[Training] The 2010 Pre-Season Testing Thread

[foreversideways]

I think Nico better resign himself to having a learning year at the feet of the master.

[jab]

Michael could see out of the car and had the benefit of rubber down on the track. Nico had neither of these

It's not over yet, not by a long way...but good to see Michael is on the pace straight away. We now know he's unlikely to be struggling this year. Ditto Massa. But other than that, no conclusions can be drawn so far

Videos (proper ones at that) here and here

[old man]

Originally Posted by Steevp

At the risk of being premature, and contrary to his already released Press statement I predict Britney will keep that half second deficit to TGF all season..

I know I am just a silly old codger and once again risk being foolish but why "Britney" please?

[jab]

Good quality pics of the diffusers - McLaren's looks incredibly detailed, you can tell they've concentrated a lot of their time on it. Remains to be seen whether it'll work or not, but I expect Lewis to be higher and much faster than GP tomorrow

[kezza7]

Originally Posted by jab

Michael could see out of the car and had the benefit of rubber down on the track. Nico had neither of these

It's not over yet, not by a long way...but good to see Michael is on the pace straight away. We now know he's unlikely to be struggling this year. Ditto Massa. But other than that, no conclusions can be drawn so far

Videos (proper ones at that) here and here

Watching the end of the 1st vid, i notice Sauber still have all the BMW Sauber motorhomes, and the staff even still have the overalls and jackets. I was under the beleif that BMW had pulled out! Well they didnt do it very well...

[Steevp]

Originally Posted by old man

I know I am just a silly old codger and once again risk being foolish but why "Britney" please?

You can't see the resemblance to Ms Spears?? )

Don't get me wrong, I'd love Nico to keep TGF honest.

[Jamesy-18]

Originally Posted by kezza7

Watching the end of the 1st vid, i notice Sauber still have all the BMW Sauber motorhomes, and the staff even still have the overalls and jackets. I was under the beleif that BMW had pulled out! Well they didnt do it very well...

I'm sure BMW are delighted, exposure time at no cost whatsoever!

[strider]

Originally Posted by Bononi

First day of testing,

Today's times:

Pos  Driver        Team                      Time      Laps
 1.  Massa         Ferrari              (B)  1:12.574  102              
 2.  de la Rosa    BMW Sauber-Ferrari   (B)  1:12.784   74                
 3.  M.Schumacher  Mercedes GP          (B)  1:12.947   40                
 4.  Rosberg       Mercedes GP          (B)  1:13.543   39                
 5.  Paffett       McLaren-Mercedes     (B)  1:13.846   86                
 6.  Barrichello   Williams-Cosworth    (B)  1:14.449   75                
 7.  Buemi         Toro Rosso-Ferrari   (B)  1:14.762   18                
 8.  Kubica        Renault              (B)  1:15.000   69                 

All Timing Unofficial

Uhn... new game, same old faces.

If I were Kubica I would look those times rather quizzically, unless he knows what Renault are up to and we don't.

[tblincoe]

Originally Posted by jab

Good quality pics of the diffusers - McLaren's looks incredibly detailed, you can tell they've concentrated a lot of their time on it. Remains to be seen whether it'll work or not, but I expect Lewis to be higher and much faster than GP tomorrow

Thanks a bunch for the link jab - interesting stuff on the McLaren as you wrote. Looking at the Ferrari it does look a bit simplistic by comparison to some of the others, but not enough so to trigger the kind of alarm of late last week.

I guess the real interest is in seeing the floor and a cross section of the air travel from there out the back of the diffuser. Here's hoping we get some of the technical analysis from formula1.com and others over the testing period - I find the different treatments to be pretty fascinating.

[tblincoe]

I also wouldn't doubt the conjecture in the paddock that Williams has another more advanced diffuser that they'll introduce to their car before Bahrain.

[gary396]

Ref timing - the official timing for F1 practice is carried out by TSL www.tsl-timing.com - click on the Events Diary, for 2010 and then (obviously) February.

TSL often do live timing via their site but I don't know if they do it for F1 practice - but at least you'll be able to access the end of day results via that site.

[Marbot]

A bit of 'on track' action.

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

[strider]

Originally Posted by gary396

Ref timing - the official timing for F1 practice is carried out by TSL www.tsl-timing.com - click on the Events Diary, for 2010 and then (obviously) February.

