2013 pre-season testing

Guillaume Rocquelin ‏@grocquelin
Last day hasn't been as productive as we had expected. Now time to get everything ready for Melbourne.

 

If Sky really wanted to out-do the BBC (and everyone else) they should offer 2 commentaries, an 'introductory' level one for casual fans, and then an 'advanced' one for the fans who've been following for years, and want to learn the in-depth stuff. If the BBC can offer 2 commentaries for nearly every international football match, I'm sure Sky could implement it fairly easily. One of the reasons I like listening to the Free Practice coverage on 5 live is that Edwards (or was it, err...Crofty?) and Davidson (or Alguesuari, etc) know that only hardcore fans are tuning in, so they aren't afraid to cover more difficult subjects. It'd be great to have a lead commentator, then maybe a driver and an engineer/aerodynamicist, who can be brought in when relevant.

 

Found this the hardest pre season to decipher. Fundamentally I think McLaren have a good package but will maybe suffer a bit from being more drastic in their changes. For me the guys who sit pretty are Ferrari and Alonso. Fernando will be hell bent on trying to win his first championship in 7 years. He wouldn't let a poor Ferrari at the start of last season get to him and I think you only need to give him a good one at the start of this to make him favourite. You can never rule Vettel out and he's been my pick for the title for the last 3 years (thanks Seb - got me a lot of good predictions!) but this season I just don't fancy him.

Mercedes have been very quick the past two days but their record with tyres the last couple of years has made me err on the side of caution because I don't trust them to have sorted the problem out. They'll be in the mix much more this year undoubtedly because of the supreme talents of Hamilton but I'd be surprised if they won the championship. But really that's just me guessing. All will be revealed in Australia so a tense wait now.

 

Unsticky?

 

I still worry about Mercedes in hot temperatures

 

I think that might be the real reason for Mercedes pace now thinking about it, when the tyres work in the window they are always quick. Maybe RBR's range is on the average 24-26c rather than the 19-20c range like Mercedes had these 2 days.

 

Nico has already told everybody to sit down and shutup, I think they tried to show their hand and have come up short as others didn't bother.

 

i think ferrari bothered.

 

"Rosberg’s fastest lap came on a single lap run, compared to at the beginning of a five lap run that we saw for Hamilton on a higher fuel load."

i wasnt sure if that was true,but its been confirmed.lewis had atleast 5 laps of fuel left onboard.

but anyway,merc are definitely alot quicker than last season,and thats not just because of the tyres,the cars better too.

but even if merc have the pace,will they be able to match the other top teams when it comes to development?hope so.

the more competition the better.

 

I'd be really surprised if it's not RBR and Ferrari at the sharp end with the rest picking up the scraps and Macca drifting in and out of form again.

Less than two weeks now! I'll pass the rest of the weekend with a spot of NASCAR to wet my appetite.

 

"Rosberg’s fastest lap came on a single lap run, compared to at the beginning of a five lap run that we saw for Hamilton on a higher fuel load."

i wasnt sure if that was true,but its been confirmed.lewis had atleast 5 laps of fuel left onboard.

but anyway,merc are definitely alot quicker than last season,and thats not just because of the tyres,the cars better too.

but even if merc have the pace,will they be able to match the other top teams when it comes to development?hope so.

the more competition the better.

 

My only last real concern will be that Mercedes in the past has had to sacrifice qualifying pace for the race pace eventually. So basically the qualifying performance would plummet so that they could last until the end by pitting the same amount of time as the other front runners who are fast on both days. Mercedes has always been great in qualifying, but the real problem is the race pace, if they have that sorted come Australia and keep the qualifying pace, then we can start thinking about the WDC/WCC.

Maybe no other team could beat that time today, but their rivals will most likely be able to keep a fast (race pace) twice as long as those 2 humanly could last season. Like Lewis said yesterday, sorting qualifying out is "easy" race pace is a much bigger task.

 

It could perhaps be a easier sacrifice this season since in Hamilton they have arguably the fastest qualifier on the grid. Until a few races in we won't really know the strengths and weaknesses of all the cars, but happily I've made it through testing without my hopes for Hamilton getting to high

All I hope is that we have Button, Hamilton and Bottas on the podium at every race, its not to much to ask is it.

 

Glock sticks his neck out:

Timo Glock ‏@realTimoGlock
@LeeMcKenzieF1 ������ that's what I thought you will answer. So I try to hit it. Bulls will still be top and Seb on pole! Then really tide ...

 

Traitor, NASCAR that's akin to a four letter word over here Bhaji.

 

I still car Red-Bull/Vettel for both championships.

I am also aghast at reading a fellow F1 fan will be watching NASCAR

 

Well, personally I think Mercedes are in much better shape than we or I feared, before testing, the car as has been proved by both drivers can be quick in a given set of circumstances and as we all know Hamilton is an extremely capable pilot.

Cautiously optimistic.

 

We will have to make excuses for him, after all he lives over there doesn't he, poor soul.

 

This has got to be illegal?

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Take your tea back (was nice btw) I don't want it anymore, NASCAR... how could you!