2013 Testing - Barcelona 2: 28 Feb - 3 Mar

[Hail22]

Day 3:

[youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RR8N2lKfwg4[/youtube]

[Ganxxta]

Well, to the BBC predictions:

Alonso has also done a 20.5 today and Ferrari has been talked down this year by almost everybody to be behind McLaren and Redbull, even behind Lotus, so where does it leave Mercedes then?

All we know is he's called the Stig...
eh I mean:
Mercedes were capable of the fastest laptime under those conditions (you have to drive those times first).
Then there is the Ferrari time, not far of from the Mercedes time.
Then there is the Jerez time by Button where everyone was astonished.
Then we have good consistency of Lotus with good speed on the longruns, but bad reliability.

And at the end we have Redbull, everyone is saying they will be fastest again, but they never showed their one lap speed, nor had they good consistency or fastest long-runs.

So this are just some points to think about until Melbourne.

[raymondu999]

With the new rules in effect no car can open the DRS outside the specified zones even if they wanted to
yup in test session too, that was confirmed by AMUS later (see the testing thread for that)

I don't believe this. It will work that way during races, but not during testing. Otherwise Massa would not have been able to open his DRS without slicks on.

[iamthewalrus]

Lotus having their driveshaft exposed as they do whilst other top teams have it covered still bothers me, i dont know why but it just seems like an obvious detail to have covered that was overlooked. Yes they're quick but I just can't see them being top contenders.[/quote]

Maybe there are other factors involved when designing a car that aren't based solely around aerodynamics??

As far as i understand lotus place a high priority on suspension geometry when compared to some teams

And i'm sure that covering the driveshafts with the lower wishbone would compromise this to some extent

[Sevach]

With the new rules in effect no car can open the DRS outside the specified zones even if they wanted to
yup in test session too, that was confirmed by AMUS later (see the testing thread for that)

I don't believe this. It will work that way during races, but not during testing. Otherwise Massa would not have been able to open his DRS without slicks on.

You can run your car completely outside the rules during testing, it would bee ludicrous to impose something like this.

Specially because the DRS zones have not been set for next years GP.

[dren]

James Allen noted that Alonso's top time today was quicker than the Mercedes in the first and last sector. Rosberg was 4 tenths quicker in the 2nd sector.

[Hail22]

James Allen noted that Alonso's top time today was quicker than the Mercedes in the first and last sector. Rosberg was 4 tenths quicker in the 2nd sector.

Hmmm 2nd sector slower? Yet the Ferrari has great pace and has shown it in the 1st and 2nd sector...9/10 Sector 3 at Catalunya is their akilles heal.

[youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KmTa6ru2OEE[/youtube]

Full afternoon session from SKY F1

[youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KQB-gfyHKZ4[/youtube]

[Clew]

Well, to the BBC predictions:

Alonso has also done a 20.5 today and Ferrari has been talked down this year by almost everybody to be behind McLaren and Redbull, even behind Lotus, so where does it leave Mercedes then?

All we know is he's called the Stig...
eh I mean:
Mercedes were capable of the fastest laptime under those conditions (you have to drive those times first).
Then there is the Ferrari time, not far of from the Mercedes time.
Then there is the Jerez time by Button where everyone was astonished.
Then we have good consistency of Lotus with good speed on the longruns, but bad reliability.

And at the end we have Redbull, everyone is saying they will be fastest again, but they never showed their one lap speed, nor had they good consistency or fastest long-runs.

So this are just some points to think about until Melbourne.

True enough, at least the bags of sand will be missing from the cars
In any event, the first indication of a cars consistency is when the race calendar reaches back to Europe....

[bl4zar_]

James Allen noted that Alonso's top time today was quicker than the Mercedes in the first and last sector. Rosberg was 4 tenths quicker in the 2nd sector.

Yesterday I read that the record-time by Rosberg was realized using DRS in a zone where normally it couldn't be used.. Maybe somewhere in the 2nd sector?

[Mika1]

James Allen noted that Alonso's top time today was quicker than the Mercedes in the first and last sector. Rosberg was 4 tenths quicker in the 2nd sector.

Yesterday I read that the record-time by Rosberg was realized using DRS in a zone where normally it couldn't be used.. Maybe somewhere in the 2nd sector?

Why would you do that? AMUS confirmed they didn't use DRS everywhere.

[diego.liv]

From a comparison W03-W04 Barcelona test, Rosberg improved from 1:22.932 to 1:20.130. Schumi's fastest lap was merely the same.
Maybe they weren't pushing the car at the limit, but when they reached Spaing GP (can't remember how many updates they took at that point of the season), Rosberg Q2 were Mercedes fastest in 1:22.882 on soft tyres (failed to better it in Q3).
Purely comparing testing times, adding to that SkySport Italy quoted Hembery saying 2013 tyres are generally 0.8s faster, Mercedes found 2 seconds till today, not to say we are probably missing aero upgrades coming Melbourne

[mcalex]

Maybe they were evaluating a possible gain from DRD ?