TSL often do live timing via their site but I don't know if they do it for F1 practice - but at least you'll be able to access the end of day results via that site.

If you go to that site, one of the Menu items in the blue box towards the bottom right-hand corner is F1 Team Testing.

Just click on that and go from there, but you won't get any live timing, just the end of the day times.

[Marbot]

Pedro is happy with the new Sauber, and if he's happy, then they should be happy.

http://www.autosport.com/news/report.php/id/81187

[herowassenna]

Originally Posted by Javi

(ok, Mclaren was disqualified)

Bear in mind that Mclaren had already benefited from considerable Ferrari secrets by the time they were found out. Otherwise Mclaren may have been nowhere.
Also Alonso stated he found 0.5 to 0.6 of a second during winter testing. You cannot quantify what a driver like Alonso is worth. Hamilton is a great but he had the best in the world to learn from. He drove some excellent races last year, but I feel it was the Mclaren machine that brought on the improvements, not necessarily the driver.
This fact was proven by Button's 2nd half performance last year. All the updates worked in Rubens favour. Can anybody imagine a Schumi or Alonso allowing car direction to go away from their preferred set up...
And whatever you feel the differences between Alonso and Hamilton are, he is Team Mclaren. Montoya on learning that Alonso was to be partnered by Hamilton felt sympathy for him. Nuff said

[Jamesy-18]

Can we have a run down of who's driving tomorrow?

[jab]

McLaren - Hamilton
Mercedes - Rosberg
Ferrari - Massa
Williams - Barrichello
Renault - Kubica
Toro Rosso - Buemi
Sauber - Kobayashi

[Jamesy-18]

Originally Posted by jab

Ferrari - Massa

I thought that was the case too until I saw this:

Massa's new team-mate Fernando Alonso will take over on Tuesday and Wednesday to complete the driving duties for Ferrari to conclude the three-day test.

Source: BBC

That's why I was just seeing it from a different place.

[jab]

Don't listen to the BBC, they're usually well behind with this sort of thing - Ferrari altered their plans after the Mugello shakedown was called off. It's definitely Massa tomorrow, Alonso on Wednesday

[rocketracer]

Originally Posted by Marbot

Pedro is happy with the new Sauber, and if he's happy, then they should be happy.

http://www.autosport.com/news/report.php/id/81187

does anyone else have a feeling that sauber this year may have very strong parallels to brawn last year, in that the manufacturer spent quite some resources in the previous year developing the car, only to sell it off before it hit the track?

[jab]

I think so, and I hope so

De la Rosa as champion. Just visualise it. If they said Button winning the title was an upset, then what about the ageing Spaniard who has spent the last 7 years as a test driver? Would probably be seen by some as "damaging" the sport because the big guns would lose again, but I'd love it. A genuinely nice guy in a privateer team. Or even Kobayashi winning - Japanese rookie winning in his first full season after nearly ending up quitting racing and working in his dad's sushi restaurant. Either way, it would be a better story than Button winning IMO, because it would genuinely be a big shock - yes, Button winning last year was sort of a surprise in the short term but he's been marked out as a potential future champion since he entered F1 so in the grand scheme of things, not as big a surprise as DLR winning would be - the guy was completely missed by F1 until after he'd dominated in Japan, and only entered as a pay driver. Even a DLR race win would be incredible

Sorry, getting carried away

[Fox89]

Sorry, getting carried away

Mindless optimism is nice from time to time though!

[jab]

I'm just visualising de la Rosa standing on the top step of the podium at Interlagos, grinning from ear to ear, punching the air, champion a race before the end of the season, whilst alongside him are a miserable Lewis Hamilton and a deflated Sebastian Vettel. And a deserted crowd

[Marbot]

Just a thought about engines. There are 19 races this season, which means that eight engines will have to stretch that little bit further.

Fuel economy and tyre wear will be more important than lap times, and, for the moment, we don't really have much to go on with regards to either.

I think that only after the first race will we really know which teams have got their sums right.

[kmsport]

Originally Posted by Bononi

Like I explained in some other thread ?

At the risk of seeming stupid, I need to ask one thing.
Why are Ferrari taking measurement via pitot at what appears to be a vertical position at least 500mm above the top of the drivers helmet?

That is where (from a side shot) the pitot seems to be.