F1 testing: 'The mind games have started between Ferrari and Mercedes'

The second and final Formula 1 pre-season test is already underway here in Barcelona, ​​​​with just two days left before the team leaves for Australia, but the mine

games

have

already begun between Mercedes and Ferrari Scott Mitchell, what

have

you seen and heard of Ferrari? Mercedes suggests that things are heating up nicely. It all

started

last week when we finished the first week of

testing

and Mercedes did this incredible look, really very revealing of how they judged their rivals, but right at the end, the cheeky little Ferrari. I'm just saying you know we can ask questions at the end of this based on what we know, like why a Ferrari running with its power unit basically out of tune compared to customer equipment, that's what they were suggesting we move on to the second test. and that has been told to Ferrari and Métier has also been very emphatic, they saw that they seemed to know all our data, but that is not true, there has already been a bit of a needle there and, on the other hand, obviously last week, a big topic of conversation from the first week of The test was Mercedes' dual access steering system, so... and last week we asked my team and I'll tell Ferrari about it and we asked if it was something that Ferrari had ever considered or tried and no one said either. -The answer of the word is very clear: today one of the second tests is carried out and, suddenly, Bonato says that Ferrari had thought about this device in the past and that they decided not to implement it for reasons of legality and performance, but that does not It was like this. the case a few days ago and I suppose it's possible that he was clarifying what he said last week or maybe he didn't understand exactly what he was asked and there may be some kind of nuance, although it hasn't been completely clear, I think maybe it's a little bit more of Ferrari wanting to try to take over this - narrative and just start pointing the finger of legality towards Mercedes a little bit and briefly, do you think he's right about the engine mode or do you think Mercedes is right?

I'm thinking better. Stop asking that question to the person to my right. I guess I don't think they've turned it up to 11. Let's say it. There is definitely more in store. It all comes down to exactly how much they retain you. It seems to be the case Gary Anderson, you have many years as an F-1 technical director under your belt. I like to think of you as a gamekeeper turned poacher. You are now a Formula One journalist. Have you ever played any

mind

games

in Your day, well, if you had the chance to be fast enough, you would try to do something.

I mean, normally, you'd try to make sure you did your lap times and make sure other people thought you had more fuel. The car maybe from what you said, yes you did, but we were never in a position to have the top and success in my games became something important. You usually focus a lot on yourself, pre between Red Bull Ferrari and Mercedes, you know? I think there's a lot going on and as Mercedes said last week, you could be saying that, well, Ferrari is really concerned about the reliability of their engines and you just know if they wanted to test the engine at full power.

They could probably put in like 30 kilograms of fuel or something at a time. If you go out you drive the engine harder and your performance looks pretty much the same because it's just about power and weight so the acceleration would just look the same so you know there are ways to do it and keep your fighter dry and look to make sure everything is okay. I don't see why Ferrari wouldn't be using their engine at a reasonable level, yes there would be. There's a little bit more left for those two or three five laps or whatever you're doing in qualifying, but I think this will be used at a reasonable level, but the suggestion that the Mercedes twin-axle steering that Ferrari had considered is not It was safe.

Would it be legal, do you think that's perhaps laying the groundwork for a possible process when we get to Australia? Because of course everything the FIA ​​has responded to them so far is an opinion, not a binding technical resolution, should we say yes? It wouldn't surprise me at all because obviously there are a number of consequences that come with changing anything, whatever you're driving the car, visit your aerodynamic change of the car quite dramatically, but you're driving one, we like the words in a wheel. The words to make you think carefully don't cancel each other out, they don't do it because you try, they make it work for you, but it continues down the street and one of the ones you brought cuts both tires to the tips.

From two o'clock there will be a streamline. We've all seen the mechanical change in the tires and they're getting hot with the older interior and all that, but I watched the video again several times and what I saw. I think the movement of the front wheels is more than just going from the two white ones that you would normally use to the front. I think they go to a significant amount of 2n, but that in itself will help heat up the entire tire, the entire front tire. when you go out on a qualifying lap but you don't warm up through the inside shoulder and there will be an aerodynamic change, so if I were Ferrari and I wanted to see it, I would be doing a good CFD modeling of the wheels, the basics to turn on the wheels miss Leto again and then he would come to the FIA ​​to change and say and aerodynamically this is a significant change in the aerodynamic performance of the car and things have been limited in the past like the mass damper that Renault had because of that. aerodynamic change, you know, they have an argument and I'm not sure it's over yet.

When Scot we haven't talked about Red Bull, they were very happy after the first test with the mileage. Today we have seen some problems, some failures. on the armor shown for Red Bull or just normal

testing

failures, well everyone has hiccups during testing at some point, but it wasn't good in the first hour and a half or whatever, on the first day of the second test, both with Honda engines. The cars are in the garage and my understanding is that it's just a coincidence, it's car issues for both of them rather than a power unit issue and on Red Bull's side it apparently had something to do with the rear suspension, so so they had to work a little there.

Obviously it cost them a lot of time on the track and I think they know that every time you lose more than 10 or 20 laps you're going to start to feel it because that's especially nowadays, you know, between a third and half a day. race and I think they will now be at least half a day of mileage behind Mercedes. They will still be well ahead of a Ferrari. They had a really good first test comfortably. the best average ever in terms of daily kilometer count, lap count, however you want to measure it, so it was a very good first test for them, which means the hit they will take here in the second week with any problems It's a bit small, I suppose, but to me it shows how impressive Mercedes is that the next best team has half a day less testing which shows how well prepared they are and exactly why they are the best.

Benchmark once again, entering another season Well, on that topic again Gary, future games of mine or not: protests or not, it's all yet to come. Mercedes, isn't it? Everything is working. They are going well. They seem fast. There is no reason to worry at this time. So far not everything is going well Mercedes and Red Bulls kiss here and Alpha Tori, you know, if you don't have a problem, you barely have it here in Barcelona, ​​little Melbourne, so you know, look outside and see if we lost a little of time. but you know we'll have a more reliable car when we get to the first race, so yeah, it looks like a walk in the park for Mercedes at the moment, they're just not too sure, I think there's something else on the way.

There, Red Bull still impresses me well, the plot thickens here in Barcelona and there will be more registrations over the next two days. Head into the race calmly and don't forget... for more information about testing from Barcelona and also if you enjoyed this video, subscribe, like and if you have something to say, put something in the comments below.