Now Magnussen does a 1m34.910s, 2.5 seconds slower than pole position last year. This has to close to the cars potential, given that they are 50kg heavier and with less downforce. Paffett talking about MP4-29: "The downforce level in particular is a lot less than we have had - in the past the FIA have tried to reduce that, but this year they seem to have successfully done that" http://www1.skysports.com/f1/news/1...discusses-how-mclarens-2014-car-is-developing
There's probably a few % left in the engine and a bit with aero updates. Could be less than 2s off last season already. Bahrain would have been faster than Melbourne cars as well
13:24 The McLaren returns to the pits after that short run. EDD STRAW reports that Magnussen was running the super-soft tyre.
Magnussen's soft tyre stint: out lap - 1:35.489 - 2:03.225 - 1:39.113 - Inlap Magnussen's super soft stint: out lap - 1:34.910 - 1:58.351 - 1:35.491 - Inlap
13:57 Big improvement from Kobayashi, finding more than two seconds to vault from 10th to sixth in the Caterham
Alonso now does a 1:36.516, 1.6 slower than Magnussen but with a fastest middle sector. Not sure what tyres he's using. EDIT: AMuS says soft tyres
Kobayashi's 1:39.855 was on soft tyres. Still, he's faster than Vettel! At the end Magnussen went out again and did a purple final sector. Alonso still quickest in S2, where most of the corners are.
If anybody didn't notice I was being sarcastic you need a visit to Specsavers ASAP, it's all banter. .
Oh no Ferrari... 'Nico Rosberg says Mercedes' W05 reliability has surpassed their own expectations' http://www1.skysports.com/f1/news/1...iability-has-surpassed-their-own-expectations
Oh dear, oh dear: "Mercedes have done an impressive job. You'd have to say they look the favourites," Horner told BBC Sport.
I am hoping Mercedes and Ferrari do Super Soft runs tomorrow so we get a least some kind of comparison for how the cars match up on a Qualifying simulation. Apparently McLaren specifically chose to focus on short runs today to get Magnussen acquainted with how the car feels on low fuel and with the best tyres.
‘We are not as good as we would like’ – Alonso Fernando Alonso says Ferrari is “not as good as we would like at this point” at the halfway stage of pre-season testing. Ferrari has looked like the closest challenger to the Mercedes-powered cars so far in Jerez and Bahrain, with Red Bull and the Renault power unit struggling. However, while Alonso said the mileage over the first two days in Bahrain was encouraging he said there were lots of areas where Ferrari needs to improve. “It's important to do laps; we learn things and from these two days we discovered some more issues that the car is having,” Alonso said. “Every lap there is something and in the electronic side we have so many things this year that we can tune it a little bit better or improve it. So slowly I think we are getting in to a position where we are more comfortable. ”We are not as good as we would like at this point and there are still many things to discover and to improve but at least we are able to do 160 laps in two days again without big issues in the car. This is good for the team, for the motivation of everybody.” With a clear pecking order still unknown, Alonso admitted that the way the first six days of testing has panned out leads him to believe the first few races will be a lottery. “It's definitely strange, definitely challenging for everyone. It's not easy to bet this year – for the people who normally bet – on Australia. I think it will be extremely tough for everyone to know and have an idea of what can happen in Australia and in the first couple of races. “Our target should be to finish the race; if we finish the race in the first three or four grands prix then I think that automatically means a good result because not many teams will finish, and that is challenging. It seems easy but it's challenging.”
Brings a tear to my eye, all these preparations and this is inevitable for atleast one car at turn one. please log in to view this image please log in to view this image please log in to view this image Somebody is going to be let down.
