2013 Abu Dhabi: Friday & Saturday Free Practice Thread

[SinanOzerS]

Forza Ferrari as always !:ferrarifl

[Hornet]

Glad I'm not the only one watching FP1 :-G

[fratelliferrari]

Glad I'm not the only one watching FP1 :-G

I was thinking the same Hornet :lol I took so long before this thread started that I thought I was the only one

[fratelliferrari]

Our Dutch commentator is a joke! He just said that Fangio only had won 4 WDC's and also that Alonso has a contract until 2015 :-??

[Hornet]

On Sky they have been talking about Kimi for 15 mins. for a change they are not talking about Alonso future :-P ... yet

[FA fan]

On Sky they have been talking about Kimi for 15 mins. for a change they are not talking about Alonso future :-P ... yet


Well at abudhabi sports our commentators have been talking about everything except Alonso :lol

[Massimo181]

Just boring now the championship has been wrapped up the teams should be given extra tyres so that we can see some cars on the track.

[fratelliferrari]

Did I see it right Piero Ferrari is in the garage today?

[Alonsomaniac]

Watch FP or not..........hm......okay , let's just watch :lol

[fratelliferrari]

Watch FP or not..........hm......okay , let's just watch :lol

Alonsomaniac, do you watch F1 on Sport1 as well?

[FA fan]

Did I see it right Piero Ferrari is in the garage today?

Yes he is

[Alonsomaniac]

Alonsomaniac, do you watch F1 on Sport1 as well?

Nope. Sky. (I quit Sport1, was getting sick of the commentators....)

http://www.sportlemon.tv/20131101/vv5273626ed359c2.52274218-675328.html

[fratelliferrari]

Nope. Sky. (I quit Sport1, was getting sick of the commentators....)

http://www.sportlemon.tv/20131101/vv5273626ed359c2.52274218-675328.html

I totally agree with you, he hasn't got a clue what he is talking about :furious

[Hornet]

Love the movable camera on Ferrari's car ( I think I saw it move :-E )

[Greig]

Yeah it moves :-)

[medeni73]

So updates on camera work GREAT and those on car NOT...

[Larcxy27]

Are we doing rubbish yet?!?!? ;)

[FA fan]

So updates on camera work GREAT and those on car NOT...

Well hopefully we will improve,otherwise I think we might struggle to get into q3!

[fratelliferrari]

Well hopefully we will improve,otherwise I think we might struggle to get into q3!

It will be very hard to get that second position in WCC back I think

[Kyss4k]

It will be very hard to get that second position in WCC back I think

It's not possible unless Mercedes will mess up massively. We should be worried about holding to third...

[medeni73]

But at least we can take a good look at cars flying around us with that super mega giga dynamic 360° camera...

[fratelliferrari]

I can't watch FP2 but I think I won't miss much later today :-(

[brembo man]

Massa needs a job. I hope he takes pole! Someone could tell Todt to tell the chin to tell Vettel to move over for him. That I'll do it.

[diesel08]

But at least we can take a good look at cars flying around us with that super mega giga dynamic 360° camera...

:clap yeap, it's a kind of improvement that we aspected ;)

[Greig]

It's not possible unless Mercedes will mess up massively. We should be worried about holding to third...

Off course it is possible, it's nothing worth worrying about though.

[Kingdom Hearts]

Car looks fast.

[Senna4Ever]

who would thought that Mr. Vettel would provide the first "Hoppala" (Austrian native for: funny scene)


Car looks fast.
which one?

[Kingdom Hearts]

who would thought that Mr. Vettel would provide the first "Hoppala" (Austrian native for: funny scene)


which one?


the ones that are not red :-(

[ManFromMilan]

the ones that are not red :-(



Oh crap....i see an ear tweaking coming

[Greig]

Such a pointless session really.

[Alonsomaniac]

Okay.....let's watch another pointless session . It's raining cats and dogs here and have nothing else to do so....

[Hornet]

I'm just watching for the V8 engine, final year we get to hear them so we should enjoy it in the remaining races. Watch the race on HD and turn up the volume :-D

[Kyss4k]

I'm just watching for the V8 engine, final year we get to hear them so we should enjoy it in the remaining races. Watch the race on HD and turn up the volume :-D

Can't :-( I have just that tiny super low resolution window of live stream...

