Lewis paces opening day at Ricard.

great stuff from Hamilton, and it,s clear he is now able to test and set a car up,and that the Alonso influence is a thing of the past, no surprise really,

Oh, well, I'm glad we got that cleared up.

According to the haters, Mr Hamilton should be 0.3 seconds slower than the top cars, surely? Because he can 'only set a car up' by copying Mr Alonso?

Maybe not it seems.

Indeed a cynic may argue that if Alonso's Renault team were found to be cheating in the 2005/6 car (which they were) - then maybe it was (ironically) McLaren - who made Alonso so fast - at Renault?

And not mr Alonso, after all!

We all know that testing means little. There really is not enough info to make statements such as Mika's or Grumpy's. For all we know if LH had Alonso's help with set-up he may have found few more tenths. We will never know. Plus this is a maximum downforce set-up. I assume that has to be one of the simplest set-ups to get right. It is the tracks with a good mix of slow and highspeed corners along with long straights that really show a drivers set-up skills.

Even if LH is faster in the next race it may mean little if he is forced to make more stops again. At least in Monaco if he gets the lead early he won't have to push too hard.

So far Lewis and Mclaren haven't been as good this year and it looks like there only chance to get the better of Ferrari fair and square will be at Monaco and Canada. I think it will be many years before Mclaren win another championship and by then Lewis will be driving a Force India.

Grumpy, how do you know Renault were cheating in 05/06? And it was McLaren who made Alonso fast at Renault? Huh? Lewis has been quickest in testing before and it has'nt really held up in the race itself. It's the bottom line that counts. Once Alonso left, McLaren's results have slipped and Renault's have improved.

People, this is only the first day of a 3 day testing period. I don't think we should get so upset & bitter over nothing. It's only a test. F1 is a sport. Lets remember that & exercise some sporting spirit here. No one is going to get a free ticket for blowing his top here.

So far, the only comment here making sense is yours Powerline 2008 - thanks mate! I really do think some of us "Armchair Umpires" over rate our own 'EXPERT' abilities?
Lets hope we have a fantastic race in Monaco - who cares who wins. Personally, I rate about half a dozen drivers in the field, not all of whom have top flight drives, but their abilty still shows. And regardless if you're a fan or not, Lewis Hamilton IS talented. Those who knock him can only dream of being anywhere near as gifted.

You're most welcome Scratcha Dazz. It's always good to see fans & supporters of any team enjoying themselves, in true sporting spirit. Lets have fun in Monaco, people.

Just curious for those who disagreed with my comment please explain why a maximum downforce set-up proves anything about LH's set-up skills? Also didn't Mclaren have 1.5 sec gap over Ferrari on this same test last year? Seems they are not as dominant. While I doubt it is down to FA's input or lack of it just goes to show you can't determine much from this test.

May 15 2007
1. Lewis Hamilton McLaren-Mercedes 1min 05.699secs 98 laps
6. Felipe Massa Ferrari-Ferrari 1m 07.271s 94 laps

Mark are you a professional racing driver? I ask because I would like to know the source of you expertise concerning the setup of a race car.

Remember that excessive down-force = slower straight line speed... this is the law of physics. So I would have thought that to be faster than your competitors you have to have a good balance between down-force and speed... just like setting up a race car for any race, the driver has to find the "right" balance.

So why is setting up a car for one type of circuit less of a skill than setting up a car for another type of circuit as you are suggesting?

lexington aluminium. read marks letter. MAXIMUM downforce! if you set up a car with the downfore at its maximum settings, you will be far faster through corners, and to hell with the top speed. for monaco this is what is needed. if you check your circuit map you will see that there are little or no straights and many many corners. mark has far more knowledge of matters than you.

Thanks Black and White

No Lex I am not. Obviously they will want the maximum downforce and mechanical grip for Monaco. Straight line speed is not an issue there. While there may be a little room for playing with the settings it has to be one of the easiest set-ups to dial in. From what I have heard during race coverage and read, tracks like Indy are the hardest to get a good set-up. Because it has many very slow corners that require high downforce but it has a very long straight that will be compromised with a high downforce setting. There is a lot more room to get the set-up wrong.

My original post was not meant as a dis to LH. I was attempting to put the test in the proper perspectiv

Thanks for the explanation Mark...

So assuming all cars are on maximum down-force setup and all the cars are able to generate a similar amount of down-force the difference will be amount of mechanical grip the car can generate and of course the skill of the individual drivers...

so who do you think has the advantage? McL or Ferrari?

I think it will be very close. The last race had McL loosing time in the slowest part of the track. Having said that McL probably still have the advantage in Monaco. I would not be suprised to see an all Mcl front row. As we saw last week it can be better to qualify third than second if the track is dirty.

Qual LH, HK, KR
Race LH, KR, HK

Let's hope it is not a parade and that the WDC tighens up even more.