F1 2015

Full combined results from four days of pre-season 2015 F1 testing in Jerez, Spain.

1. Kimi Raikkonen Finland Ferrari-Ferrari 1m 20.841s 200 laps
2. Sebastian Vettel Germany Ferrari-Ferrari 1m 20.984s 149 laps
3. Felipe Nasr Brazil Sauber-Ferrari 1m 21.545 197 laps
4. Nico Rosberg Germany Mercedes-Mercedes 1m 21.982s 308 laps
5. Marcus Ericsson Sweden Sauber-Ferrari 1m 22.019s 185 laps
6. Lewis Hamilton Britain Mercedes-Mercedes 1m 22.172s 208 laps
7. Felipe Massa Brazil Williams-Mercedes 1m 22.276s 144 laps
8. Valtteri Bottas Finland Williams-Mercedes 1m 22.319s 134 laps
9. Max Verstappen Netherlands Toro Rosso-Renault 1m 22.553s 170 laps
10. Pastor Maldonado Venezuela Lotus-Mercedes 1m 22.716s 137 laps
11. Carlos Sainz Spain Toro Rosso-Ferrari 1m 23.187s 183 laps
12. Daniel Ricciardo Australia Red Bull-Renault 1m 23.338s 84 laps
13. Romain Grosjean France Lotus-Mercedes 1m 23.802s 53 laps*
14. Daniil Kvyat Russia Red Bull-Renault 1m 23.975s 82 laps
15. Jenson Button Britain McLaren-Honda 1m 27.660s 41 laps
16. Fernando Alonso Spain McLaren-Honda 1m 35.553s 38 laps

And just to add fuel. Marrussia/Manor almost back from the brink was denied entrance to this years F1 circus by of all teams Force India!! They proposed to use last years car, and are/were trying to get things in place. From what I have read on crash, there just wasn't enough meat in the proposal.

http://www.crash.net/f1/news/214473/1/f1-marussia-request-to-run-2014-car-rejected-by-rivals.html

In reply to Mike924:

From what I've read- the teams also didn't want this new team to get their points money from last year.

It's only the first test and I know it doesn't really mean much, but jeez, Alonso, it doesn't look good. Your old team is at the top of the charts while your new team is stinking it up.

In reply to ncjay:

I keep remembering how poorly Red Bull did at this test in 2014 and how well they recovered to win races. I suspect between Alonso/McLaren/Honda they will have a similar recovery.

bruceman wrote: In reply to ncjay: I keep remembering how poorly Red Bull did at this test in 2014 and how well they recovered to win races. I suspect between Alonso/McLaren/Honda they will have a similar recovery.

Right NOW, this is what I think, too. Could change, but I have confidence in Honda and getting to the grid.

Also, from the strife in Ferrari, including the top people who were really close to Alonso, the move away was not necessarily just about the car's performance. Blood was getting drained in Maranelo, and they may have needed a change from the top driver who is also emotionally latin.

In reply to alfadriver:

Ferrari's problems are self-inflicted and began when they initiated their ethnic cleansing campaign in order to put native talent in major team positions.

Ask Nigel Stepney. Oh, wait...

The situation with Manor/Marussia has me wondering exactly how much has to be different from 2014 to 2015 to be able to call it a new car. For those not up to speed. Manor F1 Team (formerly Marussia) wanted to race their 2014 car in an attempt to return to the F1 starting grid. That idea was blocked by Force India. This leads me to wonder what actually constitutes a "new" car. How much of the design needs to change from one year to the next? What happens if I like my 2014 car and do not see the need for any major design revisions for 2015? It does seem like teams could save a ton of money by not needing new cars each season, especially since design updates are continuously ongoing anyway.

Force India has 3 wheels in the grave with all of their money sitting in prison and the only reason they blocked Manor was so they could have a portion of the $30 million Marussia earned last year with Bianchi's 2 points.

I want to see Manor come back (and I'm really, really surprised HAAS didn't buy them. He bought their factory, Manor already uses Ferrari, and there's a guaranteed $30 mil payout) and Force India score zilch all season.

Third day of testing at Barcelona and Pastor Maldonado is on top of the time sheets in a Lotus. Yes, a Lotus is the fastest car in testing. On the bottom of the sheets with only 24 laps put in all day is Jenson Button in his McLaren-Honda.

