Williams meanwhile have tried to increase fuel efficiency by injecting fake snow into the manifold. please log in to view this image
Day 2, running order: [table="width: 50%, class: grid, align:center"] [tr] [td]Team[/td] [td]1 May[/td] [td]2 May[/td] [td]3 May[/td] [/tr] [tr] [td]Red Bull[/td] [td]Webber[/td] [td]Webber (AM) Vettel (PM)[/td] [td]Vettel[/td] [/tr] [tr] [td]McLaren[/td] [td]Turvey (AM) Paffet (PM)[/td] [td]Paffet[/td] [td]Turvey[/td] [/tr] [tr] [td]Lotus[/td] [td]d'Ambrosio[/td] [td]Grosjean[/td] [td]Grosjean[/td] [/tr] [tr] [td]Ferrari[/td] [td]Alonso[/td] [td]Massa[/td] [td]Alonso[/td] [/tr] [tr] [td]Mercedes[/td] [td]Rosberg (AM) Schumacher (PM)[/td] [td]Schumacher[/td] [td]Rosberg[/td] [/tr] [tr] [td]Sauber[/td] [td]Kobayashi[/td] [td]Kobayashi[/td] [td]Perez[/td] [/tr] [tr] [td]Williams[/td] [td]Bottas[/td] [td]Senna[/td] [td]Maldonado[/td] [/tr] [tr] [td]Force India[/td] [td]Bianchi[/td] [td]di Resta[/td] [td]Hulkenberg[/td] [/tr] [tr] [td]Toro Rosso[/td] [td]Vergne[/td] [td]Vergne (AM) Ricciardo (PM)[/td] [td]Ricciardo[/td] [/tr] [tr] [td]Marussia[/td] [td]Pic[/td] [td]Pic (AM) Glock (PM)[/td] [td]Glock[/td] [/tr] [tr] [td]Caterham[/td] [td]Gonzalez[/td] [td]Petrov[/td] [td]Kovalainen[/td] [/tr] [/table] Weather report:
Red Bull with sensors behind front wing. please log in to view this image And RBR making sure they show why they bought more people than usual lol! please log in to view this image
Some devices on mclarens nose. please log in to view this image Scarbs: great pic, shows Mac are doing something with their front wing pylons, now for a shot at speed at the end of the straight?
Have Sauber come up with their own "RBR holes" for the diffuser around the sidepods? Or am I just looking too deep into these things? please log in to view this image
Anyone know why Ferrari are still using that exhaust? I was expecting them to make some kind of step forward here but they're going to fall behind Sauber and Williams by the look of things.
I've been out all morning so I haven't seen anything but Ferrari aren't planning on trying anything new until tomorrow. Yesterday and today are about baselining. They extended the exhaust yesterday and cut away at the Acer ducts but I don't think they introduced any new parts. Sauber still look like the team to focus on. Silver - do you mean they're using a tunnel? That would be fascinating. The McLaren sensors look like tumours.
GPUpdate has a live thread. Not sure if anywhere else has for Day 2. I can't find any photos of a Sauber tunnel. From yesterday (given that they might just be testing things out with little intention of using them in races) it appeared that Sauber were prepared to move away from using body work to induce the coanda effect and towards McLaren's air ramp so I'd be surprised to see them adopt a Red Bull tunnel solution but perhaps they want to see what that does, too. Wow. Schumacher's done a hundred laps so far today (14:30). He really wants to get on top of his tyre problems.
Poor man's live ticker http://translate.google.com/transla.../ticker.auto-motor-und-sport.de/?id=1&act=url
That's not too bad, tomcat - it's certainly better than nothing. Thanks. There's the eternally surprising joy of Google translation for amusement, too. The GPUpdate one is hardly updated.
Has anyone read the autosport article where McLaren say the Mugello test is irrelevant? I think you have to be subscribed to read it. I'd love to know why they think its irrelevant though
Mugello isn't typical of the circuits on the calendar and they think that whatever they learn can only really be applied to Silverstone or Suzuka. I guess McLaren feel their car is working as intended so they just need to focus on development and they have nothing major ready this week. Instead they're trying out "extreme" approaches maybe to setup or tyre usage or something. Other teams, particularly Ferrari and to an extent Red Bull, are still trying to understand their cars so there's a lot more to gain for them. Of course, the crazy conspiracy theorists might note that Button was required for a promotional event in Hungary and Martin Whitmarsh wasn't going to give Hamilton an advantage by letting him work out his problems with the tyres this week.
Force India have copied McLarens design. please log in to view this image And Toro Rosso please log in to view this image Caterham's design please log in to view this image
It seems to be the way to go. Without understanding what's actually happening down there I can appreciate how using the air flow to manage the exhaust would be more variable through different types of corner than a fixed bodywork ramp. Copying McLaren's visible design, however, might not immediately produce the same effect but then that's what testing's for. It's interesting that there's so much confidence in what McLaren have done given their performances since Australia. It backs up AG's view of the car relative to the competition and the overriding view that the extreme races have produced unusual results. New parts for Ferrari to arrive this afternoon with mechanics having to work late to get them ready for Alonso to test tomorrow, reports Omincorse (courtesy of @Crucial_Xtreme).
This doesn't fill me with great confidence that RBR have copied Sauber's design and yet Sauber copies McLaren. Unless Saubers version is easier to develop and work with and the McLaren version is still in it's early stages being slightly more complicated etc.. Edit: Reported that the whole rear wing of Seb's car is covered in flow vis paint.
Mercedes spotted by patrick on twitter using new front nose layout. New: Wider seperation of the pylons, close to the McLaren and a flatter nose something like Force India and Sauber have I believe. Also the upper tier of the wing is now attached to the middle part of the section rather than curling slightly upwards. please log in to view this image Old: please log in to view this image McLarens design please log in to view this image
I saw the new Mercedes nose earlier and I also thought of McLaren immediately because of the pylons but on F1Technical they're comparing it more with the W02 nose. Regarding Newey and Red Bull's adoption of the Sauber exhaust solution, I wonder (without rhyme or reason) whether Newey is still hung up on compelling the exhaust to do his bidding by the use of body work rather than using the natural air flow over and around the sidepods to carry the exhaust wither he might desire? The tunnel was very domineering and Sauber's coanda ramp is quite demanding so is it possible (dare I even think it?) that he just can't let go?
What was wrong with McLaren? They didn't bother to go out for the last 3 hours... If Newey cant get his act together he might have his designs behind the likes of Sauber come Spain if he isn't careful. Maybe he just doesn't like being outdone in an area that he feels he can do better in. So he avoids the obvious direction which is the McLaren way.
