Nico Hulkenburg has been inspecting the other 2011 cars as they go around the track. Comparing Red Bull, Torro Rosso, Virgin: - The Red Bull is in a class of it's own - Red Bull can get on the throttle very early - Red Bull very stable throughout corner - Torro Rosso understeers a lot - Virgin - "Understeer without end, locked in each round under braking wheel inside of the curve, the car is sprung brutally hard. - Hulkenburg is glad that he rejected Virgin 2011 drive At the chicane: - Mercedes has good balance - Torro Rosso is good through here - Virgin brakes five meters ahead of the others - Massa has braking problems with KERS - Ferrari is best through here In the two third-gear corners before the chicane: - Renault has little understeer, but effective when rear brakes unstable - Mercedes - The tail is still on the road, but Rosberg must fight under control - Ferrari understeered - Ferrari able to get on throttle early - Ferrari clearly faster then Mercedes - Torro Rosso - the tail always wobble a bit The long left turn before the double right: - The curve is 240 km/h - Ferrari quicker than Mercedes through here - Hulk: "I can only hope for Nico Rosberg that he has a lot more fuel in the tank." - Sauber is pretty nervous on the rear axle - Alonso is the best At the final corner: - Red Bull, Ferrari, McLaren all stable under braking - Red Bull, Ferrari, McLaren all early on throttle please log in to view this image I got the information from German site AMuS: http://www.auto-motor-und-sport.de/...d-ferrari-gefallen-mir-am-besten-3426419.html I did a google translation on the info, maybe someone like Fred can give us a better translation.
Yeah... that's because McLaren were mainly doing installation laps, system checks, and aero tests, rather than focusing on mileage.
I think its probably safe to say that if hes comparing the Red Bull to a Virgin, then its comparing the best to the worst. The ONLY time that these cars can be properly compared is Q1 at Bahrain, as thats when they will be driven properly in anger. McLaren arent pushing it, choosing reliability to be there chosen route at the moment, Red Bull aren't showing their true pace, and Renault are of course pushing it, as they have a shootout going for their driving seat. Many drivers are saying dont read into the testing, none of these cars are as they will be come Bahrain either....
