Official Pre-season testing thread

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I can't understand where Renault have gone wrong. They had this engine on a dyno. Even the most unsophisticated dynos show up vibrations under load. If this 20 weeks is to be believed and it's vibration problem it must be the crank. I am guessing that the cranks are forged? So can it really take 20 weeks to redesign, have a die created, forge the crank and then machine it? I know creating the die is a very sophisticated job and I am guessing that Renault can't do that themselves. In fact they probably can't forge the crank themselves either.

I really am struggling to understand how this monumental balls up could happen!!!
 
Smithers said:
@tedkravitz: Hints in the paddock tonight that McLaren's fat rear wishbones are worth a protest as their primary purpose is for aero benefit. More tomorw

@andrewbensonf1: FIA considers controversial McLaren wishbones legal - suspension exempt from moveable aero device rule & it's clearly primarily suspension

@autosport: Rivals set to copy McLaren suspension: #F1 - McLaren's Formula 1 rivals are set to copy its innovative rear su... http://t.co/8gf4dpzMVT

@andrewbensonf1: Re McLaren, just because FIA considers its rear suspension legal, teams are still free to protest it with stewards if they want
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I'm sure this will be banned. They considered Lotus's reactive ride height to legal and then banned it, same with Red Bull's floor in 2012. Then again I thought they'd have scrapped the double points rule by now so who knows.

God knows what's going to happen with the Renault powered teams if that 20 weeks thing is true. Four teams could end up withdrawing from the first half of the season.
 
If it really is 20 weeks then maybe the FIA would allow fuel restricted (flow and tank capacity) and maybe rev restricted V8's back for this year.
Maybe even restrict them to half points.
Remember Brawn managed to fit the Merc engine in only a small number of weeks after Honda pulled out. So it can be done.

Then again maybe the Renault powered cars don't run till fixed. That way Marussia will get some decent points.
 
ched999uk said:
If it really is 20 weeks then maybe the FIA would allow fuel restricted (flow and tank capacity) and maybe rev restricted V8's back for this year.
Maybe even restrict them to half points.
Remember Brawn managed to fit the Merc engine in only a small number of weeks after Honda pulled out. So it can be done.

Then again maybe the Renault powered cars don't run till fixed. That way Marussia will get some decent points.
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I can't see them being allowed to run V8s. Even if they were heavily restricted they'd probably pick up points through reliability. Their results would have to count for nothing, in which case what's the point in them running? Even if their results didn't count they'd get in everyone's way because they'd be quicker at different points of the circuit and in different parts of the race to the V6s.
 
Classic Ted Kravitz - how the fuk does everyone keep a straight face with his props - looks like he is promoting Anne Summers!

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SgtBhaji said:
It would be a dull title with so many cars struggling... Plus the winner would always carry a somewhat tainted title.
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if you've been around various forums the last couple years it's really not hard to see the majority of people won't care, they literally hate Vettel that much. I did try to warn people who were begging for rule changes literally to ruin Red Bull and Vettels run, that in doing so they would probably ruin F1 or make it a total farce in the process. There really needs to be some miracle close battle at the top to salvage the season now.
 
SgtBhaji said:
It would be a dull title with so many cars struggling... Plus the winner would always carry a somewhat tainted title.
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Why would it be tainted? Even if these issue's remain present when the season starts, we'd still have three top teams fighting for the title. No different than before just because it might not be Red Bull.
 
Julius Caesar said:
Why would it be tainted? Even if these issue's remain present when the season starts, we'd still have three top teams fighting for the title. No different than before just because it might not be Red Bull.
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After 4 years of Vettel dominance, to take the title from him while he's driving a crippled car sure would take the shine of any win for me.
 
The rule changes were made 2-3 years ago. Once teams get on top of the reliability problems then we'll eventually see close racing at the front unless one team really does make big strides. The start of the season will be hectic and unpredictable but hopefully when we reach Monza time, the teams have sorted most of the issues out. The biggest problem teams have is replacing units such as the engine and gearbox. Ted Kravitz said on his notebook that it takes up to 3 hours to change a gearbox and 6 hours to change an engine when with the V8's it took probably an hour to replace.
 
