will take third on the grid.

Honourable Mentions:

Honourable mentions here should be teams such as McLaren, I believe they will make it into Q3 for the first time in a while. Possibly Alonso will get a lucky lap putting him into the session but I would be surprised if they didn't. It will be a real sign of no change if they don't. Also I think the team with the biggest speed change will also be McLaren but the team with best improvement will be Renault; they've been innovative, changing designs and been preparing to challenge Force India all winter and its their time to show themselves. We never know, it may be their best season since 2008 (hopefully nothing like Singapore will happen though!).

The Race:

The moment we all waiting for is lights out saw we can the cars finally pitted against each other, seeing who is coming out on top this year. However, I think it won't be much different to what we have seen before.

1st Place:

The Australian GP is always interesting due to the sheer lack of knowledge of the cars; we see the weirdest results as people get used to the cars. But we also see who will be a threat to the reigning champion. Last year Vettel won the race and he went on to be Lewis' biggest threat. I think the race will go to Lewis because he will be ready this season. He's in the perfect mindset as he left 2017 in the best state he could be. Lewis seems to be the most at peace he ever has been in F1 and I think that, with the best team on the grid, will be unstoppable. Lewis will be wanting to leave a clear mark to the other teams that he is aiming to beat Schumacher in not only pole positions.

2nd place:

I don't think that Verstappen will be able to hold off the prancing horse behind due to Vettel being ready to show Hamilton he is still a challenger. Therefore I am giving second to Vettel, overtaking Verstappen possibly in pitstops or in one of the straights. However, I believe it will thrive the fury in Verstappen we need to see this season to create a faster driver in him than seen before.

3rd Place:

I really want to give this to Ricciardo because seeing an Australian on the podium in his home GP would be an amazing sight and something we all are waiting for. However, to do this something will have to happen to his team mate, possibly a retirement or he will have to overtake him and that I think won't happen this early in the season. Ricciardo will be proving himself to his team this season and this will mean he will have to beat Verstappen in races, but I don't think in the first race this will happen so the chance of a Aussie on the podium is low but I'm putting Ricciardo on third in hope of this dream.

Honourable mentions:

I think McLaren will score some points, how many I don't really know but I'm going to put Alonso in 6th for the first race showing a return of McLaren. The team have said to have sorted the issues seen in testing and therefore, I believe they will be coming back this season and the best place to show this will be in this race. However, I think Force India will see a fall down the ranks with Ocon finishing 8th and Perez 9th. The team mates have always been close and I think they will be extremely close this year as they both fight to prove themselves. Renault I think will be 7th and 9th with Sainz being much faster than Hulkenberg; even in his first few races with Renault, Sainz seemed to be the faster member of the team and I think this will be a pattern we will see all season.

Testing Week 2: Day 1

Day 1 of week 2 of testing finally saw the sun shining with all the cars ready to get on the track to lay rubber, however, this was easier for some than others. With McLaren seeing more issues with the battery along with Red Bull, increasing pressure on Renault. Vettel was the fastest on the track once again with Mercedes following close behind.

Vettel overtook Valterri Bottas' 1m20.596s just after midday, setting a 1m20.369. Vettel also saw the most laps by a single driver with a whopping 171 laps completed; Hamilton did 91 and Bottas 86. Hamilton arrived on track after the lunch break and made gradual progress, ending with his fastest time being 1m20.808s. This put him 4th overall behind Verstappen. Mercedes also claimed that their sidepod design is worth 0.25 seconds every lap time alone. Mercedes, seeing challenge from Ferrari, pushed hard over the winter and slimmed down the rear of the car, packaging the engine along with the bodywork as tight as possible. James Allison, Mercedes’ technical director, hailed the sidepod as the biggest change on the car in a video released on Tuesday comparing the car to its predecessor, the W08.

More bad news came from the McLaren front however, with the car stopping twice in the morning meaning they missed out on valuable running time. McLaren managed three laps before the lunch break and the afternoon was plagued by hydraulic issues with only 38 laps to the MCL33 on the first day. The lack of mileage was made evident by Ferrari and Mercedes with both doing over 170 laps. McLaren plans to modify its internal cooling after suffering minor bodywork burning during testing; although running with three additional cooling slots to adapt to the Renault engine, during last weeks test and the first test on Tuesday of this week, small burns were seen on the bodywork causing minor damage. Boullier told Autosport "We're working on a new package with a new engine partner, so we have to detect the heat soak pockets.

