F1 Testing 2014: Week 1 Jerez

gord said:
It must be the nose effect but the Ferrari and Mercedes both look like shorter wheel-bases than the likes of the McLaren.

The McLaren has one fantastic side profile though.
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The pointy noses certainly makes the Mclaren appear longer than the Merc(good he posted the side profile of both cars next to each other :p ). The Mclaren has a nicer sweep to the front of the car due to the pointy nose, but from the front view the Merc looks so much better than the Mclaren. The curved nostril bits for me look awful to me. From the side quite a few of the penis cars it's not really that apparent how thin and stupid those bits are.



Did anyone spot any pics of the Merc with one of the taller air speed monitoring devices. A lot of cars had something somewhere between Ferrari and the Mclaren above the driver, but I didn't spot Merc with one in any pictures. I wonder how vital that kind of information is as plenty of teams found it necessary to run with one for the data it provides. Either way, it did feel like like Merc were really building up for 2014, they made significant (but not quite big enough) strides last year in tyre wear, hopefully they will have got that problem sorted. This will be the first car made while they've been basically back up to full team strength/budget throughout development for the car.


Ted's info on the engines was interesting. Ferrari apparently have the coolest running engine, or the engine built to survive higher temps safely, either way Ferrari have a lot less cooling. Will be really interesting to see both reliability of all the engines over the year, and how the really hot races effect the teams.
 
Testing Facts

- A total of 22 drivers took part in the Jerez test, completing 1,470 laps and 6,509 kilometres.
- The equivalent Jerez test last year took in 3,531 laps and 15,634 kilometres.
- McLaren driver Kevin Magnussen set the fastest time of the Jerez test, with a time of 1m23.276s on Thursday. By way of comparison, the fastest time at the Jerez test last year was 1m17.879s, set by Felipe Massa in a Ferrari.
- The highest number of total laps completed at this year’s Jerez test by any one driver was Nico Rosberg, who racked up 188 laps with Mercedes.

Testing numbers

Total number of sets brought to Jerez: 250 sets which equals 1,000 tyres. 99 of these sets were used, of which 1 set of supersofts, 2 sets of softs, 23 sets of mediums, 11 hard sets, 32 sets of the winter tyres, 20 sets of intermediates and 10 sets of the full wets.

Longest run: 10 laps on the supersoft compound, 9 laps of the soft compound, 17 laps on the medium compound, 24 laps on the hard compound, 23 laps on the ‘winter’ compound, 26 laps on the intermediate compound, 13 laps on the wet compound .

Highest / lowest ambient temperature over four days: 17 °C / 5 °C
Highest / lowest track temperature over four days: 23 °C / 6 °C
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http://www.f1technical.net/news/19115
 
Skeeter said:
Teds Notebook. Sometimes he does a 'development corner' bit where he goes into details about fine points of cars designs. The one on todays Notebook was great.

It will be up here soon: http://www1.skysports.com/watch/video/sports/f1



I believe so. Based on being the previous 4 years champions.
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Thanks

Some great technical insight to the designs.

One thing I don't like and I touched upon it before is what I like to call other manufacturers copying design ideas.

We know that McClaren started design on the 2014 car way before anyone else and now they've designed that rear suspension part which also helps in aerodynamics.

Personally I think it's a kick in the teeth if others copy it even though they've petitioned against it. The rules need to change in that respect.
 
majnu said:
Thanks

Some great technical insight to the designs.

One thing I don't like and I touched upon it before is what I like to call other manufacturers copying design ideas.

We know that McClaren started design on the 2014 car way before anyone else and now they've designed that rear suspension part which also helps in aerodynamics.

Personally I think it's a kick in the teeth if others copy it even though they've petitioned against it. The rules need to change in that respect.
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Even if others do copy it it doesn't mean that they're going to copy it as good as Mclaren have. As you said MP4-29 has been longer in development meaning Mclaren have spent many many hours in R&D on their rear suspension.

Not only that they already have four days worth of track time (which is extremely precious let's not forget) on the other teams - that's even if the other teams copied something in time for Bahrain which is only three weeks away, and I cannot personally see happening.

Then it's not just a case of designing their own "dragonfly" effect rear suspension; they'll have to redesign and completely rebuild and rethink the vast majority of their rear setup, suspension geometry, wishbones, gearbox, cooling, sidepods, brake ducts, diffuser, rear wing etc. ; in essence, pretty much everything at the back of the car.

Then they may have to change the front of the car for the way that the airflow works its way to the back of the car to make all these new elements work together.

