F1 Pre-Season Test Week 4: Barcelona 8th - 11th March

howler · 11 Mar 2011 at 16:45

I think I might stick some money down on Rosberg this year, not sure what on yet but I think he is a good driver and may have a better car this year

Also the Torro Rosso is looking reasonable or is that cos the slower teams are taking the space at the bottom?

Duke · 11 Mar 2011 at 16:47

Toro Rosso have set some good times but pretty sure they did last year in testing, and the year before..

Kerming · 11 Mar 2011 at 17:00

Duke said:

Day 4 times

Code:

[b]Pos  Driver              Team/Car              Time       Gap       Laps[/b]
 1.  Michael Schumacher  Mercedes              1m21.249s            67
 2.  Fernando Alonso     Ferrari               1m21.614s  + 0.365s  141
 3.  Nico Rosberg        Mercedes              1m21.788s  + 0.539s  22
 4.  Nick Heidfeld       Renault               1m22.073s  + 0.824s  67
 5.  Rubens Barrichello  Williams-Cosworth     1m22.233s  + 0.984s  89
 6.  Kamui Kobayashi     Sauber-Ferrari        1m22.315s  + 1.066s  98
 7.  Jaime Alguersuari   Toro Rosso-Ferrari    1m22.675s  + 1.426s  72
 8.  Sebastian Vettel    Red Bull-Renault      1m22.933s  + 1.684s  64
 9.  Heikki Kovalainen   Lotus-Renault         1m23.437s  + 2.188s  138
10.  Paul di Resta       Force India-Mercedes  1m23.653s  + 2.404s  42
11.  Adrian Sutil        Force India-Mercedes  1m23.921s  + 2.672s  26
12.  Pastor Maldonado    Williams-Cosworth     1m24.108s  + 2.859s  11
13.  Jenson Button       McLaren-Mercedes      1m25.837s  + 4.588s  57
14.  Jerome D'Ambrosio   Virgin-Cosworth       1m27.375s  + 6.126s  46

4 seconds behind, somthing is telling me that you guys are worring over nothing, lol omg....calm the hell down, its just TESTING, not race day. nobody is going to show their pace until race 1, even then they won't fully open the taps

Mr Jack · 11 Mar 2011 at 17:17

howler said:
Also the Torro Rosso is looking reasonable or is that cos the slower teams are taking the space at the bottom?

I'd argue the best way to judge performance is to look at them when they're running 'race sims'.

Today JA did a long race sim style stint about the same time as FA. Since this appears to be a race sim, it is likely both were running similar fuel loads. Alonso's faster (soft tyre?) periods were consistently over a second faster than Jaime's; as were his slower (hard tyre?) periods.

So I don't think they're close to the front. For further comparison, Rubens looked to have similar pace on what also looks like a race sim, while Kobi was at a similar level on long runs but his was split up more and probably less of a race sim. Kova in the Lotus looks to be about half a second further back.

FrankJH · 11 Mar 2011 at 17:44

I believe Mercedes will be great in quali but go steadily backwards in the race - ie MS especially uses the tyres very heavily and this could affect race pace (I know most expect tyre wear to increase this season, but Merc seem to be worse off even considering this)

(this is based on being top again today on a very short run, but havent seen any info if they have increased their longer running pace at this test so far)

Personally think there is something fundamentally Fubar'd about McLaren's car, they cant be sandbagging to this extent (even given the mechanical problems they have had)

arknor · 11 Mar 2011 at 18:06

FrankJH said:
I believe Mercedes will be great in quali but go steadily backwards in the race - ie MS especially uses the tyres very heavily and this could affect race pace (I know most expect tyre wear to increase this season, but Merc seem to be worse off even considering this)

(this is based on being top again today on a very short run, but havent seen any info if they have increased their longer running pace at this test so far)

Personally think there is something fundamentally Fubar'd about McLaren's car, they cant be sandbagging to this extent (even given the mechanical problems they have had)

schumies done some good longer runs with around the pace of alonso and the drop off beeing about the same.

mercedes seemed to have gotten fully on top of there tyre chewing problems

sunama · 11 Mar 2011 at 18:21

FrankJH said:
Personally think there is something fundamentally Fubar'd about McLaren's car, they cant be sandbagging to this extent (even given the mechanical problems they have had)

This is exactly what I think. Given the deep routed nature of their problems, (according to the rumour), they shall need to re-design their car.

