viva valencia !

[audifan]

well , the weather forecast for the test days at valencia next week is warm and sunny , so the motorhome is loaded and will amble up from murcia tomorrow , all prepared to be last of the big spenders and buy the 3 day pass at €12 even though not all the teams will be there
don't know if there will be any wifi available , so could be incommunicado for a bit

it's a hard life

ps , my tip for this year's surprise package ....williams ; lot's of wise old heads there imho

ps , not posting this to make anyone jealous .....much

[Belatti]

ps , not posting this to make anyone jealous .....much

bueno, yo si que ya estoy con envidia!

at least take some pics and post them when you return

[scarbs]

Woo hoo…. I’ve got my tickets, my media accreditation and little hire car. Off I go. I’ll post updates from the test here and on Twitter….

[mx_tifoso]

'Audifan', any significant updates?








BMW > Audi

[audifan]

well , times etc are better obtained from the BBC et al

however you probably have no idea of the circuit , which is a short stadium layout with a variety of interesting corners if no real straights , so probably quite good for this stage of the game ; have a picture to give an idea but i think I must need permission to post this

bright sunny weather if a little cold [ 2C outside the motorhome at 7am today !]

F1's first russian driver turned up last evening , and transmitted an interview for live transmission to russia , using my motorhome to shelter from the wind!
taller than I expected and posed nicely for me to take a photo ...again would like to post but.........

big problem is absolutely no public address , and it is often difficult to see who is driving an unmarked car especially with test drivers about!

[astracrazy]

how much do the tickets cost to watch the test?

ive been tempted to go and watch as a cheaper way to watch F1 live

[Sambo]

how much do the tickets cost to watch the test?

ive been tempted to go and watch as a cheaper way to watch F1 live

Hi astrocrazy, Im going to the barcelona test at the end of this month and spanish circuits usually charge around 5-10 euros to watch f1 tests. Thats usually covers per day or for the entire 3 or 4 days.

Hope this helps!!

[astracrazy]

hey, cheers it does

when you think for 3 days at a race is like 300+ then you have eveything on top thats not bad at all

do you have to buy upfront or just turn up?

[Sambo]

Well its definatly a cheeper way to watch f1. Ive been quite lucky as ive been offered a pit pass by mclaren, which will get me a walk through the garages etc, so you all can expect some pics etc from the barcelona test

When are you thinking of going??

[astracrazy]

not any planned just an enquiry. was gonna go to silverston when they done it there but the year i planned to they stopped it lol

[audifan]

well , it really is a cheap way to see some F1 , the cost at valencia was €5/day or €12 for the 3 days ; tickets at double the price for the seats over the pits , but frankly it was better to have the other ticket as the cars went into the boxes underneath all the time and you couldnt see much ; with the other ticket you could wander from stand to stand and get different viewpoints

it was a bit disappointing to have only 7 cars on track , despite 100 plus laps there were lots of periods with little happening

naturally the teams were not giving any information as to what they were up to , but it was clear that they were working to a programme ...it was clear that the track got faster both as it rubbered in and also as they day went on and it heated

aero was of little importance at this track so it is hard to judge relative strengths but some things were clear

ferrari appeared to have good mechanical grip and set the best times all three days ...massa looked to be trying really hard , alonso not so much

the surprise package was sauber ....their young japanese driver looked really on it , used every inch of the track and was quick , DLR very smooth as well as continually fast ;could be that BMW will regret having dropped out , kubica as well!

mercedes...MS looked as though he had never been away , drove briskly for good times , not at the top though , didn't come out at the end to set a quick time in the best conditions like , for example , alonso

McLaren , LH clearly drove to instructions , not his usual style instead ultra smooth but still quick ; button didn't look at one with the car , not as consistent with his gear change position

williams looked to be about where they were last year , middle of the pack

renault difficult to judge , kubica the first day in the worst conditions , ok 2nd day , petrov clearly in at the deep end but not as far away as you would expect

TR , buemi looked to be making the best of a very unimpressive chassis , but his spanish team mate really struggled to keep the car under control , seemed very unstable on the brakes

conclusions from this totally untypical circuit ? far to early , more indications so far

ferrari chassis has the best mechanical grip
hamilton the most impressive driver , drove as though he was just running in the engine but was still competitive
button not at all comfortable with hamilton type settings
sauber the revelation , look for good results at low down force circuits at least

maybe I should go to barca as well!

[Danlizzyman]

Great insight audifan, thanks!

[Pedro]

Small Valencia's summary

Driver times (Position, Country, Name, Team, Car, Number of laps, Time, Difference):


Laps covered by teams and total distance in km:


Laps covered by engine manufactures and total distance in km:


Same as above in pie-charts:


More details here (however in Czech, you can use Google Translate):
http://f1news.cz/novinky/33998-shrnuti-prvnich-testu-ve-valencii/

[Mr Alcatraz]

The pie chart may be correct!
But you have the same distance listed for the Ferrari car, and power-plant!

[Pedro]

The pie chart may be correct!
But you have the same distance listed for the Ferrari car, and power-plant!

I am sorry, Ctrl+V didn't work 2nd time while pasting the second table. I have just corrected that.