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Haas team principal Guenther Steiner believes that frontrunners Mercedes, Ferrari and Red Bull are 1.5 seconds faster than the rest of the field as pre-season testing comes to a close, although he has not yet said who he expects to be leading the way in Melbourne.
Of his conclusion, based mainly on the sheer power and resources of those teams, Steiner explained: "Between the top three and the other ones it is between one second and 1.5 seconds, I think. It is aero, and we need to work on it. It won't be for Australia.
"The big teams will always have more resources to do it, and this is to be expected. There is no surprise that Mercedes and Ferrari and Red Bull came out better than everybody else. They have more resources to do more testing and that is what it is."
Steiner even suggested that the difference could be even wider once the development race between the teams has begun: "It will not get smaller in my opinion. But maybe the gains further up you get the smaller they get, so the smaller teams can make bigger gains because they are further behind."
Alongside the three teams at the front, Steiner is also keeping a watchful eye on Williams, who he believes could potentially escape the midfield to fight for a top position thanks to the pace they have also shown in Barcelona.
"I think the Williams is a little bit better than the big group...I don't know about the Renault. We need a few more days and in Australia we will find out. It's getting quite clear."
Mason Hawker
Grand Prix of Belgium
C. Sainz jr
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Replies (3)
Login to replycalle.itw
Posts: 8,527
Clear as mud. The only things we can even remotely take from this is that Ferrari, Mercedes and Williams has shown some really good reliability, and that McLaren is probably set to fight in the middle again. And even those things can change, since there is plenty of time to fine tune and troubleshoot before melbourne. Either way, I think its safe to assume that Mercedes will most likely remain the top dog, we can only hope Ferrari and Red Bull can challenge them for real this time.
Kevin
Posts: 5,383
I think Ferrari is truly on par with Mercedes at the moment, but as you say, teams can finetune a lot during the next two weeks. For sure they will all bring new parts to Melbourne and only then will we see their full potential. If it is really close between Mercedes and Ferrari, and hopefully even Red Bull, it will all come down to the development during the season, which will be massive with these new regulations. It will be interesting to see who is fastest in outdeveloping the others..
If in Melbourne: Mercedes = Ferrari = Red Bull, I'd bet my money on Red Bull, followed by Mercedes for winning the WCC.
calle.itw
Posts: 8,527
I have been unwilling to join any kind of hype train, but this could actually turn out to be quite an interesting season. I think reliability can be a problem for Red Bull this year, but I would be surprised if they fall behind Ferrari. Wouldnt mind though, I like Ferrari more. My only worry is about McLaren, I dont know how representative these practice sessions has been, but it almost looks like Honda has lost that good reliability they managed to build during 2016.