Jerez Testing (finally)

[Jas]

Total laps completed by each team
Mercedes - 309
McLaren - 245
Williams - 175
Force India - 146
Ferrari - 251
Sauber - 163
Marussia - 30
Red Bull - 21
Toro Rosso - 54
Caterham - 76

Laps completed by each engine manufacturer
Mercedes - 875
Ferrari - 444
Renault - 151

God Mercades has a lot of mileage! But then again us as a team have a fair few

[Jas]

looks like we really needed to get marussia running to be the equivilant of a Williams team for us in terms of mileage, great job by sauber tho!

[Alessandra]

BBC Sport’s chief F1 writer Andrew Benson:
One thing that has been particularly noticeable about the 2014 cars, apart from the lack of miles the teams are managing, is how much slower they have been so far compared to last year. Lap times are a good five seconds or more off last winter's Jerez test. But Fernando Alonso played down the change. "The cars are slower - nothing more than that," he said on Thursday. "I lapped here in one minute 16 in 2004 or 2005 and today I ran in one minute 26, so I'm 10 seconds slower than 10 years ago. When you go 10 seconds slower, it's not the same, also from the physical point of view - these cars are much easier than Formula 1 has been."
"There are less G forces, less speed into the corners, but there more parameters to control, there are more buttons on the steering wheel. It's more critical to drive and to control the car in the high-speed corners and in terms of traction. It's just different. In terms of emotions, it's the same. When I drive a go-kart I go 20secs or half a minute slower than in Formula 1 but I sweat and enjoy so much. If I drive my road car, I'll enjoy it too. As long as you're driving on the limit, the lap time doesn't change the emotions you feel when you drive. This car is still fun to drive and we'll discover better soon."

[Jas]

HAVE A LOOK AT THIS>>>ALL TIMES VERY GOOD! https://www.facebook.com/photo.php?f...type=1&theater

[wisepie]

Has to be said that we've done well so far but it's early days and changeable conditions and temperatures, looking promising but let's not get too excited yet. Merc power may well be our biggest nightmare. But as for the ex-Ferrari chappie in the blue car, bet he's smiling too! Good for him and I hope I won't get banned for mentioning that!

[Rob]

[Rob]

[mkable1370]

Has to be said that we've done well so far but it's early days and changeable conditions and temperatures, looking promising but let's not get too excited yet. Merc power may well be our biggest nightmare. But as for the ex-Ferrari chappie in the blue car, bet he's smiling too! Good for him and I hope I won't get banned for mentioning that!

It was Luca di Montezemolo himself who barely two months ago proclaimed Massa as always being part of the Ferrari family. How should one be banned for praising a member of "the family"?

“As for the rest of his Formula 1 career, I wish him the very best, but naturally, behind a Ferrari and anyway, I am sure we will get many chances to meet up again, because life is long and he will always be part of our family.”


(no, I'm not biased...)

[evo_spook]

Information that will be off interest to you

http://www.renaultsportf1.com/Q-A-wi...g.html?lang=en

on the first run day, we had problems with a sub-system within the Energy Store that did not directly concern either the battery nor the operation of the battery – it is an electronic part that was in the same housing as the Energy Store.
We subsequently had problems with turbocharger and boost control systems with knock-on effects on the associated engine management systems, subsequently provoking mechanical failures.

We believed our initial configuration was a robust start point for track use but it has not proved to be the case. We have done substantial dyno running in a similar configuration with few issues. We now know that the differences between dyno and car are bigger than we expected, with the consequence that our initial impressions were incomplete and imperfect.

We recognize that when the cars have run, they are not running at an acceptable level. We are a long way from the type of operation we had planned and prepared for – largely as a result of the workarounds we have implemented – but all the information is useful. In dealing with the issues we have moved further away from the configuration we were comfortable with, which has resulted in the relatively slow times. We absolutely expect to have a more definitive solution in place for the next session in Bahrain.

Several problems are common to all, as the power unit is the same specification in all the cars except for relatively minor installations differences. Some problems are particular to one installation environment, but it is our responsibility to deal with all of them.

The homologation deadline is the end of February. Change is not forbidden, but subject to the sporting regulations and we should not get so hung up on this date.

The step we must take to reach an acceptable level of in-car performance is bigger than we would have liked.

[RedPassion]

Quite predictable,they are not really worried about omologation,because there will be none ,they will cry to the FIA and i hope at least Ferrari take a stand on that and stop this eternal farce.Each year the same dirt,im weary of that guys,this should not happen in F1.I ask myself if they are worried of image damages related to this,i dont know how good it is to be pictured as cheater all the time.