[Alonsomaniac]

I'm just watching for the V8 engine, final year we get to hear them so we should enjoy it in the remaining races. Watch the race on HD and turn up the volume :-D

Well, I don't think the goodbye to the V8 will be such a problem. I'm into F1 since 1973 and I have seen and heard all kinds of engines now. It takes a while and then you get used to it again and start appreciating it.
We had V8's before, we had V12's, we had V6's ,we had V10's, we had turbo4cyl's before and now they will come back again.
It's just F1 and F1 is everchanging.

[Alonso14]

Anyone have a footage of Alonso's moving cam as I missed FP1?

[medeni73]

Reaching Q3 seems like ultimate goal this weekend....

[WS6TransAm01]

live stream?

[Hornet]

Here's one:
http://www.freevip.eu/motorsports/95559/1/skysports-f1-:-skyf1-live-stream-online.html

[Nova]

What the heck is going on? 11th and 12th?

[Jose Lorca]

I know we have traction issues but our S3 times are just shameful

[Aberracus]

It's embarrassing
What is happening, we are fighting Williams!

[Forzi]

We're slow everywhere, so i think we're doing heavy runs. But not sure why. Maby investing in to the race setup?

[Jose Lorca]

We have a bigger improvement on the softs compared to other teams but we are still behind McLaren and our single lap pace on mediums is still bad. Hopefully on race fuel we will be more competitive.

[medeni73]

if anything at least we're having no technical issues yet... "Issues are being encountered by a number of drivers in the field at the moment, with Vettel, di Resta, Button, Grosjean and most recently, Chilton."

[Kingdom Hearts]

Time to tweak Alonso's ear again, the car is clearly great.

[medeni73]

We're loosing most in S2 which is the fastest one... I think they're sacrificing top speed for downforce it seems cos S3 times are relatively good...So I think they can reverse it if they loose much more time in fast sectors as in slow one...

[Greig]

What a shock that we are not very fast, unbelievable!!!! not like we should be expecting it......

[medeni73]

You're right, sad but true: we're getting more surprised when we're fast than other way around...

[ManFromMilan]

Time to tweak Alonso's ear again, the car is clearly great.



:-D

[Ed Harley]

8th and 10th in P2 - that's not too bad.

[medeni73]

not bad for who? Williams? Sauber? Marussia? We are Ferrari and this is BAD as it gets...this season is over anyway but it still gives you uneasy feeling for 2014 season...

[Kingdom Hearts]

We are on track to finish 4th in the WCC and maybe 3rd or 4th in the WDC.

[FA fan]

Well look at the bright side,there are 3 more races to go and this season is over!!

[stefa]

Just saw results.... This is slow even for Friday FP....

[medeni73]

you havent missed much stefa...our only update that works is new camera...

[Alessandra]

you havent missed much stefa...our only update that works is new camera...

;-) Dead right.

[Ed Harley]

not bad for who? Williams? Sauber? Marussia? We are Ferrari and this is BAD as it gets...this season is over anyway but it still gives you uneasy feeling for 2014 season...
It could be worse.

[fratelliferrari]

you havent missed much stefa...our only update that works is new camera...

But at least its a nice camera :-D

[shamim179]

We seem to be getting slower and slower on average by each race or at least it appears that way but I think it's a case that the other teams are improving at a much faster pace than us. We are now the 5th or 6th fastest team?

I'm not expecting us to be the fastest but we simply cannot improve and actually sometimes go backwards. It's most embarrassing for a top team like us to have these issues month after month year after year. Look at McLaren. They started off with a poor car struggled to understand it but have been improving steadily. And this is without Lowe.

We'll do well just to get into Q3. Once again if we start low on the grid we run the risk of being involved in an incident.

[radosav]

We need to stay calm!

[Hornet]

Ferrari have given up on this season some time ago, so I think it's to be expected for us to slip back as teams like Mercedes and Lotus tries to push for the WCC standing.

