2013 Testing - Barcelona 1: 19 - 22 Feb

[Forza]

Top 3 (ROS, RAI, ALO) all set their fastest time today on the P Zero white medium tyre First day of testing in Barcelona done. Ambient temperatures around 12 deg C° today, track temp around 20 deg C°.

[Shakeman]

Why would they want to cheat themselves with false times? More than anyone else, Merc themselves want to see where they belong this year and they certainly won't get this understanding, if they use DRS outside of regulations.

It's not about cheating themselves it's about making sure people are comparing apples to apples.

The tests are about data collection not comparing one car's time against another. Rosberg's time might've been set not using the DRS while other cars were but we don't know because we don't have the data. Fuel load, tyres and DRS usage add massive uncertainty to the times.

[Emerson.F]

Nice Rosberg on p1. Didn't saw that one coming. The Merc seems too be fast. When you think about it, next year a four stopper could be faster for Mercedes than a 3 stopper for Mclaren. In that case the tyres will be the deciding factor this year i believe. I hope we will finally see drivers like Kimi and Lewis go all out instead of 'Nursing' the tyres too the end.

In that scenario Merc could be better of than we might think initially. What do you guys think about this theory?

[Juzh]

was vettels time on medium or hards?

medium. He was just 1 tenth faster than on hards.

[Tamburello]

How far off are they at this stage, from the 2012 Barcelona pole position time?

Or even 2011 for that matter. Would be interesting to see how much closer they can possibly get regarding lap times after the loss of EBD.

Grand prix has different track layout, to compare i think you should look at last year test times. Raikonnen did 1.22.030 on the last day. So there are really pushing hard i think.

They both go through the chicane in the last sector, so identical layouts for race and testing.

If Raikonnen did a 1.22.030 on the last day of the test last year, he was two tenths faster than the Pole Lap in the GP, which means that the cars actually got slower with all those fancy updates and 'development'!!?

I don't get this. Already the times are approaching the Pole Lap from last year and it's a cold, green track, not to mention new DRS rules. What to read into this? Cold=more horsepower?

[Blanchimont]

I don't get this. Already the times are approaching the Pole Lap from last year and it's a cold, green track, not to mention new DRS rules. What to read into this? Cold=more horsepower?

You're correct with the assumption of cold air (=greater density) producing more power. That's one point.
The higher density of the air also affects the aerodynamic of the car. When considering the formula for drag and downforce, you'll notice the density of air is a factor in it. This means both drag and downforce will rise with colder air.

Then we have to consider the new pirelli tyres which are assumed to be faster than last years version.
And finally, it's testing. Teams can run underweight without beeing punished.

Did i forget anything?

[Ferraripilot]

The GP pole lap was 1:21.7. 3 tenths quicker.

[aral]

Nice Rosberg on p1. Didn't saw that one coming. The Merc seems too be fast. When you think about it, next year a four stopper could be faster for Mercedes than a 3 stopper for Mclaren. In that case the tyres will be the deciding factor this year i believe. I hope we will finally see drivers like Kimi and Lewis go all out instead of 'Nursing' the tyres too the end.

In that scenario Merc could be better of than we might think initially. What do you guys think about this theory?

In Jerez, Nico was also at one time the fastest. This is purely testing, and times do not reflect the true race pace.
The Merc is still having reliability problems, but at least they are happening in testing.

[LilDEF1]

First post

Barcelona test times observations

WILLIAMS:
I must say this is a pretty sculpted looking car, especially the rear end. This to me has a huge benefit: It creates a low pressure area in the rear in front of the diffuser. This will draw in a large volume of clean air towards the diffuser, air which would otherwise pass around the car. So I expect a lot of air to aid the diffuser and beam wing generate downforce. Anyway looking at the times they don't look bad since it's their first outing with the car. They were obviously collecting data and they don't yet have a baseline setup to work from. Their computers will be crunching the data all night to help with that. From their stints data, tire deg seems OK. Their lap times falls off right away but stabilizes after 4 – 5 laps. The good thing is after the initial falloff they lap reasonably ok…

SAUBER:
They did a lot of short laps today. It seems like they were either testing different parts or how different changes affect the car balance. Before the end of the day where they ran 6 laps so their times don't give any clues about their performance.. Lots of 3 or 4 laps stints.

