Pre-Season Barcelona Test - 8th to 12th March

[Galahad]

In general, on the graphs where two drivers from the same team have done race simulations I have only shown the best/quickest overall. Average lap times across stints (pitstop laps excluded) for all drivers are as follows:

1. Alonso (Ferrari) 1:28.482
2. Vettel (Red Bull) 1:29.685 (+1.203)
3. Massa run2 (Ferrari) 1:29.692 (+1.210)
4. Massa run1 (Ferrari) 1:30.528 (+2.046)
5. Webber (Red Bull) 1:30.542 (+2.060)
6. Kobayashi (Sauber) 1:30.827 (+2.345)
7. Barrichello (Williams) 1:30.839 (+2.357)
8. Petrov (Renault) 1:31.068 (+2.586)
9. Schumacher (Mercedes) 1:31.106 (+2.624)
10. di Resta (Force India) 1:31.405 (+2.923)
11. Sutil (Force India) 1:31.446 (+2.964)
12. Rosberg (Mercedes) 1:31.719 (+3.237)
13. Kovalainen (Lotus) 1:32.047 (+3.565)
14. d'Ambrosio (Virgin) 1:33.825 (+5.343)

It's worth bearing in mind that these averages don't take into account the pitstop strategies employed in these simulations. Most teams simulated 3 pitstops, but Alonso had four, and this had a positive effect on his average lap time, since he had more laps on fresh(er) tyres. In a Grand Prix, he would have to make up the time for the extra stop, of course.

Other drivers who did four-stop runs were Barrichello, Kobayashi and d'Ambrosio.

 

[Galahad]

Excellent graph's G but I notice there is no McLaren driver, Is this because there was a severe lack of running by them or are the results too embarassing to show.

You'd have to check with snowy, but so far as I know McLaren haven't done a full race simulation. If they have, I don't have the numbers for it. McLaren fans: it's probably just as well I don't!

 

[Brogan]

McLaren fans: it's probably just as well I don't!

 

[snowy]

Thank you so much for all this collation, summation and hard work Galahad. I know just how hard graphing the race sims is since I have a hard drive full attempted substandard graphs.

To clarify, McLaren didn't start any race simulations, they attempted to start one on Jenson's last day but it was aborted before a wheel was turned. And they planned one for Saturday but that was aborted due to the forecast but inexplicably unforeseen (by McLaren) torrential rain.

Felipe Massa's first race simulation had three planned pitstops, his second had four planned pitstops.

 

[snowy]

Felipe's first and second race sims would have very roughly and approximately resulted in these cumulative times:
Massa 1
1h25m50.618s

Massa 2
1h25m14.541s

This is an even less reliable comparison between Alonso, Vettel and Massa because I had to cut out the last 7 laps of the race and it takes no account of pitstops, in and out laps, etc, etc.

Alonso 4stops	Vettel 3stops	Massa 3stops	Massa 4stops

1h12m19.234s	1h13m14.558s	1h13m58.700s	1h13m18.696s		

 

[tooncheese]

4-stoppers seem to make up the time for the extra stop, however it will probably include having to pass slower cars, and we are still awaiting to find out if overtaking is much easier or not.

 

[snowy]

Three things occur to me:
1: Felipe's early pace on his second race simulation was so significantly different from his first that it is actually not fair to compare them. Ergo it is not fair to compare Sebastian's race simulation from the first Barcelona test with Fernando's from the second Barc' test.

2: The difference in performance between the two number one's and the two number two's is so significantly different as to be alarming. Like: "These guys are on another planet!" or: "These guys just aren't trying!?"

3: The top teams are going to be severely hampered by the two tyre compound rule. Starting the race on an already past their best possibly knackered set of the option tyres is going to be a nightmare.

 

[teabagyokel]

2: The difference in performance between the two number one's and the two number two's is so significantly different as to be alarming. Like: "These guys are on another planet!" or: "These guys just aren't trying!?"

Or, quite possibly, they were doing something different!

 

[sportsman]

I have given up trying to work out the teams form.So many conflicting impressions that I can't make head nor tail of it.
I will wait to see what happens in Melbourne.

My thanks to snowy and Galahad for their excellent work in analysing all the relevant data.
Still lost though

 

[Galahad]

There are so many provisos to be taken with these graphs that simply listing them would take longer than completing the analysis did.

What have I learned? Lotus' consistency seems remarkable, even if their pace is mediocre.

And Petrov is an inconsistent driver (or has a very difficult car to drive).

 

[Pyrope]

lol

And I thought, after a day of staring at graphs like this...



that I'd come here for a while to give my eyes a rest! Seriously though, they are some fascinating graphics you've put together there Galahad, very much appreciated. Thanks!

 

[sportsman]

McLaren introduce upgrades for Austrailia.Finally gven up on their exhaust system.
http://www.autosport.com/news/report.php/id/90078
The team has been off the pace and struggling for reliability during the winter, and team boss Martin Whitmarsh said during a Vodafone McLaren Mercedes phone-in conference that he had decided the only option was to shelve the MP4-26's radical exhaust.
"I'm not satisfied with where the car was on reliability or performance in the test," he said. "We have made some fairly dramatic changes, and those changes we will see in Australia. There's some risk in that, but I think it was the right thing to do and we're hopeful that that risk comes off and the car is a lot more competitive in Australia."
He said the exhaust and floor were the headline elements in a major change to the car.

 

[Brogan]

I was just about to post that after seeing it on the ticker.

To make radical changes to the exhaust and floor less than a week before the first Grand Prix is an extremely bad sign.

It's going to be their worst season for a long time, I feel.

 

[Jru]

I don't understand what is going on in/from that article, having read it he says that they found some interesting performance from the experimental parts but that they were too unreliable. Despite that, bringing in untested simplified parts should both gain them performance and reliability, which begs the question - what was the point? The experimental parts didn't give what they needed to and yet they tested them all winter and are left bringing untested stuff to Australia with no prior knowledge. And if they wanted to run high risk parts over winter why did they delay the launch of their car?

 

[Chad Stewarthill]

According to James Allen's article on the subject, it's in the revised, more conventional, package that Whitmarsh claims that Mclaren have found the 'interesting' performance, hopefully of around 1 second / lap.

http://www.jamesallenonf1.com/

” I think the car fundamentally isn’t a bad car, we need to unlock the exhaust blowing potential and we had some very creative ideas, some of which could have worked spectacularly well but in order to do that they had to be durable and raceable and frankly some of our solutions weren’t. That’s why we had to go back and in doing so we found some interesting performance.”

I hope he's right. If so, GAME ON! If not,

 

[johnnoble1990]

I can't wait for the first race. Testing doesn't ever give a particularly clear idea of who is doing well and who is not. The first time we will really know is when Quali starts. Testing times will be forgotten by sunday.

 

[snowy]

They've dumped the octopus and employed a squid.

As we all know squids are far more common and less intelligent that octopuses buy they are more streamlined and quicker.

 

[teabagyokel]

They've dumped the octopus and employed a squid.

Well at least we know they'll be good in the wet, no?

 

[Brogan]

Aarghh!

What do I do now with FF1?

 

[teabagyokel]

Aarghh!

What do I do now with FF1?

The same thing that everyone else is doing; taking the plunge, entering a team and hoping it works! Don't procrastinate past the deadline...