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[LRW]

Why are people counting Marussia out of finishing the race, but keeping Ferrari .......

I predict.......

Max Chilton 7th.

[f1boy]

Looking forward to lights out at Melbourne. Less than two weeks to go.
Also looking forward to seeing 50% of the field have engine blow-ups, according to Horner.

Going to be a good season for Merc and Lewis imo. Can't wait.

[What's Burning?]

I think he's talking about the 50% of the field that doesn't run Merc engines.

[racechick]

Oh but those Merc engines are sweet.

[Ferrari man 009]

Why are people counting Marussia out of finishing the race, but keeping Ferrari (Sauber I understand as Sutil will probably crash because he doesn't understand how brakes work)

Because Marussias mileage during pre-season has been lower than Red Bull (only Lotus did less), so they must have some issues.

[f1boy]

lol what's burning/racechick, yep the Merc V6 looks very well sorted. Horner will be praying he see's at least one of his finish.
Merc V6's are brilliant in the road cars too. I've got an old CLK 320 and the V6 in that is bomb proof.
The rest of the car's a bit rusty though.

Really looking forward to Melbourne.
Lewis will be well up for it in 2014 and it looks like his car is a belter this year too.

[1Lemon]

Why are people counting Marussia out of finishing the race, but keeping Ferrari (Sauber I understand as Sutil will probably crash because he doesn't understand how brakes work)

Because Marussias mileage during pre-season has been lower than Red Bull (only Lotus did less), so they must have some issues.

But they missed the first 3 days of testing.

[LewEngBridewell]

Looking forward to lights out at Melbourne. Less than two weeks to go.

Indeed!

For me, time has actually flown by since last year's final race at Interlagos.

[vaptin]

So close, not sure how it'd go, but I do hope it's not just Mercedes domination, I wouldn't find that much different to Redbull.

[CookinFlat6]

Exciting or depressing report depending on your outlook

Williams could not have timed its switch to Mercedes engines from Renault power more perfectly. With Felipe Massa and Valtteri Bottas they have an experienced lead driver with a new lease of life and a youngster seen as a world champion in waiting. The team has the strongest technical department it has known for many a year. It has a raft of new and lucrative sponsors, including the worst kept secret of 2014, the return of Martini and their iconic livery as title partner (to be unveiled in London on Thursday.)

Its car is reliable. It is fast. There is every reason to think Williams could be the dark horse not just for race wins, but possibly even the title in 2014. In a season in which focus will be placed on the Power Unit and the recovery and use of energy, Williams Engineering’s offshoot Williams Hybrid Power looks set to be a tremendous feather in the team’s cap.

While Force India and McLaren also look strong, Williams is by far the strongest Mercedes customer team. But if Williams is to take the plaudits in 2014, it must take on and beat the factory Mercedes squad and this will be no easy feat. As we depart for Australia there are no two ways about it: for the first time since 2009 and its former guise as BrawnGP, the boys from Brackley are the dialed-in favourites.

It is all smoke and mirrors right now, but in Bahrain I heard talk that the team was nowhere near running at 100% and had a second and a half in hand. I had a brief word with a source at the team before I left testing. He laughed, winked and replied, “A second and a half? Not quite that much.”

While the team won’t be drawn on exactly how big their advantage is, there are some who believe it could be even greater than the 1.5 seconds bandied around at testing.

From what I understand from a high level independent source after testing had finished, the reality could be even more astonishing. If the data adds up as he believes and the factory Mercedes team was able to run their cars at 100%, right now they would win every Grand Prix not by a few seconds but by two clear laps.

Two. Laps.

So long as their reliability holds up, his feeling was that Mercedes AMG won’t need to go anywhere near showing their hand in the early races. They should be able to use the season to slowly build confidence and reliability and just as everyone thinks they’ve caught up, Mercedes can turn it up and blow everyone away again.

The reason for this is the team’s superior grasp not only of the engine but, just as with Williams, an incredible handle on energy recovery and its usage. This will be the key in 2014, and right now Mercedes has the edge.

So does Mercedes AMG really have such a huge advantage? Can Williams truly fight for wins? Is Red Bull really in trouble? I honestly don’t know.

Next week we will learn who stands where at the start of one of the most eagerly anticipated F1 seasons in a generation.

[What's Burning?]

It's only bad news when there's only one team fighting, when there are two, that's great and I think we may even have a third and fourth team with legitimately competitive cars.

[1Lemon]

Exactly WB.

I also feel other cars were also not running at 100%, I mean Williams were using a high mileage engine on their last day that stopped (Done about 5 race distances or something), rather than bolting a new one in and trying to do fast lap times like Merc did, because it almost has no purpose; I can see why it isn't worth the effort for bragging rights.

Only 11 days until Q1 anyway.

[Hammer278]

Exactly WB.

I also feel other cars were also not running at 100%, I mean Williams were using a high mileage engine on their last day that stopped (Done about 5 race distances or something), rather than bolting a new one in and trying to do fast lap times like Merc did, because it almost has no purpose; I can see why it isn't worth the effort for bragging rights.

Only 11 days until Q1 anyway.

Or maybe those fast lap times which Merc did weren't actually fast lap times for Merc.

[1Lemon]

Exactly WB.

I also feel other cars were also not running at 100%, I mean Williams were using a high mileage engine on their last day that stopped (Done about 5 race distances or something), rather than bolting a new one in and trying to do fast lap times like Merc did, because it almost has no purpose; I can see why it isn't worth the effort for bragging rights.

Only 11 days until Q1 anyway.

Or maybe those fast lap times which Merc did weren't actually fast lap times for Merc.

Well as far as we know by certain, they were the fastest laps Merc have done.

[Hammer278]

Well as far as we know by certain, they were the fastest laps Merc have done.

Umm yeah, but if everyone else has also made their 'fastest laps' while holding back something, surely we can assume Merc have done the same?