How's Vettel's final day of testing going?

Yeah,..  not great, an early spin then 70ish laps, which is decent but with a best time over four seconds slower than Hamilton, which is most definitively NOT good.  I fact, even Chilton in the Marussia had a better lap time,  a stat Max will certainly put in his scrapbook.

In the mean time both Button and Bottas stopped on track simply because they have done so many laps their Mercedes engines were toast!   Impressive

P	Driver	Team	Time
1	Hamilton	Mercedes	1m33.278s
2	Bottas	Williams	1m33.987s  +0.709
3	Alonso	Ferrari	1m34.280s  +1.002
4	Hulkenberg	Force India	1m35.577s  +2.299
5	Vergne	Toro Rosso	1m35.701s  +2.423
6	Sutil	Sauber	1m36.467s  +3.189
7	Chilton	Marussia	1m36.835s  +3.557
8	Gutierrez	Sauber	1m37.303s  +4.025
9	Vettel	Red Bull	1m37.468s  +4.190
10	Button	McLaren	1m38.111s  +4.833
11	Kobayashi	Caterham	1m38.391s  +5.113
12	Grosjean	Lotus	1m39.302s  +6.024

All timing unofficial. Updated: 14:55 GMT

The New Sounds of F1

(Sutton)

(Red Bull content pool)

On this, the penultimate day of testing before Australia it was another disaster for Red Bull.  The team had a decent day yesterday with Daniel Ricciardo at the wheel but no real laps for Vettel today after they had an problems first with engine software, which is a Renault issue but then with a fuel tank leak and a starter gear which are not.    All else aside, Vettel is getting very little time in the car which will just add to his misery...

One thing which is not talked about so much that we will have to pay attention to this season will be gearing.  As you know, this year  teams have to run an 8 rather than 7 speed box and have to declare their gear ratios in Australia.  These ratios will have to be the same the whole season, for every track, from Monaco to Monza.   There is a provision for one change during the season but gear sets are astoundingly expensive, as much as $1,7M according to some sources.  Teams with smaller budgets will probably not be able to afford any breakdowns, much less changes.
Red Bull, as in seasons past, and Williams have chosen shorter ratios,  others like Force India have gone for longer ones.   How that will play into fuel consumption, drivability and wear will be fascinating to follow.

A compilations of clips from Bahrain testing.

"Red Bull might not make it out of Q1 in Melbourne"

"Red Bull might not make it out of Q1 in Melbourne" 

(Jay Penrith/Flickr)

there's a quote not many ever expected to hear after the domination of the past 4 seasons.  Yet those are words out of Sky Sports technical analyst Ted Kravitz's mouth after the first day of the final pre season test session.

Red Bull turned just 32 laps then had to stop with busted headers.  Other Renault powered teams fared no better,  Lotus had to end early after 31 laps and Caterham, they are so slow that Kamui Kobayashi said they'd be better off taking a GP2 car to Melbourne.

It's hard to believe Renault would have so completely blown their engine development so badly all on their own  yet Red Bull have certainly thrown the French under the bus despite being responsible for installation and accessories of course, but also crucial bits like the battery pack.  
So far Renault is taking it on the chin,  they cannot lose Red Bull so they can't criticize,.  It's not helping that all Renault teams are underperforming but we're guessing that's partly because the engine is studied with Red Bull's needs in mind...  except Red Bull did not design the car they had in mind?

Whatever the cause it looks unlikely RBR and Renault will solve all their problems by the start of the season and perhaps the idea that the first, "away" portion of the championship will be lost played in Christian Horner's mind when he changed his tune about double points for the last three races.

How bad was Red Bull's FAIL in Spain?

Locals certainly had a good laugh as Daniel Ricciardo's RB10 never even made it past the garage doors...

Of course the usual "he who laughs last..." business applies.

The new sounds of F1: give them your grades

Photo: Mercedes AMG Petronas

Bernie does not like them and he's not alone, there is a big collective meh from fans across the world.

Of course there were some of same complaints when V12 and V10 got canned but the move to turbos and, more crucially the low,  close to road car low, redlines is what drastically changes the sound.

While the new engines can rev up to 15000 rpm,  the realities of torque curves and fuel regulations mean there will be little reason for engines to go much above 10000 rpm.   A modern F1 car revving just 1000 rpm faster than your cousin's old Honda S2000 will only excite those who like turbo induction sounds.

But, on the other hand, fans have been clamoring for more variety and the new rules certainly have given us that.   Have a listen to the clip below and tell us what you think of the different sounds.

Hamilton first to crash a new era Turbo F1

Not Lewis' fault, the main element of his front wing failed and he was a passenger.  It was a sizable hit into the tires for the just presented Mercedes W05.

On the plus side for Mercedes, before the crash Hamilton had set a time of 1:27.620, fastest for the first session.