2014 Testing - Bahrain 27 Feb - 2 Mar

[Felipe 92]

Some predictions here about Australian GP are hilarious. McLaren slower than Sauber, Red Bull 3rd fastest, Mercedes 5th fastest team in race etc. My predictions: 1. Mercedes, 2. McLaren 3. Williams 4. Ferrari 5. Force India and Red Bull catching fire at lap 15

[beelsebob]

Some predictions here about Australian GP are hilarious. McLaren slower than Sauber, Red Bull 3rd fastest, Mercedes 5th fastest team in race etc. My predictions: 1. Mercedes, 2. McLaren 3. Williams 4. Ferrari 5. Force India and Red Bull catching fire at lap 15

You guys really need to stop underestimating RedBull. This is a team of incredibly professional engineers. I would not be at all surprised to see them come out guns blazing, with a working car at Australia.

[dans79]

You guys really need to stop underestimating RedBull. This is a team of incredibly professional engineers. I would not be at all surprised to see them come out guns blazing, with a working car at Australia.

First of all, Newey had more impact on the cars design than anyone, and he has shown himself to be very gifted but also very fallible. After all lets not forget the MP4-18. The RB10 is a lot like the MP4-18, It's packed so tightly that it's having cooling issues. I'm sure RBR will get it together this year but short of a miracle, I don't see them as title contenders because they are laps behind the competition.

[prince]

Some predictions here about Australian GP are hilarious. McLaren slower than Sauber, Red Bull 3rd fastest, Mercedes 5th fastest team in race etc. My predictions: 1. Mercedes, 2. McLaren 3. Williams 4. Ferrari 5. Force India and Red Bull catching fire at lap 15

You guys really need to stop underestimating RedBull. This is a team of incredibly professional engineers. I would not be at all surprised to see them come out guns blazing, with a working car at Australia.

+1.

The only question is, whether Renault would be able to provide RBR with the kind of configuration of an engine that they are looking for. Looking at the evidence of testing, it seems that V6 has far larger cooling need than that of V8. RBR was always on extreme in tight packaging, which worked extremely well on V6. It is still early days even for Renault to understand more. If and when they manage to optimize V6, expect a rocket of an Red Bull car. It would be matter of time (days? Weeks? Months?).

[Jef Patat]

And what do you think the other teams are doing. Suppose you are right and it takes them time to get their packing right. This time will cost them points. Now for the other teams, they have a 'more or less' (beter) reliable package which allows them to score points now AND further develop/refine it to keep an (maybe smaller) advantage. We can't know for sure and I admit everything is possible, they have lots of money which can make a very big difference. But the fact that it can doesn't mean it does. All those predictions on RB being at the front can only be based on the assumption that in the past they have been the team to beat so now they will be again. Let's not forget http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Tortoise_and_the_Hare

[Mr Alcatraz]

Some predictions here about Australian GP are hilarious. McLaren slower than Sauber, Red Bull 3rd fastest, Mercedes 5th fastest team in race etc. My predictions: 1. Mercedes, 2. McLaren 3. Williams 4. Ferrari 5. Force India and Red Bull catching fire at lap 15

[dans79]

We can't know for sure and I admit everything is possible, they have lots of money which can make a very big difference. But the fact that it can doesn't mean it does. All those predictions on RB being at the front can only be based on the assumption that in the past they have been the team to beat so now they will be again. Let's not forget http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Tortoise_and_the_Hare

History backs you up in this though, just think about Schumacher from 2000-04, a simple tire rule change ended his dominance, at the end of the 90's the dominant Williams team fell hard when Renault pulled out. No team is immune from falling on their faces, if anything the massive rule changes make it more likely that a top team will fall hard.

[Pup]

Saw this on TJ13. It doesn't take into account the reason for the stoppages, but interesting nonetheless...

[basti313]

You guys really need to stop underestimating RedBull. This is a team of incredibly professional engineers. I would not be at all surprised to see them come out guns blazing, with a working car at Australia.

A working car? For sure.
But they will have to compete with other non competitive cars like the Sauber, the Marussia and all the other Renault cars for the first few races.
We will see a 2 class F1: Mercs and Ferrari in front...the rest far behind.

The good thing is that they can sort out their software problems without any influence of being abroad. Aerodynamical problems would be a bigger problem because it is not that easy to bring new parts. So maybe/hopefully RB is already competitive in Bahrain or China.