Not only that we don't know if Mclaren have any further tricks in front of the suspension internally placed within the car which can't be seen and are helping airflow/cooling/upwash,air pressure.
 
smr said:
Even if others do copy it it doesn't mean that they're going to copy it as good as Mclaren have. As you said MP4-29 has been longer in development meaning Mclaren have spent many many hours in R&D on their rear suspension.
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It matters not what any team have got or will have. We will find out in Q3 at the first race.
And if anyone is 2 seconds a lap down again...GAME OVER.
 
Broullier wasnt wrong when he said that they (lotus) woudnt be the only ones missing the test. Turns out RBR and Toro Roscoe didnt turn up either. lol
 
Title odds on Wednesday:

Vettel 4/5
Hamilton 5/1
Alonso 6/1
Raikkonen 10/1
Ricciardo 16/1
Rosberg 16/1
Button 33/1
Magnussen 66/1

Red Bull 11/10
Mercedes 11/4
Ferrari 4/1
Lotus 16/1
McLaren 33/1
Sauber 100/1
Force India 125/1
Williams 200/1

Title odds today:

Vettel 7/4
Hamilton 10/3
Alonso 6/1
Button 8/1
Rosberg 9/1
Magnussen 10/1
Raikkonen 11/1
Ricciardo 33/1

Mercedes 5/4
Red Bull 9/4
Ferrari 3/1
McLaren 6/1
Williams 40/1
Lotus 66/1
Force India 100/1
Sauber 500/1

Some significant movers there. RBR have drifted massively in both title races, while Mercedes, McLaren and Williams have obviously impressed.
 
deuse said:
It matters not what any team have got or will have. We will find out in Q3 at the first race.
And if anyone is 2 seconds a lap down again...GAME OVER.
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Not necessarily true - as this season is likely to be hit by a huge amount of un-reliability

smr said:
snip.
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Its a good advantage to have no doubt, but given how quickly "secrets" usually leak out in F1, if a large rival team wanted to copy something from Aus - even something major - I would expect it to be fully tested on their car by April at the very latest (in wind tunnels etc, while probably not on track)

Of course it does depend on their own design philosophy - just like some of RBR's major successes over the years being reliant on the rake of their car, which therefore wouldnt work so well on the McLaren for instance.
 
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I want to put a bet on Massa or Bottas winning the title, but I know I'm really just wanting that to happen instead of thinking it will happen. They are looking sooooo much better this year.
 
leaskovski said:
I want to put a bet on Massa or Bottas winning the title, but I know I'm really just wanting that to happen instead of thinking it will happen. They are looking sooooo much better this year.
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Would really like to see FM win in a Williams, long overdue for both imo.

In regards to the title odds above, I honestly think SV is going to get his ass whooped this year.
 
It's hard to fully hope RBR's wings have been clipped, I've a feeling they will come back strong. I'd just be happy if come the start of the season they are level pegging with Merc,McLaren,Ferrari. I'm not sure I can handle a season with SV running away with it 10-20 seconds up the road.

I'm a Lewis fan, but I'd like to see McLaren back on form also. I was torn when he left :/
 
ZG002 said:
It's hard to fully hope RBR's wings have been clipped, I've a feeling they will come back strong. I'd just be happy if come the start of the season they are level pegging with Merc,McLaren,Ferrari. I'm not sure I can handle a season with SV running away with it 10-20 seconds up the road.

I'm a Lewis fan, but I'd like to see McLaren back on form also. I was torn when he left :/
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The way I see it SV has just always been a good driver in a great car. This seasons changes mean that the cars are going to be harder to drive and more reliant on mechanical grip and driver skill/control. I just honestly don't think SV has what it takes to tame a car that isn't planted on the track like he's used to.
 
justbeats said:
The way I see it SV has just always been a good driver in a great car. This seasons changes mean that the cars are going to be harder to drive and more reliant on mechanical grip and driver skill/control. I just honestly don't think SV has what it takes to tame a car that isn't planted on the track like he's used to.
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I can see your point to a degree but I wouldn't say he's always had a great car. He had a lot of skill as a youngster to come up through the ranks and to go from Toro Rosso to RBR. It's not like he lucked out on a seat in the RBR and just started winning.

Having said that, the last few years it seemed Webber struggled with the style of driving required for the EBD generation of cars while SV seemed very comfortable with it. It is possible that the reverse will be true and SV will struggle a bit and Webber chose the wrong year to leave. These new cars might have suited him better.

However, I think SV is good enough to adapt quickly and I don't think it will be as much of an issue as you think.

Hamilton has always prefered late braking and fighting the car around corners so maybe the new cars will suit him more than the last few years…
 
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