2014 Pre-Season Testing

I'm all for the teams at the back of the pack making up ground, and I'd be happy if they made up so much that the cars became pole winning and podium earning cars at that. The closer the cars are in performance, the more the races get mixed up based on driver skill, strategy, qualification, etc. You'll never see me oppose tight racing, even if my preferred drivers don't win.

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Originally Posted by airshifter

It's great to see that some cars are near last years times, but without the full picture it still doesn't tell us much. If that time was a flyer in qually trim then they might be slow, if that lap was after a lot of laps in race conditions in race trim it tells us more, but still not the whole picture really.

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If Hulkenberg's time was set after a lot of laps in race trim it would be truly astonishing. If it was a flier in full qualy trim then it means the 2014 cars are not going to be as slow as was previously speculated.

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Originally Posted by airshifter

I really don't pay much attention to testing times until the last couple of tests, and then only pay a little bit of attention. There are far too many variables as to who it testing what at what point in the day, fuel loads, sandbagging, etc.

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I think that's true in "normal" years but this year is so up in the air I think the testing is more significant.

I doubt anyones even thought about sandbagging for example, I think the majority of teams are just concentrating on getting the things reliable and driveable and set up and performance will come later.

I think it could be quite significant that all four Mercedes teams are fairly consistently at the head of the times, bar the odd interruption from Ferrari.

Obviously we can't draw any conclusions from the times they are setting. We would have to know who has turned the wick up and who hasn't. It's probably safe to say that RB hasn't even come close. Perhaps a team or two did near the end of practice when the fastest times were set. FWIW McLaren and FI set their fastest times on super softs. Ferrari and Mercedes were on softs, not sure about the rest of the field.

Super softs? Not available at Bahrain AFAIAA

Magnussen today only ~2secs slower than last years pole. The cars are not as pathetic as some have predicted. Surely not as slow as GP2 cars as I have heard some people saying

Interesting comments by Kobayashi: http://www.autosport.com/news/report.php/id/112590

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Originally Posted by SGWilko

Super softs? Not available at Bahrain AFAIAA

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13:24 The McLaren returns to the pits after that short run. EDD STRAW reports that Magnussen was running the super-soft tyre.

Today is Kimi back in the Ferrari. I hope he gives us a glimse of what the car really can do.

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Originally Posted by Mia 01

Today is Kimi back in the Ferrari. I hope he gives us a glimse of what the car really can do.

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They will not tip their hand. Right now many have problems. I would imagine Ferrari is running very low boost.
They have the upper hand and they will not show all. Alonso will storm Aussie