Official: Testing Thread

  • Please bear with us on the new site integration and fixing any known bugs over the coming days. If you can not log in please try resetting your password and check your spam box. If you have tried these steps and are still struggling email [email protected] with your username/registered email address
  • Log in now to remove adverts - no adverts at all to registered members!
The new rear of the red bull looks very nice. It's going to be very quick, but for love of god, lets hope it breaks down alot :)
 
If they don't do something drastic in the next week I think they'll be sick of blue flags by sundown next Sunday.

At this rate they won't have enough tyres to reach sundown. Most teams are doing race sims, Merc struggle to stay out long enough to do a quali sim.
 
At this rate they won't have enough tyres to reach sundown. Most teams are doing race sims, Merc struggle to stay out long enough to do a quali sim.

Norbert Haug's answering emails on [email protected] after lunch so maybe he can reassure Mercedes fans along with providing an explanation as to exactly what the point of running last year's car in the first test to comprehensively baseline the new tyres was.
 
Norbert Haug's answering emails on [email protected] after lunch so maybe he can reassure Mercedes fans along with providing an explanation as to exactly what the point of running last year's car in the first test to comprehensively baseline the new tyres was.

Well I suppose we won't be getting anything out of EternalMSC this afternoon then...
 
Not sure if legs are beginning to be stretched (Hamilton said there'd be no low fuel runs by McLaren in testing) but Button just nearly put in a good lap - best first sector then was probably told to cool it - 1:22.1.

Rosberg has been improving on soft tyres:


Autosport said:
14:04 Incidentally that compares to the 2.6s dropoff Rosberg lost in the previous 11 lap stint, and 4.5s in the 13 lap one prior to that. All of those were of soft tyres too.

14:03 He faded through 2.2s worth pace over the course of that run.

14:03 Rosberg pits the Mercedes, he's completed 12 laps on the soft tyres.
 
Webber's last run was on a par with Rosberg's (improved) last run - 2½ seconds over ten laps. McLaren (following a hydraulic issue earlier) aren't doing much you can analyse - sporadic quickish laps and clusters of laps. Ferrari are doing a nice but not stellar race sim - controlled degradation, much better than Mercedes' early runs, but not stunning lap times. Rosberg's improved again - sub-1:30s with only around 2½ seconds lost over fifteen laps.

Webber's the interesting one I think, with Ted Kravitz's concern over the heat generated at the back from the new exhaust layout.

There's been a big jump in lap times at 14:38 due to rain at turn 7. Is this as much as we're going to get from today?
 
A number of teams are not interested in wet weather running, including McLaren and Red Bull. Why is it that Ferrari and Mercedes are out there risking their cars? Desperate for track time, perhaps, or is there nothing to read in it?
 
A number of teams are not interested in wet weather running, including McLaren and Red Bull. Why is it that Ferrari and Mercedes are out there risking their cars? Desperate for track time, perhaps, or is there nothing to read in it?

I suppose there are certain benefits, but I think you hit the nail on the head with your own reasoning...
 
BBC F1 technical analyst Gary Anderson:

"Going out to watch on the track has given me another change to get a look at how the Ferrari is behaving. After about two laps, it's generating terrible understeer into the fast Turn Three, and after a couple more laps Felipe Massa was having to go down a gear just to get the car turned in. In the slow corners, once the tyres are wearing down, the front is washing out on the exits, and then there is wheelspin. If you contrasted that with other cars out at the same time, such as Paul di Resta's Force India, the balance did not change from the start of the stint to the end. The Ferrari looks like it has an initial lap time in it - but after that the pace goes away quite quickly."
 
I already love Gary Anderson, it's a shame it took Sky getting their hands on half the races for him to come to our attention.


EDIT: Also yeah, people forget that the key thing about the Ferrari is its unpredictability at the moment. They will, however, surge near the end of the season, much like Mclaren have done these last couple of years.
 
From the times so far, and from one or two quotes, I don't think there is much difference between the soft and supersoft.
 
Random internet guy (@f1enigma) says that AMuS reckons McLaren were using the Mercedes Magic Front Wing™ today.

Nico Rosberg via Autosport said:
It's still going to be the teams from last year that we need to beat, but I think we have a good chance to annoy them a few times early in the season.
By ignoring the blue flags maybe...
 
If they don't do something drastic in the next week I think they'll be sick of blue flags by sundown next Sunday.

I am sickened by their degradation of their tyres, and I agree that this will be their fate if something does not improve ^^.