MERCEDES:
I was looking forward to seeing how Mercedes were going to perform around this track… But before any meaningful runs their reliability problems struck again. Anyway they did manage to run in the afternoon, better that Jerez. Their long run was reasonably OK. From the 1:24.020 to 1:29.487. Well their degradation is similar to last year's test, where the tires just went off. Its hard to know the fuel levels so that observation is inconclusive… The take away for me is that at least it appears that the car can run close to the front runners now… Compared to Lotus they did pretty much OK on outright pace, but long fuel runs we are yet to see.

LOTUS:
Lotus like Sauber also did short runs all day, obviously testing either new parts or setup directions. Their times look quick and it's obvious they ran short stints with low fuel or maybe a quarter tank. They hardly had any degradation at all on their 2 or 3 laps runs. Makes one wonder if maybe Mercedes may have been running with a little more fuel than Lotus. But the car seems fast, and from the last test their long fuel pace and degradation seem very stable. And as they said, this test was not about performance at all but parts testing and reliability. One wonders what will happen when they really start pushing after adding their Melbourne race parts to the car. They could still be quicker than the Mercedes.

McLAREN:
It's obvious this team was not concentrating on performance at all but setup testing especially on heavy fuel. Their long stints looks good. Like other teams, the tires goes off a bit in the first laps and then stabilizes. Very consistent, long runs. It's obvious they still very fast, just like last year. So nothing more to say here.

FERRARI:
From the last test it's still obvious this car is still fast, but it will be interesting to see how the speed and tires cope going forward. Just like everyone the tires goes off in the beginning and then stabilizes for a few laps… I’m sure they running a lot of fuel too and still in the top 3. Since it was Alonso's first test it will be interesting to see how he goes after setting up the car better. On that last stint Alonso's fast time was set on a relatively heavy fuel load compared to the others, judging by the way the tires just went off. Seems like if you push these tires hard they just go away bad. But hopefully by the third day as the track is rubbered things will improve. But my impression is this car is still fast but we will have to watch how their tires fares.

RED BULL:
This team still scares me. I mean their times are just stable. No ups and down like other teams. Their time drop offs is minimal and doesn't jump by much from lap to lap. Their car is still working well and I'm sure they got a lot of speed. Well sculpted, huge rake, weird and extreme front camber going on there. Still fast. What more can I say?

[NathanOlder]

The GP pole lap was 1:21.7. 3 tenths quicker.

It was, but in all fairness The car that did that lap was under weight and illegal

I think the main point he was getting at was Raikkonen was faster in Testing than he was in Qualy for the real race. Which Im finding a little odd aswell. They using the same layout for testing ?

[GrizzleBoy]

The GP pole lap was 1:21.7. 3 tenths quicker.

It was, but in all fairness The car that did that lap was under weight and illegal

I think the main point he was getting at was Raikkonen was faster in Testing than he was in Qualy for the real race. Which Im finding a little odd aswell. They using the same layout for testing ?

In testing you're finding the max performance of the car/tyre combination.

By the time the Barca race came about last year, they'd have realised that they can't push the tyres so hard in qualy without hurting themselves in the race.

Hence Kimi not making Q3 by a single place in a tyre shredding Bahrain (possibly by choice), yet going through the field to take second place come race end.

[Shrieker]

I thought it should've been obvious by now that in modern testing the times mean absolutely nothing. Some people are getting very excited for no reason.

[NathanOlder]

I thought it should've been obvious by now that in modern testing the times mean absolutely nothing. Some people are getting very excited for no reason.

But if your car is faster than your teams effort in Qualy last year, that has to be a reason to get excited?!?

Who's in the Merc tomorrow ? Lewis or Nico ?

[NathanOlder]

Just read Lewis is in tomorrow.

[Tamburello]

The GP pole lap was 1:21.7. 3 tenths quicker.

That wasn't the pole lap time, that was of Lewis running on some kind of low density vapours. The pole lap was in the 1:22. 2's.

The fastest Lotuses were 4 tenths slower than they were in testing!