Sergio Perez also made a claim that Force India is no longer leading the midfield pack. In an earlier blog I did, I showed an argument on where Force India will be this year, in which I argued they will struggle to stay in front of the midfield. Perez seems to prove my argument saying the team needs a "good step" before the season opener. The team is testing with a simpler version of its car before a big update before Australia in a few weeks time. Perez recognises the current car is not good enough but hopes the update will bring them back to where they were. "Its too early to be disappointed or happy. We have to keep our heads down and working".

Renault has also admitted that its bending the F1 rules to get an extra advantage from the blown rear wing this year. The team caused questions with it's angled exhaust configuration, aimed to put gases exiting on the rear wing. With a ban on monkey seats for 2018 and the 2014 exhaust rule limitations, Renault believes that raising exhaust exit will create a performance benefit. The tailpipe is angled at 5 degrees, the maximum allowed and the upward tilt is exaggerated by the placement of the wastegate exhausts underneath. Renault seem relentlessly trying to push this aspect of the car with extra heat protection put on the rear wing due to 400 degree gasses now being aimed at the rear wing. This could cause serious damage and aerodynamic effect would follow. However, in a race, we don't know how this could change it. 50 laps under extreme pressures and fast times, it could still cause damage and the extra heat protection may dampen the aerodynamics itself along with adding weight. This leaves us questioning if it will do more negatives than plusses. However, the added carbon ceramic looks like a permanent solution.

Sauber may also see their female simulator driver within the car this year for the first time as her role expands. Tatiana Calderon, 24, was name Sauber's development driver last year and continues in 2018 but her precise details of her programme have yet to be defined. Calderon admitted to be "super excited to continue with Alfa Romeo Sauber" and thanks the team for "believing in me". Calderon currently races in GP3 and finished 18th in last years standings. She set the fifth fastest time in in the opening test in the pre season for GP3 at Paul Ricard.

Hamish Shackleton

1. Sebastian Vettel Ferrari1m20.396s-171 laps

2. Valtteri Bottas Mercedes 1m20.596s0.200s-86 laps

3. Max Verstappen Red Bull/Renault 1m20.649s0.253s-130 laps

4. Lewis Hamilton Mercedes 1m20.808s0.412s-91 laps

5. Pierre Gasly Toro Rosso/Honda 1m20.973s0.577s-54 laps

6. Kevin Magnussen Haas/Ferrari 1m21.298s0.902s-95 laps

7. Nico Hulkenberg Renault 1m21.432s1.036s-48 laps

8. Carlos Sainz Renault 1m21.455s1.059s-91 laps

9. Sergey Sirotkin Williams/Mercedes 1m21.588s1.192s-42 laps

10. Sergio Perez Force India/Mercedes 1m21.643s1.247s-93 laps

11. Marcus Ericsson Sauber/Ferrari 1m21.706s1.310s-120 laps

12. Stoffel Vandoorne McLaren/Renault 1m21.946s1.550s-38 laps

13. Lance Stroll Williams/Mercedes 1m22.937s2.541s-86 laps

Lets Talk About: McLaren

A team formed around winning, losing and heartbreak, especially in the recent years, McLaren can only be seen as one of F1's most relentless teams with over 800 races started, it never seems to give up. Continuing my season analysing the teams on the grid, I decided to do McLaren next due to their return as a strong competitor on the grid looking imminent after the first week of winter testing. McLaren is no small team; it is one of the oldest teams on the grid and one of the most prestigious with their logo being infamous around the globe and not only in the F1 world. McLaren are known for the road cars, their entires in series like Daytona, Le Man and Indy 500 and many other aspects. However, their name is been tainted by 3 years of horrific struggles with Honda. In 2012, they finished 3rd. In 2017, they only beat Sauber.

McLaren is named after their founding father, Bruce McLaren, a young, ambitious Kiwi who won his first Grand Prix with Cooper Formula One Team in 1959 at the age of 22. Although today this sounds rather menial with young drivers winning championships and Drivers like Verstappen winning at the age of 19, this was an impressive feat within the early dates of the sport. At that point, it made him the sports youngest ever winner. This wasn't surpassed until 2003 at the Hungarian Grand Prix. He soon founded McLaren in 1963 and began racing in 1966 at the Monaco Grand Prix. The result was not so great with an early retirement on lap 9 due to an oil leak. However, it left room for improvement and since then McLaren have won 182 races. Bruce's story ended sadly however; on June 2nd, while testing the team's new Can-Am car before the the start of the new series, he lost control due to rear bodywork flying loose. Bruce hit a Marshall post and was killed instantly. The death of Bruce still affects the team to this day but it powers it on, knowing that, if even after that fateful day the team still exists, it can survive pretty much anything.

