Valencia tests January 31st - February 3rd

I don't know...i just felt we should keep on doing this, just to discuss about the tests...Like news, interesting facts...You know!!

To start, Rossi's wednesday wasn't as good as everyone is saying, or at least that's how i feel. I like that guy so much, but I must put my feet on the ground and see that he wasn't that good after all...he was driving a car 2 or 3 seconds faster than the rest, and he could only be 9th. It's ok that this was his first "real test", but he has tested even before with Ferrari, solo, but hte did it...I was expecting a top 4 for him at least...anyway

On the other side, I think McLaren is recovering ground now, at least they're doing long stints, and from what i've heard, no problems at all, even if Montoya only did on wednesday like 68 laps, just one GP if i'm not wrong. Don't want to talk about lap times, cause as we ALL know, test times doesn't mean anything.

And i want to add, that Mercedes has a 20 HP disadvantage with the rest of engines, according to a british or german newspaper, don't remember which one was it. I think the only way to be now, on the same level than the rest is by doing a completely new engine, cause the other teams are developing too, maybe one faster than the other, and if Mercedes says they have new parts for the engine....I don't know too much about this kind of things, but I don't think that would be enough, Am I wrong?

Hard to say where Mclaren are at the moment.
Tbh i think a 'True' indication of where the teams are will be the test in Bahrain.
Until then we can only assume the Renault, Honda's and Ferraris are top. Or we can simply not assume and just wait :P.

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"Trulli was slowing down like he wanted to have a picnic" LOL

I think the Honda is very good , omg , maybe barrichello will be word champion , maybe is Coulthard then the world champion of 2007 ?

Anyway rossi's car was "only" about 1 sec faster than the other cars..

It looks like Renault and Ferrari are the frontrunners at the moment. Honda are no doubt setting good times because they have 2 cars to gather data than the rest of the field. It looks like it's working for them, but I'll withhold judgement on how fast they are at the end of the month. The potential is there for their performance to plateau sooner than everyone else.

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i think honda could be the team to beat at the 1st gp.

fissi though recons on long runs the renault is 1.5 secs faster, but that aint much at all and no one knows who is pushing.

but yes honda having built 2 new cars is a great move, think they will be the best prepared for the 1st gp.

Now thursday was a moved day....still nothing new...The fight between Renault and Honda keeps there, with Ferrari a lil bit close.

You know something interesting, seeing the mclarens in the last places in testing and now ITV's James Allen says the fight will be between McLaren and Ferrari...It got me confussed.

Another thing is how is that the MP420 is doing almost the same times than the MP421? I know they're using a limited-rev engine, but still, if the MP421 has engine concerns, the 2005 car should be a lil bit faster then, no? I mean, maybe mclaren is hiding something? like a secret weapon?

let's try not to jump into conclussions based on pre season tests


Saludos desde Colombia.

marcl Wrote:
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> i think honda could be the team to beat at the 1st
> gp.
>
> fissi though recons on long runs the renault is
> 1.5 secs faster, but that aint much at all and no
> one knows who is pushing.
>

Where did he say that?
That is ALOT of time.

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"Trulli was slowing down like he wanted to have a picnic" LOL

honda also keep running low fuel/new tyres qually runs at the end of the day to mask their times :P

1.5 over a race distance not a lap, it was in autosport

oops

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RIP Jules, never to be forgotten. #KeepFightingMichael

1.5 over a race distance?? How does he know that? It's imposible to know this even if they had done 20 races so far.

man, those Toyota suits look rubbish, just random bits of different coloured material joined together:



and Michael just scratched his bum:

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RIP Jules, never to be forgotten. #KeepFightingMichael

mclaren did hide the times in the early 90s.... but I dnno if they do it now...

anyway, the MP4-20 was the fastest car, and now, even with a more powerfull 2005 engine, they are far behind the rest... it's obvious they are testing something different than raw speed!

and the drivers arent complaining that the car is crap... so we'll see

laurent Wrote:
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> mclaren did hide the times in the early 90s....
> but I dnno if they do it now...
>
> anyway, the MP4-20 was the fastest car, and now,
> even with a more powerfull 2005 engine, they are
> far behind the rest... it's obvious they are
> testing something different than raw speed!
>
> and the drivers arent complaining that the car is
> crap... so we'll see


well I think their V10 engine's are limited to the same level as thei V8 engine's are. Kimi told today that the car is ok not a fantastic one but he said that the first test weren't what excpected and they are not there were they should be .He also said that the biggest problem is engine and they (Mercedes) haven't developed their engine's since november but they should soon bring some new parts to the engine
and hopefully they will make it better.

Some pictures from today test

Were you there?
Could you tell us what kind of runs teams were doing. Particulary Honda and Mclaren.

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"Trulli was slowing down like he wanted to have a picnic" LOL

kimi has said the v8 is behind in terms of power he said the car is fine, its been all over the web and mags.

anyway as i said we shall see at the 1st race they have a big upgrade coming in 2 weeks for the engine. And jpm has said that 2006 looks like its going to a wasted year.

chet Wrote:
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> Were you there?
> Could you tell us what kind of runs teams were
> doing. Particulary Honda and Mclaren.
>

I think JB was doing short-med runs, i havent counted the laps of each stint, but he was very fast,and the engine was the noisest by far.

The McLaren was not so quick, the engine didnt sound very loud, it didnt bother the ears at all . I havent seen it but I've been told that FA has passed JPM easy in the main straight. All bad news about the engines seem true.




Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 02/02/2006 10:33PM by requenov.