2013 Testing - Barcelona 2: 28 Feb - 3 Mar

[waynes]

ironic, the mrs just pointed out, Massa's car picked up by a Ferrari low loader

[Dyanxx]

Hulkenberg just confirmed there will be 2 drs zones when they return to race at Catalunya

[MercedesAMG]

The Ferrari update for Melbourne:



Fastest tricycle ever.

[beelsebob]

Hamilton saying he didn't think that time was particularly impressive. Does that mean he wasn't pushing too hard, does it mean he thinks other teams can beat it, or does it mean he was playing mind games?

[stefan_]

[foxmulder_ms]

That's an impressive showing from Hamilton. Now, I believe they will be competitive for this year. I think this year will be even more close than the last one Mercedes, Lotus, Mclaren, RB all look very close, but my guess will be

RB > Mercedes = Lotus > Mclaren = Ferrari

[beelsebob]

That's an impressive showing from Hamilton. Now, I believe they will be competitive for this year. I think this year will be even more close than the last one Mercedes, Lotus, Mclaren, RB all look very close, but my guess will be

RB > Mercedes = Lotus > Mclaren = Ferrari

I can believe that order, yes.

[Nando]

Do we have any lap graphs of the longer runs?

[BlackMercedes]

Not a fan Boi but I know quality when I see it... We haven't seen the best of the top teams yet so let's wait till Australia

[BlackMercedes]

BBC F1 technical analyst Gary Anderson says Lewis Hamilton can win the title this year
http://www.bbc.co.uk/sport/0/formula-one/21643049

A 180 from previous comments, Gary Anderson at his absolute best

Before last season he also says that the MCLaren don't look good and quick.

Let's write off Mercedes which they did at the beginning stopping production/upgrades on the 2012 car half way through the season has helped no doubt

[Artur Craft]

http://www.f1fanatic.co.uk/wp-content/u ... G_1169.jpg

Deffinetly low rear downforce setup - slimer RW and no monkey seat. Should they have an extremly high rear downforce and reduce it by the wing, to balance the car...?

I highly doubt.

W04 is better than W03 because it doesn't have a dated rear end like the latter had. But Mercedes is playing catch up here and all the others are ahead on this development.

Mercedes is definitely making an effort for media laps but my guess right now is last positions of Q3 for them

Sauber was doing lot's of laps on 1.22.5 and their baseline fuel is 100kg. Felipe's did 1.21 low and Ferrari's baseline fuel is 60kg.

Red Bull and Mclaren, to say the least, can most probably lap in the 1.19s

Don't get carried away with the time nor compare it with pole time because cold temperatures increase a lot the downforce making the cars several seconds faster from winter to summer.

W04 have no, at least superficially, thing compromising it's design but it doesn't have anything revolutionary either, it looks merely a top midfield car.

I know people here are deeply passionate as this thread had way more pages than any other. Despite this being a technical forum, Hamilton fans are all over it spreading positivism and wishfull thinking but Lewis himself already confirmed several times that the car clearly lacks in downforce and, despite an improvement, it's still behind

[Owen.C93]

Merc thread had more pages than any other last year as well. Along with Ferrari.

[GrizzleBoy]

Reality will indeed hit in Melbourne.

I just have to wonder why Merc seem to have been so confident or so careless about showing pace that could potentially damage them and the reputation of their drivers in the public eye in the coming months.

It could indeed be just securing funding/confidence from shareholders and such, but it doesn't seem to be so smart for the long run.

[Nando]

Sauber was doing lot's of laps on 1.22.5 and their baseline fuel is 100kg. Felipe's did 1.21 low and Ferrari's baseline fuel is 60kg.

Where did you find those numbers?

[Leon]

but what is the reason for hiding real performance in testing when everything will be visible in the first race.
I think that the teams must push beyond limits in testing (depending on test program of course)