BrawnGP

[Kester]

I just love when Renault went quick, people said they must have removed ballast. When McLaren do it, they've obviously improved hell of a lot.

[Matt Somers]

If you want to make your car go fastest on straight, all you need to do is to reduce the drag of your car by sacrificing...

Unfortunately in F1, you dont score points for being the fastest on the straight etc.....

Thanks for this - I've only been involved in F1 for a decade and wasn't aware of this.

As for not scoring points for being fastest on the straight - I wasn't implying you do - just that it is faulty logic to imply or state that McLaren are only fast because there is tons of rubber on the track after three days. Moreso because we don't have knowledge of their specific testing schedule and aims that somehow they must be having a necessarily bad run.

Likewise, since the total lap was also fast, it would sort of be indicative of a car set up not merely for a low drag top-speed attempt of sorts.

Extrapolating pre-season test results to the actual season-ending results generally show that they are not very reliable. McLaren are not muppets and to suggest that their car is suddenly fast on a day when most teams have gone home is significantly due to the track having lots of rubber on it is just simplistic in the least - in logic and in modern F1 history. There are dozens of factors, the most likely in my opinion being they let loose on it on day 4 after a planned, scheduled test regime and once most other teams had gone home.

If it were the case that pre-season testing was a truly reliable indicator of the season ahead anything beyond general trends then Toyota would have won half a dozen races over the past few years.

I dont think anybody here is capable or interested in predicting the outcome of this year's championship simply by looking at the pre-season test result. However one should be able to get a sense of who are on top and who are struggling from the test result at Barcelona because that is the most important testing ground of the season, and history has shown that, if you are strong at pre-season test at bareclona, you should be strong in the first few fly away races at the start of the season.

If rubber doesnt play a part in improving the track time at Jerez, then can I say that Williams is now the top team as Nakajima sets the fastest lap time thoughout the entire week at Jerez??

And then the car broke down a few laps later.......

I agree Williams shouldn't be underestimated but McLaren are the ones most are underestimating. I still expect them to be there in the mix at race pace.

[myurr]

I just love when Renault went quick, people said they must have removed ballast. When McLaren do it, they've obviously improved hell of a lot.

Yup I was one of those ones. I thought that Brawn were underweight and that Renault did the same to see how much weight they reckoned they needed to remove to equal the pace.

But now I'll admit I was wrong. I think Brawns pace has been genuine and that Alonso's run in the Renault was just a fumes style quali run.

I think the track has improved a fair bit, but then so have McLaren. I don't think they have race winning pace, but in my opinion they're certainly in with a shot of a podium.

[CHT]

I just love when Renault went quick, people said they must have removed ballast. When McLaren do it, they've obviously improved hell of a lot.

Yup I was one of those ones. I thought that Brawn were underweight and that Renault did the same to see how much weight they reckoned they needed to remove to equal the pace.

But now I'll admit I was wrong. I think Brawns pace has been genuine and that Alonso's run in the Renault was just a fumes style quali run.

I think the track has improved a fair bit, but then so have McLaren. I don't think they have race winning pace, but in my opinion they're certainly in with a shot of a podium.

It will be interesting to see if the limited testing this season will help small budget teams to catch up with the bigger teams in development.

[Spencifer_Murphy]

Indeed, I'm hoping that will be the case for teams like Williams.

[vall]

As someone pointed out above - it was something like a 70+ lap run too so it's not like they were practising in-laps on fumes.

If McLaren turn up in the first couple of races and smoke everyone on the grid how many people will suddenly go "wow their testing regime was tops" as if, all along they somehow aren't amongst the most skilled car developers/testers on the planet?

well, I think both of the Kovy's fast laps were in 2 lap stints. This doesn't mean they had fuel for 2 laps on-board, but this would be my guess. So, I would conclude that Macca is still 0.5s behind Williams

[ISLAMATRON]

I just love when Renault went quick, people said they must have removed ballast. When McLaren do it, they've obviously improved hell of a lot.

Both Brawn & Renault need sponsorship... McLaren does not.

Who & why was the most famous incident of a team running light for fast times? Prost for sponsorship.

I'm not saying that is the case now, but that could be the thought process behind those statements.

[vall]

I just love when Renault went quick, people said they must have removed ballast. When McLaren do it, they've obviously improved hell of a lot.

Both Brawn & Renault need sponsorship... McLaren does not.

Who & why was the most famous incident of a team running light for fast times? Prost for sponsorship.

I'm not saying that is the case now, but that could be the thought process behind those statements.

well, I think that after the Prost for sponsorship, everyone is aware and it will be difficult to get fooled. Do you think the sponsors will hurry up to sign, before seeing the true pace of the teams? Especially, with only a week until Aus?

What about a better strategy: have good solid performance during the first races of the season to demonstrate a good potential. If you cannot keep the pace, then you blame it on the lack of resources to keep with the development with the big ones. I would naively think that this would be more impressive for the sponsors?

[ISLAMATRON]

Arent they talking to a betting website about possible sponsorship? I'm sure the preseason hype alone was almost enuff to get them on board, its not like they are talking to these huge multinationals for sponsorship.

[vall]

I am sure they are talking to many. And "almost enough" is not line "enough". I bet sponsors will wait and see. Especially after the big rule change.

[imightbewrong]

I just love when Renault went quick, people said they must have removed ballast. When McLaren do it, they've obviously improved hell of a lot.

Both Brawn & Renault need sponsorship... McLaren does not.

Who & why was the most famous incident of a team running light for fast times? Prost for sponsorship.

I'm not saying that is the case now, but that could be the thought process behind those statements.

Both brawn and renault need sponsors for NEXT year, what they heck have they got to gain from faking performance during pre-season testing? The thought process is still flawed if anybody thinks it because of sponsor hunting IMO.

[ISLAMATRON]

Havent seen many sponsors on the BRAWN car THIS year.

[imightbewrong]

Havent seen many sponsors on the BRAWN car THIS year.

Nope, but they have said that they have enough money to get by this year. Plus, we have no indication of that being their final livery.

[ISLAMATRON]

Havent seen many sponsors on the BRAWN car THIS year.

Nope, but they have said that they have enough money to get by this year. Plus, we have no indication of that being their final livery.

Yep, Honda money, Will Honda be the main Sponsor?

[Rob W]

Who & why was the most famous incident of a team running light for fast times? Prost for sponsorship.

Didn't Toyota do it three or four years in a row in pre-season testing? It was almost predictable...

Anyway - I wonder if McLaren are using a marketing method here.. keeping expectations low and then over-achieving... It would make it so much more satisfying if they came out of the blocks and were the benchmark team once the season is fully under way.