2012 Testing - Barcelona 2: 21-24 Feb

[diego1960]

Massa's current stint looks pretty fast, if he is running on hards I will start getting worried about their sudden improvement.

[dren]

is there any noticeable drop in performance among the Renault and Merc cars after FIA closes the loophole on engine mapping?

Autosport noted that the loophole was being closed before anyone had a chance to exploit it. They didn't think any of the teams were using it.

[Mr.S]

Hey,
I'm new on this forum.

If anything, it tells me how good MSC's feedback from yesterday was, and implemented today!

Don't forget that track conditions is a huge factor. Button said yesterday that 11h30 to 15h30 local time is the best moment for hard tyres. And Nico run hard tyres most of his simulation.

I have follow Maldonado's one as well. After the first stint (1.30/1.31 in average) he was close to match Nico lap times.
His fastest lap of race sim is 1'24.6 compare to 1'24.0 for Nico.
That's massively faster that Webber fastest lap yesterday, and I don't think that the Williams is suddenly better than the Red Bull !

Pastor did not do a Full race sim. He did 50 laps. And there was no red flag during his sim. Nico had to come in & do an out lap. Nico had 3 stops to Pastor's 2. So 4 laps of more fuel in that.

Plus Nico did 57 timed laps to Pastor's 50. Nico Rosberg had 11 Laps of More Fuel than Pastor.

Besides Pastor did a 50 lap race simulation while the full race distance is 66 Laps. So his times should be atleast 1.5-2s slower. Nico's times should probably be slightly slower too.

[Mr.S]

Indeed, Mr. S I suspect, just counted the number of minutes that Nico was doing the run for, not the number of laps.

I wonder, Mr. S, how does your prediction sit now? Are Mercedes still second fastest?

I predict Mercedes to be the 2nd fastest behind Red Bull. To beat Mclaren & Ferrari convincingly.


I did count the number of laps. There were 57 laps & I was multi-tasking at the point. So I probably made a mistake. Nico's time is slower than Vettel's rumoured to be 1.27.3 Average.

If you are such a big fan of my predictions,I have also said that Lotus will not be in the Top 3/4,Mclaren will be pushed hard by Force India & Button will own Hamilton again.

[FrukostScones]

is there any noticeable drop in performance among the Renault and Merc cars after FIA closes the loophole on engine mapping?

loophole was allegedly not exploited yet, Mercedes was the "manufacturer":

http://www.auto-motor-und-sport.de/form ... 43852.html

btw: Mercedes is chewing the soft tyres, McLaren ,Red Bull and FINDIA are much more consistent on them

[f1316]

Button, soft, 13 laps - average 1:28,865
Massa, medium, 13 laps - average 1:27,283
Button, soft, 13 laps - average 1:28,689
Kobajasi, N/A, 11 laps - average 1:31,293
Button, N/A, 12 laps - average 1:28,621
Rosberg, hard, 14 laps - average 1:26,287
Rosberg, N/A, 14 laps - average 1:28,130

Obviously, who knows who's doing what during these runs, but, superficially, I can't see what makes people believe that the Ferrari is slower than the McLaren.

The noises coming out of the team are less positive than McLaren's, of course, and recent history tells us Red Bull always seem to have more than they let on, but I'm not at all convinced that Ferrari are slow as many on here seem to believe.

[dren]

I did count the number of laps. There were 57 laps & I was multi-tasking at the point. So I probably made a mistake. Its not 1.27.6 I think. It is lesser than that & quicker than Vettel 1.27.3 odd. I will do the calculation again.

If you are such a big fan of my predictions,I have also said that Lotus will not be in the Top 3/4,Mclaren will be pushed hard by Force India & Button will own Hamilton again.

Why do you say Mclaren is so bad? I expect them to be just right behind Red Bull at the start of the season.

