At the moment they are 5 seconds off Barrichello who is currently the quickest, so...could be worse.Quote:
Originally Posted by RJL25
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At the moment they are 5 seconds off Barrichello who is currently the quickest, so...could be worse.Quote:
Originally Posted by RJL25
I think that's in line with expectation straight out of the box. Hopefully they'll be able to shave a few tenths off that prior to the first race and be a very respectable new outfit. It will be fascinating to see how they compare to Lotus, who have gone done the more traditional design route. If they merely equal Virgins pace the CFD will have prooved itself and visa versa if Lotus blow their doors off.Quote:
Originally Posted by DexDexter
Well, now they are only 2,7 seconds off the pace which doesn't sound bad at all no matter what the others are doing. Quite impressive IMO.Quote:
Originally Posted by Sonic
http://live.autosport.com/commentary.php/id/177
You have to assume it was probably on low fuel, but impressive nevertheless. I certainly wasn't expecting to see them looking that competitive so soon. Less than 3 seconds off the best time from yesterday.Quote:
Originally Posted by DexDexter
I'm very happy for Virgin.
Trouble free day and lots of laps completed.
yep and times were respectableQuote:
Originally Posted by gloomyDAY
Renault also seems to be getting things sorted out
Well, Virgin was actually IMO very impressive after their earlier troubles, even if their fastest lap was done on fumes.
But I don't remember winter testing, which has left the situation as unclear as it looks now especially with all teams testing together - maybe a comparison can be brought from last year. :) Anyway, it looks quite tight, so quite like 2009. :p : And if we recall Australian GP qualifying, then indeed - after Brawn the rest of the teams were rather similarly paced.
One thing I have learnt from Jerez is that Ferrari's long stint was arguably impressive. They also looked in good shape at Valencia, but I'm not convinced they are the "team to beat".
McLaren? Well, it looks like their situation is certainly better than last year at the same time. Should be taken into serious consideration.
Mercedes I personally suspect is a bit behind. There are also rumours that not all of their '10 parts have been unveiled yet (like diffuser), but a couple of days ago there were suggestions that MB was a second per lap slower than Ferrari on a long-run.
Red Bull and Force India have joined others in testing, but all that rain has left their potential kinda unlocked. RBR has been generally left a bit in the shadow, but I still get the feeling they are in the mix. Same with Force India - Sutil seems rather upbeat about the car. But hardly surprising - I quite expected them to be the dark horse of the season to mix it with the top guns.
Sauber and STR are a bit unclear. Both have shown glimpses of speed, but how exactly do they fit among others in the pecking order, is a bit unclear.
Williams has looked better than at Valencia, but they constantly leave an impression that something is still missing. The same can be said about Renault.
Well, let's see, what will the next tests bring to us. :)
Yep, to be just 3.3 seconds off the fastest time on your first proper run is a fantastic achievement, definitely something to build from.Quote:
Originally Posted by gloomyDAY
Really really happy for them indeed
I found it very interesting that both schu and massa ran out of fuel (on purpose), clearly the teams are trying to find out just how fine they can cut it for a GP distance.
OVERALL TEST TIMES FOR 2nd OFFICIAL TEST
1. Lewis Hamilton - McLaren ................ 1m 19.583
2. Jaime Alguersuari - Toro Rosso ................ + 0.336
3. Kamui Kobayashi - Sauber ................ + 0.367
4. Sebastien Buemi - Toro Rosso ................ + 0.443
5. Adrian Sutil - Force India ................ + 0.597
6. Rubens Barrichello - Williams ................ + 0.758
7. Robert Kubica - Renault ................ + 0.775
8. Michael Schumacher - Mercedes ................ + 1.030
9. Jenson Button - McLaren ................ + 1.035
10. Niko Hulkenberg - Williams ................ + 1.046
11. Pedro de la Rosa - Sauber ................ + 1.153
12. Nico Rosberg - Mercedes ................ + 1.344
13. Sebastian Vettel - Red Bull ................ + 1.620
14. Fernando Alonso - Ferrari ................ + 1.841
15. Felipe Massa - Ferrari ................ + 1.902
16. Vitaly Petrov - Renault ................ + 2.417
17. Mark Webber - Red Bull ................ + 2.460
18. Lucas di Grassi - Virgin ................ + 3.329
19. Vitantonio Liuzzi - Force India ................ + 5.385
20. Timo Glock - Virgin ................ + 10.381