For teams like Lotus, getting 2nd in the WCC is a huge deal in terms of money so they are probably still putting more effort into the current season. For Ferrari, we best put 100% and more into 2014

[pluto]

Amazing how far we have fallen back its worse than 2012. How can Lotus out class us as well again? The team seems lost. next year is make or break for us to prove we are a top team otherwise its over for many years imo.

[Kyss4k]

Amazing how far we have fallen back its worse than 2012. How can Lotus out class us as well again? The team seems lost. next year is make or break for us to prove we are a top team otherwise its over for many years imo.

Yeh, I remember how people here discarded Lotus at the beginning of the season, saying they won't keep up with the development... Turned out it was us.

[Greig]

Yeh, I remember how people here discarded Lotus at the beginning of the season, saying they won't keep up with the development... Turned out it was us.

What developments have Lotus brought compared to us?

[Pekka]

What developments have Lotus brought compared to us?

For last race they brought the longer wheelbase car which is quite big and also made them much quicker.

Kimi however used the shorter wheelbased car in todays pracs while Romain used the longer wheelbased car.

[shamim179]

Yeh, I remember how people here discarded Lotus at the beginning of the season, saying they won't keep up with the development... Turned out it was us.

Yes, I remember that too. I too was somewhat confident that we would outdevelop them over the season because of our resources compared to Lotus. What's most striking here is that Lotus are having cashflow problems to the extent it is affecting their drivers being paid on time, influencing their choice of drivers for next year and Kimi not being reassured enough about further future payment problems. It was bad enough for Kimi that he decided to jump ship and sign with us. Let's not forget there were stories of Lotus workers taking strike action for not being paid too.

Despite all of their problems they are still outdeveloping us even though we have hired a few talented people from their team.

There is something seriously wrong at Ferrari and I have a feeling that Ferrari are too proud to admit that. Instead we seem to find excuses to cover our failings.

Forget looking at points table this year. Last year we did a much better job in developing the car. 2011 we were a bit uncompetitive but staying more or less the same in terms of our performance. 2010 we were competitive. So taking all of that into account this year has been our worst year perhaps in terms of being able to improve the car over the course of the season. So looking at it on a year by year basis we are getting worse. I'll come out and say that if it wasn't for those tests in Mugello last year we would have been completely lost. Our main weakness has been that we have trained ourselves to be really good at improving our car in conjunction with track testing. But to improve using virtual tools we are probably one of the worst teams at it. I'm not sure whether just hiring Allison and a bunch of other technicians will solve the problems. It seems much more widespread.

Even if we happen to be really strong next year, other teams will quickly catch up with us.

It's very concerning because we are the only F1 team on the grid that is almost purely a manufacturer of sports cars but don't know how to improve our cars. We should be very good at this. The other manufactures don't just do sports cars and McLaren although of a sports breed are using the Mercedes-Benz engine.

[Greig]

For last race they brought the longer wheelbase car which is quite big and also made them much quicker.

Kimi however used the shorter wheelbased car in todays pracs while Romain used the longer wheelbased car.

I thought they used that in Monza?

[Senna4Ever]

Time to tweak Alonso's ear again, the car is clearly great.

:thumb
some might say that this is refusing to work ...


What a shock that we are not very fast, unbelievable!!!! not like we should be expecting it......

Right!
We should be more surprised if we're fast ...

can it be that some of our aero guys (engineer would be too far) might have worked at the army with tanks and other heavy armour-plated transporters before they came to support Ferrari? Would explain how good car can be turned into something like this ...

[Pekka]

Yup you are right..

http://www.autosport.com/news/report.php/id/109675

http://www.autosport.com/news/report.php/id/110319

http://www.autosport.com/news/report.php/id/110450

http://www.autosport.com/news/report.php/id/109973

Just some articles on it..

[Senna4Ever]

I thought they used that in Monza?

No must haven been later ... don't no where I read it but think it was only 1 or 2 races ago ...

Here a google translation of german article about the longer Lotus version ... 06. September 2013 - 19:27 Uhr


For a long time the upgrade was planned and in test use, but also for the race at Monza, the Lotus team has now decided according to the 'Autosport' against the longer wheelbase at E21. Kimi Raikkonen had driven in training for the Grand Prix of Italy by ten centimeters longer cars, but only came on Friday at the exact same time as team-mate Romain Grosjean.