The RB10 is a lot like the MP4-18, It's packed so tightly that it's having cooling issues.

If you would be reading this forum you would know that the problem is not cooling. Only stupid journalists still keep on blaming the cooling.

I'm sure RBR will get it together this year but short of a miracle, I don't see them as title contenders because they are laps behind the competition.

You are right with that. The 1000km test put the Mercs to the front last year by solving the tire issues. It would be stupid to underestimate the 2000km+ advantage of the tests with the new car.

We can't know for sure and I admit everything is possible, they have lots of money which can make a very big difference. But the fact that it can doesn't mean it does. All those predictions on RB being at the front can only be based on the assumption that in the past they have been the team to beat so now they will be again. Let's not forget http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Tortoise_and_the_Hare

History backs you up in this though, just think about Schumacher from 2000-04, a simple tire rule change ended his dominance, at the end of the 90's the dominant Williams team fell hard when Renault pulled out. No team is immune from falling on their faces, if anything the massive rule changes make it more likely that a top team will fall hard.

History tells you nothing. The end of active suspension did much more to the aero than the ban of the blown diffusor. They can still run the same rake like with the blown diffusor, so aero still works the same. And the change in the tires supported Michelin...maybe this is partially comparable with the non competitive Renault V6T engine. But with the other engines frozen the Renault engine will be developed until it is competitive at the end of this or next season for political reasons.

Maybe RB will even switch to Honda...who knows?

[Blackout]

DIE TOP-SPEEDS VON BAHRAIN
Team Speed Tag
1. Ferrari 339,6 km/h 8
2. Williams-Mercedes 334,3 km/h 8
3. Mercedes 332,3 km/h 4
4. Caterham-Renault 331,2 km/h 8
5. McLaren-Mercedes 330,2 km/h 2
6. Toro Rosso-Renault 324,3 km/h 8
7. Force India-Mercedes 322,3 km/h 3
8. Red Bull-Renault 317,6 km/h 8
9. Sauber-Ferrari 314,8 km/h 5
10. Lotus-Renault 313,0 km/h 8
Marussia-Ferrari 313,0 km/h 8
http://www.auto-motor-und-sport.de/form ... 65979.html

[ironrose]

DIE TOP-SPEEDS VON BAHRAIN
Team Speed Tag
1. Ferrari 339,6 km/h 8
2. Williams-Mercedes 334,3 km/h 8
3. Mercedes 332,3 km/h 4
4. Caterham-Renault 331,2 km/h 8
5. McLaren-Mercedes 330,2 km/h 2
6. Toro Rosso-Renault 324,3 km/h 8
7. Force India-Mercedes 322,3 km/h 3
8. Red Bull-Renault 317,6 km/h 8
9. Sauber-Ferrari 314,8 km/h 5
10. Lotus-Renault 313,0 km/h 8
Marussia-Ferrari 313,0 km/h 8
http://www.auto-motor-und-sport.de/form ... 65979.html

That top speed for ferrari .. was that recorded on the old wing configuration or new one???

if it was recorded on the old wing ... thats not much to read into the numbers ...

[dans79]

If you would be reading this forum you would know that the problem is not cooling. Only stupid journalists still keep on blaming the cooling.

Even stupid journalists know you don't do stuff like this to your car unless you are having overheating issues.
[Jerez]
http://thejudge13.files.wordpress.com/2 ... ysis-6.png

[Bahrain]
http://www1.skysports.com/f1/news/12475 ... at-bahrain
http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-OEM2gv29aZA/U ... ustom).jpg
http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-az-3_gvJzXY/U ... ustom).jpg

History tells you nothing. The end of active suspension did much more to the aero than the ban of the blown diffusor. They can still run the same rake like with the blown diffusor, so aero still works the same.

The above comment is all kinds of wrong.

Teams haven't been blowing the diffuser since 2011. the last 2 years teams have been blowing the gap between the diffuser and the rear wheels. this helps them seal the diffuser from tyre squirt and thus allows them to run more rake.

Scarabs talks about it here:
http://scarbsf1.com/blog1/2012/10/15/an ... -exhausts/

But with the other engines frozen the Renault engine will be developed until it is competitive at the end of this or next season for political reasons.

