F1 2010: Testing sessions thread

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Originally Posted by Mia 01

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=t4z2Vx6hniw

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Funny how at the end of the vid there's this random Spanish guy shouting "¡va roto!" (it's broken!) when the rattling engine of Massa's car passes by :D
(sigh)

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Originally Posted by jens

Hmmm... If the car is the real deal, I would slightly feel sorry for one thing! Trulli has said that he had negotiations with Sauber, but those ended pretty quickly after Peter asked for outlooks of bringing sponsorship. Shame about Jarno missing out a good car just because he isn't a paydriver. I suspect this is also why Heidfeld fell out of contention pretty quickly.

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Well...sorry there jens, but I can't agree with you here. AFAIK, DLR is not bringing any sponsor to the team (actually, Sauber is still sponsorless).Thus, he can't be considered a pay driver. He himself jokingly stated on several media sources (I heard him on two national radios) that he wishes he could be a pay driver to help the team economically, but that's not the case.
Besides that, IMO Jarno, Nick, and Pedro are all in the same league: not bad drivers, but not WC material, and on the top of that Pedro is the best car developer out of those 3. All in all I think it's not such a bad choice for Sauber...

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Originally Posted by Mia 01

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=t4z2Vx6hniw

Take a look at the BMW Sauber.

It seems as it is the fastest car of them all.

Well done! Fast out of the box.

The MacLaren was late in the session once again painted in flow wiz.
Not a good sign, not at all!

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They used the paint ALL last year. I think it has become a part their development program.

Poor old Robert Kubica. If the season pans out like the first test he's gonna have to get used to being lapped by his old car.

Is the engine cover on the McLaren attached to the rear wing?

http://images.gpupdate.net/large/144551.jpg

No. But it sits very snug to the elements of the wing.

Those experienced hands will know that today's first test was everyone just finding out if the car holds together and runs without bits "scraping" or overheating.

Paffett indicated that Mclaren ran full tanks and they were concentrating on the understeer effect from the new tyres - that has to be dialed out.

Rosberg rand in the AM while Schumi in the PM and temperature makes a big difference as well as fuel loads.

Same with Ferrari who ran Massa about 30 more laps than anyone else.

Nothing can be judged from this first day and probably the entire first test.

It is not accidental that Newey does not mind sitting out the first test. Adrian Newey is to design what Schumi is to racing driving - and Virgin may be concerned given his reply to a question during the Autosport show recently.

Only each team knows whether it is time to panic!!!

I think the Mercedes at the track is just a beautiful car - the best looking car so far I'd say - although I am expecting Red Bull to once again be the prettiest car by far. Sebastian "Mansell" Vettel could be the favorite this year to win - Adrian Newey remarked that Vettel reminds him a great deal of Nigel Mansell.

I think that the first test still is important, because you see how the car handles and then in the second one you just push. I don't think that RBR are missing it because Newey is genius - I believe that they are simply late, because they really wanted the 2009 title and one could speculate that they knew that this were their best shot. I also want to remind that Newey has produced not only brilliant cars, but some abominations as well. This is not to say that he can not produce a Brawn GP-like dominator; undoubtedly he can. But he might produce a turkey as well. IMO it is way too early to say that his team is favorite, I won't be surprised if they flop.
But I do agree that it is very premature to judge from times. Honestly, I think that the Sauber and maybe the Williams ran light, while McLaren and Renault were likely heavy. Ferrari and MercGP were likely in between. However, I believe that Michael was very impressive. They said that he wouldn't adapt to the car and he is fast right from the start. Same about Felipe. Some people thought that the injury would prevent him from performing well, but for now the signs are good.
That's why - and because it is fun - the test is important.

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Originally Posted by maximilian

And Renault must be horrified!! They might be as slow as the car looks! :)

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Originally Posted by Sonic

Poor old Robert Kubica. If the season pans out like the first test he's gonna have to get used to being lapped by his old car.

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As RK says:

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"I don't care about the times, the priority for today was different. Testing is not to be on top of the list. Last year the maximum fuel load was 60-70kg, so if someone was lighter the difference was about 30kg. This year you can find some cars running 30kg and some 150kg, which makes the gaps much bigger. It's important to be where we should be when it counts, in Bahrain."

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http://www.autosport.com/news/report.php/id/81195

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Originally Posted by Saint Devote

I think the Mercedes at the track is just a beautiful car - the best looking car so far I'd say - although I am expecting Red Bull to once again be the prettiest car by far. Sebastian "Mansell" Vettel could be the favorite this year to win - Adrian Newey remarked that Vettel reminds him a great deal of Nigel Mansell.

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Yeah, Mansell was an asshole too.

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Originally Posted by henners88

Its quite amusing, not just here, but people judged the first days test purely on the lap times and have made assumptions on who is fastest. As the drivers have said, each team is running a different test program. Williams were running light as they usually do, Ferrari were testing first stints with 30 kg's of fuel and Mclaren were running heavy to tackle an understeer problem.

We can't read too much into anything yet. Teams want to be sure of reliability before showboating for the masses... :)

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Whichever team is the fastest on a given day, the people will hype that team to be a winner and a really fast car. Has been so eversince I made The Mistake and started reading internet forums.