274 replies to this topic

[Nacho]

i know people doubt Ferrari due to schumi and super staff leaving, but Ferrari has an awful lot of resources. if they really focused on development as early as they said, then the times should not be suprising.

Sauber is surprising, but it seems to be a theme: manufacture pull out, next car is fast maybe kobi flatters the car

dlR was fast yesterday as well.

[yonson]

yeah, but DLR is ALWAYS fast at testing...

[_R_]

yeah, but DLR is ALWAYS fast at testing...

I would hope so, or he would've sucked at his job for the past 10 years
*cough* ferrari test drivers *cough*

[kngrsll]

i just wanted a kobi joke

[MrHahn]

I'll see if more come out tomorrow, most of the pictures from day one were the launch and rosberg testing...

Thanks bruz

[Shi]

11:00 - After 1 hour: 1. Massa 1:11.722; 2. Hamilton 1:13.161; 3. Kobayashi 1:13.486; 4. Rosberg 1:14.036; 5. Kubica 1:14.714; 6. Buemi 1:14.928; 7. Barrichello 1:15.493

Times after one hour: Alonso 1m11.905; de la Rosa 12.293; Alguersuari 1m12.576; Schumacher 1m13.686s; Petrov 1m17.425s; Hulkenberg 1m17.723s; Button 1m32.980s.

[vietlol]

i know people doubt Ferrari due to schumi and super staff leaving, but Ferrari has an awful lot of resources. if they really focused on development as early as they said, then the times should not be suprising.

Sauber is surprising, but it seems to be a theme: manufacture pull out, next car is fast maybe kobi flatters the car

Ferrari will go .6s quicker on wed

[Shi]

Ferrari will go .6s quicker on wed

[Shi]

Times at noon: Massa 1m11.722; Kobayashi 1m12.056; Hamilton 1m12.614; Rosberg 1m12.899; Kubica 1m13.659; Buemi 1m14.862; Barrichello 1m14.862

12pm update: Alonso 1m11.709; de la Rosa 1m12.094; Schumacher 1m12.450; Alguersuari 1m12.576; Button 1m13.783; Hulkenberg 14.410; Petrov 1m14.707

Now Alonso goes even quicker and sets the fastest time of the week: 1:11.599

[vietlol]

Alons0wned

scrubs

[vietlol]

Virgin seems confused about which series they're entering (hint: its not IRL)

[Shi]

Times at 1pm: Massa 1m11.722; Kobayashi 1m12.056; Hamilton 1m12.508; Rosberg 1m12.899; Barrichello 1m13.377; Kubica 1m13.659; Buemi 1m14.862

1pm times update: Alonso 1m11.599; de la Rosa 1m12.094; Schumacher 1m12.438; Alguersuari 1m12.576; Button 1m13.498; Hulkenberg 1m13.959; Petrov 1m14.009

[Shi]

Times at 2pm: Massa 1m11.722s; Kobayashi 1m12.056; Hamilton 1m12.368; Rosberg 1m12.899; Barrichello 1m13.377; Kubica 1m13.659; Buemi 1m14.862

Times update at 2pm: 1 Alonso 1:11.470; 2 De la Rosa 1:12.094; 3 Schumacher 1:12.438; 4 Alguersuari 1:12.576; 5 Button 1:12.951; 6 Hulkenberg 1:13.669; 7 Petrov 1:14.009

[vietlol]

[Redliner]

VR1 built totally by CFD computers? Like whoa - it looks great, but I wonder how it'll do at the track.

I bet it's gonna be pretty slow, but hopefully I'm wrong and they'll have done something revolutionary and get people away from wind-tunnels, which means lowered costs...

Alonso is owning the others!

My ideal result would be Alonso taking it this year and Button beating Lewis. At least the first one's a possibility

[Shi]

So, so far this week, Schumacher has been quicker than Rosberg, Alonso quicker than Massa, Kobayashi quicker than de la Rosa, Hamilton quicker than Button, Kubica quicker than Petrov, Alguersuari quicker than Buemi, and Barrichello quicker than Hulkenberg

Ross Brawn speaking to BBC's sarahholt: "It's always very difficult to judge. On full tanks yesterday (Tuesday) we didn't look too bad but we're a little bit off on pace and (there are problems with) the handling and balance of the car which we can fix for (the next test in) Jerez. We know what the problem is.

[Shi]

So Who Really Has Been Fastest So Far?
Wednesday 3rd February 2010

It's a mug's game trying to work out who has been genuinely quick in the first two days of winter testing in Valencia. Fortunately, PF1 has a mug on hand...

The straightforward reading of Tuesday's end-of-session timesheets is that Ferrari are out in front by a significant margin, followed by surprise-package Sauber, respectable-but-distant McLaren, and then Renault, Mercedes, Williams and the lagging Toro Rosso.

However, a more nuanced reading of the fastest laps chart can be gleaned through the incomparable James Allen blog. Though JA has not set out the details in such rudimentary fashion, his end-of-day summary reveals that:

Felipe Massa's fastest lap - 1:11.722 - was set on the first flying lap of an 11-lap run.
Kamui Kobayashi's fastest lap - 1:12.056 - was set on the fourth lap of an 8-lap run.
Lewis Hamilton's fastest lap - 1:12.256 - was set on the fourth lap of a 20-lap run.
Robert Kubica's fastest lap - 1:12.426 - was set on the second lap of a 3-lap run.
Nico Rosberg's fastest lap - 1:12.899 - was set on the fifth lap of a 6-lap run.

