Maybe, but that is not what Vettel is implying in the quote I posted in post # 29Quote:
Originally Posted by Sonic
I do agree that the tires do seem to be responsible for slowing them down the most over several laps! :)
Maybe, but that is not what Vettel is implying in the quote I posted in post # 29Quote:
Originally Posted by Sonic
I do agree that the tires do seem to be responsible for slowing them down the most over several laps! :)
Quote:
Originally Posted by fandango
:up:
Lunch break. Here are the times so far:
1 Vettel Red Bull 1m23.315s
2 Barrichello Williams 1m24.042s +0.727
3 Rosberg Mercedes 1m24.730s +1.415
4 Di Resta Force India 1m25.194s +1.879
5 Alonso Ferrari 1m25.247s +1.932
6 Alguersuari Toro Rosso 1m25.259s +1.944
7 Kovalainen Lotus 1m26.421s +3.106
8 Petrov Renault 1m26.884s +3.569
9 Button McLaren 1m27.027s +3.712
10 Liuzzi HRT 1m28.580s +5.265
11 Kobayashi Sauber 1m29.498s +6.183
12 Glock Virgin 1m41.670s +18.355
Lotus and Virgin both way off the pace but then again, this is a track that does favour the KERS cars.
That saying though, their average pace on long fuel runs is still good
All done for Saturday:
1 Vettel Red Bull 1m23.315s
2 Alguersuari Toro Rosso 1m23.519s +0.204
3 Alonso Ferrari 1m23.978s +0.663
4 Barrichello Williams 1m24.008s +0.693
5 Heidfeld Renault 1m24.242s +0.927
6 Kobayashi Sauber 1m24.243s +0.928
7 Rosberg Mercedes 1m24.730s +1.415
8 Button McLaren 1m24.923s +1.608
9 Di Resta Force India 1m25.194s +1.879
10 Kovalainen Lotus 1m26.421s +3.106
11 Petrov Renault 1m26.884s +3.569
12 Liuzzi HRT 1m27.044s +3.729
13 Glock Virgin 1m27.242s +3.927
14 Teixeira Lotus 1m31.584s +8.269
That Sauber is looking rather reliable (for a change!). Kobayashi has done nothing less than 256 laps so far, which is impressive.
There has to be some concern in the MacLaren garage by now.
Perhaps Lewis can put on a brave face with a blistering lap tomorrow?
Buttons comments on the teams testing pace..
"Do you really think the Ferrari is six tenths slower than the Red Bull?" Button said, in reference to the headline lap times on Saturday.
"And the Ferrari on the long runs seem to be two seconds quicker than everyone else.
"There are so many things going on and in testing it's so difficult to get an understanding anyway.
"The soft compared to the hard tyre is one and a half seconds quicker and if someone has the super-soft here it's another second.
"So it's very difficult to know the pace of people and what they're doing.
"What is interesting is people's consistency - that's when you can really see if they have a good car.
"Ferrari does look competitive in terms of consistency but so do a lot of others and the Red Bull looks pretty good but not as good as the Ferrari."
Meanwhile Alonso states that Red Bull are strongest.. :D
More of the interview here.. http://news.bbc.co.uk/sport1/hi/moto...ne/9402487.stm
That's pretty much hit the nail on the head Zico. McLaren are still running back to back tests on their fancy exhaust; Mercedes keep telling us they don't have their 2011 spec car; Red Bull and Ferarri have had some technical issues. In short no one is any the wiser now than we were two weeks ago. We probably won't know for sure until they line up in Bahrain or Oz (which ever comes first) who's got the package.
There is one thing we can be sure of though, judging by this, we can safely say that the return of the 107% qualifying rules announced last year will have been a bit of a waste of time, everyone whos'e set a reasonable race pace during the test so far in the dry are all well below the projected 107% time. For instance, taking Vettel's fastest time today of 1m 23.315 gives a 107% time of 1m 29.147 and the slowest 2011 dry runner so far (Timo Glock) is nearly 2 seconds quicker than that so far. hell even last year's Hispania cars are well under the 107% limitQuote:
Originally Posted by Sonic
I'll agree with that, with Red Bull probably holding a little extra back, and McLaren still finding it's way.Quote:
Originally Posted by Sonic
Wet track this morning, first real taste of Perelli intermediates.
Is it a waste though? The last couple of years we've had plenty of wet races, and at the moment nobody really knows how the new tyres will cope or how the aero will react. Today could actually be very valuable.
From Tabatha Valls (Virgin PR):
#F1 results after 2 and a half hours... http://twitpic.com/41t2cl
Red flags for Pastor, then Perez, and now for Massa. Slippery out there.
Another spin from Massa brings out red flag.
McLaren sidelined by another technical issue, Button lost time yesterday and now Hamilton stuck in the garage.
Mike Gascoyne:
Too wet for dry tyres and getting too dry for any meannful work on the the inters. hopefully will dry up for the afternoon
Toro Rosso's time yesterday wasn't on a qualifying lap. They are looking at a good season.