For the rest of the weekend we now opted for the safe option and grabs the longer wheelbase back into the mothballs. But in the future Lotus wants to continue to work on the specification, so that they can use in the race. Kimi Raikkonen said after practice that the longer wheelbase making up a big difference for him.

[Senna4Ever]

I thought they used that in Monza?

found it


Lotus had already announced some time ago to try to prolong his car, the use of the revised chassis but repeatedly postponed. South Korea since the car longer and the result comes in the race used: a double podium in Yeongam and a third place at Suzuka - Red Bull is just faster. Ten centimeters are front and rear tire recently further apart, so for example, the weight is shifted slightly to the rear. Actually, the update was intended primarily to collect data for 2014 - but now the positive side effect.

[Greig]

They did use it at Monza though?

[Senna4Ever]

They did use it at Monza though?

Only testing ... not in the race ... see above

[wisepie]

Yeh, I remember how people here discarded Lotus at the beginning of the season, saying they won't keep up with the development... Turned out it was us.

Maybe that's why they can't pay their driver! Seriously, we're an embarrassment at present, and I wouldn't blame F&F for tweaking everyone's ear, we've completely lost the plot and I feel for our drivers.:-s

[Kiwi Nick]

Lotus going with two different wheelbases could be a stroke of genius. In Abu, it clearly looks like the shorter car is faster. Where as the longer car was better suited to Japan and Korea. It must be nice to have choices from track to track and driver to driver. Why didn't the big budget teams think of that?

[Ed Harley]

They did and decided to stick with one wheelbase. Use of two wheelbases tell that they are probably not exactly sure which one to use.

[fratelliferrari]

Nice video guys -> http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vWBUIC0aut4

[tifosi1993]

FP2 Classification (http://184.106.145.74/f1-championship/f1-2013/f1-2013-17/ABU%20Doc%2014%20P2%20Classification.pdf)

Lap Chart (http://184.106.145.74/f1-championship/f1-2013/f1-2013-17/Second%20Practice%20Session%20Lap%20Times.pdf)

[Rob]

Now going to watch FP sessions, but what im reading i think we should wish the end of the season to come quickly. We have fell short since Silverstone, either tyres/developments not working or coming quick enough or both. We must, and im sure up our game for March next year. We need to win again, win many races and WDC WCC again, plus F1 needs us winning again.

[fratelliferrari]

Now going to watch FP sessions, but what im reading i think we should wish the end of the season to come quickly. We have fell short since Silverstone, either tyres/developments not working or coming quick enough or both. We must, and im sure up our game for March next year. We need to win again, win many races and WDC WCC again, plus F1 needs us winning again.

You must be really bored :lol

[Kyss4k]

What developments have Lotus brought compared to us?

I don't know what they brought, but they are clearly faster than us. So while we didn't manage to keep up with pace, they are near the top for all season long (with few exceptions).

[Rob]

You must be really bored :lol

bored?

[Paulo Goncalves]

Tomorrow we will improve some settings used today. Feel confident.


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk (http://tapatalk.com/m?id=1)

[fratelliferrari]

Iam ready for FP3 hopefully we are more competitive today. Forza Ferrari :ferrarifl

[stefa]

Hope both cars will reach Q3 today

[fratelliferrari]

Is that Fuoco in the Ferrari garage?

[brembo man]

Maybe that's why they can't pay their driver! Seriously, we're an embarrassment at present, and I wouldn't blame F&F for tweaking everyone's ear, we've completely lost the plot and I feel for our drivers.:-s

Very well said! But maybe it was worth it. Even Grosjean looks good up front! More proof that it's 85% car. Money well spent for sure by Lotus, or Kimi , it depends on how you look at it! :rotfl

[Rob]

Is that Fuoco in the Ferrari garage?

Yes it is.

[fratelliferrari]

Moving camera also in Kimi's car I see.

[Kyss4k]

Moving camera also in Kimi's car I see.

Only on his car. It is off the Alonso's car based on what guys on Sky said.

