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Autosport's Blog

Discussion in 'Formula 1' started by Forza Bianchi, Feb 14, 2011.

  1. Forza Bianchi

    Forza Bianchi Well-Known Member

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    Yesterday, in Autosport's live feed, they mentioned that one team is sandbagging a lot more than any other:

    12:14 AUTOSPORT news editor @glenn_autosport is back from a trip trackside: "Very interesting spell trackside - one team in particular clearly holding something back. Will reveal all in tonight's AUTOSPORT.com blog"

    The Blog can be read here:
    http://plus.autosport.com/premium/feature/3311/inside-testing-daily-jerez-blog/

    Here is the full blog:

    When you're on the ground at a Formula 1 test, the most common question you receive – from friends, colleagues, and fans – is "what can you tell about the competitive order?"

    There are so many variables in F1 these days that can skew performance to a huge degree. Last year, the return of fuel tanks capable of doing a full race distance made the 2010 pre-season much harder to judge than its predecessors. This year, we have four tyre compounds from Pirelli that are more spread out performance-wise than we ever had from Bridgestone.

    Timesheets can be – sorry, are – a misleading source of information at tests. So with that in mind, I ventured out trackside today to see if there was anything to be learned from seeing the cars up close.

    And how's this for a stat? The car that impressed the most in sector one at Jerez (that's Turns 1 to 4, so a good variety) was only eighth fastest today. For those that haven't memorised the times yet, that car was – surprise, surprise – Red Bull's RB7.

    Once you've finished groaning with disappointment, we'll move on. Sebastian Vettel was mind-blowing on corner entry into Turns 1 and 2. In comparison to its rivals, the Red Bull looked like it was accelerating towards the corners in the braking zones.

    With the outrageous entry speeds dealt with, the only word to describe the RB7 once it was thinking about leaving a corner is 'planted'. The cars from Renault and Ferrari didn't seem too far behind, but neither looked like it was glued to the road.

    Vettel was even able to get the adjustable rear wing slot open almost as soon as he was on the power exiting Turn 2. It then stayed open throughout Turns 3 and 4; both quick left handers.

    The Renault wasn't too far behind with the use of its new toy, whereas Fernando Alonso had to wait until he was on the straight between the two quick lefts to get his slot open, and then closed it to have a bit more downforce for Turn 4.

    Vettel seemed to have more than enough grip in the quick stuff, even with the wing open the whole time, which tallied with some useful information on the timing screen. Sector one ends on the exit of Turn 4, meaning we've had figures all week revealing which cars are getting spat out of the fast stuff at the highest speeds.

    Only the Red Bull and the Renault could consistently clear 270kph through this speed trap. The Ferrari wasn't far behind, but you could see Fernando Alonso forcing the car to do something it would have rather not.

    Hardly conclusive, but still ominous for those hoping to dethrone Christian Horner's troops.
     
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  2. Forza Bianchi

    Forza Bianchi Well-Known Member

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    To be honest I'm not surprised that Red Bull are so dominant already, but I'm surprised to see that Renault appear to be ahead of Ferrari - even with Alonso pushing the car harder then he should. It's no wonder that Renault are looking for an experienced driver, although it is a real shame for Kubica - this really could have been his year.

    Perhaps this means that the front exhaust system bring a great deal of performance, as Red Bull have been experimenting with it as well. I expect Ferrari to use their 2011 front wing and a few other aero bits (maybe leaving the best innovation for Bahrain). Barcelona is a really good track to see what cars have superior downforce and I don't think that the teams will be hiding their innovations for much longer.
     
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  3. u408379965

    u408379965 Well-Known Member

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