From Tabatha Valls again:
Results, end of day 3 in Barcelona... #F1 http://twitpic.com/41weo6
Link to times as text:
http://www.manipef1.com/testing/days/2011/brc20feb/
Good stuff from Williams today, looks like they're finally getting some consistency in their lap times, both Rubinho and Maldonado both up amonget the fastest so far, I think they could be in for a great year.
Plus I think now we can safely say that we can give Lotus a big "Welcome to the Midfield" terrific lap time from Trulli today. (15th overall out of 26 over the 3 days)
It will probably be the SOS this season but who is the darkhorse. everyyear a team may come up that ladder. I pick Toro Rosso
If there's a dark horse, maybe it will be Merc. It wouldn't really be a surprise if they had a great car in Oz.
Mark Webber and Felipe Massa both did full race simulations yesterday. In fact they are the only two to complete the full race distance uninterrupted.
Their respective times relative to one another..
Webber ------- Massa
01:29.774 ---- 01:31.409
01:29.875 ---- 01:31.021
01:30.196 ---- 01:31.654
01:31.404 ---- 01:31.407
01:32.058 ---- 01:31.550
01:32.025 ---- 01:32.125
01:32.473 ---- 01:32.141
01:33.268 ---- 01:31.583
00:00.000 ---- 01:37.390
00:00.000 ---- 01:32.492
01:27.457 ---- 01:32.521
01:27.993 ---- 01:32.624
01:28.969 ---- 01:32.800
01:29.834 ---- 01:32.990
01:30.212 ---- 01:33.893
01:30.879 ---- 01:33.967
01:31.176 ---- 01:34.406
01:31.369 ---- 00:00.000
01:31.957 ---- 00:00.000
01:32.406 ---- 01:29.289
01:32.636 ---- 01:28.639
01:33.251 ---- 01:33.876
01:33.639 ---- 01:29.749
00:00.000 ---- 01:30.024
00:00.000 ---- 01:30.092
01:29.941 ---- 01:30.018
01:29.678 ---- 01:29.991
01:29.853 ---- 01:30.178
01:30.345 ---- 01:30.287
01:30.818 ---- 01:30.345
01:30.246 ---- 01:30.758
01:30.864 ---- 01:31.459
01:30.431 ---- 01:31.874
01:30.600 ---- 01:32.471
01:30.770 ---- 00:00.000
01:30.613 ---- 00:00.000
01:32.648 ---- 01:28.227
01:31.842 ---- 01:36.578
01:31.337 ---- 01:27.835
01:31.140 ---- 01:28.118
01:32.396 ---- 01:28.302
01:32.545 ---- 01:28.702
01:32.364 ---- 01:29.071
01:33.610 ---- 01:28.947
01:33.249 ---- 01:28.981
00:00.000 ---- 01:29.302
00:00.000 ---- 01:29.288
01:24.995 ---- 01:29.495
01:28.324 ---- 01:29.966
01:29.115 ---- 01:30.148
01:28.402 ---- 00:00.000
01:28.341 ---- 00:00.000
01:28.375 ---- 01:31.551
01:29.036 ---- 01:26.508
01:28.564 ---- 01:26.990
01:29.046 ---- 01:31.452
01:29.465 ---- 01:27.358
01:28.664 ---- 01:27.465
01:29.138 ---- 01:27.665
01:32.022 ---- 01:28.348
01:29.261 ---- 01:28.473
01:30.155 ---- 01:28.962
01:29.862 ---- 01:32.195
01:30.341 ---- 01:28.080
01:30.752 ---- 01:28.140
00:00.000 ---- 00:00.000
1:29:01.999 vs 1:29:01.170
If there is any significant pointers to be taken from testing, the full race simulation times are probably the most likely.. Any thoughts?
Lotus are posting some decent times but they are still suffering: Trulli's relatively minor crash earlier has ended their programme due to lack of spares.
I don't think that this is really significant. Even when doing a race simulation, their programmes were different. Given that the RBR is believed to be kind on its tyres, I don't believe that they would choose a three-stopper in the Barcelona race, as they have done. If anything, this might be an indicator of that the Red Bull is a bit faster than the Ferrari, but, then again, we can't be sure about how much fuel they had or if the drivers were pushing at all.Quote:
Originally Posted by Zico
Here endeth the Barcelona test:
1 Massa Ferrari 1m22.625s
2 Webber Red Bull 1m23.442s +0.817
3 Buemi Toro Rosso 1m23.550s +0.925
4 Heidfeld Renault 1m23.657s +1.032
5 Hamilton McLaren 1m24.003s +1.378
6 Maldonado Williams 1m24.057s +1.432
7 Sutil Force India 1m24.177s +1.552
8 Perez Sauber 1m24.515s +1.890
9 D'Ambrosio Virgin 1m26.501s +3.876
10 Schumacher Mercedes 1m27.079s +4.454
11 Trulli Lotus 1m29.992s +7.367
And so the teams pack up and head off to, erm...
