Jerez F1 test

[javadog]

Day one is completed and it's one of the worst first days in recent memory. The fastest time is nearly 10 seconds slower than day one of last year. Ferrari completed a third of the total laps, which means the rest of the herd did doodly squat. Mercedes ended the day wrecked, Red Bull made it out of the garage with 15 minutes to run and didn't set a single timed lap. Mclaren never got their car running and out of the garage.

And 2 teams weren't even there...

Melbourne ought to be interesting.

JR

[javadog]

Day two is looking better for McLaren, as their car is actually running. Red Bull managed a few laps before calling it quits for the day.

They are running a wet track and times are all over the place.

JR

[kiwiokie]

Just watch re-runs of the V10 years - enough time has passed that you won't remember how each race ends.

[ted]

F1 ugly and slow but are they unreliable?

[rusnak]

Today was the first time anyone has seen the new McLaren rear suspension area. Very interesting, and it appears to be good for a half second. The upper sidepods looked bulky to me before, but it now appears that they channel air onto the rear winglets. And Jenson Button will now continue to test on Day 3. He also revealed that Merc and McLaren are splitting the workload among both teams testing the engine mapping. So no one knows just how fast Merc or McLaren will be until the first race.

[Captain Ahab Jr]

^^^ that is clever use of the wishbone rules, I like that kind of thinking

It is meant to increase downforce on slow corners and reduce high speed drag

Hard to tell how effective it is as no one is doing any real lap times

The Renualt engined cars are having lots of teething trouble, total laps from day 2 are,

Mercedes - 50 (199 total)
Ferrari - 43 (86 total)
Renault - 6 (11 total)

I'm sure they will get on top of everything but its not what they need to understand how to get the best from the different powered systems on the car

The Maurussia will be revealed this morning, expect another ugly nose

[javadog]

Renault is still sucking wind. Their only team to post a time in the first half of the day today was Caterham. Their best time is 23 seconds off the pace. The Red Bull crapped out on it's first out lap. It's since completed two more, neither timed. The Toro Rosso has done 8 out laps, no timed laps.

Mercedes seems to be doing well. It's two top teams are pounding out the laps. Ferrrari isn't doing too badly.

JR

[astrochex]

Nice comparison picture of the Red Bull, Ferrari, Mercedes and Torro Rosso

[javadog]

It appears that Red Bull has pulled the plug on the rest of their day. Seems that some aspect of their packaging is causing their problems and a quick fix is not in the cards.

JR

[javadog]

Red Bulll has packed up and gone home. 14 laps total, for the week, I think. Most of those are out laps.

Ferrari set the fastest times, although the gaps are pretty wide through the field so the times probably mean nothing. Mercedes seems to have done the best job so far, as their engines seemed less problematic and they pounded out a lot of laps between their teams.

McLaren might actually have a decent car this year.

Bernie is still *****ing about how they look, how they sound, etc.

JR

[5String43]

Looks like Adrian Newey is being forced to rethink the Red Bull's packaging. Components were getting so hot that burn spots were showing up on the bodywork, according to reports.

Something else that's interesting is that Alonzo says the driving style required for the new cars isn't that different. Massa, meanwhile, says the driving style is considerably different. Hmm.

[javadog]

I think Ferrari has done a few things to make the driver's workload easier. The power units are amazingly complex and there seems to be a bunch of things they can play with. Some people have reported that their downshifts are as seamless as their upshifts. I'd like to think somebody other than Red Bull has a new idea for a change.

JR

[javadog]

Looks like the track dried up late in the day and Massa ended up nearly a second quicker than Alonso.

Not bad, for a Williams car...

JR

[David]

It'll be interesting to hear them in November. I went to the 1984 F1 in Dallas and I remember the cars sounding incredible, maybe better than the V-8s last year but that was a long time ago. The old CART turbo cars sounded really good too.

[bell]

I'm hoping for a Williams resurrection this year.....

[rusnak]

Massa is in P1. Not that testing is any indication of race preparation status, but that's not too shabby.

[yellowperil]

Easier to tell He and Ham apart now.

[legion]

Originally Posted by rusnak

He also revealed that Merc and McLaren are splitting the workload among both teams testing the engine mapping. So no one knows just how fast Merc or McLaren will be until the first race.

I thought that McLaren was using Honda engines this season?

[javadog]

No, that's next year.

JR

[rusnak]

5String, that's what I also read in Ricciardo's comments as well. I wonder if Renault's ER system produces more heat than Ferrari's and Merc's.