2012 Testing - Barcelona 2: 1 - 4 March

[JohnsonsEvilTwin]

McLaren/Button also suffered from excessive tyre wear Friday.

They may well have done. But, it didn't reflect as much in the consistency of the lap times, which looked very good.

[Hush]

McLaren/Button also suffered from excessive tyre wear Friday.

They may well have done. But, it didn't reflect as much in the consistency of the lap times, which looked very good.

It is an issue that all teams have to deal with. Webber's times were very consistent too.

[JohnsonsEvilTwin]

Compare the drop off rate average of the RB8, the 27 and the W03 and you will see that the W03 suffers a bigger cliff drop than aforementioned cars.

[Hail22]

Just over 5 hours remaining til testing begins, has Lotus arrived with their "revised" Chassis?

[CHT]

The 'top three' have gone for an alternating line up starting with Button, Webber and Massa.

I am trying not to read too much into this, but somehow i do feel that the driver arrangement do have something to do with the status of the driver within the team.

Take Alonso, Hamilton and Vettel for example, for me I would classify them as the star driver for the team, due to their speed and perhaps more highly paid than their respective teammate.

Whereas for Button, Massa and Webber, they do look like "the no.2" driver within the team to me.

At Jerez (the 1st preseason test) all 3 top teams were using their "no.2" driver for the 1st and 2nd day, which I think will be spending huge amount time shaking down the car and getting any minor trouble isse sorted before their star driver appear on day 3 and 4.

The driver order is then reverse for Barcelona as the start driver will get to test on the newer parts first and do the tweaking so as to give more time for the factory to analyze the data and fabricate new parts if required.

And now this week, the no.2 driver is again occupying the first 2 days of test, which IMO is a unfavorable slot as compared to the final 2 days. e.g. some new parts might not be ready, or they will be spending more time understanding and learning those new parts instead of working on set up.


just an observation.

[raymondu999]

Compare the drop off rate average of the RB8, the 27 and the W03 and you will see that the W03 suffers a bigger cliff drop than aforementioned cars.

Eh? Are you replying to Hush on Webber's vs Button's laptime consistency, or is this a completely unrelated train of thought? I didn't see the Merc mentioned in this conversation previously

[reichsmarshal24]

Hi guys,

It's just my second post here after 2 years of spectating. Does anybody have a good idea what a typical 1-day test programme, like today in barcelona, an F1 team runs? What are the steps and procedures involved? I'm very much interested on the grunt work done by teams before the hype and glory of the race weekends.

[raymondu999]

A fair bit of work would probably be done assessing how well their CFD and windtunnel kit reflects reality - and to calibrate those if necessary. But most of that would probably already be done in the last two tests. Some work would also go into setups - getting to know how the setups change the handling of their cars, and also how it affects tyre warmup and life; and if there is a particular sweetspot in terms of performance vs tyre life etc.
Tyre life will also be measured in the race simulations probably. And establishing baseline setups to suit each driver's particular style. For some teams, ey might go and test the "limits" of their car - how stiff can you spring the car? How marginal can you run the cooling? How much rake can you put up with? That sort of thing.

Any bad issues like tyre warmup, or maybe its chewing tyres, or especially unstable, etc has to be worked on too.

Of course other than that they'll be monitoring for niggling reliability issues.

[reichsmarshal24]

Assuming all CFD and wind tunnel validations and calibrations were accomplished at Jerez and Barcelona 1, will race and quali simulations also involve testing new ideas and parts? Won't it make the process more difficult as an introduction of a new part or upgrade add another unknown variable which they must also understand? How does introducing a new upgrade affect race simulations?

[raymondu999]

I'd think (though I don't know for sure) that they wouldn't mix those. They'd do a several-lap run, refuel, change the part, and do an identical run - a back to back to get the most comparable data. Don't quote me on this.

[blokkie]

And we are on it again !!

07:59 No sounds from the pitlane just yet, but the session start is only moments away.

07:57 Good morning and welcome to day one of the final pre-season Formula 1 test of winter 2012.

Let's get the show started !!

[DAMNINice]

Ferrari and Mercedes used FlowViz on their first outlaps...

Mercedes on engine cover and Rearwing..

seems like we`ll get some nice images later to analyze / speculate. (at least I hope that there are some good photographers)

REgards
Marc

[blokkie]

I'm eager to see what R. Grosjean will do in the Lotus.
They have a lot of new stuff ready to test as they missed last test in barcelona.

quote : some of the small issues we identified in Jerez needed to be fixed, and the parts were not available last week

reference : http://www.lotusf1team.com/James-Alliso ... track.html

[JohnsonsEvilTwin]

Eh? Are you replying to Hush on Webber's vs Button's laptime consistency, or is this a completely unrelated train of thought? I didn't see the Merc mentioned in this conversation previously

Read the thread ray, it was a train of conversation that took place on the previous 2 pages.

[blokkie]

Just for those who are wondering , this morning at 9h 35m :

CURRENT WEATHER
Clear skies
High Temp: 16°C / 61°F
Track: Dry

Track temperature up to 20°C degrees