2012 Testing - Barcelona 2: 1 - 4 March

[raymondu999]

I think we might have a situation not that the McLaren is clear cut ahead; but perhaps the Red Bull slightly ahead; but with worse reliability

[Blackout]

For those who compare Kimi and Lewis keep on mind Kimi did soft-medium, Lewis did soft-soft.

The Lotus driver's race simulation was among the most impressive of the day as he completed a 65-lap run on four sets of Pirelli tyres; three soft, one hard. During these stints he suffered performance drop-off of no more than 1.8s on any given set of tyres.

While his drop-off figures were the best of the race simulations, his overall pace was still shy of Lewis Hamilton's McLaren, which seemed to have a 0.2s advantage on any given lap of a stint.

Autosport

Lewis did only used soft tires ?

[donskar]

At the end of testing, Ferrari seems the slowest of the major teams, but their ability to develop a car could make the difference by the end of the season. IIRC Ferrari added some important tech personnel since last season. They probably did not have major input to the car's design, but could play a big role in its development.

[Chuckjr]

If Lewis was only of softs and the best he could muster was half a second behind the lotus?? Whoops. The Macca fans may be all excited over nothing. I know...it's just testing but nobody here seems to care as everyone keeps comparing times.

Interesting Ferrari continues to put up fast times throug most of the testing. We may have a situation like last year where everyone wrote off the Macca and it ended up being competitive, and now everyone writes off the Ferrari and yet Alonso may be sitting on pole in Oz. We all know he likes a pointy car that gets to speed quickly. His Ferrari does both....

[beelsebob]

If Lewis was only of softs and the best he could muster was half a second behind the lotus?? Whoops. The Macca fans may be all excited over nothing. I know...it's just testing but nobody here seems to care as everyone keeps comparing times.

Interesting Ferrari continues to put up fast times throug most of the testing. We may have a situation like last year where everyone wrote off the Macca and it ended up being competitive, and now everyone writes off the Ferrari and yet Alonso may be sitting on pole in Oz. We all know he likes a pointy car that gets to speed quickly. His Ferrari does both....

Given that they went a second quicker than that yesterday, yes, it's just sandbagging.

[SchumiSutil]

Mercedes have raw pace on long runs but their tyre wear is an issue.

Well, today I have seen drop off from Mclaren and Lotus being the same as Mercedes. So it's very tough to say. Rosberg race sim lap times were very consistent on hard tyres.

[n smikle]

i'd be amazed if we asee anything like that degradation in the actual races

+1

Barcelona is notorious for killing tyres. Its no Canada, but its still a rubber chomper.

@N smikle
Where you not saying the championship was over after seeing the RB8.5 yesterday?

Changed my mind after I analysed the RB8.

[JohnsonsEvilTwin]

@ Beelsebob

Yes I too saw that, made mention of that in my earlier post. Around a 2 second drop off after 5 laps and 3-4 seconds after 10+ laps.
Seems to be uniform wear amongst McLaren, Lotus and Mercedes. So, perhaps Mercedes shouldnt be singled out on this. I think they definitely ran these heavier fuel runs with the softer tyre than most other teams, probably why the "problem" looks greater than it really is.

@Nsmikle
What did your analysis bring up that changed your mind?

[dren]

http://abulafiaf1.wordpress.com/2012/03 ... -round-up/

Good analysis.

[lebesset]

so much for the ferrari optimists

http://www.bbc.co.uk/sport/0/formula1/17252539

[JayeOFarrell]

I still wonder however weather Ferrari are sand banging, but making a really large show of it in typical Ferrari style. Don't know weather you would agree with me or not but I just think it should not be ruled out.

[Hail22]

Lets just wait til Melbourne, Ferrari seem very "weird" before the season opener almost trying to give a false sense of security to RBR and Macca.

Also it could be struggling so much that maybe its time Stefano and Fry disappear with a few people and a fresh new technical group is created?

[beelsebob]

Lets just wait til Melbourne, Ferrari seem very "weird" before the season opener almost trying to give a false sense of security to RBR and Macca.

Also it could be struggling so much that maybe its time Stefano and Fry disappear with a few people and a fresh new technical group is created?

Sorry, but I don't buy it. The trackside guys were saying that the Ferrari looked really hard to drive, but that Alonso was doing the business in it. A quick car that's throwing everyone else will look easy to drive but never put in the lap time. A slow car that's got a great driver in it will look like a dog but still seem to just about keep up on the time sheet. The ferrari does the latter.

[JohnsonsEvilTwin]

Gagging their drivers is almost unprecedented.

Ferrari are in the brown stuff relatively speaking. Hope they can sort it out.

[JayeOFarrell]

And that is why you are a Master Wise words.