McLaren in the recent years has seen a smooth running with Mercedes engines from 1995 to 2014. It saw 4 championships with the engine, the last being 2008 with Lewis Hamilton. However since the end of the Mercedes deal, striking a deal with Honda in 2014 McLaren has seen three, long, unbearable years, for fans and the team. The deal was meant to restart the Honda years McLaren saw between 1983 to 1993. McLaren was dominant in these years, creating cars like the MP4/4 with drivers like Ayrton Senna, McLaren seemed unstoppable. The era also created one of the most famous battles of all time with Prost vs Senna, creating legendary races such as Japan 1990 where both Post and Senna didn’t finish the race, securing Senna's championship, a reversal of what had been seen only a year earlier at the 1989 Japanese GP. The MP4/4 won 15 out of the 16 races in 1988, losing only Monza, which can only be described as Senna's own fault as he tripped over the back marker Jean-Louis Schlesser's Williams-Judo in the first chicane. Senna started on pole 13 times and won 8 of the races to steal the championship for his own. By the end of the season, McLaren had almost three times the amount of points the runner up Ferrari had. 6 chassis were made for the MP4/4 but they became obsolete with the new rule change when the new 3.5 litre normally aspirated engines came to function. Neil Trundle, chief mechanic of McLaren during the years, talks about the car as "the perfect package". Him and others see it as the epitome of formula one. when Honda returned, nostalgia for these moments returned, meaning it was ever more crushing they couldn't perform.

The deal for Honda engines began in 2014; Ron Dennis gave up the Mercedes engines for Honda engines saying they need "works engines". To begin with, McLaren were not the only team wanting Honda engines, with Red Bull wanting some too. Ron denied Horner's team the engines though and many will see this as a lucky escape for the team. The first McLaren Honda car in the new era was the MP-30; the car was designed by Tim Goss and Neil Oatley and driven by the returning Fernando Alonso. His pervious experience with McLaren in 2007 had not been the best with him leaving to go back to Renault after being beaten by rookie Lewis Hamilton in the championship and the car being disqualified from the season after the team was found to be copying their rival, Ferrari. The car was nicknamed the "size zero" f1 car due to its distinct tapered rear end, accomplished by having the Honda engine designed to run at higher temperatures than other engines. By the end of the season, the team's best result was 5th in the Hungarian GP and had a total score of 27 points putting them 9th in the constructors. Button and Alonso finished 16th and 17th. This was the most difficult season the team had seen in 35 years and it would not get any better. This made the community terrified for McLaren due to it being a 10 year engine deal. As Boullier said himself "it take years to build an f1 team but 6 months to destroy it". The next car was the MP4-31; with the same drivers in 2016 and Honda having a year of practice now, a better future seemed clear for McLaren. In the Australian GP, the team qualified 12th and 13th, showing progress from last year. However, the race saw one of the worst accidents seen in the recent years with Alonso hitting Esteban Guitérrez in his Haas, barrel rolling the car, stopping upside down. Alonso saw broken ribs and injury to his lungs, ruling him out of the next GP at Bahrain. The team saw 76 points at the end of the season and 6th in the constructors, this showed improvement from the year before and therefore gave hope to the team. 2017 saw a new era in F1 though, with complete new rule changes, making the car nature different, causing many issues to reappear. The new car strayed from the usual, being called the MCL32. It was the first car since 1980 not to start with MP4. The change was mainly due to Ron Dennis' departure from the team in November 2016. After the improvement in 2016, 2017 took a turn back for the worse. The team found themselves battling Sauber most of the season and Alonso retired from the first two races, seeing a double retirement in China, Monaco and Italy. No points were scored until Baku, where Alonso finished 9th and Vandoorne's first points were in Hungary. McLaren returned to 9th, scoring 30 points, five more than the winning driver will earn in one race. This lead to the divorce of Honda and McLaren at the end of the 2017 season, announced at the Singapore GP.

