[youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ub-Fq9XoMus[/youtube]
- Login or Register
No account yet? Sign up
Kimi Raikkonen topped the final day of pre-season testing before all teams are heading off to Australia for the first Grand Prix of the season. Fernando Alonso went second fastest in the morning, just like Raikkonen lapping on soft Pirelli tyres. Senna for Williams went third fastest.
...yeah, great minds...Schurcedes wrote:That's the second time this week someone's used the exact words as me and seemingly read my mind. Great minds..
Schurcedes, from this thread wrote:Either Ferrari have something remarkable up their sleeve and are doing their best to shield their drivers from giving the game away (which I severely doubt) or there is a political shitstorm of epic proportions brewing behind the scenes.Good summary of testing form, I agree with most of the conclusions.AbulafiaF1 wrote:If our predictions come true, expect a political shitstorm of epic proportions.
Schumacher had initially said they needed to work on the degradation after day 1, only to deny it was an issue after yesterday; I believe Mercedes PR speak kicked in following Schumacher's remarks and all three were suddenly upbeat and positive about their chances. (something similar happened the last couple of years, Schumacher and Brawn were initially quite realistic) With that in mind I think they might indeed have a wear rate problem, though perhaps not a very serious one compared to the leaders as all cars seemed to suffer from severe dropoffs.
I buy into this theory aswell. The most "confident" looking, cruising cars out there appear to be the Mclaren and the Mercedes, others like the Sauber, Lotus, Williams of the last test look to be going for it. The Red Bull was in the same category as the Mclaren and the Mercedes, in fact it looked a step ahead, but after the new update it is impossible to say if it has pulled an increased lead, stayed the same, or fell behind. By the looks of the reliability on Friday you would have to say it has fell behind. Is it me or did the upgraded RB8 appear to be worse than the original RB8?CHT wrote:+1beelsebob wrote: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.Hail22 wrote: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?
I mainly agree with everything but the pole part. Pole will come from a Mclaren or Red Bull. Rosberg may have an outside shot. I don't see anyone else being anywhere close.retpog55 wrote:I buy into this theory aswell. The most "confident" looking, cruising cars out there appear to be the Mclaren and the Mercedes, others like the Sauber, Lotus, Williams of the last test look to be going for it. The Red Bull was in the same category as the Mclaren and the Mercedes, in fact it looked a step ahead, but after the new update it is impossible to say if it has pulled an increased lead, stayed the same, or fell behind. By the looks of the reliability on Friday you would have to say it has fell behind. Is it me or did the upgraded RB8 appear to be worse than the original RB8?
My pecking order after testing would be:-
Mclaren,
Red Bull, Mercedes
Lotus
Ferrari, Sauber, Force India, Torro Rosso
Williams, Caterham
HRT, Marussia
I feel that it is entirely possible for someone like Sauber, Ferrari or Lotus to be on pole for Australia after going all out for the number one spot, only to see them fall away dramatically during the race.
Yeah, in comparison to the Red Bull and McLaren that looked absolutely planted in the previous clip.Ganxxta wrote:Last clip with Massa supports the theory that Ferrari isn't sandbagging, look how the car is nervous and drifting and he has to correct it several times...