[cirrusflyer]

is there any noticeable drop in performance among the Renault and Merc cars after FIA closes the loophole on engine mapping?

loophole was allegedly not exploited yet, Mercedes was the "manufacturer":

http://www.auto-motor-und-sport.de/form ... 43852.html

btw: Mercedes is chewing the soft tyres, McLaren ,Red Bull and FINDIA are much more consistent on them

I thing that is becouse they are running heavy. Lets say I am an optimist

[FrukostScones]

is there any noticeable drop in performance among the Renault and Merc cars after FIA closes the loophole on engine mapping?

loophole was allegedly not exploited yet, Mercedes was the "manufacturer":

http://www.auto-motor-und-sport.de/form ... 43852.html

btw: Mercedes is chewing the soft tyres, McLaren ,Red Bull and FINDIA are much more consistent on them

I thing that is becouse they are running heavy. Lets say I am an optimist

http://www.autosport.com/news/report.php/id/97677

[Mr.S]

I dont think Mercedes is "chewing" the soft tyres. Mclaren & F-India have not done race simulations today & are on a much lighter load.

Nico was on full tank on softs in the race simulation. Besides Brawn said they are experimenting to see the degradation pattern as in which is better pushing in the 1st lap or not. Nico pushed very hard in his 1st lap.

[Pup]

Frankly, I think paying any attention at all to the lap times is a mistake. IMO, for the past few years the most accurate info seems to have been gleaned from trackside observations. Merc vs McLaren for example - track observers have said that the McLaren drivers are taking very leisurely laps, taking wide lines and avoiding the curbs religiously; whereas the Mercedes drivers have been very aggressive, jumping curbs and really wringing everything they can get out of each lap. That in itself tells us that the respective times they're putting in aren't worth comparing.

Just listening to the whispers from the track, I'd put the running order like so:

Red Bull
McLaren
Mercedes
Ferrari
Force India
Renault

With Red Bull and McLaren being very close, and the rest of the group being very close amongst themselves as well.

And of course, we haven't seen the final packages, and some teams will make more dramatic steps than others, so there's ample opportunity for shaking up the order.

[elf341]

the fact this is W03's first official test & the car has been quick & reliable to start with & has already completed 2 race Sims.

MSC has 127 & Nico has 139 laps today & Nico could probably have done more.

After missing the first two afternoons, I must say that Mercedes have impressed me with their stamina in the last two days - in my opinion, they have certainly made up for the missed time earlier in the test.

Ross Brawn also said that they have completed 2000 Kms in the W03 which is double what they had done this time last year with the W02 - don't know if that takes into account that there is one fewer pre-season test this year.

[CHT]

Has anyone done any average lap time for Caterham race simulation?

[Mr.S]

Frankly, I think paying any attention at all to the lap times is a mistake. IMO, for the past few years the most accurate info seems to have been gleaned from trackside observations. Merc vs McLaren for example - track observers have said that the McLaren drivers are taking very leisurely laps, taking wide lines and avoiding the curbs religiously; whereas the Mercedes drivers have been very aggressive, jumping curbs and really wringing everything they can get out of each lap. That in itself tells us that the respective times they're putting in aren't worth comparing.

Michael over a 15-16 lap stint was only loosing 1.5-2s at best on a heavy fuel load. If Michael was jumping curbs & wringing everything then tyre degradation would have been much higher.

Besides no-one on earth takes "Leisurely Laps" because that makes testing irrelevant & gives you no bench-mark to even improve the cars & identify problem areas. And Lewis Hamilton in not capable of driving "Leisurely Laps". He will drive flat out atleast most of the laps trying to gain as much performance as possible.

What is your source?? I can say that my source tells me Mclaren is jumping curbs & Mercedes is driving "Leisurely "

[The_Truth]

Massa's current stint looks pretty fast, if he is running on hards I will start getting worried about their sudden improvement.

Hace un rato Massa termino un stint de 13 vueltas con promedio de 1.27:200, tiempos muy estables para la Ferrari #F1 #Formula1 #FormulaOne

https://twitter.com/#!/GamalLiranzo/sta ... 2615090176

A while ago Massa finished a 13 laps stint with avg 1.27:200, very stable times for the Ferrari.