McLaren had been looking for a new engine all season, with Mercedes and Ferrari both refusing, it left Renault. However Abiteboul said that McLaren had to find a new team for Honda in order to get their engines. At this point, Christian Horner decided to step in, saying his junior team, Torro Rosso, would take the engines off McLaren giving their engines to McLaren. However, Abiteboul also wanted Carlos Sainz to move from Torro Rosso to Renault. So, Sainz was moved to Renault on loan and Torro Rosso got Honda engines. Problem solved. For now. Abiteboul stated later that Red Bull would be unable to use Renault engines in 2019 causing a issue for them to find a new engine supplier. This leaves us wondering if Red Bull will be become Red Bull Honda in 2019.

With the 2018 cars out and on track, we can see straight away, an improvement in McLaren. They're not Mercedes fast but almost definatley fast enough to complete with the midfield this year. The new papaya and blue look and new engine causes a sense of a new era for the team. However, what about Honda? The engine supplier is finally reliable with Torro Rosso completing the most laps in the first testing sessions out of everyone. However, this doesn't mean they're fast. If the engine can be made to be fast by the end of the year, Red Bull may have done the right thing with the Honda deal; with originally being refused, they now seemed lined up to get the Honda engines which are now working after gaining experience with McLaren. Red Bull may get Honda at the peak of their return meaning they will face no issues like McLaren. This is all speculation however, with engine changes in 2021, engines are bound to be a recurring topic in f1 for the next few years.

A Complete Whitewash: Testing Day 3

The third day of testing was seen as completely pointless by all of the teams, with Ferrari saying there was "no point" of running and technical Director of Mercedes, Jame Allison, saying the teams just have to "take [it] on the chin". However, exciting things could be seen off track with the circuit being dormant for most the day. Toto Wolff claimed Renault will be the team to make the "biggest step" within 2018 and McLaren's state of the art rear suspension being revealed.

Day 3 saw no race times being set bar one by Fernando Alonso; only five cars risked the track and McLaren being the team to finally set the most with 11 laps, which really shows the effect of the weather on the track. The session's start was 3 hours late due to heavy snowfall overnight and in the morning. When the track opened, the pits stayed silent with any noise from the cars only to be seen an hour later by Alonso, only to do one lap. After this, Red Bull launched their car, commandeered by Daniel Ricciardo who went for a short journey across the gravel. Other drivers to run were: Ericsson, Kubica and Hartley. Alonso's only official lap time was in the final 15 minutes on full wets setting a 2m21.268s. Only 5 days of testing remain with one more this week and four next week. Hopefully the weather bring better testing for the cars and allow us to see the full potential of the cars.

Meanwhile, Toto Wolff began reaching the news again with him stating that he believes rival Renault will make the biggest step of any of the teams this season. Renault ended 4th fastest car on pure pace and when Toto Wolff began assessing the f1 field he stated "Renault will make the biggest step forward for me…It will use all its resources, and has ambitious drivers with Hulkenberg and Sainz". Hulkenberg is the driver with the most Races without a podium causing me to wonder if this could be his year; last year in Singapore, Hulkenberg had an excellent chance, only to miss out with a pneumatic problem. While Sainz is a young, passionate driver seeing a move from Toro Rosso to Renault from the Austin GP, seeing an excellent race from the Spaniard on his debut finishing 7th and being the only Renault driver to score in the points on their debut since Giancarlo Fisichella in 2005. Renault have a powerful engine humming in the back of their car and with the right aerodynamics and their drivers on form, they could tear a Renault size hole into the midfield and challenge strongly for 4th in the constructor's championship.

McLaren haven't only changed whats under the hood, new drawings of their new rear suspension have been shown with reveal and repositioning on the inboard connecting points of the upper wishbone called "bold" by Autosport's writer Jonathan Noble. It was revised due to the engine change.

So, all in all, the third day of testing was a blow out with only one car setting a timed lap and snowy conditions causing issues and frustration for all. The only positive of the day is we got to see Bottas talking to his new reserve driver, many claim there's not a lot of difference between them...

F1 Testing: Day 2

Day 2 of testing was no less interesting than day 1, with freezing temperatures causing an impact on the work the teams are able to do. This meant some drivers struggled to stay on track such as Vettel, Leclerc, Verstappen and others all seen spinning and corner cutting.