[fratelliferrari]

Only on his car. It is off the Alonso's car based on what guys on Sky said.

OK didn't know that. Would be nice if more cars would have that camera on the car. Maybe in the future?

[Hermann]

Looks like we finally reached the stage where the car looks like a real turtle.That last sector is just horrendous.

[gjoko-mkd]

We are totally out of pace

[Massimo181]

Might get better when the track cools Sutil also having problems

[fratelliferrari]

We are totally out of pace

It's so painful to watch this FP hopefully Q is a bit better later today :pray

[Kyss4k]

Looks like we finally reached the stage where the car looks like a real turtle.That last sector is just horrendous.

We are slow in every sector... I expected that we would not be fast here, but this is awful.

[pluto]

how can our technical team be SO incompetent??? My god. Its like they are working out the back of a garage.

[stefa]

Might get better when the track cools Sutil also having problems

Didn't know that we are now comparing Ferrari with Force India? :-)

[Kyss4k]

Half a second behind McLaren... You did it Ferrari! You managed to drop behind the car that was a tractor for most of the season.

[Hermann]

The car is so twitchy, Fernando is fighting to even keep that thing on the track...

[stefa]

It's so painful to watch this FP hopefully Q is a bit better later today :pray

I am going now out and I won't be watching Q. It is nice and sunny here in Belgrade with 22 C outside, so it is more better and quality to spend that time with kids out side.

[Hermann]

I am going now out and I won't be watching Q. It is nice and sunny here in Belgrade with 22 C outside, so it is more better and quality to spend that time with kids out side.

It should be in any case!! :-)

[stefa]

Half a second behind McLaren... You did it Ferrari! You managed to drop behind the car that was a tractor for most of the season.

Thank God that they (McLaren) is so behind in CWC that Ferrari 4th place is secure :-)

[stefa]

It should be in any case!! :-)

:thumb

[stefa]

Was there a case this season when both cars fail to reach Q3?

[fratelliferrari]

Qualifying will be very hard this afternoon. Even to get one car in top 10 will be a serious challenge or will the lower temperatures suit us better?

[Kyss4k]

Qualifying will be very hard this afternoon. Even to get one car in top 10 will be a serious challenge or will the lower temperatures suit us better?

It was the other way around for the whole year, so expecting it will help us is just a wishful thinking.

[stefa]

It was the other way around for the whole year, so expecting it will help us is just a wishful thinking.

Any way there is no point at all! There is no big difference starting from 8 or 9 or 12 place after all....

[yz2006]

that's odd... none of our rivals are developing the car anymore this year.. how come we are dropping the pace almost every weekend? I mean, seriously, if the car is not getting better, it should not become worse.. we are fighting among the mid-fielders. The set up of the car probably is totally screwed.. even worse than Korea??

[Jas]

Rugby or F1...think I may watch rugby!

[Forzi]

Qualifying will be very hard this afternoon. Even to get one car in top 10 will be a serious challenge or will the lower temperatures suit us better?

Team said things got better yesterday when the temps got down. So expect us in Q3, just sadly thinks it's 9-10.

[Kingdom Hearts]

Team said things got better yesterday when the temps got down. So expect us in Q3, just sadly thinks it's 9-10.

I expect one car in Q3.

[fratelliferrari]

Team said things got better yesterday when the temps got down. So expect us in Q3, just sadly thinks it's 9-10.

Well I think I will have to hope for that, but anyway Forza Ferrari!

[Senna4Ever]

wow what a pathetic joke gang we have become ...
according to most of the journalists no one on the grit takes us serious in any kind at the moment ... and no matter which tv station you turn on each moderator sounds embarrassed like talking about an old man who suffers on a disease and talking about the old days all over again ...

if you want to have a save job, go to Ferrari as you won't be charged by results ... it's even more about how long you stay calm and talking like a Yoga teacher about our inner peace ...

[stefa]

wow what a pathetic joke gang we have become ...
according to most of the journalists no one on the grit takes us serious in any kind at the moment ...

Why would they?!
Certainly Ferrari didn't gave them anything to take them certainly!

[radosav]

We should rename into ' Force Italy ' , cause from global brand we turned into local!

