Pastor Maldonado recorded the fastest time on the penultimate testing day of the current 4-day session at Barcelona. The session was dominated by 4 red flags and was eventually cut short 3 minutes earlier than planned because Felipe Massa came to a halt in the pitlane.
Post here all non technical related topics about Formula One. This includes race results, discussions, testing analysis etc. TV coverage and other personal questions should be in Off topic chat.
Lotus Technical Director James Allison explains the work process before the season opener.
Q:This week back at Enstone, the team are focusing on the build-up of chassis two to be used at the Barcelona test. Is this process slightly easier now that we have experience from the first chassis build?
A:When you do the first chassis build of a new car there are always a couple of things that need to be re-positioned compared with where you expect them to be. When it comes to the second build you’re already aware of these elements, so it becomes a case of copying what you’ve done previously. So yes, it generally takes a little less time to do the second one than the first as you’re not having to find ways around things.
Finishing races is important, but racing is more important.
raymondu999 wrote:I don't see the autosport comment on purple s1 though? Was it on Twitter or their live website commentary?
I will check in the morning as you can appreciate where i live its 26 to midnight, i have the page open and will mull through the comments section to find the time stamp.
Wow! Someone who lives in an even earlier timezone than me. Sure thing - no problem.
With all eyes on Mercedes, whose car may or may not be hiding a secret innovation according to Red Bull's technical director Adrian Newey, Michael Schumacher was under serious scrutiny as the action got underway on Tuesday morning.
Driving the new stepped-nosed W03 the seven-time World Champ put in some decent laps from the word go to finish the morning with a 1:25.554 and an impressive 43 laps to his credit.
That put him sixth on the timesheets, 0.807s behind pace-setter Vettel.
The Red Bull racer spent his morning chasing down Nico Hulkenberg, a feat he achieved with a 1:23.343 just ten minutes before the lunch break and with the medium compound Pirellis.
Those tyres proved to be the more popular on the morning as the teams concentrated on the development of their own cars rather than tyre testing for Pirelli.
Hulkenberg had to settle for second, 0.097s off the pace while Lewis Hamilton, the only driver to try the softer option compounds, was third quickest.
Daniel Ricciardo once again showed Toro Rosso's potential as he brought his STR home in fourth place and ahead of Ferrari's Fernando Alonso.
Alonso's running, though, was cut a bit short due to a "small issue" according to Ferrari's Twitter feed.
Sergio Perez was seventh for Sauber, finishing ahead of Romain Grosjean, Heikki Kovalainen and newcomer Charles Pic, who was driving an old Virgin racer.
However, it was not a great start to the four-day Barcelona test for Grosjean or Kovalainen. While the latter brought out the morning's only red flag when he stopped out on track, Grosjean's day ended after just seven laps.
Alan Permane, Lotus's trackside operations director, explained: "This morning was our first shakedown of our second chassis. Once the car was on track it was soon evident that everything wasn't quite as it should be.
"As a precaution we are returning the chassis to Enstone for further investigation. Chassis E20-01, which we used in Jerez, is being sent over and we expect to be on track with that chassis tomorrow."
Source - Planet F1.
So Lewis Hamilton is the ONLY guy to set a Lap Time using the Soft tyres,dont know if his fastest time was set up on Softs or Mediums.
Mr.S wrote:
So Lewis Hamilton is the ONLY guy to set a Lap Time using the Soft tyres,dont know if his fastest time was set up on Softs or Mediums.
If McLaren are getting lots of exhaust gas down to the footplate by the tyre (as appears to be the case) they might be checking on how this design affects the soft tyre's life. It's certainly something they need to take care over.
If you are more fortunate than others, build a larger table not a taller fence.
Alcatraz Raymond I just quoted PlanetF1 which is a pretty dumb site anyway. But they say that Hamilton was the only one to use Softs. They could be wrong.
shelly wrote:You have to factor tires in that. This years pirellis could be 1,2 or even 3 seconds quicker than last year - we have no clue about that and this offsets all times comparison
Plus they brought the super softs that they didn't have last week, although no one has used them yet I think
I doubt the Pirelli's have changed to that degree. No one has spoken about such dramatic improvements in grip from the tyres. Surely that would have been huge news by now, no?
shelly wrote:You have to factor tires in that. This years pirellis could be 1,2 or even 3 seconds quicker than last year - we have no clue about that and this offsets all times comparison
Plus they brought the super softs that they didn't have last week, although no one has used them yet I think
I doubt the Pirelli's have changed to that degree. No one has spoken about such dramatic improvements in grip from the tyres. Surely that would have been huge news by now, no?
Yes, they improved in longevity, so they last longer, but i would like to read something official from pirelli regarding differences in gripo performance after these Barcelona tests.
