F1 Testing 2012 - Week 1, Jerez

therealnerd2 said:
Two years of domination and no large rule changes will do that to you though...
Click to expand...

I thought the 'internet consensus' was that the the RB7 was so epic because of its implementation of the EBD?

And also that the 'internet consensus' was that the ban on EBD's would mean that Red Bull would have to go back to square one and would be fighting off HRT in 2012?

:p

Being serious, is anyone having 'major issues'?
 
No major issues as such that I can really see.

Only question mark remaining is whether Mercedes have managed to sort out a decent car for this year so will be interesting to see how it compares in Barcelona when they finally release it :)
 
therealnerd2 said:
Two years of domination and no large rule changes will do that to you though...
Click to expand...

Indeed.

Some people appear to have forgotten just what RBR achieved last year (ie. one of the most dominant seasons, by a single driver). They don't seem to be aware of how good RBR (as a team) are. They are in absolutely top form and even if you gave other teams an advantage (eg more testing time), my money would still be on RBR, if only because they are the best team in F1.

If we were starting from square one, all teams level and RBR were not the best team in the World, then I would absolutely agree that 4 days of testing can in no way, be used as an indication of the ultimate speed of the RBR.

What is worrying was that Webber, on Tuesday was unbelievably consistent in his (fast) lap times. This means that he has a car which is easy to drive.

It is likely that RBR will start Race1 with the best car, however, it is possible (as we saw last year, with McLaren) that another team may change some key features of their car, from now till Race1 and may gain an extra second/lap. I'm hoping that this other team will be Ferrari or McLaren, because I desperately want to avoid another season of seeing Vettel winning races with ease.

What I will say is that we should not be looking at the absolute lap times being set, but more the regularity and ease with which the team is posting that particular lap time.
 
schumi84 said:
Only question mark remaining is whether Mercedes have managed to sort out a decent car for this year so will be interesting to see how it compares in Barcelona when they finally release it :)
Click to expand...

Imagine if Mercedes turn up to Barcelona and on day1 are the fastest (al a BrawnGP 2009). It would certainly be exciting to see how MSc handles Rosberg (on and off the track) and who actually wins the title.
 
Day 4 times

Code: 
[b]Pos 	 Driver 	Team 		Time 			Laps[/b]
1 	 Alonso		Ferrari	 	1m18.877s		39
2 	 Vergne		Toro Rosso	1m19.597s  +0.720	80
3 	 Vettel		Red Bull	1m19.606s  +0.729	50
4 	 Hamilton	McLaren	 	1m19.640s  +0.763	86
5 	 Grosjean	Lotus	 	1m19.729s  +0.852	94
6 	 Kobayashi	Sauber	 	1m19.834s  +0.957	76
7 	 Hulkenberg	Force India	1m19.977s  +1.100	90
8 	 Senna		Williams	1m20.132s  +1.255	125
9 	 Trulli		Caterham	1m22.198s  +3.321	117

0.4 sec slower than yesterdays best 2012 car time.
 
Last edited:
Just added up the total laps completed by each team this week


Lotus - 401
Williams - 372
Caterham - 358
Mercedes - 347 (3 days)
Toro Rosso - 316
Mclaren - 311
Force India - 306 (3 days)
Sauber - 298
Red Bull - 296
Ferrari - 270
HRT - 107 (2 days)
Marussia - Fail
 
sunama said:
Imagine if Mercedes turn up to Barcelona and on day1 are the fastest (al a BrawnGP 2009). It would certainly be exciting to see how MSc handles Rosberg (on and off the track) and who actually wins the title.
Click to expand...

My money would be on Rosberg by a whisker, though i'd rather see Micheal win it, then retire for good.
 
Lotus winning the point of testing award by getting as many laps on the beast as possible!

Though it doesn't equal speed...

stulid said:
we all know that the teams sandbag on purpose
Click to expand...

It's that time of year fokes! :cool:

The sandbagging debate is an annual event on the pre season threads, no one ever wins, everyone looks foolish and all is forgotten by the 5th race and everyone has a new car anyway....
 
Skeeter said:
Not even choosing to run an old car or an interim one, with as yet no news on when they will launch the new car...

Anyone know if they have put anything forward for FIA crash testing yet?
Click to expand...

Not read anything anywhere.

HRT still got to pass a few more crash tests, so they will have their 2012 car at the final test. I would guess they will do another few days at the second test.
 
Last edited:
Yeah, bizzarly HRT are looking in a better possition. At least they are in the news (all be it for not so brilliant reasons), Marussia on the other hand have gone completely silent.


Somehow I don't think "no news is good news" this time...
 
I know Lotus aren't everyone's cup of tea but they look promising during these early stages, most laps completed and fastest 2012 car lap time - I know that doesn't mean much at all, but it's certainly not a bad place to be.

RBR are looking good though, their long stints have impressed me the most out of everyone.
 
They could re-home an orphaned kitten for every lap they do and give free cup cakes to everyone who watches F1, but they would still remain the least liked team on the grid.
 
englishpremier said:
My money would be on Rosberg by a whisker, though i'd rather see Micheal win it, then retire for good.
Click to expand...

On ability, I would say Rosberg would beat MSc over a full season HOWEVER, when MSc begins to flex his muscles off track (ie. when he plays the political game), he might get Rosberg to pull over for him. I just can't see how he would stand by, while he watches his team-mate win a title (or race). MSc has a lot of experience when it comes to getting an entire team to work for his cause (and to hell with his team-mate). Prost was also very good at this.

Its good to see McLaren get a lot of laps under their belt. I just want to see somebody actually compete with RBR, so I shall be supporting McLaren or Ferrari - whoever gets closest to them.
 
I would agree with you sunama, if I thought that Rosberg was the only person Schumacher would have to get past. The fact remains that he still has to beat the Red Bulls, Ferrari's and McLarens, let alone any other teams that surges forward this year.

Schumachers ability to get a team (and more importantly, his team mate) to all sing from his hymn sheet to produce results comes from a time when his team were the top of the field. As it stands now, Mercedes have to beat at least 3 other teams before they can start being concerned with who is beating who within the team itself. For that reason, my money is, and always has been, on Rosberg.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top Bottom