The day began with a slow start with the teams waiting for the track to warm up; the air temperature never raised above 5C all day, causing the day to be pointless for testing as it doesn't show normal racing temperatures. Vettel called the temperature the "limiting factor" on the day saying "it was only 3-4 degrees, the asphalt is 10 degrees so its very, very cold. Not the conditions we usually run". The even saw snow on certain areas of the track by the end of the day, with more due Wednesday, causing testing this year to be seen as useless for showing the team hierarchy going into the season. The morning saw Vandoorne putting in a lap on hypersofts and Sainz offering a 1m25.059 on soft tyres in a short stint on track. At 1pm, Bottas trumped Vandoorne putting in a 1m20.325, going 0.055 seconds faster than Vandoorne on softs.

However, McLaren seemed to put in much less laps than anyone once again, with only 37 laps completed compared to the 98 of the Ferrari. However, McLaren offered the reason why after testing saying the exhaust had become detached. Vandoorne said to the media at the end of the day that they had a "small issue with an exhaust clip, just after lunch, which obviously detached the exhaust and blew a lot of hot air on some of the wiring looms".

Although the Halo proved its use yesterday with Alonso's loose tyre, it proved its annoyance today with Pierre Gasly reportedly tearing his suit on the halo. Gasly reported that the halo made a "big mess" when getting in and out the car. Gasly says"with all the winglets you have on the halo, you can't pull (yourself out)". Torro Rosso saw yet another successful testing day with 82 laps completed, even in the difficult conditions. The halo will be one of the most debated things on the car, modifications to the top will probably be seen all year as the cars try and push the boundaries further in order to create a better, faster car. The issue with the halo will lie with the time it takes for the driver to get out the car; drivers such as Alonso have already noticed it takes much longer to get out the car. How much longer, we don't know yet but it will only take an engine catching on fire or a car stopping in an inconvenient location to find out. Take, for example, Vandoorne's crash in Monaco during qualifying; he crashed coming out of turn 16 hitting the wall hard enough to yellow flag the session. As all f1 fans know, Monaco is a tight circuit with little room for the cars to pass the wreckages of crashed cars. Vandoorne got out the car with speed and returned to the paddock with ease. However, with the halo it may have been harder with the added time to get out the car without damaging the aerodynamics on top and not tearing the race suit may have meant the session was a) yellow flagged for longer and b) mean getting out safely and avoiding cars is much harder. Also, if an engine catches on fire, a driver needs to be out of the car within seconds; the driver is risking more than a car if he isn't. The halo may hinder his escape, causing wonder in how soon will it be before we see the true impact of the halo in emergency siutations.

Kubica also got time in the FW41 today, completing 48 laps; however, he grew irritated by the number of questions asking about changes to the car to help with his limitations. He told the press, "if I can jump in the car and do the job, I think thats fair enough". Kubica finished 7th fastest overall and seemed to be happy to be back in the car, his main complaint was the weather, following the frustrations seen across the paddock. The cold weather has led to talks on extending testing by an extra day; a change of day requires all teams to support the movement.

F1 also launched a new streaming service that will be available in 2018 called F1 TV PRO. The cost will be between $8 and $12 per month.

The day started slow but picked up the pace as it went on; the temperatures limited the testing and the actual usefulness of it and therefore caused frustrations in the paddock. However, we did see some testing with Ferrari doing 98 laps and other teams hitting above 50 by the end of the day. Even though McLaren did so little laps, it did set the third fastest lap behind Vettel and Bottas causing a change with the new engine to be seen. Tomorrow should bring more testing and news but I will be here watching and writing up the day's events rain, snow or sun. Thanks for reading and I hope to see you back soon.

Hamish Shackleton

Sebastian Vettel Ferrari 1m19.673s

Valtteri Bottas Mercedes 1m19.976s0.303s

Stoffel Vandoorne McLaren/Renault 1m20.325s0.652s

Max Verstappen Red Bull/Renault 1m20.326s0.653s

Carlos Sainz Renault 1m21.212s1.539s

Pierre Gasly Toro Rosso/Honda 1m21.318s1.645s

Robert Kubica Williams/Mercedes 1m21.495s1.822s

Sergey Sirotkin Williams/Mercedes 1m21.822s2.149s

Esteban Ocon For ce India/Mercedes 1m21.841s2.168s

Charles Leclerc Sauber/Ferrari 1m22.721s3.048s

Kevin Magnussen Haas/Ferrari 1m22.727s3.054s