Red Bull easily the fastest?

There has been talk that the RB7 is easily the fastest car and no other team comes close to the levels of downforce. This is the view of those who have gone to watch the tests. I hope that this year is not another Red Bull domination, but the early signs are worrying.

This was a comment left by someone on James Allen's blog:

"Well, I have been there first 2 days of testing, seeing it with my own eyes, having a clear view of the first corner.
And I don’t want to spoil the season for F1 fans but I can tell you RBR are sand-bagging….a lot.
The speed with which Vettel took that car through the first corner is ridiculous. Visibly and dramatically faster than any other car. Long stints, short stints, doesn’t matter. Compared to the other cars it almost looks like you are watching one of those old Charlie Chaplin films which plays a bit faster than normal.
And the rest of the lap, especially between the corners he slowed down intentionally.
People who saw it for the first few times, the way he took it around the 1st corner, were exclaiming ‘oooohs’ and ‘woooows’. I think RBR noticed that too, surprised maybe others weren’t able to go that fast around it, so around the end of the 1st day they stopped going that fast around the corner. 2nd day they only did it only now and then.
So unless the 2011 Mclaren comes up with something similar that goes as fast around the corner, this season is already over, because the RBR is also reliable. The Ferrari won’t cut it, the Mercedes won’t either and the Renault is all hot air around the exhaust system which gave them problems (word there was that the reperations were about that, not the things they said publicaly).
Yes it is ‘just’ testing, but if you saw it with your own eyes you know what is up. So I easily predict RBR Constructors Champion and Vettel Drivers Champion around Singapore, barring weird unexpected happenings in the race…but then again, we had quite a few of those, so OK, around Korea it is settled then, ha!"

http://www.jamesallenonf1.com/2011/...3-kubica-sets-the-pace-fiery-start-for-massa/ (See comment #2)

In addition, a post from the autosport forums said:

"Hi everyone. Went to Cheste today and some things i noticed watching the cars passing the first corner:
- Red Bull for me is the best car... by far. Vettel passed the corner faster than anyone and even didn´t have to take the kerb on the exit. I suppose it´s because of superior downforce.
- Ferrari looks fast, but the car seemed quite nervous on acceleration, compared to the Red Bul, wich was like going on rails.
- Mercedes. I think it´s going to be a great car, it wasn´t nervous and was well planted, but didn´t look like Rosberg was pushing at all. Great looking car by the way.
- Toro Rosso. Terrible car, looked like Alguersuari was running with worn tyres all the time.
- Renault, Sauber and Williams didn´t look special. The Renault engine screamed like crazyl!

Right now i´d say the pecking order is IMHO:

Red Bull>>>>Ferrari>Mercedes>>Renault>>Sauber>>Williams>>>>>>Toro Rosso"

http://forums.autosport.com/index.php?showtopic=140909&st=880&p=4816175&#entry4816175

Your thoughts?

 

The fact that two seperate people are saying the same thing is pretty onerous.

I would bet my house that Red-Bull have the fastest car this season. My reasoning being that they were nearly on the pace in 2009 using the single diffuser against the brawn before they upgraded to the double diffuser. The aerodynamic design is inherintly fast and it looks like newey has created a base design that allows the team to get close to optimum output within the regs. If you look at the other team designs this year they all look like they have followed the Red-Bull.

The only wildcards here could be the mclaren with it L-shaped ducts and different design approach orthe renault with the front firing exhaust.

 

The first corner is fairly quick I think. RBR were always going to be quickest in terms of high speed aero, but they concede a bit in straight line speed. Whether they dominate again depends on whether they still hold an advantage on the twistier, slower speed corners. That's dictated more by mechanical grip, the fixed weight distribution might have nullified their advantage in this area. It's promising for them that they still hold all the aces in high speed corners (get your money on another Red Bull win at Silverstone), but you can't tell the true performance of a team at one circuit, let alone one corner.

They could also be very close to race setup. Apparently the Merc is very skittish at the rear, this is something they'll probably have fixed by the next test let alone the first race.

 

Yay a new 65658 x WDC just from best car