Obligatory Barcelona Testing Thread

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thehemogoblin
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Obligatory Barcelona Testing Thread

Post by thehemogoblin »

Mostly because I haven't started a thread in here in positively ages, I present you with... a discussion!

It's 10:00. Do you know where your children are?

    1 Webber Red Bull 1m23.335s
    2 Rosberg Mercedes 1m23.709s +0.374
    3 de la Rosa Sauber 1m23.783s +0.448
    4 Alguersuari Toro Rosso 1m24.968s +1.633
    5 Button McLaren 1m25.536s +2.201
    6 Liuzzi Force India 1m26.021s +2.686
    7 Alonso Ferrari 1m26.401s +3.066
    8 Hulkenberg Williams 1m27.904s +4.569
    9 Petrov Renault 1m29.513s +6.178
    10 Di Grassi Virgin 1m30.168s +6.833
    11 Fauzy Lotus 1m31.532s +8.197
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mario
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Re: Obligatory Barcelona Testing Thread

Post by mario »

At the moment, I would suggest that it might well be worth keeping an eye on Liuzzi's lap times, as he is running a full race simulation (so we should start to find out what a typical race pace should be).
Webber, meanwhile, has set a fairly quick time, with a 1m22.332 (set during a two lap, low fuel run) - although the times are still quite a way off the qualifying times of 2009, they are starting to come down into the lap times set during the races (by way of a benchmark, Rubens set a 1m22.7 last year, as the fastest race lap, whilst the qualifying laps were down in the low to mid 1m20's), which makes me suspect that most teams are probably running with a medium lenght stint of fuel on board, but are probably going to wait until the end of the day for the low fuel glory runs.
Meanwhile, it appears that Mercedes aren't bringing their new parts until tomorrow (there is talk of revised body work, possibly accompanied by small tweaks to thr front wing - although the jury is still out over whether there will be an updated diffuser, or whether that will only make an appearance at Bahrein).
Meanwhile, Ferrari are continuing to trial a new set of wheels (which first appeared towards the end of the Jerez test), with the wheel hubs seemingly shaped to assist brake cooling:
Image

Update as of noon - it appears that Virgin's fortunes go from bad to worse, as Di Grassi has had an accident at turn 9, crashing the car and causing quite a bit of damage, according to Autosport reports. Ferrari, meanwhile, have finally managed to get Alonso back on track, following earlier mechanical problems, but it has cost them nearly 2 and a half hours of running time (and they only managed to get about 15 minutes in before the lunch break). Meanwhile, Lotus are currently stuck right at the bottom of the timesheet, nearly 3 seconds off the VR-01 and over 8 seconds off Webber, although it does seem that Lotus have been mostly running installation laps and engine tests, so the times are a little off their true potential.
Webber, meanwhile, continues to demonstrate how quick Red Bull are, setting a 1m21.487s earlier on (and is the fastest time by over a second) - the car does look strong in qualifying trim, but we'll have to wait for a long run to get a better idea of the RB6's race pace.
Last edited by mario on 25 Feb 2010, 12:43, edited 1 time in total.
Martin Brundle, on watching a replay of Grosjean spinning:
"The problem with Grosjean is that he want to take a look back at the corner he's just exited"
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madcat
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Re: Obligatory Barcelona Testing Thread

Post by madcat »

So they ban those ugly boxes they had last year, so Ferrari build some new ones...
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mario
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Re: Obligatory Barcelona Testing Thread

Post by mario »

madcat wrote:So they ban those ugly boxes they had last year, so Ferrari build some new ones...

Actually, the status of the wheel covers remains unclear. Yes, the FIA did modify the regulations between 2009 and 2010, restricting where such devices could go. However, as this is actually part of the integral structure of the wheel, it may be legal. Besides, the agreement not to use wheel covers seems to have come from FOTA, not from the FIA - if true, then there would be, strictly speaking, no legally binding obligation to not use them.

Besides, the concept is hardly new - Porsche have been running wheels similar to this on their LMP2 cars for years (and there, like here, it is part of the structure of the wheel, hence why they can get away with it), and I believe that several other Le Mans Prototypes run a similar system. Hell, even some road cars have a similar system (I think that the BMW 5 series once had a similar system, also designed to increase airflow through the brakes to keep them cool).
Martin Brundle, on watching a replay of Grosjean spinning:
"The problem with Grosjean is that he want to take a look back at the corner he's just exited"
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Re: Obligatory Barcelona Testing Thread

Post by LionZoo »

Those Ferrari wheels look like cheapo black steel wheels that are used to mount snow tires.
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Re: Obligatory Barcelona Testing Thread

Post by Alianora La Canta »

Virgin's car had a somewhat awkward meeting with a wall. Once again there were not enough spares to fix the car and so they'll miss another day of running.