SgtBhaji said:
After 4 years of Vettel dominance, to take the title from him while he's driving a crippled car sure would take the shine of any win for me.
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Yes but how is it so different from any other champion who has found himself in a crap car with which he can't challenge?
 
Ex-Formula 1 designer Gary Anderson answers the key questions raised from what we have seen so far from pre-season testing.


The Ferrari F1 F14 T sounds a lot different to the other cars under braking. Why is this?


It is incredibly smooth on the downchanges. Everyone else is blipping the throttle a lot more and it's difficult to say why the Ferrari is so smooth in comparison.


All the cars have a zero torque loss upshift, seamless shift, but nobody has done that on the downshifts. With the ERS recharging from the rear wheels and the need to downchange under braking, it now might be a good idea.


We don't know for sure, but perhaps Ferrari is ahead of the game with such technology.


Mercedes had another strong day, with the second fastest time and most laps completed. It seems the Silver Arrows have been the big winner after three days at Jerez?


It's very impressive. Mercedes has managed long runs, hitting the 20-lap mark which is very good. It will take five to 10 laps to build up all the temperatures and this length of run shows that the cooling is stabilized.


Even if the car is getting too hot, it is at least controllable so it will be easy to adapt the cooling. After three days, Mercedes should be happy.


The three Renault cars managed only 43 laps today. How disastrous has this test been?


Renault has been in a real battle to solve a problem related to the ERS functions. It was felt the problem was fixable last night and it seemed progress had been made when Jean-Eric Vergne went out in the final hour and did a 1m29.915s lap at the end of a five-lap run. Unfortunately, on the sixth lap, it all fizzled out on the pit straight and when he tried to go out later on he didn't even make it out of the pit lane.


But the engine sounded much cleaner and it seems that Renault is at least making some progress, even though there is a lot of work to do.




Red Bull completed a grand total of three laps today. Is this the end for its world championship hopes?


I doubt it very, very much. There's nothing as resilient as an Adrian Newey who is very unhappy with life. Red Bull will sort itself out.


We have seen problems for all the Renault teams and if any team has a background of understanding that the car needs to perform on the circuit is Red Bull.


Losing these days of testing is not a good thing, but Red Bull is equipped to recover without hurting its championship hopes.


Which cars have caught your eye from trackside?


The McLaren seems to be a nice car to drive. The front end isn't exceptionally positive, but it looks well-balanced and changes direction well. There is no sign of the inherent understeer of 2013.


The Ferrari looks like it is missing a bit of downforce. In the medium- to high-speed corners, especially the one onto the back straight, you can hear a bit of tire squeal and in the lower-speed corners the rear is giving up on corner exit. With these turbo engines being quieter, you can now hear the tires crying enough.


The difference between Kimi Raikkonen and Fernando Alonso is that Fernando loves to leave big black lines on the track, primarily to make a point to the team about where the car needs improving.


The Mercedes looks good, rides the curbs well but does have a little understeer. Perhaps that is because it is set up to protect the rear tires.


The Mercedes-engined Williams looks good with Felipe Massa driving as it did with Valtteri Bottas. The front end is positive but not at the expense of the rear and in the middle of the chicane, the car changes direction well.


What do you make of the new Marussia, which appeared for the first time this morning?




Compliments to Marussia for driving out of the pits with a brand-new car and being able to drive back – an impressive feat that many others struggled with!


It's a neat and tidy design with an anteater nose, but it has more of a nose section than many others.


It has elegant lines and there's nothing too dramatic, so let's give the team time to get upgrades on the car before the first race.
 
thejudge13 reckons Autosport is talking rubbish

thejudge13 ‏@thejudge13 1h
@NobleF1 and the truth is it's gonna take about 20 weeks according to the foot soldiers in the know.... #BritishGP

thejudge13 ‏@thejudge13 5m
@adam_s_parr @Quemerford What's irritating is Autosport publishing Renault propaganda stating they'll fix the problem by Bahrain...

thejudge13 ‏@thejudge13 3m
@adam_s_parr Adam will tell you a gearbox takes 2 men working back to back 12 hour shifts to produce one.. Is that 264 hours?

thejudge13 ‏@thejudge13 2m
@adam_s_parr So solving Renault's engine issues will take a seriously long time.... Hence the several months...
 
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