#f1 testing 2020

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Daniel Ricciardo | F1 2020 pre-season testing

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CHARLES LECLERC prepares to drive in the garage during F1 Winter Testing at Circuit de Barcelona-Catalunya on February 28, 2020 in Barcelona, Spain

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BEANIE CHARLES ʕ •ᴥ•ʔ

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Dan and Charles smiling at each other, my heart is melting.

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📸 profimedia

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@/calloalbanese

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WELCOME BACK!

It's F1 testing time!

[themotorsportblog]

What we’ve learned from day two of F1 testing

Raikkonen broke down, Gasly spun, Grosjean found the wall and Mercedes drew the attention of the whole paddock.

Mercedes have a genius new gizmo

Onboard cameras have picked up the new Mercedes steering wheel, which can have it’s position altered whilst driving around the lap.

James Allison, Mercedes’ Technical Director, has confirmed to the media that the FIA has been aware of the device for a while and that they have agreed that it is legal. Mercedes have said the new system is called “DAS” (Dual Axis Steering) and not much is known about it yet as they’re playing it quite coy, but it will be interesting to see whether it appears across all of the tracks across the year and what advantage they’ll gain from it.

The reliability of these cars is absolutely ridiculous

I mentioned yesterday how many cars surpassed a century of laps yesterday, and the progress has been relentless again today. Perez, Raikkonen, Albon, Gasly, Russell, Hamilton, Norris and Grosjean all made it past the 100-lap mark, as did all of the teams except for Renault who only made it to 90. Personally, I love a good dramatic engine blowout to change up a race, but it looks like I won’t be getting many of them this year, which means the drivers will be able to fight on track for longer, provided they’re close enough of course… Raikkonen causes the first red flag  Unbelievably there’s only been one red flag throughout testing.

It came with just 16 minutes left on the clock, as Kimi Raikkonen’s Alfa Romeo ground to a halt on the exit of turn eight. Romain Grosjean dropped it at turn 5 and damaged his rear wing, the only time a car has been into the wall. He seemed determined not to turn the incident into the first red flag of the week, he got out of the gravel quickly and limped back round to the pits. Pierre Gasly found the limit this morning with a spin in his Alpha Tauri, however he got going again very easily.

It’s not all sunshine and rainbows for Mercedes

Mercedes have completed well over 150 laps, but the car did cry enough late on in the day. Bottas’ afternoon running was cut short by around half an hour due to an ERS/electrical issue which the team picked up in the garage.

Racing Point

Sergio Perez has some very strong pace in his car, leading today’s session for most of the day and finished the day in P2, setting a 1:17.347. Some of the Racing Point team have been based at Brackley recently, the home of Mercedes, leading to rumours that the two cars could be incredibly similar, the accusations certainly seems to ring true given the visual shots of the two cars, especially from the front. Whilst some of the other midfield teams may protest about how much of the car is actually a Racing Point, and not stolen from Mercedes, it certainly seems as if they’re going to be at the right end of the grid this season.

Follow me on Twitter: @Luke2Wallace