Staying in Barcelona seems a rather sensible decision to me, as they're now supposed to do two more tests. For instance, Barcelona (or Algarve) and Paul Ricard would be a fine decision, don't you think?Quote:
Originally Posted by Dave B
Spain seems the most logical solution, the only drawback being the lack of high-temperature running before the season starts. Abu Dhabi would perhaps be better from a technical perspective, but I suspect it'll prove too difficult to organise.
Test confirmed for Barcelona, 8th - 11th March.
Well, testing is testing and results can largely be taken with a rather large pinch of Salt BUT....
McLaren???
RB look fast and Ferrari is pretty much there as well. I think they will both be on Par come the first race at, er, wherever the first race is??
McLaren though look to be struggleing. They were a bit late to the Party and Hamilton is not relishing these new boots it seems. It's rare that a car looks off the pace in testing and suddenly bounces to the top in the first race.
Perhaps this really will be Buttons year again but only if the Mac picks up it's Peticoat a bit.
Hard to tell really, McLaren seem to be trying a lot of different things so where their true pace is its hard to tell but it does look slightly off RBR and Ferrari.
They have said they haven't had time to work on setup because they're a step behind on the basic testing of configurations. Perhaps when they start optimising their setups we'll see more of what the car is capable of. But certainly it doesn't look particularly great right now. Looks as if it's on cold tyres all the time, I read on one of the twitter feeds during this test. As has been previously suggested, is their design too bold?
Still too early to tell, McLaren has shown some good pace, but they are also really struggling with tire degradation on their long runs. Dodgy business comparing times at this point
It seems at this stage there are four silver cars that will have form very hard to predict this year. I'm (selfishly) hoping they are the fastest, but I get the feeling this is Vettel's year again.
For what its worth, the full leaderboard for the Barcelona test (not including reserve drivers, thats no Ricciardo, Liuzzi, Mondino or Teixera)
* = 2010 car
1. Felipe Massa - Ferrari ................ 1m 22.625 (244 laps)
2. Nico Rosberg - Mercedes ................ + 0.543 (223 laps)
3. Sebastian Vettel - Red Bull ................ + 0.690 (141 laps)
4. Mark Webber - Red Bull ................ + 0.817 (208 laps)
5. Vitaly Petrov - Renault ................ + 0.838 (174 laps)
6. Jaime Alguersuari - Toro Rosso ................ + 0.894 (154 laps)
7. Sebastien Buemi - Toro Rosso ................ + 0.925 (121 laps)
8. Nick Heidfeld - Renault ................ + 1.032 (163 laps)
9. Lewis Hamilton - McLaren ................ + 1.233 (200 laps)
10. Fernando Alonso - Ferrari ................ + 1.353 (191 laps)
11. Rubens Barrichello - Williams ................ + 1.383 (170 laps)
12. Pastor Maldonado - Williams ................ + 1.432 (181 laps)
13. Adrian Sutil - Force India ................ + 1.552 (166 laps)
14. Kamui Kobayashi - Sauber ................ + 1.618 (203 laps)
15. Sergio Perez - Sauber ................ + 1.890 (189 laps)
16. Jenson Button - McLaren ................ + 2.298 (131 laps)
17. Paul di Resta - Force India ................ + 2.569 (106 laps)
18. Jarno Trulli - Team Lotus ................ + 2.829 (66 laps)
19. Heikki Kovalainen - Team Lotus ................ + 3.796 (112 laps)
20. Jerome d'Ambrosio - Virgin ................ + 3.876 (166 laps)
21. Timo Glock - Virgin ................ + 3.973 (163 laps)
22. Michael Schumacher - Mercedes ................ + 4.454 (204 laps)
23. *Narain Karthikeyan - Hispania ................ + 5.768 (148 laps)
----------------------------------------------------------------------
DQ. 107% time - 1m 28.409 ................ + 5.784
Yep, it's no definitive indication but does give you a "feel" for how preperation is going. At the moment, the feel isn't good but lets see in Australia.Quote:
Originally Posted by Mr Alcatraz
I know it's hardly unexpected, but an interesting comment from Heidfeld on his official blog:
"Finally a word to all of my fans: I sadly have to disappoint everyone who is thinking that we are top of the grid now because of the fastest lap of Robert in Valencia and mine in Jerez. I hope that we will do well, but it seems that Red Bull is the fastest team. Certainly we work hard to chance this."
Unusual to comment like this, but maybe its just a veil over their pace. Either that or Nick is unhappy with the car still...
He's just being realistic. I don't think any serious follower of F1 thinks that Renault have suddenly overtaken Red Bull, these things just don't happen overnight. In fact now with Kubica sidelined, I expect Renault to fall back to the midfield as the season progresses since, with all due respect to Heidfeld, their driver line-up is certainly not the strongest on the grid.Quote:
Originally Posted by pettersolberg29
Yep I think it's setting expectations to say "hey look....we're not gonna challenge RBR for wins in the first race" but they've shown decent pace thus far.