Official: Testing Thread

That photo's from today isn't it?

 

Yes

 

Er, ok.

Sauber say they're not interested in DDRS anyway.

 

Alonso is back on track just before the break.

 

Its fascinating to see how much faster F1 cars are compared to MotoGP.
About 30 secs difference on the Mugello track!

 

Isn't it annoying when you have to do work in work. Normally I can have this sort of think on in the background as I work but at the moment I'm overwhelmed

Well have to do some reading up tonight. If Ferrari were going to try different things between the AM and PM sessions then Alonso's off will have thrown a spanner in the works.
How are McLaren and Merc looking today?

 

McLaren aren't in this in the same way as most other teams, IMO. They're not doing much and they're not showing fast lap times. It seems to be mostly data acquisition for them. If they fall off in the coming races and drop behind some of the teams who are right up there then I think they'll look back on Mugello as a squandered opportunity. I honestly think they're out of sync in the development cycle and that a trouble-free winter plus a victory at the first race has left them without much direction in terms of getting upgrades ready for this test.

Rosberg will probably do another 100+ laps by the end of the day because, if tyres are the main focus for everyone, they're even more critical for the Mercedes drivers and they just need to learn and learn and learn.

Mercedes appear to be running without the DDRS.

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This is how it looks with the DDRS:

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I'm supposed to be revising for an exam tomorrow but I can't take my eyes off that beautiful updated F2012.

Updates must be working well!!

 

Well Alonso was pushing from the start so I dont know if thats good or desperate to get data.

 

Is that a McLaren exhaust version now?

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I don't think so. What makes you say that?

JAonF1.com: Teams brand Mugello test a waste of time and money.

 

The exit port is what's sticking out for me, but I think I'm wrong in thinking this.

That and the downwash doesn't look as agressive as in Bahrain, but that could just be the angle of the picture.

 

Well it's still exiting onto a bodywork ramp. Granted the ramp is less extreme than the previous iteration or Sauber's original solution but there's also no cut under the sidepods to create an air ramp. I could be wrong but I think Newey just doesn't want to lose that constant control that the bodywork ramp provides. It doesn't seem to be hurting Vettel, though (yes, I know it's testing and we can read nothing into performance relative to other teams), although Grosjean's just topped the timesheets by 2/10ths.

 

Simple response to the teams then with regard to mugello.... why go then?

 

Eventhough they're on different fuel loads it looks for me that Lotus have better qualifying pace than RBR. Grojsean has been setting times "equalish" to that of Seb all day, but with a couple more laps of fuel. When "5 laps" of fuel is just put into the Lotus he beats Seb's best time by about 2-3 tenths who was also on "5 laps" of fuel. Though it could just be the track is improving.

 

How do you know how much fuel they're carrying compared to each other?

 

I'm just going by the amount of laps in the stint they do with this lap timer.

http://f1tests.co.cc/2012.php

Though it's quite flawed it's just an opinion on my side.

 

What is it with that flipping hand sign Massa and Schumacher do?

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Ferrari for life homie?

 

Ah - I thought you might have found some sonic analysis results or somesuch. The amount of laps they do on a run seldom bears any relation to how much fuel they have onboard, except perhaps for one-lap flyers or full race sims. Mostly they will be simulating this or that eight laps or so of a race with relevant fuel loads and suitably worn tyres. Just because Grosjean's run was two laps longer than Vettel's doesn't mean he had two more laps worth of fuel onboard. He might have had ten laps less or even a full tank.

 

I do find it weird that a minority of the McLaren fanbase seem a bit gloomy with no real qualifying times set by either driver these 3 days as today it just looks like race pace they are looking at. If anything it just seems McLaren are happy with the car and they just want to make tweaks here and there and have no actual need to go faster to achieve it unlike RBR, Ferrari and Lotus who seem to be pushing it a bit more with lap times.

Mercedes look focused only on tyre wear and race pace and Sauber looks like they want to see how far 1 set of tyres will go...*sarcasm*