Obviously their drivers will do the best job they can, to flatter the performance of the car, but I think podium finishes will be nigh on impossible in the first few races.

The Ferrari, again, did some huge mileage today, with virtually no (known) problems, so this bodes well for them.

At this stage, I would say that Alonso and Vettel will finish top 2 in the WDC this year. I'm not sure which order though.

sunama · 11 Mar 2011 at 18:22

dannyjo22 said:
Mercedes will be making sure they are not getting the same HP as the full works team anymore. They won't take another embrassing thrashing at the hands of the customer team again

According to the rules, do Mercedes not have to provide identical engines to both their works team and their customer teams?

Mr Jack · 11 Mar 2011 at 18:38

I honestly don't think we've seen enough of the McLaren to judge its pace.

Duke · 12 Mar 2011 at 08:07

Final day of testing - http://translate.google.com/transla...alunya.html&prev=_t&rurl=translate.google.com

Mr Jack · 12 Mar 2011 at 08:24

Ah. Formula Lake.

englishpremier · 12 Mar 2011 at 09:31

HRT still can't test as their dampers are stuck in customs.

This team is an absolute joke. Aren't they based in spain anyway? What customs have they had to go through to get their car to Barcelona - lol.

sunama · 12 Mar 2011 at 10:00

So, its a wet track.

Well, at least teams will be able to get some wet weather data today, which may help them during wet races, when the season starts.

arknor · 12 Mar 2011 at 10:38

englishpremier said:
HRT still can't test as their dampers are stuck in customs.

This team is an absolute joke. Aren't they based in spain anyway? What customs have they had to go through to get their car to Barcelona - lol.

the magic customs that hold onto your parts until you pay for them

Mr Jack · 12 Mar 2011 at 12:12

I know we've only had the morning session, but it sure is nice to see a McLaren topping the lap times

Duke · 12 Mar 2011 at 12:14

Haha

sunama · 12 Mar 2011 at 13:29

Interesting article, with regards to McLaren's title chances:

Now the question is not so much whether it [MP4-26] will be off the pace at the start of the year — Lewis Hamilton and Jenson Button are both convinced that it will be — but whether the so-called dream team’s championship hopes are already dead and buried for another year.

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/sport/mo...-return-to-winning-ways-despite-rest-day.html

sunama · 12 Mar 2011 at 14:50

Putting Hispania aside, McLaren are the only team who are yet to do a race simulation with their new car.

That means there are big question marks over their reliability over a race distance.

http://news.bbc.co.uk/sport1/hi/motorsport/formula_one/9422956.stm

I can't help but feel that McLaren are going to struggle during the first few GPs. They shall be relying heavily on their drivers to outperform the car and bring it home.

The general consensus seems to be that RBR will lead the way, with Ferrari just behind them. The fight for 3rd best team is unclear.

Kerming · 12 Mar 2011 at 15:01

Mr Jack said:
I honestly don't think we've seen enough of the McLaren to judge its pace.

You hit the nail on the head, people need to just shhh about their silly doubts over mclarens pace, its mclaren for god sake lol they will be fast no doubt about it. just need to stay out of trouble and get across the line.

Mr Jack · 12 Mar 2011 at 15:05

I don't understand why the teams aren't out more today? Surely it's better to be out there learning something - however little - about the wet tyres and how the cars behave in these conditions than sitting in the garage twiddling their thumbs?