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[spankyham]

I hope that chart didn't include Mercs sensor changes as that surely doesn't count as a mechanical stoppage. But still that may have only bumped them above Marussia anyway.

A failed sensor can cost you a race.

[CookinFlat6]

The more stoppages the better for Merc. They get to test extreme setups and at the same time interfere with other teams doing laps.
Say you were ahead of your testing program and were well happy, why not do some 'run out of fuel' or run this engine into the ground tests and mess it up for the teams trying to complete laps without blowing up

The first race could throw up some surprises for those who did not test different circuit configurations to Bharain

[spankyham]

The more stoppages the better for Merc.

Any chance Merc will be applying your strategy for race day?

[1Lemon]

The more stoppages the better for Merc. They get to test extreme setups and at the same time interfere with other teams doing laps.
Say you were ahead of your testing program and were well happy, why not do some 'run out of fuel' or run this engine into the ground tests and mess it up for the teams trying to complete laps without blowing up

The first race could throw up some surprises for those who did not test different circuit configurations to Bharain

So red bull are best placed then as they had plenty of stoppages.

[CookinFlat6]

Not after full race sims

[spankyham]

Interesting article on AMuS, not traditionally a strongly supportive site for Ferrari. However, they provided some additional data relating to Alonso's top speed and fastest laps. As we all know, the Ferrari had a very high top speed and we speculated why. Most put it down to the team running low df. His top speed was 339.6 which he set at the end of the day, on the same stint as he set his fastest time. His lap speed when he set that time was a 35.5. His fastest lap was 1.2 seconds faster, yet his to speed on that lap was 308. To give you an idea of how much slower that is, when a driver opens up drs it gives about 15-20kph. AMuS also point out that on his fastest lap there are no sector times - Ferrari claimed the cars transponders weren't working for that lap.
AMuS speculates, and I think it makes sense, that Ferrari are having engine problems - not severe, but enough to prevent them from running flat out. These may be tuning problems and, that would effect fuel consumption.
If AMuS is right, then Ferrari will be well up against it for at least the first few races - although they should eventually be able to get it sorted. It just reinforces the value of all the laps completed by Mercedes and the advantage they have gained from that.

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[CookinFlat6]

That fits in with what I initially said

@spankyham
I dont see the transponder thing as Ferrari masking their lap times. I see the fastest straightline speed not correlating to the fastest lap times by any measure. I also see lots of trackside obervers claim the Ferrari is a bitch round the corners with Alonso and Kimi working a lot harder than the Merc boys so I reckon Ferrari has the performance but has not unlocked it or tuned the PU to deliver driveability and fuel efficiency in the corners.

I think it will come, maybe not the first race, but a car thats that fast can be setup by Alonso pretty soon. We heard Kimi is struggling to set it up as well. So I reckon its locked in Performance and not sandbagging

The main thing is that the speed is obviously there and that the engine can complete race distances. They just need more time to tune it and unlock the performance in different configurations. Its a better starting point from previous seasons and with Alonso on board they should be up and running within a few races

[Jabberwocky]

This is where teams are limited by track time

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