I'm more shocked that it's Maldonaldo than its a Lotus

Looks like Honda may be in for a tough season

To top it off, Alonso wrecked and was airlifted to a local hospital. He was awake, alert, and apparently injury free. McLaren is really having a crappy start to their season. Alonso can't catch a break. He finally gets free of Ferarri and their crappy cars only to wind up in a worse situation. The season opener is only a few weeks away. http://www.nationalspeedsportnews.com/formula-one/alonso-taken-to-hospital-in-barcelona/

Alonso had personal issues in the car before he went off track. It wasn't really a wreck as only the front wing appeared to be damaged by the uneven surface when he deliberately pulled off. The bigger question is what happened to him. Did he suffer some sort of physical ailment and was it (possibly) car-induced?

Maldonado was fastest because he was in the car that was running on soft tires and with a low fuel load.

The stories surrounding the crash make little or no sense to me. Vettel was behind him and stated that the car just went right. Alonso is in the hospital with a concussion, but the pics of the car that I've seen show all the corners still attached. I'm certainly no expert, but just how do you get a concussion if the car didn't hit hard enough to bend a corner? Certainly seems like people are covering up something.

Official word from McLaren is that Alonso went wide and dropped the left rear, then the car hooked and went inside.

http://www.mclaren.com/formula1/inside-the-mtc/further-update-regarding-fernando-alonso/

ncjay wrote: I'm certainly no expert, but just how do you get a concussion if the car didn't hit hard enough to bend a corner? Certainly seems like people are covering up something.

Speculation on r/formula1 was that the control arms aren't designed to deform under loads from that direction (otherwise the car would break under a cornering load).

I had also read somewhere that he went to the hospital due to the G loads invovled in the collision because they don't mess around where the brain could swell. If you read the McLaren release above it explaons further.

Wasn't it Alonso that went to the hospital after a hard undercarriage impact that triggered the g-meter? All the wheels stayed on in that case as well IIRC.

Final preseason test in Barcelona is done. Surprise! Surprise! Surprise! Nico Rosberg set the fastest lap overall. Bottas on top for the final day with Vettel second. McLaren still hasn't managed to get many laps in. Felipe Nasr did a fine job of making headlines during testing. Two weeks away from the first race of the season. I'm thinking it will be another Mercedes 1-2 and McLaren should be happy if both cars can run the full distance.

And just announced Alonso will miss the Australian GP

http://www.bbc.com/sport/0/formula1/31713292

In reply to johndej:

Sounds like the doctors are being super-careful with regards to his concussion. I guess, after what we've seen in football lately, we're going to see more of this kind of caution in all sports.

Tom_Spangler wrote: In reply to johndej: Sounds like the doctors are being super-careful with regards to his concussion. I guess, after what we've seen in football lately, we're going to see more of this kind of caution in all sports.

Bumer, but not a big surprise. While I don't buy into the rumors about him being electocuted by the ERS system, I still think there maybe more to the accident than we know.

ncjay wrote: Final preseason test in Barcelona is done. Surprise! Surprise! Surprise! Nico Rosberg set the fastest lap overall. Bottas on top for the final day with Vettel second. McLaren still hasn't managed to get many laps in. Felipe Nasr did a fine job of making headlines during testing. Two weeks away from the first race of the season. I'm thinking it will be another Mercedes 1-2 and McLaren should be happy if both cars can run the full distance.

What's more impressive than the fact that Mercedes were 0.25 ahead of the rest of the pack in testing is the full story. First they on hard compounds not soft that everyone else used so that's really 1.25-2.25 ahead of the pack. What's even more astounding is that they only used one engine for all the pre season tests. Not one engine per driver, but one engine!!! So that fast time on hard tires was on an engine with many thousands of KM's running where everyone else was using two cars for their drivers and/or swapping engines out!!

I was mad at McLaren when they benched Magnussen in favor of Jensen, despite my wanting to see Honda do well, so now will have to root for Kevin at Australia. Sounds like regardless the outcome isn't going to be too good.

I was thinking the offseason would give others a chance to catch up to Mercedes/Williams, I guess we'll see.

The documentary 1 is on NBCSN now, and the Mercedes post-season show Mercedes F1: Race to Repeat will be rebroadcast at 11:00 PM EST on NBCSN

Lots of reports out today that Alonso blacked out before the crash, no mechanical failures, and he woke up thinking it was 1995. He apparently still thinks he drives for Ferrari. This is not good at all, his career may be over due to scrambled brains.

Manor is in and showing up to Australia, hell yeah! I'll be rooting for them.

Sauber is looking good, and the livery is actually the best in F1 for 2015 so far (Why oh why do the McLaren, Force India, and Manor/Marussia all look the same?). Force India are being showm to be giant shiney happy peoples.

Really hoping for a good year from McLaren/Honda, Williams, Sauber, and Manor. I really want to see Massa and Bottas both win a GP this year.

In reply to Javelin:

I'm not seeing that in any of the reputable outlets, only GP247 which is famous for touting BS to generate views.