Horner was telling Sky that they have been heavily fueled for both sessions and the whole testing sessions. http://www1.skysports.com/formula-1/news/12433/7600671/Horner-RB8-yet-to-run-light
I haven't seen second practice yet but Anthony Davidson said Mercedes looked light in FP1. The F2012 does look very difficult to drive but Massa's error was pure stupidity
Got to give it to Alonso, he was wrecking the steering wheel in testing and still did pretty well regardless. Jenson looked like he was having a casual drive...
That Ferrari really does look like it needs to be wrestled around. I can see the gap between Massa and Alonso being even bigger this year as Alonso has always seemed far better than Massa at getting the best out of a difficult car, as well as just being faster. Can see them struggling in the lower points this weekend, maybe with Massa out of the top 10, they need dry running desperately. Hopefully Red Bull, McLaren, Lotus and Mercedes are all close
I'm not sure what Lotus will achieve. Raikkonen is complaining about the steering again and has suggested there are so many solutions he doesn't know if they'll find the right one this weekend. He'll be able to drive around the problems but it won't be ideal so perhaps their true performance won't be apparent for a couple of races. Sorting out those kinds of issues can distract from the development drive as well.
Going to be a very busy (similar to Korea 2011) FP3. Mercedes were light as they were testing the effectiveness of their rear wing for qualifying runs. Qualifying will be almost as exciting as the race because the pecking order will finally become clear...if its dry
[video=youtube;v9D3RFq0Hxk]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=v9D3RFq0Hxk[/video] Quick link for anyone who missed practice today. Yes Mifune I heard, i'm just pointing the factor out. Nico Rosberg remained 8th and 9th today, so a lot cannot be read into practice.
Difficult to tell who is fast and who isn't. The Ferrari looks quite a handful (but that was expected really), Merc looks fast (but it was suggested that they were light) and the Redbulls and Mclaren seemed to be operating fuled runs. My concern would be that in the 2nd session there was a 1 second gap between the two teams (reflected by both team mates) so unless Mclaren were running quite a bit more fule than the Red Bulls we might be looking at the same old same old. I know it is all speculation at this stage, but I am slightly less confident of the Red Bull being challenged by Mclaren on outright pace! Hope I'm wrong.
Massa's error was straight out of a beginner's guide to motor racing. He has made this same mistake - putting a wheel on the grass under braking just before turn-in - so many times over the years; one would have thought he'd have the idea by now.
He made stupid driver errors 2 races in a row in 2008 then launched a respectable title race. Maybe thats how he flows?
Is it outlandish to conclude based on what has happened so far this year that Mercedes might well have a car as fast as Red Bull, but have to manage that speed more than any team in recent years because of how bad their tyre deg is? Assuming this is right, would it then be outlandish to suggest that they might use one set of tyres to get into Q3, not bother setting times in Q3, and start the race on fresh, harder tyres? It would be a high risk strategy, but if they do have raw speed on a par with Red Bull and are still good starters, in theory they should be able to make up a couple of positions at the start, run longer than those in front of them on the first stint, and finish the race with the same number of stops as cars that are easier on their tyres.
Mercedes do look quick. i doubt they're at the top of the pack, but not far off. Rosberg could get his first ever win.
The one thing I like about the regs that resulted in stepped noses is that it's far easier for an average person to see the design differences between the main contenders, and as a result far easier for the likes of Kravitz and Anderson to explain the different concepts.