Now, before we proceed any further, it's obligatory to insert a couple of caveats: Firstly, just because, say, Massa was on a eleven-lap run doesn't mean that his Ferrari was only carrying eleven laps' worth of fuel. Secondly, conditions varied throughout the day. Thirdly, some teams - particularly Renault and, as you will read below, Williams - have yet to carry out set-up work for low-fuel running.

However, what that supplementary timesheet does suggest is that the McLaren was far more competitive on Lewis Hamilton's first day back at work than some publications have concluded.

For the time being - and remember, Massa had the advantage on Tuesday of an extra day's testing compared to Hamilton - the MP4-25 may be behind the Ferrari in terms of pure speed but it almost certainly isn't as far behind as Tuesday's basic timesheet declared. In short, both teams have good reason for optimism, though there's a persistent rumour that Ferrari remain concerned about the fuel efficiency of their car.

Meanwhile, even after taking into account the minimal amount of fuel that Kobayashi had on board when he set his quickest time, the Sauber does appear to be surprisingly competitive. It has finished above Mercedes on both days of testing so far and looks to have done so on Tuesday in a straight fight.

Nonetheless, Ross Brawn has seen no reason for concern. "There is nothing fundamentally wrong with the car," he told Autosport. "The drivers are reasonably happy with the balance. This is not a great track for really assessing the car, but it is a useful start. Nothing suggests that there is anything strange but it is far too early to judge how all the cars compare."

And to the legion of reasons why only a cautious reading should be made of the fastest laps timesheets can be added Brawn's expansion on his declaration that Valencia doesn't provide a thorough assessment of a car's capabilities: "It's not got a great range of corners. It is all second and third gear. Turn 1 is a little bit quicker, then you have got Turn 10 which is a quick corner but it is very short."

A crumb of comfort maybe to Renault? The team seem to have suffered a tougher start to winter testing than any other on view so far though they did make progress on Tuesday in dialing out the understeer that hampered Robert Kubica's first-day running. The a three-lap run Kubica undertook to set his fastest lap on Tuesday was a rare low-fuel foray - the Pole remarked before handing over driver duties to Vitaly Petrov that he had "never driven such a heavy car before".

Another team primarily focused on long-run set-up on both Monday and Tuesday has been Williams. According to Rubens Barrichello, the team have had "a lot" of fuel on their car throughout the opening two days of testing and are yet to "experiment with less".

"We're not specifically quick compared to the cars of some of the other teams, but we haven't gone for times," he told the Beeb. "We've been long running and sorting some of the small problems we have had."

******************

A couple of other titbits from Valencia on Tuesday:

Despite the considerable excitement generated by the returns to action of Felipe Massa, Michael Schumacher and F1 in general, all was not sweetness and light at Mercedes. The team are said to have been 'miffed' at the reports that Schumi's fitness was still in question and to have made their unhappiness fully apparent to a few members of the press corps.

* Both Felipe Massa and Lewis Hamilton are not hanging around - the Brazilian is flying back to Brazil on Wednesday while Hamilton left Spain to return to England immediately after his press briefing. It means that neither Ferrari nor McLaren will be able to call together their two drivers to compare notes at an end-of-test debrief. Curious.

* And finally...If you think that the timesheets can't be trusted to provide a reliable indication of a car's true performance, then what about the drivers?

As a warning, heed the words of Lewis Hamilton from almost exactly a year ago when he delivered this first-day report: "With the MP4-24, it's a much bigger step than we've had previously but I still felt pretty comfortable straight away. On first impressions, the car does not feel too different from last year's in terms of balance and grip."

Night and day?...

Pete Gill

[Redliner]

Lets go racing already! I can't hold out much longer!!!

[Shi]

Pos Driver Team Best Laps 1st 2nd 3rd
1. Alonso Ferrari 1:11.470 127 - - 1:11.470
2. Massa Ferrari 1:11.722 226 1:12.574 1:11.722 -
3. Kobayashi Sauber 1:12.056 96 - 1:12.056 -
4. de la Rosa Sauber 1:12.094 154 1:12.784 - 1:12.094
5. Hamilton McLaren 1:12.256 108 - 1:12.256 -
6. Kubica Renault 1:12.426 188 1:15.000 1:12.426 -
7. M.Schumacher Mercedes 1:12.438 122 1:12.947 - 1:12.438
8. Alguersuari Toro Rosso 1:12.576 97 - - 1:12.576
9. Rosberg Mercedes 1:12.899 158 1:13.543 1:12.899 -
10. Button McLaren 1:12.951 82 - - 1:12.951
11. Petrov Renault 1:13.097 75 - - 1:13.097
12. Barrichello Williams 1:13.377 177 1:14.449 1:13.377 -
13. Hulkenberg Williams 1:13.669 126 - - 1:13.669
14. Buemi Toro Rosso 1:13.823 125 1:14.762 1:13.823 -
15. Paffett McLaren 1:13.846 86 1:13.846 - -

[_R_]

[yonson]

I like the Virgin livery...

[vietlol]

Ferrari confirmed for .6s faster than anyone on day3

[Dr. Jimmmah!]

Ferrari confirmed for .6s faster than anyone on day3

But not 0.6 faster than day 2. Magic pixie dust is starting to grow mold.

[_R_]

nothing to see here...

[_R_]

or here...