[Jas]

Quite predictable,they are not really worried about omologation,because there will be none ,they will cry to the FIA and i hope at least Ferrari take a stand on that and stop this eternal farce.Each year the same dirt,im weary of that guys,this should not happen in F1.I ask myself if they are worried of image damages related to this,i dont know how good it is to be pictured as cheater all the time.

Totally agree, I hope if they do go beyond febuary that it is strictly reliability focused and NONE PERFORMANCE based! On the other hand I believe they will have to disclose all info of changes!

[Greig]

People seem to think homologation means no changes can be made? it does not mean that at all. All it means is that the FIA approve the engine to be used to race.

[RedPassion]

People seem to think homologation means no changes can be made? it does not mean that at all. All it means is that the FIA approve the engine to be used to race.

Right Greig but in F1 recently is combined with a permanent or temporary freezing of the rules in action,like for the engines between 2006 and 2013,and like the progressive freezing of development until 2017 i believe that will start on 28.02 with a 1 season freezing until January 2015.Thats why there was a discussion about Honda and the pro of starting 2015 without the freezing that other engine manufactor have in 2014.

[Nero Horse]

We have been doing well in testing, really well actually, but the sternest test for our engine will surely come in the heat of Bahrain, so hopefully we'll continue improving and be fully prepared and ready for that tough test. We managed to collect a lot of valuable data in Jerez and things are looking very good at the moment. It's onwards and upwards from here on!

Forza Ferrari!!!!!

[Sonic Feathers]

Has to be said that we've done well so far but it's early days and changeable conditions and temperatures, looking promising but let's not get too excited yet. Merc power may well be our biggest nightmare. But as for the ex-Ferrari chappie in the blue car, bet he's smiling too! Good for him and I hope I won't get banned for mentioning that!

Good for him to get some space to begin silencing them who were unkind & disrespectful whilst he was driving SF but the first race is yet to come ... & unfortunately like many here, my eyes & support will only be behind SF. My 2014 toast to The Scuderia : may our engineers be full of bright adventurous ideas in designing our upgrades that true red rules the tracks this season without ever running out of fuel before a finish line & Fernando receive his WDC 3 crown by the year end'. Forza Ferrari!

[Suzie]

A wee photo to please everyone, hopefully -

[Forzi]

Another good find there Suzie. Thanks

[stefa]

I would say another good day in the office for Ferrari

[Winter]

Decent opening day, off course Alonso would take a second or so off that time by Kimi so even better

Great! So, in theory we are the fastest team in the test. 1:24.812- 1s or so, is pretty good.

[racingbradley]

A wee photo to please everyone, hopefully -

nice

Nice one Suzie just like old times only both cars were red

[Alonsomaniac]

Well, conclusion: I'm feeling a lot better than I did last year!
Although a lot will be changed on all cars, we seem to have a reliable and very decent racecar. So do some competitors, but that's no problem. It's all about racing and Ferrari seems to have a good new engine and a good car.
I'm happy to see the Williams car doing very well too, it would have been a shame to see Felipe in a midfield car.
The car most suitable fo a Renault-engine seems to be the Caterham it surprises me, but it's okay.....

[Jose Lorca]

Trackside observations from Autosport's Sam Tremayne:

