2013 Testing - Barcelona 2: 28 Feb - 3 Mar

[gray41]

Sorry but it would be completely pointless using DRS in all zones.

[beelsebob]

F1fanatic said that Rosberg was using DRS on all the sections were he could when he did 1:20:130. Other sites does not report such thing. What do you know?

yes.

Sky confirms Rosberg had his DRS open all the time, whilst Alonso only has it on the official DRS sections

Pretty sure they didn't?

I was watching all morning, I certainly didn't notice them say it if they did. They also discussed the lap in the afternoon and directly compared it to Ferrari's lap saying it looked impressive.

[kilcoo316]

That seems to be a typical McLaren problem. Last year Hamilton had a lot of lock ups too.

McLaren have ran a very stiff front anti-roll bar along with a much more compliant rear suspension for a number of years now - I remember a few years ago they'd actually lift the inside wheel in some corners.

Obviously, such an approach leads to a very unloaded inside front tyre, with associated locking. It may not be much of an issue as long as there is no significant weight acting through the tyre.

[BlackMercedes]

Looks to me nico dropped a bomb in the interview saying about its performance shown its hand too early??

[TheBaverianBasterd]

yes.

Sky confirms Rosberg had his DRS open all the time, whilst Alonso only has it on the official DRS sections

Pretty sure they didn't?

I was watching all morning, I certainly didn't notice them say it if they did. They also discussed the lap in the afternoon and directly compared it to Ferrari's lap saying it looked impressive.

I heard this from a number of people when Hamilton ran yesterday; he was running DRS all over the circuit. I don't know what to make of this car if they are busy trying to top the time sheets by doing something that they won't be able to do under normal circumstances in another 2 weeks. DRS being open for the bulk of laps would definitely indicate that this car may not be capable of the pace that people seem to think it is.

This kind of reminds me of when Jean Alesi was topping the time sheets in the Prost some years back because they were sponsor fishing.

Does anyone know if the W04 was running any ballast?

[siskue2005]

With the new rules in effect no car can open the DRS outside the specified zones even if they wanted to
yup in test session too, that was confirmed by AMUS later (see the testing thread for that)

[Shakeman]

Sorry but it would be completely pointless using DRS in all zones.

It appears Merc were using 2 DRS zones and this has been translated to using DRS everywhere. Well that's according to a tweet that went past in my timeline.

[gray41]

Basically people sh!ting their pants that Mercedes might have caught up.

Overreactions from both sides.

[Guisson]

Am I the only one yet to be convinced about the Red Bull sandbagging theory?
Imo , they are in a position quite similar to last year when they struggled in the first 3 GP's..
The only team I suspect to be sandbagging is actually Mclaren
But as we all always say : No judgment until Oz, Q3

[BlackMercedes]

Basically people sh!ting their pants that Mercedes might have caught up.

Overreactions from both sides.

Agreed

[gray41]

Well they have lost their DDRS that they were running at the end of last season, so its not out of the question they might have lost the 1 lap pace.

I suspect they will be at the tight end having said that.

[Rikhart]

Double post.

[Rikhart]

Two rainy days:
Massa/Alonso
Grosjean/Grosjean
Bottas/Maldonado
Hamilton/Rosberg
Webber/Vettel
Perez/Button

Spot the odd one. For a team that likes to pretend to be a "pure racing" one Lotus do play a lot of politics. Everyone else was able to correct their line up according to weather but not them. Looks like they starting as they finished last season, shooting themselves in the foot.

Any explanation from their tweeter for morons (their target audience no doubt)?

Do you realise so far Raikkonen has around 100 laps less in the dry than grosjean? So I dont see what your problem is.

Number of laps - irrelevant. It was mostly Jerez, bad weather and early specification.

How about one, I will spell it out for you O - N -E dry day at much more important test circuit Barcelona?
How about zero I will spell it out for you Z - E - R - O test days with a Melbourne-ish specification car?
How about every other team that found it to be a good idea to give one of the two last days to each of their drivers? They must be doing something wrong then. This is one of the obvious ones really, no-brainer. Lotus since the half season ago reeks of politics.

Speaking about shooting themselves in the foot, any doubts about it now? Bunch of idiots.

Räikkonen tested the fewest laps of those drivers who were confirmed before Winter testing started. He tested 260 laps. Only Bianchi (253) and Sutil (249) tested fewer laps. Räikkonens teammate Grosjean tested 495 laps. Gutierrez tested the most laps (607).

http://www.mtv3.fi/urheilu/f1/uutiset.s ... si-vahiten

It´s only twice the mileage, nothing too serious right?

[Rikhart]

Am I the only one yet to be convinced about the Red Bull sandbagging theory?
Imo , they are in a position quite similar to last year when they struggled in the first 3 GP's..
The only team I suspect to be sandbagging is actually Mclaren
But as we all always say : No judgment until Oz, Q3

They are MILES better than last year, when their exhaust system was banned, and they had to do a scruffy copy of Sauber´s. Last year, they only solved their problems around mid season, this season they start much stronger, right from the first race.

[Mika1]

Yeah, I think RBR will be very strong again. Can't see why they would have big problems, it's just an evolution of a really good car.