Pre-Season F1 Winter programme for 2011/12 (launches and testing thread)

[LifeW12]

Why don't they test in some different tracks like Silverstone, Algarve, Aragon, Turkey, even Bahrain?? The Spanish tracks just get boring.

 

[Greenlantern101]

By my reckoning its only Mercedes, Williams and HRT still to announce their launch dates. Makes me think they are all going to be late for the first test.

Confirmed:

• Jan 26th - Caterham (F1 racing magazine)
• Feb 1st - Mclaren (Website & MTC)
• Feb 3rd - Ferrari (Website)
• Feb 3rd - Force India (Silverstone)
• Feb 5th - Lotus (Website)
• Feb 6th - Sauber (Jerez)
• Feb 6th - Redbull (Website)
• Feb 7th - TorroRoso (Jerez)
• Feb 21st - Marrussia (Barcelona)

 

[Brogan]

McLaren are launching at the MTC, not just on the website.

HRT don't even have a second driver and their car has suffered critical delays so I think it's safe to assume we won't see them at the first test.

 

[Josh]

Also Mercedes announced a while ago that they won't go to the first test, so it won't surprise me if they unveil their car just before the second test.

 

[Greenlantern101]

Mclaren didn't run at the first test last year and spent the rest of the year chasing a very fast Redbull you have to say its not looking like Mercedes fortunes are going to change for 2012 if they are this far behind before the season starts.

They obviously should of stopped developing the 2011 car earlier and got some work done on this years car.

 

[Slyboogy]

Red Bull missed the first test in 2010...and they were the ones getting chased.

 

[RasputinLives]

Red Bull missed the first test in 2010...and they were the ones getting chased.

True - but they paid the price for it with mechanical failures though didn't they and it nearly cost em the title!

 

[Slyboogy]

True - but they paid the price for it with mechanical failures though didn't they and it nearly cost em the title!

Did McLaren have mechanical failures this year to that extent?

F1 is a funny sport no scenario is the same...

There's The Brawn car aswell...bulletproof and I am sure it missed a test as in the first race they were worried about reliability unlike others.

 

[RasputinLives]

Did McLaren have mechanical failures this year to that extent?

F1 is a funny sport no scenario is the same...

There's The Brawn car aswell...bulletproof and I am sure it missed a test as in the first race they were worried about reliability unlike others.

I think Brawn car was talked about earlier - yes it missed loads of tests but lets remember that Honda and Ross Brawn sacrificed the 2008 season to develop the 2009 car - so whilst the name had changed and they'd bunged a Merc engine in the back of it by the time that Brawn car tunred a wheel in its so called first test it had been in development for over a year with plenty of testing at the Grand Prixs. Brawn was no dummy - the only reason he bought in was because he knew it was going to win. apparently with the honda engine in the car was 2 seconds a lap faster!

and no Mclaren didn't but there also didn't ahve the pace of the front runners - you're right in the no scenario is the same but I think its failry safe to say that in F1 history the more tested a car is the better its perfomance has been!

 

[Slyboogy]

Yep but considering the changes they had to do to fit the Mercedes engine in, then obviously reliability issue will creep in. The car was built for a Honda engine, not a Mercedes one.

 

[RasputinLives]

I don't think fititng a bullet-proof engine like the Merc into a well tested and bullet-proof designed car woould have created reliability issues if the parimeters were right but i could be wrong.

It could create weight and performance issues as the car would have been designed for something completely different (and it did - 2 seconds a lap slower) but I don't see how a new engine would suddenly make a car componunt unreliable along as the change had been accounted for.

 

[Galahad]

The McLaren MP4/4 was incredibly late in arriving. There isn't necessarily any correlation between debut date and performance or reliability, it's a question of how efficiently the time (developing or testing) is being used in each case.

 

[no-FIAt-please]

The teams that are going to the first test with the new car aren't necessarily falling behind, it's a tradeoff between devopment time and data collection from the new car and the new tyres. A lot of data can still be taken from the tyres and you can simulate the type of downforce levels you think you will achieve, but this is risky.

 

[landogeorgelewis1]

Oh wasn't it great seeing Young Kimi back in the car today? Brought a smile to the face .

Really looking forward to see what comes tomorrow when he's back out on Track .

 

[Mephistopheles]

First bit of F1 in 2012 today, Raikkonen will be getting used to F1 again in a 2010 spec Renault in Valencia at Ricardo Tormo.

I can't wait to see him in action he's a legend...

 

[Josh]

Marussia will not unveil their car until the final test: http://www.gpupdate.net/en/f1-news/273743/marussia-delays-new-car-until-final-test/

 

[tooncheese]

Some extra Info

• Jan 26th - Caterham (F1 racing magazine)
• Feb 1st - Mclaren (Website & MTC) 11:00
• Feb 3rd - Ferrari (Website) 09:30
• Feb 3rd - Force India (Silverstone) 09:00
• Feb 5th - Lotus (Website) 16:00
• Feb 6th - Sauber (Jerez) 10:00
• Feb 6th - Redbull (Website) 13:30
• Feb 7th - TorroRoso (Jerez)
• Feb 21st - Marrussia (Barcelona) 3rd test on 1st March
• Feb 21st - Mercedes (Barcelona)

Williams and HRT unknown release date.

 

[teabagyokel]

Williams and HRT unknown release date.

Nonsense, HRT will release their car, as is traditional, on 16th March in Melbourne, Australia!

 

[downforce]

I can't wait to see Lewis Hamilton back in action.

 

[Mephistopheles]

Nonsense, HRT will release their car, as is traditional, on 16th March in Melbourne, Australia!

With last years front wing cobbled onto this years nose cone...