That's a bit unfair, I'm sure Rosberg will come good this season. I expect Mercades to be right at the front by the end of the season, I think they might truggle at the start but they might get a win or two by the end. I think they have got some good people in some important areas and that will begive to bear fruit. I also think that next season they will be the number 1 Mercades powered team.
Good information from Gary Anderson : New Ferrari parts arrived this morning and Ferrari were testing their new front wing. The biggest changes (from the pictures Ive seen) are to the endplates. I would post them here but I cant do it from my phone. About the Byrne floor Genji, the only reliable thing I've heard is that the wind tunnel and CFD simulations showed an improvement of 3-4 tenths (the same source says that there will be visible changes on F2012 tomorrow - I've been following this guy since 2010 and hes never been wrong before). There are other rumours about a heated floor and another which says there are holes in the floor but I dont trust them.
Thanks, Forza. Here's your wing, courtesy of Crucial_Xtreme on F1Technical (new wing on top): please log in to view this image I think the new wing looks like a retrograde step in that they tried something innovative with the cutaway and then reverted to a flat face because it didn't work. Maybe they just do different things, though, and are suited to different demands.
According to Autosport, they are the same as Soft compond but made at a different plant. They are being tested in case anything happens to their plant in turkey.
Here's a little bit from Autosport re Mercedes and Lotus: In seven laps Schumacher actually lost about four seconds a lap.
To provide evidence from the timesheet of Alonso's stint on those soft tyres prior to the switch to mediums that Ted talked about, here's how his lap times fell away dramatically at the end: 1:28.193, 1:28.868, 1:28.840, 1:29.096, 1:28.884, 1:28.874, 1:29.422, 1:29.596, 1:30.060, 1:30.160, 1:31.197, 1:31.598 Here’s how Grosjean’s third stint on the softs stacked up in comparison to the Ferrari: 1:28.223, 1:28.153, 1:28.233, 1:28.509, 1:28.739, 1:28.527, 1:28.586, 1:28.939, 1:29.463, 1:29.472
The Ferrari is looking much improved, I think they may just have the car Alonso will need to at least have a chance at a title fight, good work getting what was looking like a dog of a car up to speed That said they still look a distance off the Red Bull. As for McLaren, they look like they're up to something. I'm hoping they're staying heavy to hide speed but they could be trying anything tbh.
Worrying moment, he came off the track twice, playing around with the setups I hope. Going off the cliff with the tyres maybe?
Hmmm... Mods shouldn't have limited inboxes. What if one of us needs to PM you urgently? BLS - you're full.
Autosprint say that Ferrari were on used tyres for their race sim, while Lotus were using new tyres. This explains why Ferrari's tyre deg was so bad. Alonso's race simulation (57 laps) --Stint 1 (medium tyres), 9 laps, 1.30's with a few 1.31's --Stint 2 (soft tyres), 8 laps, started with low 1.29's up to 1.32 --Stint 3 (soft tyres), 12 laps from low 1.28's to mid 1.31's --Stint 4 (medium tyres), 14 laps from mid 1.27's to mid 1.29's --Stint 5 (medium tyres), 14 laps from mid 1.24's to high 1.26's
The lotus just seems quick. I know we've been fooled by testing before, but Grosjean looks like an outside bet at some podiums this season, he's been driving well.
Schumacher went off on the hard tyres apparently corner 6-7 were his two problems respectively. His car just didn't turn in.. no contact with the barriers. Less time worrying about reliability, more on performance for Mercedes. Looking good "apparently". Sort it out Mercedes.
