2014 Pre-Season Testing

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Originally Posted by Malbec

It could be like 2002 where no hopers like Minardi and Toyota threatened to or did score points purely because they were reliable and the cars in front of them all dropped off. Focussing on reliability at the cost of performance could actually make the difference for a team like Marussia or Caterham....

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The case of 2002 was helped by a mass-accident in Turn1 in Australia as well. In 2008 and 2009 at Melbourne there was also some attrition, but those races also had first lap accidents.

I don't know if we could get less than 10 cars getting the chequered flag on reliability issues alone, but combined with a first-corner pile-up it could happen.

I personally remember the beginning of 1999 as a period of unreliability. In the first four races the amount of finishers was: 8, 9, 9, 8. And only in Spain we finally had something more - 13. I remember thinking back then that how come all those high-tech teams can't design cars that even at least half of them would finish races.

However, it has been a long time since we had 10 or less cars finishing a race. Certainly it hasn't happened in the last four years, since the backmarkers are yet to score! Perhaps the same Australia '08 was indeed the last race with <10 finishers. Best ever chance for Marussia and Caterham to score points is about to come! But if they are still genuine backmarkers without threatening teams ahead on pace, their luxury of having a shot at points isn't going to last long - at best a few opening races.

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Originally Posted by Mr Alca-Tazizzle

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Originally Posted by COD

Maybe Lotus wa sright after all not to attend the first test?

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Possibly, but IMO they are just delaying their teething period. As Paddy Lowe pointed out, they were ready to go partly because of the running they did at Silverstone

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There is nothing preventing Lotus to do a similar "shakedown" before the next big thest, is there?

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Originally Posted by COD

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Originally Posted by Mr Alca-Tazizzle

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Originally Posted by COD

Maybe Lotus wa sright after all not to attend the first test?

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Possibly, but IMO they are just delaying their teething period. As Paddy Lowe pointed out, they were ready to go partly because of the running they did at Silverstone

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There is nothing preventing Lotus to do a similar "shakedown" before the next big thest, is there?

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No not at all. I was making two separate points 1: Mercedes was ahead of the game right out of the box today in Paddy Lowe's words because of having already had a partial test day on Friday. 2: Lotus has to start some time, and when they do they will need to get the bugs out of the system just as the other teams are doing. They can have a media day before the next tests but they cannot get these tests days back in their entirety AFAIK.
Please do correct me if I'm wrong.

Also, I'm sure Lotus has sound reasons for not participating this week, but the fact that most other teams struggled the first day isn't one of them in my way of thinking. I do hope they represent themselves well in 2014 :)

I hope Kimi tops today with most laps and fastest time again.

Forca Ferrari!

Found this on YouTube this morning, with the sounds and sights of the new cars plodding their way round the track.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=s99QFe6htJ4#t=47

Also, due to the damp track this morning thanks to rain overnight, they've decided to switch the wet testing day from Friday to today and so have wetted the track more. Sadly, I'm expecting a lot of nothing again today. It can't be ideal to get the first lot of mileage of a new car they don't understand on a wet track.

A lot of cars straight out on the damp track apparently. Wonder if there will be many reliability issues today?

A lot more laps completed already today, although some way short of a "normal" test day. Lap times are also a long way off past years, although I guess they haven't even thought about performance yet.

Eight laps completed by Red Bull today, and their day is cut short again. Seems the Renault powered cars are having a lot of problems which is restricting their running.

Positively for them, especially after yesterday, McLaren have completed the most laps so far today and are top of the timesheets.