Lucas di Grassi may not be the most popular member of the squad right now.
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Re: Obligatory Barcelona Testing Thread

Post by Phoenix »

madcat wrote:So they ban those ugly boxes they had last year, so Ferrari build some new ones...

Oh please, not this again...
At this rate of crashes, Virgin is going to run out of money by mid-season. Better watch out, they're only testing. Apart of that, there's not much new. We have the Red Bulls, Mercedes and Saubers at the top, with Toro Rosso being surprising again. Button's and Alonso's times seem a bit slow though-were they doing laps with full fuel?-.
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Re: Obligatory Barcelona Testing Thread

Post by Jordan »

That's too bad, a virgin is a terrible thing to waste
"Grosjean has a great desire to turn around and look at the corner he's just gone through, too many times per lap or per session, he's always spinning that Renault"
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Re: Obligatory Barcelona Testing Thread

Post by Waris »

Jordan wrote:That's too bad, a virgin is a terrible thing to waste


Di Grassi was rather rough with the Virgin, eh?
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Re: Obligatory Barcelona Testing Thread

Post by thehemogoblin »

Waris wrote:
Jordan wrote:That's too bad, a virgin is a terrible thing to waste


Di Grassi was rather rough with the Virgin, eh?


He did in her rear end.
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Re: Obligatory Barcelona Testing Thread

Post by Waris »

thehemogoblin wrote:
Waris wrote:
Jordan wrote:That's too bad, a virgin is a terrible thing to waste


Di Grassi was rather rough with the Virgin, eh?


He did in her rear end.


Ouch, well, sounds like she's going to have trouble running tomorrow.
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Re: Obligatory Barcelona Testing Thread

Post by CarlosFerreira »

Day 2: HULKENBERG! YEAH! :ugeek: Alonso spun the Ferrari trying to beat him! :lol:

Sorry about the fanboyism. Normal service will resume.
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Re: Obligatory Barcelona Testing Thread

Post by Cynon »

I think the most worrying part is how slow the Renault is, and their pace may indicate that their current car is the same as last years...
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Re: Obligatory Barcelona Testing Thread

Post by mario »

Cynon wrote:I think the most worrying part is how slow the Renault is, and their pace may indicate that their current car is the same as last years...

Not good news, especially since Kubica was expecting Renault to move up the field after bringing several aerodynamic updates to this test session. If anything, given how De La Rosa was able to put in decent times on low fuel, as well as show decent pace on heavier fuel runs, he might have made a mistake in leaving the Sauber team.
And CarlosFerreira, although normally I disparage fanboyism, I will acceed to this because it is Williams fanboyism; given how testing the recent years have been for Williams supporters, anything which is encouraging is welcome indeed. Equally, the team have done a good job today - again, they managed to get a couple of long stints done, and they looked to be setting quite consistant times on higher fuel.
Interestingly, Ferrari have been experimenting with a few Bahrein upgrades; in particular, a shark fin engine cover, and a few new cooling intakes on the side of the sidepods.
Image
Mercedes, disappointingly, seem to be holding back thier upgrades until Bahrein - not that this seems to worry Haug. Yesterday, when evaluating the Red Bull times, he reckoned that Mercedes would be able to bring themselves right into the picture once they bolt on the Bahrein package. http://www.autosport.com/news/report.php/id/81695
Meanwhile, over at Mclaren, whilst the team are happy that the MP4-25 is further up the pecking order then last year, Hamilton conceeded that as the car stands, they are probably a little behind the rest of the field in terms of ultimate pace. Nevertheless, the team does have quite a few more updates in the wings, so they will probably close up on the rest later on. http://www.autosport.com/news/report.php/id/81744
Perhaps one thing that is also worrying are the number of times that Red Bull have stopped out on track. Vettel insists that the team have simply been overly cautious, choosing to stop the car and inspect it if there is the suggestion that something is wrong. http://www.autosport.com/news/report.php/id/81736
Even so, it is still a little concerning; I only hope that we aren't going to see yet another Newey "fast but fragile" wonder.
Martin Brundle, on watching a replay of Grosjean spinning:
"The problem with Grosjean is that he want to take a look back at the corner he's just exited"
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Re: Obligatory Barcelona Testing Thread

Post by mario »

A little update as of today. Finally, we have seen a fairly direct comparison between Ferrari and Mclaren for race pace, as both Button and Massa have been on track on long runs of comparable length.
At the moment, Massa has just pitted after 52 laps (and seemingly did the entire stint on the same set of tyres - but Bridgestone have brought the medium and super soft compounds today, instead of soft tyres). At about the 35 lap mark, he was running in the mid 1m26 bracket (along with Buemi, who has just done a 63 lap stint), whilst Button (who did 33 laps before changing tyres) was running in the high 1m25 bracket.
However, the situation switched markedly once Massa switched tyres at the 52 lap mark. Now, he is running in the mid 1m22 bracket - meanwhile, Button, who switched much earlier, is currently running in the high 1m23's.
Meanwhile, the Twitter feed of Force India has produced this gem:
clubforce wrote:"Oh dear. test boredom nigh. One of guys walking around with a cup stuck on his headphones. He doesn't know he has a cup stuck to his head."

You can't help but smile at that remark.
Martin Brundle, on watching a replay of Grosjean spinning:
"The problem with Grosjean is that he want to take a look back at the corner he's just exited"
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Re: Obligatory Barcelona Testing Thread

Post by shinji »

Better than 'Tour in a suit case' Takagi.
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Re: Obligatory Barcelona Testing Thread

Post by Porrima »

thehemogoblin wrote:Mostly because I haven't started a thread in here in positively ages, I present you with... a discussion!

It's 10:00. Do you know where your children are?


Locked in the basement as usual.

Last day, times

    Pos Driver Team Time Gap Laps
    1. Nico Rosberg Mercedes 1m20.686s 128
    2. Sebastien Buemi Toro Rosso 1m21.413s + 0.727s 106
    3. Jenson Button McLaren 1m21.450s + 0.764s 105
    4. Rubens Barrichello Williams 1m21.975s + 1.289s 101
    5. Felipe Massa Ferrari 1m22.344s + 1.658s 115
    6. Vitaly Petrov Renault 1m22.523s + 1.837s 68
    7. Adrian Sutil Force India 1m22.606s + 1.920s 61
    8. Sebastian Vettel Red Bull 1m23.123s + 2.437s 51
    9. Jarno Trulli Lotus 1m25.059s + 4.373s 102
    10. Kamui Kobayashi Sauber 1m26.216s + 5.530s 105
    11. Timo Glock Virgin 1m26.305s + 5.619s 31

I do think Vitali's run is promising.

The McLaren man we see most of in the video of the previous post reminded me of an evil hobbit for some reason - harsher measures than screens could have been used.
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Re: Obligatory Barcelona Testing Thread

Post by Waris »

I noticed Petrov's fastest time was actually better than Kubica's. Does that have any significance?
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Re: Obligatory Barcelona Testing Thread

Post by Cynon »

Waris wrote:I noticed Petrov's fastest time was actually better than Kubica's. Does that have any significance?


Other than the vastly underrated Petrov is more motivated than the vastly overrated Kubica, no. I don't think it has much significance, but I wouldn't be surprised if Kubica brings out the waaaahmbulance after a few races about how the car is. Either that or he pulls a Raikkonen and just troddles around, not giving a crap how he does on the track, and then goes off to the WRC for 2011-onwards.
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Re: Obligatory Barcelona Testing Thread

Post by Waris »

Cynon wrote:
Waris wrote:I noticed Petrov's fastest time was actually better than Kubica's. Does that have any significance?


Other than the vastly underrated Petrov is more motivated than the vastly overrated Kubica, no. I don't think it has much significance, but I wouldn't be surprised if Kubica brings out the waaaahmbulance after a few races about how the car is. Either that or he pulls a Raikkonen and just troddles around, not giving a crap how he does on the track, and then goes off to the WRC for 2011-onwards.


Well, he already drove one round in the IRC... (and miserably failed at that)
Edited to add: Hopefully it'll be in a Lada and not a Renault, then!
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Re: Obligatory Barcelona Testing Thread

Post by mario »

Waris wrote:I noticed Petrov's fastest time was actually better than Kubica's. Does that have any significance?

Because we don't know what fuel loads each driver had at the time, and we know that Bridgestone was changing the tyre compounds throughout the week (since Bridgestone also needs to collect data on the tyres, since the construction of the front tyres has changed), probably not. Besides, that doesn't include other factors, like the track and ambient temperatures, track condition, weather effects etc.
Whilst it may look promising, I would wait until we get to Bahrein before we start making judgements on Petrov - it is one thing to be good in testing, and another to actually do well in the race itself.
Martin Brundle, on watching a replay of Grosjean spinning:
"The problem with Grosjean is that he want to take a look back at the corner he's just exited"
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