2012 Testing - Barcelona 2: 1 - 4 March

[thevlack]

Lastest two stins for MSC on softs.

I think there is a small improvement, but I'am having a hard time thinking about Merc pace.
I want them to be fighting for podiums, but they left me dow twice..(2010, 2011) so..

1:28.211 (71)
1:28.290 (72)
1:28.828 (73)
1:29.504 (74)
1:29.650 (75)
1:30.161 (76)
1:30.839 (77)
1:31.128 (78)
1:30.761 (79)
1:32.742 (80)
1:31.978 (81)

1:28.195 (84)
1:28.320 (85)
1:28.752 (86)
1:29.039 (87)
1:29.342 (88)
1:29.672 (89)
1:29.688 (90)
1:30.086 (91)
1:30.847 (92)
1:31.460 (93)

[Ganxxta]

Caterham improving bit time ?? or are the other 9 teams really sandbagging that much ?

I think its a bit of both. Can't imagine that they found so much laptime, especially with the ebd gone this year, but I'm sure they found atleast 1s.

[beelsebob]

Just looking at the weeks times, and i Know Red Bull & Mclaren havent really gone for qualifying times, BUT

Last years pole was a 1.20.9xx And no one has got within a second of that. So it looks like the cars will be going something similar to last year if Red Bull showed their true pace ?

Both McLaren and RBR have set low 1:22s on hard tyres, so I would be surprised if last year's qually time wasn't beaten at this year's qually.

However, Caterham had a great qualifying session in Barcelona last year, Heikki grabbing 15th with 1.25.4xx. Yet weve seen the caterham do a 1.22.7xx today!!!

Yep, 1:22.6 yesterday too, enough to get them 8th on the grid if this was last year – as someone in the caterham thread pointed out though, the track is very rubbered in, and we don't know how much other teams have improved. I would still be pretty surprised if Caterham hadn't caught up to the mid field based on that though.

[beelsebob]

Caterham improving bit time ?? or are the other 9 teams really sandbagging that much ?

I think its a bit of both. Can't imagine that they found so much laptime, especially with the ebd gone this year, but I'm sure they found atleast 1s.

It clearly isn't the other teams sandbagging that's making them look faster, since we are comparing against their lap time in qualifying last year. No one is going to deliberately drive slowly in qually.

[beelsebob]

there are obvious clean flow lines all down the nose and over andaround the sidepod entrance and down towards the under cut.
Without clean flow through here they'd literally be multiple seconds off the pace

Note – I said clear, not clean – I'm talking about the fact that the McLaren had very obviously separate flows of air going to different areas, while the ferrari seems to simply be a mass of air flow.

[Rikhart]

Maybe it´s a different kind of paint being used? Might only reveal mostly under uv light, or something?

[H.Lyoud]

For those who compare Kimi and Lewis keep on mind Kimi did soft-medium, Lewis did soft-soft.

After all tests my list looks like this:

RedBull-McLaren-Lotus
Mercedes-Ferrari-Force India
Williams-Sauber-Toro Rosso
Caterham (Close in hotlap, but in race distance they are not there yet


Fixed mate, thanks for remind!

[beelsebob]

For those who compare Kimi and Lewis keep on mind Kimi did soft-medium, Lewis did soft-soft.

After all tests my list looks like this:

RedBull-McLaren-Lotus
Mercedes-Ferrari
Williams-Sauber-Toro Rosso
Caterham (Close in hotlap, but in race distance they are not there yet)

No Force India?

[JohnsonsEvilTwin]

My testing impressions are that Red Bull are slightly ahead of McLaren in terms of pace, but not much in that.

After this we have 4 or 5 teams in with a shout.

Mercedes have raw pace on long runs but their tyre wear is an issue.
Lotus appear fast. How fast is a question we will see answered emphatically in Australia.
Then we have Force India who appear to have an all round very well balanced car that looks especially stable through corners. Again, how well sorted this car is we wont know for sure until Oz.
Then Ferrari. They appear to be in trouble, but there is potential in the car. How they can utilise the next week to prep for the season start will give us a good indication as to where the Scuderia are heading in 2012.
Sauber appear to have pulled a rabbit out of the hat with the C31. Their exhaust solution is intelligent, and the car is out the box quick. However, I do have reservations about the loss of Key, and of course Saubers flattering to deceive in testing.

My predictions for Oz:
Red Bull
McLaren
<around 0.4-0.7 seconds margin>
Mercedes
Lotus
<tiny gap>
Force India
Ferrari
<Gap>
Sauber

The dark horse for me is Mercedes. We haven't seen any lower fuel run from this team. Their concentration was on very long runs and race sims. I saw the McLaren run softs and its degradation was near exactly in alignment with Mercedes at very similar times at the same time of the day(temp, track condition factors)They appear to know exactly where they are and I think we will see an arms race develop as the season goes on. At certain tracks, this team could surprise.

[raymondu999]

After this we have 4 or 5 teams in with a shout.

A shout of? Points? Or podiums?

[JohnsonsEvilTwin]

Do the math ray!

Podiums on a good day for any of those teams.

[pocketmoon]

Mercs Degradation/Average LapTime was (per lap):
0.32 / 1:24.88
0.25 / 1:25.5
0.53 / 1:25.26
0.47 / 1:25.04
0.56 / 1:24.95
0.38 / 1:30.19
0.36 / 1:29.54


N.B To anyone working out degradation per lap using N-lap times remember to divide the overall drop-off by N-1

[snoop1050]

i'd be amazed if we asee anything like that degradation in the actual races

[PlatinumZealot]

I think Mclaren will be slightly ahead of RedBull after today's testing.I was genuinely afraid of the update, but I think RedBull has tripped up a bit.

As For Ferrari.... I think of the chorus of this song:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KkDsaAOuaM8

[JohnsonsEvilTwin]

i'd be amazed if we asee anything like that degradation in the actual races

+1

Barcelona is notorious for killing tyres. Its no Canada, but its still a rubber chomper.

@N smikle
Where you not saying the championship was over after seeing the RB8.5 yesterday?