Maldonado's quick lap was set on just a 3 lap run so was almost certainly low fuel. I too worry about Caterham- I mean not even beating last year's Virgin at this stage in testing is an embarrassment. Any idea what was up with di Resta and Force India today? Most disappointing time for them since testing began (apart from when Bianchi crashed)- they had been very impressive up to this point.
NINJA.. yes - guilty as charged. Thunder (or Steve Winwood) 'give me some lovin' / Dirty Love Hawkwind 'Silver machine' Deep Purple ' Smoke on the water' Yardbirds 'Smokestack Lightnin' Who 'Anyway, anyhow, anywhere' / 'I can't explain' Them ' Gloria' / 'Out of sight' Hendrix 'Hey Joe' / 'Purple Haze' / 'Voodoo chile' / 'Stone Free' Clapton 'I shot the Sheriff' / 'Cocaine' Black sabbath 'Paranoid' / 'Sabbra Cadabra'
If that is to be the Williams' fastest time that does not bode well... Same goes for Caterham. Impressed with Button and Schumi's mileage.
Lotus ****ed up their chassis and missed three test days of testing. That's their own fault! Now they're being rewarded with three fays of private testing - why is this being allowed to happen? To make matters worse, now Red Bull and Ferrari are skipping BCN day 1 of the next test to have their own private day of testing - how is that fair? Mercedes also gained an advantage by running their W03 early and at Barcelona - a circuit better for testing than Jerez. There are official test sessions for the teams - those are the allocated days and there is no reason why teams should be able substitute those days for private running. It gives some teams an unfair advantage and defeats the purpose of having pre-season test sessions. By the way, is there any update about the off-throttle maps that the Red Cows have been using?
Everybody is following the same trend because the F1 administrators are turning into fluffy little pussies. (In both ways) No idea about the Red Mooses.
Why do the FIA have such a vendetta against off throttle blowing? It's free speed FFS. It doesn't affect the entertainment in any way, unlike DRS which they hideously introduced to the sport and persist with to the detriment of both the entertainment and integrity of the sport. Agree with Forza about the test sessions. I'm sure someone else had a private session at Silverstone as well as Mercedes, was it Caterham? Found it bizarre that Red Bull had to ask Ferrari's permission to test on the 5th, who's running the show here?
Well at least they're not changing the rule mid season, that said the cars are already designed. I'd like to ban the FIA changing any rules during the year. Come Jan the 1st the rules are set in stone.
Yeah good point. But DRS is also a development avenue which the top teams will exploit more than the rest.
The problem is the off-throttle diffuser ban looks to have split the teams rather than brought them together.
I know you can't read too much in to testing... But I think that I can say with confidence that Maldonado is going to be WDC 2012. Can I burn up some v-quids in the gambling game please?
I believe the vendetta is against using fuel for any reason other than to feed the engine. The regulations state that no fluid can be introduced into the exhaust system other than through natural leakage. The reported 'clever' exploitation of the wording of the regulation outputs unburnt fuel into the exhaust system resulting in hot-blowing. Obviously, this is using fuel to gain a performance advantage by other means than simply feeding the engine. It comes down to a matter of sensibilities and, whatever the reasoning behind it (I have my own theories), the FIA doesn't seem to see the burning of fuel for primarily aerodynamic purposes to be desirable. I agree with that, but it is just a matter of which side of the fence you sit on and I wouldn't claim that my opinion is more valid than yours or anyone else's. To my mind, burning fuel outside of the engine is as wasteful as the first part of Q3 used to be when they first introduced knockout qualifying and would drive around burning fuel that the FIA would give back to them solely in order to drive around burning fuel that the FIA would give back to them. It's undesirable - in my opinion, obscene. The alternative view is that burning fuel to increase performance outside the engine is simply a technological innovation that increases performance and is therefore thoroughly in keeping with F1. To my mind, however, it is not in keeping with the current economic and environmental climate in which F1 operates. Hot-blowing is obviously not "free speed FFS" (sorry - I'm not being sarky, it's just too good a phrase not to quote in its entirety ) but, beyond its incidental effects, neither is cold-blowing because the teams will optimise the car's systems, particularly engine mappings, to maximise the effects on aerodynamics of the output gases. This, too, leads to burning more fuel than is required just to feed the engine. Regarding its effects on the entertainment, Red Bull were really able to make best use of all of this last season, partly as a result of having a much more fuel efficient engine than Ferrari or McLaren and being able, therefore, to be very flexible in their use of fuel. While last season may have been entertaining for Red Bull fans, the effects of off-throttle blowing had a detrimental effect on the entertainment for many of us. This is also simply a matter of opinion and I wouldn't suggest that that the RB7 was so much better than all the other cars solely because of its EBD but it did have an effect. I would also defend DRS (which truly is "free speed FFS") against off-throttle blowing but I agree it was "hideously introduced" and its value will continue to be in doubt until its use is completely unrestricted. However poor its implementation, DRS is cheap, environmentally neutral, and aids the fastest car in a given situation, which can change throughout a race. I don't see how it compromises the integrity of the sport any more than aerodynamic devices generally.
I might be wrong, but I seriously doubt anyone is hot blowing now they can't blow directly into the diffuser, it wouldn't be worth carrying the extra weight of fuel around now that its affect has been neutralised somewhat. Also I'm not condoning hot blowing, or criticising the FIA's outlawing of it (although changing the regs several times mid season was farcical), just their current obsession with stamping out something which is allowing the teams to make use of a waste product, which is surely in keeping with the current economic and environmental climate? In terms of entertainment I meant it doesn't affect wheel to wheel racing, not the pecking order of teams. If you're adjusting the regulations to advantage certain teams and disadvantage others it effectively becomes sports entertainment. In terms of Red Bull making best use of it last season, how do you know that? The overall diffuser blowing concept was utilised better by Red Bull as they'd designed their entire floor and diffuser around it, but only Mercedes were using hot-blowing so the engine mapping arguably closed the gap at the front. With regards to DRS compromising the integrity of the sport, I mean in the cheap and gimicky way it's utilised. Unlike off-throttle blowing it does affect wheel to wheel racing and has ruined many a good battle. The only positive of it in my opinion is the tactical side it offers with teams being able to optimise if for qualifying or the race. But there has been talk of doing away with it in qualifying and scrapping the only positive I see with the system.
