2013 Testing - Barcelona 1: 19 - 22 Feb

[wesley123]

James Allen's summary of barcelona tests:

http://www.jamesallenonf1.com/2013/02/a ... lona-test/

Lotus looks the fastest so far.

Good chance McLaren and Red Bull are sandbagging. I hope the best for Lotus but they will have a hard time to win a championship next year.

[Neno]

James Allen's summary of barcelona tests:

http://www.jamesallenonf1.com/2013/02/a ... lona-test/

Lotus looks the fastest so far.

Good chance McLaren and Red Bull are sandbagging. I hope the best for Lotus but they will have a hard time to win a championship next year.

did you see mclaren and red bull carrying some sand bags on front or rear wing or is it in cockpit? i just love when someone say sandbag. good thing i am not a boxer because someone would be punched same moment when he say that word

[wesley123]

James Allen's summary of barcelona tests:

http://www.jamesallenonf1.com/2013/02/a ... lona-test/

Lotus looks the fastest so far.

Good chance McLaren and Red Bull are sandbagging. I hope the best for Lotus but they will have a hard time to win a championship next year.

did you see mclaren and red bull carrying some sand bags on front or rear wing or is it in cockpit? i just love when someone say sandbag. good thing i am not a boxer because someone would be punched same moment when he say that word

I am just going to asume you know the term "sandbagging"

[FoxHound]

James Allen is shooting in the dark, even he is guessing as are the other teams.

What we can tell is that the usual 5 teams from last year will be there or thereabout with the added Sauber for company making it 6.
Mercedes have looked decent, but that's no substitute for the real thing.
As with all F1 seasons, towards the end of a rule set the teams generally converge on some design principals. We are seeing that and as a result we should be closer still in 2013.

Lotus will not be beating McLaren and Red Bull in Oz is my prediction, as we haven't seen everything they have to offer in terms of outright performance or even final updates.

Take it with a pinch of salt. The next test may not even show up any meaningful patterns to draw grand conclusions from.

[Neno]

I am just going to asume you know the term "sandbagging"

yup i know. I just made joke on name and throw a bit sarcasm on your post because if it was mclaren or red bull that would be their pace and they would be "the ones too beat" but it was lotus so other teams sandbagging, just to make lotus looks good

[GrizzleBoy]

Its not exactly inconceivable or even something that's never been done before...

Teams hide their true pace all the time.

[Neno]

Its not exactly inconceivable or even something that's never been done before...

Teams hide their true pace all the time.

yes, that is true, but who said that lotus dose not sandbagging? will it now how it always do, lotus on purpose runned
fast times because they looking for sponsors. i dont like fast conclusions. But I cant wait too see new aero packages for Melbourne next week in Barcelona, who made advantage with first devolopment package on new cars.

[dxpetrov]

From the BlogF1.it - they've made their assessment the the RB9 will be hard to beat.
http://www.blogf1.it/2013/02/22/test-di ... gia-paura/

[Bredd]

To be honest it is a load of rubbish. Last year they said the rb8 would be the car to beat at the start. Endless amount of commentators told us that red bull looks quickest and I've done the numbers. We all know how the first few races panned out.

[raymondu999]

To be fair - I don't think they were lying then. The drivers were quite happy with the A-spec RB8, until the B-spec was introduced, which made the car more difficult to drive. Most trackside impressions would have been done before the B-spec came about.

[Blackout]

If the Enstone cars are fast during winter testing, they willl be fast during the season, or atleast during the start of the season. That's a fact, since 2004 atleast. (even in 2010, when many many people who only look at the final time sheets and don'T know what a long run is, said the R30 is a dog)
And that means that very few teams 'sandbag'. They might avoid to do qualy simulations in order to spare time and energy (like RedBull does these last years and like Renault did in 2010) but generally they show their real pace in their long runs.

[Bredd]

To be fair - I don't think they were lying then. The drivers were quite happy with the A-spec RB8, until the B-spec was introduced, which made the car more difficult to drive. Most trackside impressions would have been done before the B-spec came about.

Maybe but vettel went back to that a-spec car and still ended up nowhere. 11th-12th I think he qualified.

[King Six]

Why does every analysis seemingly only talk about 3-4 teams. 5 at most. I mean if you have decided to take a career in F1 journalism and dedicate yourself to F1 you would think the least people would do is give in depth coverage. Most dedicated F1 sites I've seen are no better with their analysis or F1 news than a slimy tabloid or the BBC or a newspaper like the Guardian. Makes you wonder doesn't it.

[raymondu999]

Maybe but vettel went back to that a-spec car and still ended up nowhere. 11th-12th I think he qualified.

Of course not. The A-spec wasn't a championship winning car in China. It had been neglected and collecting dust for months while others developped. But at the state of testing, everyone was saying the McLaren and the A-spec Red Bull were the title fighters. It was clearly a championship contender in testing, but others developped the car between Testing and China. The A-spec RB8 got none of that.

Or did you really expect that the A-spec Red Bull had a month's worth of development over the others in terms of a cushion when testing happened?

[Juzh]

Maybe but vettel went back to that a-spec car and still ended up nowhere. 11th-12th I think he qualified.

Of course not. The A-spec wasn't a championship winning car in China. It had been neglected and collecting dust for months while others developped. But at the state of testing, everyone was saying the McLaren and the A-spec Red Bull were the title fighters. It was clearly a championship contender in testing, but others developped the car between Testing and China. The A-spec RB8 got none of that.

Or did you really expect that the A-spec Red Bull had a month's worth of development over the others in terms of a cushion when testing happened?

Did newey's solution to EBD ban in 2012 get banned during testing or prior to it? I cant remmember.