[stefan_]

Combined times: Barcelona pre-season test

Pos. Driver / Team / Time / Laps / Tyre

1. Nico Rosberg / Mercedes / 1:20.130 / 251 laps / Soft
2. Fernando Alonso / Ferrari / 1:20.494 / 222 laps / Soft
3. Lewis Hamilton / Mercedes / 1:20.588 / 230 laps / Soft
4. Felipe Massa / Ferrari / 1:21.266 / 206 laps / Super Soft
5. Jenson Button / McLaren / 1:21.444 / 194 laps / Soft
6. Nico Hülkenberg / Sauber / 1:21.541 / 197 laps / Soft
7. Adrian Sutil / Force India / 1:21.627 / 171 laps / Soft
8. Kimi Räikkönen / Lotus / 1:21.658 / 50 laps / Soft
9. Paul di Resta / Force India / 1:21.664 / 169 laps / Soft
10. Pastor Maldonado / Williams / 1:22.305 / 151 laps / Soft
11. Valtteri Bottas / Williams / 1:22.468 / 147 laps / Soft
12. Sebastian Vettel / Red Bull / 1:22.514 / 165 laps / Soft
13. Esteban Gutierrez / Sauber / 1:22.553 / 191 laps / Soft
14. Mark Webber / Red Bull / 1:22.658 / 149 laps / Soft
15. Sergio Pérez / McLaren / 1:22.694 / 201 laps / Soft
16. Romain Grosjean / Lotus / 1:22.716 / 186 laps / Soft
17. Charles Pic / Caterham / 1:23.115 / 199 laps / Soft
18. Jules Bianchi / Marussia / 1:23.167 / 136 laps / Soft
19. Jean-Éric Vergne / Toro Rosso / 1:23.223 / 173 laps / Soft
20. Davide Valsecchi / Lotus / 1:23.448 / 16 laps / Soft
21. Daniel Ricciardo / Toro Rosso / 1:23.628 / 152 laps / Soft
22. Max Chilton / Marussia / 1:24.103 / 202 laps / Soft
23. Giedo van der Garde / Caterham / 1:24.235 / 174 laps / Soft
via gpupdate.net

[Dyanxx]

Combined times: Barcelona pre-season test

Pos. Driver / Team / Time / Laps / Tyre

1. Nico Rosberg / Mercedes / 1:20.130 / 251 laps / Soft
2. Fernando Alonso / Ferrari / 1:20.494 / 222 laps / Soft
3. Lewis Hamilton / Mercedes / 1:20.588 / 230 laps / Soft
4. Felipe Massa / Ferrari / 1:21.266 / 206 laps / Super Soft
5. Jenson Button / McLaren / 1:21.444 / 194 laps / Soft
6. Nico Hülkenberg / Sauber / 1:21.541 / 197 laps / Soft
7. Adrian Sutil / Force India / 1:21.627 / 171 laps / Soft
8. Kimi Räikkönen / Lotus / 1:21.658 / 50 laps / Soft
9. Paul di Resta / Force India / 1:21.664 / 169 laps / Soft
10. Pastor Maldonado / Williams / 1:22.305 / 151 laps / Soft
11. Valtteri Bottas / Williams / 1:22.468 / 147 laps / Soft
12. Sebastian Vettel / Red Bull / 1:22.514 / 165 laps / Soft
13. Esteban Gutierrez / Sauber / 1:22.553 / 191 laps / Soft
14. Mark Webber / Red Bull / 1:22.658 / 149 laps / Soft
15. Sergio Pérez / McLaren / 1:22.694 / 201 laps / Soft
16. Romain Grosjean / Lotus / 1:22.716 / 186 laps / Soft
17. Charles Pic / Caterham / 1:23.115 / 199 laps / Soft
18. Jules Bianchi / Marussia / 1:23.167 / 136 laps / Soft
19. Jean-Éric Vergne / Toro Rosso / 1:23.223 / 173 laps / Soft
20. Davide Valsecchi / Lotus / 1:23.448 / 16 laps / Soft
21. Daniel Ricciardo / Toro Rosso / 1:23.628 / 152 laps / Soft
22. Max Chilton / Marussia / 1:24.103 / 202 laps / Soft
23. Giedo van der Garde / Caterham / 1:24.235 / 174 laps / Soft
via gpupdate.net

That's interesting, I didn't realize Red Bull did so little running compared to the other teams, I know almost everyone think's they're sandbagging but still..

[Juzh]

How much did RB sandbag with their RB7 in testing? Just curious, because we all know what happened that year.