2012 Testing - Barcelona 2: 21-24 Feb

[Maynard G. Krebs]

That dang f1tests.co site keeps showing Petrov with a 1.22. get's me all excited.

[Mr.S]

Where does everyone see the 1s difference? Comparing the times posted above, in most laps the difference is half a second. Unless we take extreme laps into consideration which is difficult to judge as Schumacher or Webber might have fallen into traffic.

During the end or the later part of a sting the gap goes to almost 1s. RBR is very easy on its Tyres while Mercedes is not.

[Mr.S]

Webber - 1.26.6 & 1.27.3

Michael - 1.29.0 & 1.29.3

The gap looks too big. Has Webber pitted for Soft tyres. MSC's tyres are only 6 laps old while Webber has fresh rubber.

[Ferraripilot]

RB is definitely very easy on tires once again. MB and Mclaren definitely look very close though. Even with Jensen on meds

Yes Mclaren & Mercedes are on a more similar pace. Mercedes maybe slightly quicker. Red Bull look from a different planet. Like Close 1 Full Second away from the rest

RB's pace after their third pit stop is just remarkable. If it's real

[beelsebob]

RB is definitely very easy on tires once again. MB and Mclaren definitely look very close though. Even with Jensen on meds

Yes Mclaren & Mercedes are on a more similar pace. Mercedes maybe slightly quicker. Red Bull look from a different planet. Like Close 1 Full Second away from the rest

RB's pace after their third pit stop is just remarkable. If it's real

It's not that remarkable – they were into the 1:24s in their third stint yesterday.

[Richard]

The DRS wing and KERS really screws up testing for the fans. Its like the perfect sandbagging tool and could skew the results by a couple seconds.

How do we know a fast lap didn't involve 15 seconds of KERS and DRS everywhere, or the exact opposite using none?

The simplest way to disguise pace is to run the engine at 16k or 17k rpm. Then the driver can drive as normal, KERS as normal, DRS as normal, weight distribution is normal, hence they get valid data for the engineers.

... or a midfield team wanting to catch attention for sponsorship could run at 19k for the last couple of days, with all other factors as normal.

I'm not sure they would mess around with the ballast too much because that would much the balance of the car hence making the test data less relevant.

It is odd how Sauber always top the time sheets in the last few days of testing

[Ferraripilot]

Williams and Force India will have their hands full with each other this year. Looking very racey

[Lorenzo_Bandini]

Autosport said Webber run hard tyres.. If it's true, it's simple :

- Mercedes car is a big doog.
OR
- The season is already over.

[Ferraripilot]

I'm wondering if the opposite could be true this season in that they are not getting heat into the tires at the moment due to the colder weather. This is also their first race sim with this car. Ever. There will be setup issues and of course terrabites of data they will pour over.

[snoop1050]

Autosport said Webber run hard tyres.. If it's true, it's simple :

- Mercedes car is a big doog.
OR
- The season is already over.

schumacher on hard and webber on medium acording to amus

[diego1960]

Mr. S, I think that things aren't so bad as they seem. Surely I expect Red Bull to be quite faster, maybe even 0.8s per lap but surely not 1,5-2s that we see now. I also do not believe that the car is a dog as I've read, it is much more logical in its design, aerodynamically efficient, with a lower CoG and overall much more refined than last years piece of junk. I am sure that Mercedes will get their act together eventually.

[JohnsonsEvilTwin]

Ok so as it transpires Red Bull are on the more tradional race sim, and Mercedes are looking into heavy fuel load work ie set up, tyre degredation etc.

Schumacher on the soft(new set according to AMuS)



1:28.473 (85)

15 laps

1:30.170 (100)

Drop off 1.5 seconds over 15 laps averaging 0.1sec drop per lap.

Wish people would stop making rash statements regards who is where just yet. Webber's last run started on a 1:26.6 and ended on 1:30.2 nearly 4 seconds drop off in 15 laps.
Theyre on different programmes people.

[FrukostScones]

I don't know on what program the FINDIA is, but they have a very low tyre drop off (currently medium)

[diego1960]

JET, I would go even further as to say that we must not jump into conclusions based on emotions. I know everyone concerned right now simply loves Mercedes and wants them to do well and so do I, but we only "harm" ourselves by worrying about gaps that aren't even definite! We might have a 1-2s deficit from Red Bull, but we might only have 0,5s, noone really knows now. I reckon that the second Barcelona test will give more answers.

[JohnsonsEvilTwin]

@diego

Agreed.

Every bit of info is dealt with like some fantastical discovery or some horrific find.
Its just testing. Had Mercedes been in the pits with another oil leak, and only 40 laps on the board...I'd be concerned.

Also, I dont think it logical that any team can currently usurp Red Bulls Dominance.
Im praying McLaren and Ferrari or Mercedes bang in a fancy test time...so I can run down to the bookies and whack £1000 on Vettel doing the business again.
Red Bull again, McLaren then maybe Mercedes and Ferrari then the rest.