[Ed Harley]

P3 11th and 14th - that's not much to write home about. Qualifying may be about the same but hopefully speed in race is better.

[Greig]

wow what a pathetic joke gang we have become ...
according to most of the journalists no one on the grit takes us serious in any kind at the moment ... and no matter which tv station you turn on each moderator sounds embarrassed like talking about an old man who suffers on a disease and talking about the old days all over again ...

if you want to have a save job, go to Ferrari as you won't be charged by results ... it's even more about how long you stay calm and talking like a Yoga teacher about our inner peace ...

Only pathetic joke is fans thinking our car is suddenly going to turn into something wonderful, it's not going to happen, accept it and get on with it really.

[fratelliferrari]

Only pathetic joke is fans thinking our car is suddenly going to turn into something wonderful, it's not going to happen, accept it and get on with it really.

Well to be honest Greig, I wasn't expecting miracles but I really would think we could challenge for podium positions these last races. Maybe this isn't our track but I am still hoping we have a good car in Brazil so Felipe can do very well is in his home Grand Prix and last race for the Prancing Horse :-D

[Kyss4k]

Only pathetic joke is fans thinking our car is suddenly going to turn into something wonderful, it's not going to happen, accept it and get on with it really.

We are not thinking that we will get somehow better. We just can't believe we are getting worse and worse. FI, McLaren,... they are not developing their cars any more than we do, but they are becomming fater than us. Everyone else outside our comunity laughs at Ferrari's incompetence.

[Greig]

We are not thinking that we will get somehow better. We just can't believe we are getting worse and worse. FI, McLaren,... they are not developing their cars any more than we do, but they are becomming fater than us. Everyone else outside our comunity laughs at Ferrari's incompetence.

Do they? just like we have been laughing at others when they do bad?

[Ed Harley]

No amount of work, resources and management will get a job done if the necessary direction is unknown.

I hope that for 2014 the direction would finally be clear and then said resources could be allocated exactly where they are needed. Otherwise it will be just waste of time and money.

[Kyss4k]

Do they? just like we have been laughing at others when they do bad?

I don't know who did, I certainly didn't. But it's imposible to be a Ferrari fan and join discussion almost anywhere else then here.

I don't understand how could we drop so low after what was the best start to e season since 2008.

[Senna4Ever]

I don't understand how could we drop so low after what was the best start to e season since 2008.

Just as easy:
for each problem we had been faced we stood calm, gave hand each other, making funny "We Are Family"-dances, sometimes eartweaking someone when not stood in line, not offending any one and put head into ground like an ostrich ...

and :clap this glorious strategy worked out ...

we can open a table for a betting office here what statements we will hear from LdM and SD after last race
My personal favourite
SD: We need to stay calm, look what we have done wrong and improve in all belongings for 2014
LdM: I have strong faith that our team will strike back over the winter and I expect the team fights back and to be strong right from the start of the 2014 season. It is a petty that areo is so important in modern F1 ...

[Hermann]

And we will all get our ears tweaked for so much negativity.

[Grinsomx]

It is a petty that areo is so important in modern F1 ...

not next year so if he says that, he better has the engine to back it up.
i hope he does have that engine

[Mike996]

not next year so if he says that, he better has the engine to back it up.
i hope he does have that engine

Forget all that "in 2014, aero is not important anymore" yadda yadda. Pat Fry has said today that aero will remain the most important element. (http://www.motorsport-total.com/f1/news/2013/11/fry-aerodynamik-bleibt-dominierend-13110202.html). (Sorry, only in German).

[ManFromMilan]

And we will all get our ears tweaked for so much negativity.

If this form of Ferrari is going to get even worst, then some people need to get a firm slap to the side of the head.


not next year so if he says that, he better has the engine to back it up.
i hope he does have that engine

I really hope they are building a monster of an engine and light years ahead when it comes to technological innovation compared to our rivals.


Forget all that "in 2014, aero is not important anymore" yadda yadda. Pat Fry has said today that aero will remain the most important element. (http://www.motorsport-total.com/f1/news/2013/11/fry-aerodynamik-bleibt-dominierend-13110202.html). (Sorry, only in German).

Rory please bring your magic :clap