Official: Testing Thread

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North North Watford said:
Teams that will definitely get podiums:

Red Bull, McLaren and Lotus.

Teams whose seasons could be brilliant or awful:

Ferrari, Force India and Mercedes.

The lower midfield:

Sauber, Torro Rosso, Senna, Caterham.

Back markers:

Maldonado, HRT, Marussia.

All contenders listed in the order I'd expect them to finish if the season started tomorrow. I would point out though that if Mercedes sort the tyres out they'll be a force to be reckoned with.
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Did you split Maldonado and Senna up intentionally? <laugh>

The thing I have with Mercedes is that they haven't ever done a do-or-die run with the new car, so it's difficult to tell. Their race pace looked quite good though. I think Ferrari will come into their own later in the season, much as Mclaren have done these last few years.

At the moment for Oz I'm putting my money on Lotus getting pole, but Hamilton or Vettel to win.
 
Qualifying should be a joy to watch because it seems 5 or 6 teams have good pace over 1 lap and I think pole could be decided by driver ability more than car speed, I think in the race we may see a 3 way fight. Lotus look consistent over 10 laps and in testing today they had better tyre wear than Mclaren over a long stint but the Mclaren did seem to have a 0.2 second advantage over them today according to Gary Anderson. This season will does look like it's going to be a classic.
 
Finally the Red Cows suffer. It's also great that Ferrari have done over 100 laps every day in this test. By Melbourne I'm sure Red Bull will be a few tenths ahead of everyone, Lotus will be exposed and Ferrari will be 3rd quickest (at least in qualifying - tyre management looks bad and Hamashima cant perform miracles in such little time).

If Mercedes are serious about moving forward in the long term, they surely cant offer Schumacher a new contract. He's improving but hes still holding the team back overall, which will be more visible if Lotus and Force India are close to Mercedes this year.
 
DHCanary said:
Gearbox I think, and a broken front wing and floor from an early excursion.
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Thanks.

Whilst Red Bull's out and out speed has not been on show, you do wonder if they will turn up to Melbourne and just piss over everyone, or as usual, will it take Newey a season or two to get used to the new regs?
 
hmm....

ESPN article said:
when asked if he would exclude a battle for the podium in Melbourne Fry replied: "At the moment I'd say yes.
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Autosport article said:
Asked where he felt Ferrari stood and if he was excluding podium finishes at present, Fry replied: "At the moment, I'd say yes. But I suppose I'm always slightly pessimistic."
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:emoticon-0149-no: ESPN
 
Forza Ferrari said:
Finally the Red Cows suffer. It's also great that Ferrari have done over 100 laps every day in this test. By Melbourne I'm sure Red Bull will be a few tenths ahead of everyone, Lotus will be exposed and Ferrari will be 3rd quickest (at least in qualifying - tyre management looks bad and Hamashima cant perform miracles in such little time).

If Mercedes are serious about moving forward in the long term, they surely cant offer Schumacher a new contract. He's improving but hes still holding the team back overall, which will be more visible if Lotus and Force India are close to Mercedes this year.
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Wasn't expecting you to blame the performance of the whole team on one driver, but you know everybody has an opinion.
 
tomtom94 said:
Did you split Maldonado and Senna up intentionally? <laugh>

The thing I have with Mercedes is that they haven't ever done a do-or-die run with the new car, so it's difficult to tell. Their race pace looked quite good though. I think Ferrari will come into their own later in the season, much as Mclaren have done these last few years.

At the moment for Oz I'm putting my money on Lotus getting pole, but Hamilton or Vettel to win.
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Lotus on pole? Really.

Would be good to see, but I think thats a stretch.
 
I think the current order is

1 Red-Bull
2 McLaren

Closer than last year but Red-Bull still clearly ahead.

Then in 3rd, 4th and 5th Ferrari, Mercedes and Lotus but no idea what order. If I had to guess I would say at least initially

3rd Lotus
4th Ferrari
5th Mercedes

I'm talking about over a whole grand prix weekend here not just 1 lap pace, which is why Lotus make it to 3rd for me - better tyre management.

Lotus did start ahead of Mercedes last year too.
 
Forza Ferrari said:
If Mercedes are serious about moving forward in the long term, they surely cant offer Schumacher a new contract. He's improving but hes still holding the team back overall, which will be more visible if Lotus and Force India are close to Mercedes this year.
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They need to invest in drivers who can take the team forward. not someone in their mid-forties who has only a finite period of time left.

WHy not take on a youngster, say di Resta, and have Schuey do the driver-coach team role. He gets in have his input which doubtless is very valuable, but they get someone in teh car who is quick and will have many years left.
 
HRT WILL run tomorrow. (so say Autosport)

Downside: Karthikeyan will be their man driver.
You have Pedro de la Rosa who has been Mclaren's test driver for years and widely acknowledged as one of the best drivers for feedback in the business (also Pirelli's test driver for a while wasn't he?)... and you stick in someone who hasn't driven an F1 car since the Indian GP and hardly set the world alight before then. Just...why?
 
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