The Mercedes, for example, looks a lazy car. Watching in the dry, at the final chicane, it lacks the bite of a Williams or a McLaren.
That laziness manifests itself in understeer into the chicane, and a less lively transition through it and onto the run down to the final hairpin.
But that isn't necessarily a bad thing. For starters, the team's relative strength last year was one-lap pace; its weakness race distances. A lazy car should theoretically put less strain on the rear tyres, which is why understeer is preferable to oversteer – albeit with the danger that, like last year's McLaren, the car becomes difficult to switch on.
In the wet, though, such laziness is manifested as stability. Nico Rosberg sometimes runs too deep and misses the Turn 1 apex, but on exit he rarely has to fight the rear.
The same is true at Turn 2, where the downhill slope exacerbates any underlying traits of oversteer. In tricky conditions, the Mercedes is massively assured and rarely breaks out of line. And when it does, it's easily controlled.
A counter-example is the Williams. At the chicane, and in the dry, it has an incredibly positive front end, with the car almost rotating about the front axle.
This doesn't appear to come at the expense of rear traction, and Felipe Massa isn't having to deal with oversteer as he flicks through the right-left-right sequence.
Transpose that into the wet, however, and the oversteer is more apparent, with Massa having to noticeably work to stop the rear end breaking through Turn 1.
That matters because, while the Brazilian is still quick – and not every race will be wet – it suggests that the Williams is working its rears more than the Merc, which could hurt it over long runs.
McLaren, meanwhile, is somewhere in the middle in terms of handling.
It too looks very sharp at the front end in the dry, but doesn't lose the rear as much as the Williams seems to in the wet.
It also changes direction well in both conditions, and clearly gives confidence to the drivers if Kevin Magnussen is anything to go by.
The Dane was hustling the car through the first turns beautifully, with the McLaren nicely poised on the limit of its – and the circuit's – traction.
Last year's inherent understeer certainly seems to have disappeared, and the car is a very, very close match for the Mercedes.
Judging Ferrari's F14 T is a bit more difficult.
The car appears nimble enough, although in the dry it sometimes looks to be giving up rear traction to its rivals.
In the wet it flicks between looking solid and very rear-happy, a picture complicated by the fact that Fernando Alonso stayed on wets as other changed to intermediates.
The Spaniard certainly got loose through Turn 2 on a few occasions, the rear braking more severely than the McLaren or Williams, but oversteer is both his wont and a possible exploration of the car's behaviour.
One area where the Ferrari does seem to excel is under braking, with the change down through the gears audibly more seamless than any other car, which AUTOSPORT technical guru Gary Anderson suggests could derive from playing with a zero torque loss downshift.
Of the others, the Sauber is a surprising handful in the wet, with Adrian Sutil struggling with both understeer and oversteer through Turns 1 and 2.
It's therefore incredibly snappy, with Sutil drifting wider and having to get on the power later than, say, the Mercedes and McLaren drivers.
It has also struggled badly under braking, which Sutil said on Wednesday derived from a problem with the new braking-by-wire system.
​"That system didn't work for us," he explained on Thursday. "That is why you probably saw me locking into every corner today. It's a system which should be a bit easier for the driver but more complicated for the engineer."
The Force India looked a more amenable beast, although it was only out for a handful of laps when we were trackside.
On that small sample set, it still looked sharper on turn-in than the Sauber. And, while it did suffer oversteer in the wet, it wasn't anything like as bad.
The Toro Rosso likewise headed out for just a handful of laps, but looked quite nimble and poised.
Rookie Daniil Kvyat had bags of confidence and was happy whenever the car broke traction – underlined by his ability to make it do so lap after lap – but in truth it won't be until the next test in Bahrain that we get a proper picture of its inherent qualities.
The same is true for Red Bull, Marussia and to an extent Caterham, which – perhaps unsurprisingly – looked difficult during the wet final morning.
In particular Kamui Kobayashi was struggling to find the apex of Turn 1, but where running wide worked for the Mercedes, he then had to wrestle the car to get the rear in line for the short run down to Turn 2.

[Giambattista]

This is very interesting:

http://thejudge13.com/2014/01/31/f1-...milton-keynes/

As I reported yesterday, I have been informed by a source whose reliability is unquestionable, the complete fix for Renault’s woes will take between 15 and 20 weeks, and seeing as it was TJ13 who exclusively revealed the Renault problems on Monday night – days before anyone else – this information is equally solid.

[ntukza]

Thanks Jose Lorca. That's the first analysis on handling I've seen, which in my opinion is what we really should be looking out for in tests. That and reliability instead of lap times.

[ntukza]

Having said that; lap times from testing do not matter, unless we're at the front ;). They matter when we are ahead, and they mean nothing when we are not. That's just how it works.

[radosav]

Actually new engines sound very bad! Sound of turbine is as loud as engine itself, and i don't know which sound is worse. Here is comparison of V8 and V6 engines (last half of video), you can hear that V6 is quieter than V8. I didn't like live sound of V8 engines cause of all of throttle blowing and engine maps, but V6 has same farting sound and sounds like old Lancia without exhaust.

[Jose Lorca]

[radosav]

Yes, they managed to drive half of RB10 out of garage. They are gettin' better.
Honestly, i really enjoy in their situation.

[Poltergeistes]

i hope not to be bashed here by my tifosi brothers and sisters, but i just gotta say that even though felipe is wearing blue to me he is still a tifoso and part of the ferrari team, so today since he topped the fastest lap of the day, it feels to me that ferrari topped it with him.

to me felipe will always be a ferrari's man, i was happy for him, so if williams by some miracle give him a very competitive car and he succeeds this season, i will root for him just like i will for alonso an kimi. cause in my mind and heart he is still a ferrari member. so in my view, we ferrari topped the tests today.

from some interviews i saw from him during this time off season, it's so clear he will always be an feel part of our team, and that is the main reason i will contininue to support him, i know he is working for another team but to me ferrari has now (what luca suggested) 3 ferrari drivers.

PS i still cant get over he is in another team, thats why to me h is still ours.

[brembo man]

When Massa looked over at Kimi next to him don't kid yourself he for sure was thinking, "What the hell are you doing in my Ferrari? "Massa is back in action but I'll never believe he's happy about where he is. Luca can shove that 3 driver theory. Massa feeling good about Ferrari ? He got kicked out!