2020 Winter Testing Two

The next three days of winter testing is upon us. Mercedes go into this test with a grin on their faces, Redbull with a look of content but l am sure with a quiet worry of Mercedes and their Trombone steering. And Ferrari will go into this test without the opportunity of exploring the full potential of the performance characteristics of the new SF1000 in Testing One. They look worried as the pre-testing rumours turned out to be true.

It would be a mistake to write off Ferrari, since Haas who run the Ferrari engine registered the fastest straight line speed; over 300km/hr. Which would suggest that Ferrari probably still has the fastest engine in the paddock. Which may be a real worry for Mercedes and Redbull. The question really is, what would the Ferrari chassis be like when they get round whatever is giving them headache at the moment? Would the new chassis combined with their super fast engine bring them ahead of or on level terms with Mercedes?

If Mercedes get another early run of wins, chances are Ferrari shall be playing catchup. It becomes a development war to the finish line in Abu Dhabi. We all know who has won the development war over the last six years, yes Mercedes.

Testing two shall be very revealing of the actual pecking order for the start of the season. Being a short three days event, there is nowhere to hide. Sand bagging is useless. They all have to find out where they really stand in the pecking order before heading out to Melborne.

The midfield is going to be electrifying this season. Mclaren are going to have their hands full with Racing point. It is unclear how Haas would do this season, but they are looking quick. And Renault is looking like a dark horse. The fight for fourth shall be a very interest spectacle all through the season. I can see the lead for fourth, chopping and changing throughout the season as each team's strenght play out in their favour at various circuits and racing conditions; rain etc.

I don't know about Renault. They have not run as many laps as the other teams and I do not think they one driver broke 100 laps. They still look shaky to me.
I am hoping Haas do better than last year's disaster.

Well, Well, Ferrari seem to be there about after all. But may be still behind as the Bottas 1:15sec lap would suggest. I not sure we have seen the all out pace of the SF1000. Ferrari may well be on level terms or even ahead. We could see they were fast through fast corner but not so much through the slow corners. They also seem to have lost there fearsome straightline speed.

I haven't seen enough to suggest that Redbull is actually ahead of Ferrari either. The pecking order seem very unclear going into Melborne. Is is all very speculative in the media at the moment but the general consensus is that Mercedes leads the pack with Redbull just behind but ahead of Ferrari. Based on today's free testing, l am inclined to tyo say Mercedes , Ferrari then Redbull.

Well other than the top 3 still being the top 3, I'm not sure I've come to any really solid conclusions after the second test days. Breaking things down into sector times and accounting for weather through the days, it appears that just about everyone is sandbagging at times, and I'm starting to think none of the top teams has really shown their full hand.

There is evidence of the same running down into the midfield teams, and quite a few reports that show obvious early lifting in certain areas of the track, or taking strange lines at points throughout the track.

The final fast laps by Max and Bottas seem legit, and the cars would be very close when adjusted for tires. But TBH, I'm still not 100% certain they really were both flying laps.

So in summary....

Merc is obviously still very strong, but has shown some potential reliability issues.

Honda did some catching up, and that engine sounds freaking awesome in the downshift bangs and pops!

Ferrari have posted some very quick sectors and appear to be holding their cards close.


If Merc are doing more sandbagging than suspected, the season is probably over. Being the benchmark, people are assuming they are showing more of their actual pace... but I'm still not sure. But it does look to me that RB and Ferrari might be close enough to hassle Merc through the season, and maybe bag more wins than they did last year.


Midfield I think RP might be up closer to Mclaren, and I think Renault will still lag both. But they all seem close enough that reliability, team strategies, and drivers should make it a tight race. I still don't really know where I think Alfa or Alpha are, or for that matter Haas. Williams still seems to suck.




I can't wait for the season opener. I hate having a bunch of data that suggests that the data doesn't tell the real story! :laugh: