Team: John Owen (CD), Loic Bigois (HA), Craig Wilson (Head of Vehicle Eng. & Dynamics), Russell Cooley (CE), Ross Brawn (TP), Nick Fry (CEO), Norbert Haug (VP), Thomas Fuhr (MD), Rob Thomas (COO) Drivers: Michael Schumacher (7), Nico Rosberg (8)
A place to discuss the characteristics of the cars in Formula One, both current as well as historical. Laptimes, driver worshipping and team chatter do not belong here.
There's lots of people at the test buzzing around on Twitter with news that Mercedes are in some trouble and that the fast laps were set with soft tyres and little fuel, but there's no specifics on how they know how much fuel Mercedes was running.
Mind you, I don't think you can simply improve a car by three seconds in one day.
Massa set his quick time on a 7 lap run with fresh tires. I call BS.
Schu's long run data vs Webber posted above is more meaningful IMO. It shows the tires aren't falling off.
Other longer run data which is reasonably meaningful:
It's not really comparable because we don't know what tyres or fuel loads most of the cars were on, but here is the closest I can get to some meaningful information on longer runs done today.
segedunum wrote:There's lots of people at the test buzzing around on Twitter with news that Mercedes are in some trouble and that the fast laps were set with soft tyres and little fuel, but there's no specifics on how they know how much fuel Mercedes was running.
Mind you, I don't think you can simply improve a car by three seconds in one day.
I think it was evident Mercedes were concentrating on longer runs yesterday. Hence why the times didnt matter.
Today who can tell what tyres they were using or what fuel load they were on? fact is, if anyone isbothered by it they could do the same and see exactly where they stand in relation to Mercedes. But they didnt.
The fast times look good and the long run times look good in comparison to the other teams though we don't know the fuel loads. Either way, looks a little better than the last few test days.
dren wrote:The fast times look good and the long run times look good in comparison to the other teams though we don't know the fuel loads. Either way, looks a little better than the last few test days.
Be good to hear what Mercedes and the other top teams have to say. especially Schumachers long stint. That has surprised me...!
Schumi said he did the the quickest lap at the start of a 10 lap run on the super-softs and that some teams haven't tried the super-softs yet.
Looks like they were experimenting with the SS tyres on long runs when his laps were so up and down. Good mileage covered though without problems, so that's a good sign!
Predator wrote:Schumi said he did the the quickest lap at the start of a 10 lap run on the super-softs and that some teams haven't tried the super-softs yet.
Looks like they were experimenting with the SS tyres on long runs when his laps were so up and down. Good mileage covered though without problems, so that's a good sign!
What would the time diffeence between the supersofts and softs be?
Of course the consistency will less on supersofts, as you rightly pointed out.
But Schumachers last timed long stint was very impressive for consistency. It was done after Horner spouted his BS on twitter.
Others were using supersofts today as well, though we cannot be sure who though. Mclaren will start pushing their car a bit tomorrow and Sunday. Someone will break into the 1:19s.
On 10 Schu's 10 lap run, I would assume at least 35-40kg of fuel on board. Qualy is done with something like 5kg or so fuel on board. Schu has at least a good second more he can shave off that time. And come the new aero I am sure more time will be found as well.
Just had a good look at this car. The first thing that came to mind is the smoothness of the lines and contours. Very "organic" looking, was what I thought. I guess we'll see how the topology translates. Nice car otherwise.