2022 Winter Testing Part 1: Barcelona 23 - 25th February

[Hoffman900]

If cars are having porpoising issues, I wonder how their kerb riding ability will be affected. Especially on some (of specific geometry) kerbs that exists on some tracks.

Larger diameter wheels will roll over curbing easier, but with less sidewall and limitations on shocks, more energy will be transferred to the car itself. Furthermore, the cars being more pitch sensitive and ride height sensitive (they always were) means they’re likely going to be low and lack compliance.

So it’s a balancing act. Tunnel cars in other series have no problem using curbs.

I suspect a lot of issues are related to the wheel / tires / and suspension changes.

[MtthsMlw]

[f1316]

Looking forward to hearing what the drivers think of the new cars - are they any harder to drive? Is it easier to follow (people seemed to be trying that out)? Etc

[henry]

The teams may be having trouble managing tyre oscillations, even though they are probably stiffer than before, because of the restrictions on suspension components, particularly inerters and acceleration activated damping.

[BlueCheetah66]

Obviously hard to tell whether each car was pushing, but the Ferrari looked best out of the cars shown going through the chicanes. Mark Hughes said that most cars looked very slow going through there

[Hoffman900]

Going slow through the tight sections helps the racing, by virtue of gaps being closer in terms of feet for a given amount of time. If they can follow closer in the fast stuff and are closer coming out of the tight stuff due to less distance gap, then that may bode well for racing. *

* assumes the cars are close enough together performance wise.

[Zynerji]

Obviously hard to tell whether each car was pushing, but the Ferrari looked best out of the cars shown going through the chicanes. Mark Hughes said that most cars looked very slow going through there

That AT03 (I love how that rhymes) is going to surprise some folks.

If I could joy-ride in anyone of them for a day, it would be that one!

[Marc.W]

LMAO are we really analyzing these test times? On day 1?

[BlueCheetah66]

Just to add a bit of context if there are for some reason people reading into the times

[f1jcw]

I wonder if it’s something that be managed some with the shock valving and teams inexperience with ground effects are throwing them off.

Obviously it’s ultimately an aero issue.

You’d think they’d go hire some old timers to advise

[Hoffman900]

I wonder if it’s something that be managed some with the shock valving and teams inexperience with ground effects are throwing them off.

Obviously it’s ultimately an aero issue.

You’d think they’d go hire some old timers to advise

I disagree. There is very little that can be carried over from back then and the solutions are likely much different. They would be better at consulting factory LMP teams, but the vendors already have this information to start (Ohlins, Multimatic, etc).

Compared to even a F3 car, those cars back then are very rudimentary.

[AMG.Tzan]

Nice thing is, it's only Day 1 and cars are around 3 secs slower than last year's pole! I presume by May's Spanish GP they'll already be close if not faster than 2021!

Strange thing is how these cars make up this laptime compared to 2021. It seems that they are quite a bit slower in the narrow-slow parts of the track because of the increased weight but they manage to gain back time through fast corners and straights!

What do you think?? Will they manage to beat 2021 lap times by the end of the test??

[dans79]

Nice thing is, it's only Day 1 and cars are around 3 secs slower than last year's pole! I presume by May's Spanish GP they'll already be close if not faster than 2021!

Strange thing is how these cars make up this laptime compared to 2021. It seems that they are quite a bit slower in the narrow-slow parts of the track because of the increased weight but they manage to gain back time through fast corners and straights!

What do you think?? Will they manage to beat 2021 lap times by the end of the test??

Personally I wouldn't take the sector 3 times very seriously yet. It's cold, and the teams are probably still working on what their optimal suspension set-ups will be.

[mission winnow 5]

it seems to me that the strongest will be ferrari and mercedes, alpine has been reliable and aston martin was able to complete two decent runs with its two drivers...the next few days will be interesting

[Macklaren]

Agreed. I think they will be close to last year's time by the end of this test. Also, since they are slower in the corners and faster in the straights, what are 2022 Monza and Azerbaijan lap times going to be like??