Pre-Season Winter testing : 2014 Season

[FB]

In Ted's note book there was some discussion about Ferrari only doing high fuel load runs but, as TK pointed out, the maximum they could squeeze into the fuel cell is only about 120 litres so Ferrari's pace isn't as good as it might be compared to the other runners with full tanks.

Looks like it will be a Mercedes engine battle in 2014, at least at the start of the season.

 

[Incubus]

But Autosport reported Alonso's long run pace on Friday was "eye-catching" so maybe they're more competitive over a race distance...
In fact maybe it's a case of Mercedes's electrifying pace versus Ferrari's not-so-quick-but-race-consistant cars. Maybe that's the pattern for this season?

 

[Quintessentially]

It was reported that Hamilton put on a set of supersofts on the last day, posted the fastest first sector of all and then abandoned the lap. Yep Q3 it is but it would be funny if the drinks company locked out the front row

 

[Greenlantern101]

Goodfellas

What do you mean It'd be funny?
What do you mean, you mean the way they win? What?
Funny how? What's funny about it?
What did ya say? Funny how?
You mean, let me understand this cause, ya know maybe it's me, I'm a little fucked up maybe, but It's funny how, I mean funny like they're a clown, It amuses you? It makes you laugh, What do you mean funny, funny how? How would it be funny?

 

[Bushi]

^^Reminded me of the goodfellas:

Edit: Ok, it was quoted from Goodfellas. Typical monday is seems.

 

[Hamberg]

The unreliability of the cars always added an extra element of excitement for me. It could be heartbreaking but I miss not knowing what would happen until the chequered flag and beyond.

I'm really quite excited. Especially given FI and Williams are looking handy and there are no obvious front runners.

 

[Kewee]

The Artist..... The quote regarding Massa's lap being on low fuel and on the supersofts came from in-house at Williams and was made to one of F1's leading journalists. Why would you assume I just make something up.

 

[RasputinLives]

Was in an New Zealand journalist?

*runs away*

 

[sushifiesta]

Incubus Alonso's last stint was eye catching apparently, but the rest of the long run wasn't. The suggestion is they were making up for lost time having run pretty slowly earlier in the race simulation and that across the whole "race" Mercedes were significantly faster.

 

[Mephistopheles]

Mind... based on the pace at the final test, with Massa fastest overall, and Hamilton 2 hundredths behind, would anyone like to bet on a Massa vs Hamilton rematch.... (The first person who mentions rain, Toyotas, gifting, Interlagos etc in a meaningful sentence gets cast down with all the wrath available on this board!)

I thought you were talking about the year of those two driving into each other.....

 

[Kewee]

The Artist..... I make one correction to my previous response, I was wrong on one point, Mercedes "were" trying to duplicate the Williams runs. Massa and Rosberg started trading blows late in the session taking turns in setting best time before Massa's best of the Bahrain tests.
Williams had been concentrating on ultimate performance testing all day and had been running low fuel for that reason. It's almost unheard of for a team fuel-up on supersofts, they almost always run them on low fuel. Why ruin a set of supersofts by running them on a car heavy with fuel. Andrew Bensons comment says it all when he states Massa was on a qualifying run. If he had extra fuel on board it wouldn't have been a qualifying run would it.

 

[Kewee]

RasputinLives …… No it wasn't, but to answer a smart-ass comment like that, some of the best books on motorsport have been written by Kiwi's.

 

[RasputinLives]

The actual birds?

 

[Incubus]

Just clinging to the hope we will get some close racing up front this year sushifiesta!
We're all a bit bored with llong periods of unquestionable domination and I don't think it'be much of an improvement if the pattern continues just because it might be another team that does it.

 

[The Artist.....]

The Artist..... I make one correction to my previous response, I was wrong on one point, Mercedes "were" trying to duplicate the Williams runs. Massa and Rosberg started trading blows late in the session taking turns in setting best time before Massa's best of the Bahrain tests.
.

So basically you are admitting that the entire premise that "no other driver was attempting that.." Was wrong? I still maintain we actually don't know anyone's fuel levels. Maybe Williams had a little more fuel in than Mercedes? maybe it was the other way round? We really don't know- and in testing, and practice, there's been history of teams not running absolutely the lightest possible spec until q3...

 

[Kewee]

RasputinLives …… No, the buggers are always asleep and their beaks don't hold enough ink.

 

[Kewee]

The Artist..... That's what I love about forums, be sincere enough, or polite enough, or enough of a gentleman to admit a very small error and some pratt sees fit to grind you down further or to belittle you to make their poorly judged point. I stand by my comment based on very reliable sources that Williams were on low fuel qualifying runs and had been low fuel performance testing for the entire day.

 

[Kewee]

We really don't know- and in testing, and practice, there's been history of teams not running absolutely the lightest possible spec until q3...

Surely you don't think we can compare even recent history to the present. You could during the period of engine stability we've witnessed in recent years. The present, to state the obvious, has new engines, new aero, ERS's which is far more significant than KER's ever was, even the tyre development has moved forward. All of the teams have had to throw everything at these tests starting at Jerez, sandbagging some refer to, would have done nothing to contribute to development.
I'm not suggesting you were saying teams have been sandbagging, I'm just putting forward another example of how different this new era is. All the teams have had to maximize ever minute of these tests which is why those on the inside and along pit lane are able to get a reasonable read on the different teams performances. We can too if we follow closely enough.

 

[Mephistopheles]

Kewee The teams are like poker players they will never show their full hand until they have to, and that will be in Q3 in Melbourne..

 

[Kewee]

Mephistopheles ……. I appreciate your point Meph and would have agreed with you 100% when the regulations were stable as they had been for several years, I don't believe thats the case now and won't be until they have a greater understanding of the new technology. They can't possibly understand these new cars without pushing them to near their limit and sometimes right to their limit, It's the only way they can arrive in Melbourne prepared. Imagine if they push to the limit for the first time in Q3 and discover the car has gremlins they weren't expecting. They're then at the beginning of four away races with problems they can't rectify effectively until May when they return to Europe. These are completely new cars leaving the teams with a huge learning curve, they can't hope to learn if they're sandbagging unlike the last few years when they had good knowledge of their cars behavior and the way it was likely to react to changes.