We shouldnt be suprised Red bull are down at the moment. They nearly had to skip this test as the car was running late. We are also told they have a major update for the final test. So Im expecting them to be back at the top end before AUS
I think track evolution, tyre compounds and the fact that some teams had the testing programme interupted through reliability issues (which could mean they went straight to low fuel runs or never got round to setting true low fuel runs?) means it is very difficult to evalulate - even if the logic by Forza seems most appropriate. In addition in alot of casses these are base cars and the upgrades coming over the next tests and the first race could see teams make huge gains or unbalance an existing sound car. Time will tell.
I don't get Gary Anderson sometimes first he says Red Bull have 10% more downforce than everyone else and now he says they are struggling? Decent attempt at finding a pecking order, but again no one can really know until Melbourne. Even Alonso topped the timesheets in testing last year and the went out in Q2 in Melbourne.
Well that sorts everything out for the rest of the season, the RB9 is almost a second off the pace with the Ferrari and McLaren... McLaren and Ferrari's WDC to lose IMO! Not just fighting Button and Alonso, but Fry and Lowe as well! Think I covered everything...
The thing with Ted is that he is genuinely enthused and has good interaction with the F1 paddock - or so it seems. "That Man" seems the opposite and often sounds like he making things up to further his involvment, similiar to "that other man"! Ted often makes mistakes or jumps the gun, but is quick to clarify or rectify - top chap IMO.
In short, as been mentioned by all on here before, no one (not even these so called experts) has a clue which car is the car to beat until FP1 in Aus as been completed.. Most of the big teams are unlikely to show their hand until then, and why should they, unless they want to put the fear of God (for those that believe) into the other teams.. I just want a repeat of 2012 but with more teams/drivers in with a chance up until the last race and anyone but Vettel winning (Like the guy but the love needs to be spread around, don't want a repeat of 2000-2005 boredom of one guy winning all the time!)
Will be interesting to see the new Williams challenger next week, with the extra development time have they been hiding something or just a little slow to get the new car to the track?
Welcome to the forum mr Blob! I hope Williams have anoher good year again. The win last year should have given them some confidence back and the Bottas-Maldonado partnership should be interesting too! Im not sure if williams will have anything revolutionay on the car other than a vanity panel but who knows!
Agree with this. If Gary Anderson was so darn wonderful he'd been employed by one of the big teams! Ted, however, gives a much more complex analysis of components, air-flow structure, and he doesn't pointlessly speculate with smug satisfaction. If Gary Anderson says Red Bull are slow, then they are probably miles ahead of everyone.
So we've now got people saying Mclaren are quickest, but so are Ferrari, Red Bull haven't shown their hand yet, Lotus are looking impressive, and Sauber a dark horse? Well it's certainly intriguing!
Half the grid is going to be the fastest apparently, with Mercedes, Marussia and Caterham making up the shortfall.
Thanks for the warm welcome - I hope they have something hidden up their sleeve/sidepod, I did enjoy seeing them fighting for decent points/race win again, the team exists to race so it's nice that they finally could last year.
Didn't you hear? Marussia will be fighting for points this year too with Caterham...so it's just Mercedes who are 'happy' to be in 15th according to Hamilton
Interesting post on autosport: According to finnish commentator Oskari Saari, Sauber sounds totally different to any other car on track....it's like they have double enginenoise. He tested several times with eyes closed and everytime he knew 100% thatit was Sauber that passed over him. Better start looking back on those videos...
