A good day 1 testing in Bahrain.
Unless you are AMR/HRC. oh dear.
Caveat: only testing.
RBR straight away looked good.
Lando topped the times at the end of the day.
Sky are showing the last hour of testing live each day
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I kind of wish Cadillac went with the same yellow they use for their Le Mans cars. I also prefer the classic Audi motorsport scheme over the new one they’ve used over the last five years.
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Oof, AMR/HRC are not having the best time.
What’s doing the rounds is neweys design is too hard on the cooling elements and the pu is suffering
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Week 1 of testing done.
Let’s all overreact… Except you AMR.
I watched the practice start with full light sequence with like 9 cars… Only 3 got away clean. A disaster waiting to happen but there’s still time and another 3 days of testing next week
Takeaways:
RBPT-Ford did a solid job
Ferrari too.
Merc themselves had a Pu swap on day 2 but Kimi was fastest over all at end of day3.
Caddy and Audi - still work to do
AMR - not ready or else sandbagging hard!
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Stroll said AMR is missing 4 seconds per lap.
They’re definitely not having a very good day.
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Barcelona and Spa have extended contracts but will alternate for the next 6 years
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Jfyi, the last 3 days of testing is this week, wed-fri
These will be broadcast in full
Ferrari to bring a few big upgrades I’m reading
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Testing 2!
Last 3 days of running pre-Aus.
Morning session coming to an end soon.
Sharl top so far
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Day5 (day2 of this week)
Ferrari look strong. On race starts their smaller turbo is on song. By extension, haas too!
Not much separating the top 4 tbh
Only testing
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Oh AMR/Honda
“A statement from Honda said that in the wake of Alonso’s battery-related problem: “We have been carrying out simulations on the test bench in HRC Sakura. Due to this and a shortage of power unit parts, we have adapted today’s run plan to be very limited and consist only of short stints”
Eerily like the macca years 
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I’ve got George winning it this year. Get the popcorn ready lol.
Not a fan of these new regs, I’ll see how Melbourne is then I’m playing it by ear.
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Don’t make cry 
Hard enough seeing Lando win last year, but GR might be a step too far.
I concur on the regs and Melbourne - might wake for it
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Lewis is going to be punching the air this year. 8 world titles definitely would have granted him anything he wanted initially, especially with the rise of F1 and the decline of interest for EV’s.
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Lets talk compression ratios!
New tests agreed on: From June 1 this year, engines will be tested at 130 Celsius. Wording has been amended in rules also I believe.
Now, I read it in a few places - Merc were never at 18:1, the issue is that the CR falls when the engine is hot, so other PUs were maybe 15.x:1 while Merc were able to keep there’s approx 16:1 at both hot and cold temps.
Typical f1.
In other news:
Sharl has a Mrs. Sharl LeClerc.
HRC have said that abnormal vibrations damaged the batteries which caused them to limit running by the end of testing.
Merc PU customers will have an updated engine available for Melbourne.
Max isn’t happy with new rules at all.
Mandatory 2 stop rule at Monaco has been axed.
Global politics may impact some of the races. There was a missile strike not far from the Bahrain circuit
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Figures that I have commitments at the same time the Australian Grand Prix takes place.
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Today’s rumour:
AMR/HRC may not have spare parts for that opening race - might only do formation lap and handful of race laps.
Italian site reporting.
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Oh, DTS s08 started last Friday.
Hasn’t made me like ZB
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So Qatar has cancelled all sporting events.
Quite possible we could see some F1 middle East races cancelled or moved
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I would take imola or portimao over the middle eastern tracks any day. Only circuit I might miss would be Bahrain.
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