Pre-season Testing - Jerez

Thought I'd get a thread up and running so we can keep the 2014 thread clear of idle chat.

So Jerez, and the Ferrari's broken down...

Kimi completes less than half a lap before the FI4T comes grinding to a halt, not too much action so far other than that.

By all the accounts the cars sounds bloody great though.

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Races: 163 - Wins: 23 - Pole Positions: 24 - Fastest Laps: 22
Season 9: Constructors' Champions

I'd like to take this opportunity to be the first to blindly make predictions based on 2 hours of testing. Ferrari have obvious reliability issues, and Mercedes are going to wrap up both titles.

I'd also like to take this opportunity to be the first to repeatedly remind everyone not to make blind assumptions based on testing

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The only obvious thing is that none of the cars are ready for testing. The Mercedes looks the best of a bad bunch, but even then Hamilton's front wing fell off, causing his crash and probably ending his day.

Only two cars have set a time so far (about 15 seconds slower than they should be), three have done installations laps (and two of those broke down on their installation laps), four cars haven't even ventured out of the garage yet, Marussia have only just set off for Jerez and Lotus aren't even bothering (which means they're going to be utterly @#$%& by Melbourne judging by the other teams progress).

I thought we'd have a few reliability issues this year, but assumed the expectations were rather overblown... perhaps not.



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 01/28/2014 01:25PM by gav.

Well done SkyF1. They were going to be covering this live from day 1 and so far they've covered @#$%& all.

It'll be a fascinating few weeks, the relative performances of the cars should be interesting to compare, testing conditions and lack of car development allowing.

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Maybe with the nose aesthetics the way they are.. SKY decided that sending HD 3D cameras along wasn't in the viewing public best interests :P

I almost feel like I'm looking at Schumacher in an early-2000s Ferrari when I see Raikkonen in the F14T.

It's blatantly obvious that none of the drivers are pushing yet, but you can already see how difficult they are to drive!

Also, it's good to note that cars with the same engine sound totally different - compare the Toro Rosso and the Caterham. The Toro Rosso sounds like pure evil (in a good way), whereas the Caterham sounds like a machine gun (of all things)



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Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 01/29/2014 12:51AM by flat tyre.

Considering his time (some 15 seconds off last year), I'm surprised how much Raikkonen was pushing. I know he's not on the limit, but I thought he'd be cruising around a lot more than that.

At least we are see some running today.

The Merc teams are currently topping the time sheets, not that it means much.

Vettel is done for the day after a turbo fire on the Red Bull.

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Races: 163 - Wins: 23 - Pole Positions: 24 - Fastest Laps: 22
Season 9: Constructors' Champions

Yeah, today, Renault has managed a whopping 11 laps in total I think.

Strong running from Rosberg this afternoon. The Merc and Ferrari especially look solid (Merc front-wings excluded of course).

Very difficult to draw many if any conclusions from the running so far (which we knew it would be), except that Mercedes are a step ahead on reliability and mileage so the whole field. With Ferrari and Williams seemingly resolving their teething troubles relatively quickly.

Can't take lap-times into account of-course, since they're all trundling around in safe mode, and the wet status of the day... but I was kind of wondering if some numpty put the McLaren suspension in upside down again since they set the pace :P

To be fair to Ferrari, as far as I know the only issue they've had is a faulty sensor, which wouldn't be enough to stop them ordinarily.

I can't believe Mercedes wing just fell off though. Surely that is one of the easier things to design and calculate loads for? I hope a clumsy mechanic tripped over it in the pitlane or something.

End of day three then and the Renault powered teams are continuing to struggle.. in particular Red Bull... I wonder if this is a legacy of Adrian Newey's famously aggressive stance on packaging? Installation and cooling seems to be their major concern at the moment because almost as soon as the car leaves the pits it's overheated.

Still.. Red Bull being Red Bull they'll react quickly and soon get on top of their issues.

McLaren, Mercedes, Ferrari and Williams in particular seem to be making the most progress from a actual on track reliability point of view, and I'm beginning to have a warm positive feeling about the Williams because at least from the armchair perspective it doesn't seem to be presenting with any of the issues which instantly made the FW35 look like a complete duffer.

So Red Bull have completed 21 laps across the 4 days at Jerez, and are packing up early with half the day still to go. They'll be taking a seriously big bug report back to Milton Keynes.

Meanwhile at Merc, Rosberg has notched up over 90 laps today alone, and is now handing over to Hamilton so he can get some mileage.

Away from the track, F1 boss Bernie Ecclestone says the sport's new V6 turbo era is "completely unnecessary nonsense" after Renault engine woes sidelined champions Red Bull in pre-season testing.

"I am disappointed. I hate saying 'I told you so', but I'm disappointed because I did say I told you so and this is what's happened," Ecclestone told Reuters.



...almost sounds like he wanted a few more years of Red Bull dominance. @_@

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Personally I think the biggest negative of the new era is the expensive. I.e. The cost of developing brand new (for f1) technology.

Every thing else can yet be a positive, and change is good to freshen things up a bit.

J i m Wrote:
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> Personally I think the biggest negative of the new
> era is the expensive. I.e. The cost of developing
> brand new (for f1) technology.
>
> Every thing else can yet be a positive, and change
> is good to freshen things up a bit.

A negative in terms of F1, yes, but in the wider picture such things can only be better when translating the technology to road cars - which I'm sure was one of the reasons towards making this change? In addition to freshening up matters in the sport itself, I mean.

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Perhaps, I should have worded my post better, I meant that the cost is really the only proper negative.

Everything else thing is positive, especially the example you mention.

Funny you should day that, Jim. One of the very observations that I made in my recent MA Project.

In does seem that people have forgotten that Newey's cars were always fragile as hell.

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Races: 163 - Wins: 23 - Pole Positions: 24 - Fastest Laps: 22
Season 9: Constructors' Champions

Red Bull in the $hitter, and suddenly Bernie talks about extending double points to the final three races, coincidentally, tracks that Red Bull annihilate.

Conspiracy much!?

Gives them time to have a @#$%& first half of a season, and still have the resources to claw back towards the end.

Outrageous.


Jenson drives it like he owns it; Lewis drives it like he stole it

Red Bull in trouble hampers the development of the Legend of Vettel. The legend of Vettel brings forth $€£¥ in truckloads. That is all Bernie cares about.

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It's only after we've lost everything, that we are free to do anything.