I would rather see F1 go the way of the dodo than socialist crap like this. F1 is a competition of drivers and development, so if you do a crap job, or chose a crap supplier you should have to deal with the consequences.

[basti313]

If you would be reading this forum you would know that the problem is not cooling. Only stupid journalists still keep on blaming the cooling.

Even stupid journalists know you don't do stuff like this to your car unless you are having overheating issues.
[Jerez]
http://thejudge13.files.wordpress.com/2 ... ysis-6.png

[Bahrain]
http://www1.skysports.com/f1/news/12475 ... at-bahrain
http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-OEM2gv29aZA/U ... ustom).jpg
http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-az-3_gvJzXY/U ... ustom).jpg

You are completely missing the purpose of this solution. It is for cooling the MGU-H heatsink which is getting to hot/is burning due to software and battery faults the software can not deal with. This has nothing to do with cooling under normal conditions.
When they sort out the problems with the software and have the emergency programs in the software they will have no problems with these resistors anymore.

History tells you nothing. The end of active suspension did much more to the aero than the ban of the blown diffusor. They can still run the same rake like with the blown diffusor, so aero still works the same.

The above comment is all kinds of wrong.

Teams haven't been blowing the diffuser since 2011. the last 2 years teams have been blowing the gap between the diffuser and the rear wheels. this helps them seal the diffuser from tyre squirt and thus allows them to run more rake.

Scarabs talks about it here:
http://scarbsf1.com/blog1/2012/10/15/an ... -exhausts/

You are not getting what I said...
So why are Redbull or Mercedes running nearly the same rake as last year?

But with the other engines frozen the Renault engine will be developed until it is competitive at the end of this or next season for political reasons.

I would rather see F1 go the way of the dodo than socialist crap like this. F1 is a competition of drivers and development, so if you do a crap job, or chose a crap supplier you should have to deal with the consequences.

Would you also have this opinion if not the Renault engine would be crap but the Merc, Honda or Ferrari engine?
One engine out of three being crap is destroying the competition for more than 1/3 of the field. If the problem can not be solved, F1 will loose Lotus and Caterham at the end of this season and Renault as an engine supplier. So the best what can happen is that we loose two teams and RB and TR switch to Honda...the worst that can happen is a crappy Honda engine what would mean the end of F1 as we know it.

[f1316]

DIE TOP-SPEEDS VON BAHRAIN
Team Speed Tag
1. Ferrari 339,6 km/h 8
2. Williams-Mercedes 334,3 km/h 8
3. Mercedes 332,3 km/h 4
4. Caterham-Renault 331,2 km/h 8
5. McLaren-Mercedes 330,2 km/h 2
6. Toro Rosso-Renault 324,3 km/h 8
7. Force India-Mercedes 322,3 km/h 3
8. Red Bull-Renault 317,6 km/h 8
9. Sauber-Ferrari 314,8 km/h 5
10. Lotus-Renault 313,0 km/h 8
Marussia-Ferrari 313,0 km/h 8
http://www.auto-motor-und-sport.de/form ... 65979.html

That top speed for ferrari .. was that recorded on the old wing configuration or new one???

if it was recorded on the old wing ... thats not much to read into the numbers ...

Correct me if I'm wrong, but I don't think the old wing had much less drag, it just had fewer elements - it may have even been producing more peak downforce (feel free to correct me if I'm wrong - I don't claim to be an expert in these things, just my understanding).

Nevertheless, interesting that Ferrari only did these 330+ speeds three times; looks like they have a high potential top speed but very few of their laps would reflect this, which seems to imply that the times we've seen are not representative of their ultimate performance. The question is whether they'll be at the stage where they can confidently do this lap after lap by Melbourne; if they can, maybe they'll be more competitive than so far seen.

[Mandrake]

For this season, can we put aside "gearing" as a reason for higher/lower topspeeds? With the higher torque and fixed gear ratios it is just a combination of power and drag, correct? Or am I missing an element here?

Taking the TopSpeed figures from the AMuS table and assuming my statement above is correct, one could conclude that either Ferrari was the only one turning up the engine to the max (or higher than the rest) or that the Ferrari has less downforce/drag than the competition. Or maybe all the other teams sort of lifted and never went full beans towards the end of that measuring straight.

Striking is also, that the Caterham is so quick compared to other Renault-powered cars. A sign of less problems with the system integration? Or significantly lower downforce/drag?