Bahrain testing 27 Feb-2 Mar

**Black Adder** · 2nd March 2014, 08:25

Originally Posted by anialonso

I seriously doubt Alo can dip into 1.34 cause he is on SS and yet cant beat his own time set on Soft..

That would be bad news!

**Kristof_F40** · 2nd March 2014, 08:28

How do you know Fernando was on SS?

**Hornet** · 2nd March 2014, 08:34

I'll be lying if say William's time doesn't bother me. They are disturbingly quick, and yet they are not expected to be the fastest Merc power car.

**blaney1977** · 2nd March 2014, 08:37

Who else apart from merc/williams has done a qualy sim and said the have done it? Whats the fastest time so far?

**Ste** · 2nd March 2014, 08:42

My word, Benson really does like to pull figures out of the air!

**fronaldo** · 2nd March 2014, 08:44

Originally Posted by Ste

My word, Benson really does like to pull figures out of the air!

What he said now..Is Bottas doing qualifying sim?

**Kyss4k** · 2nd March 2014, 08:47

Ok, now it's starting to look dangerously 2012ish... Bad news coming from all directions and we, here on the forum, are trying to somehow believe that we are sandbagging or something.

**Ste** · 2nd March 2014, 08:51

Originally Posted by fronaldo

What he said now..Is Bottas doing qualifying sim?

Something to suggest Raikkonen MUST have had 70kg of fuel in the car to set the time yesterday. Suggesting our performance is bad in true Benson style.

**Ste** · 2nd March 2014, 08:52

Originally Posted by Kyss4k

Ok, now it's starting to look dangerously 2012ish... Bad news coming from all directions and we, here on the forum, are trying to somehow believe that we are sandbagging or something.

What bad news?

**Kristof_F40** · 2nd March 2014, 08:55

I think the real question still is: how will racing be in 2014?

Look at the beginning of 2013: tyres were very important, Mercs were fast as hell, but didn't look after their tyres, so they had a lot of poles but the results weren't great. RBR same thing. Ferrari and Lotus weren't that fast in qualy, but did very good races. We won China and Spain dominant without our car being dominantly fast..
So Merc can be quickest, the realy question is will they be quick over a race distance, our will they get problems with fuel etc..

**fronaldo** · 2nd March 2014, 08:58

Originally Posted by Ste

Something to suggest Raikkonen MUST have had 70kg of fuel in the car to set the time yesterday. Suggesting our performance is bad in true Benson style.

HAHA..

**LF1Torsion** · 2nd March 2014, 09:05

Originally Posted by Ste

Something to suggest Raikkonen MUST have had 70kg of fuel in the car to set the time yesterday. Suggesting our performance is bad in true Benson style.

Over simplifying as usual. There were rumors that there was an ERS issue, so its likely that it was not all fuel related.

**Senna4Ever** · 2nd March 2014, 09:05

Do we know what program we are running today?
Following f1today.net even bulls are ahead today in terms of laps.
And does sauber split their drivers after noon as there are two sauber driver listed?

**Ste** · 2nd March 2014, 09:07

Red flag caused by Seb-as-tea-an. Fire extinguishers at the ready apparently. He's also facing the wrong way.

**vcs316** · 2nd March 2014, 09:07

09:05 Fire extinguishers are in action, tending to the rear of the RB10.

09:04 It's the Red Bull of Vettel. The car has a hint of smoke, but the most bizarre thing is that the Red Bull - which appears to have gone straight on - is at 180 degrees to the direction of the track.

09:03 We have our first red flag of the day. There appears to be a car off at Turn 1.

**Kyss4k** · 2nd March 2014, 09:08

Originally Posted by Ste

What bad news?

Ferrari engine is weaker, then Mercedes, Ferrari is sower then most Merc powered cars. Every so called expert has that opinion. I know, what can they possibly know, but they were right back then.

**Ste** · 2nd March 2014, 09:08

Originally Posted by Kyss4k

Ferrari engine is weaker, then Mercedes, Ferrari is sower then most Merc powered cars. Every so called expert has that opinion. I know, what can they possibly know, but they were right back then.

They're wrong.

**zike** · 2nd March 2014, 09:08

did we do any quali sim?

**tifosi1993** · 2nd March 2014, 09:10

Originally Posted by anialonso

I seriously doubt Alo can dip into 1.34 cause he is on SS and yet cant beat his own time set on Soft..

At the second day of this ongoing preseason testing, Alonso did a 9 lap stint with unmarked hard tyre, his best time was 1:37.2 in that stint.
Now according to Pirelli's press release, the hard compound is around 3.2sec/lap slower than the SS.

So Alonso can easily dip into 1:33's if he really wants to.

**Kyss4k** · 2nd March 2014, 09:10

Originally Posted by Ste

They're wrong.

Oh I hope... But Ferrari is not doing anything to prove them wrong so far, if they are even possible to do so.

**Kyss4k** · 2nd March 2014, 09:11

Originally Posted by zike

did we do any quali sim?

Some say yes, some belive no.

**Rob** · 2nd March 2014, 09:13

Originally Posted by Kyss4k

Oh I hope... But Ferrari is not doing anything to prove them wrong so far, if they are even possible to do so.

we dont have too, Merc is just all about headlines.

**Ste** · 2nd March 2014, 09:13

Originally Posted by Kyss4k

Oh I hope... But Ferrari is not doing anything to prove them wrong so far, if they are even possible to do so.

Ask yourself one question. No buts.

Do you think we are two seconds slower than a Williams, that was two seconds slower than us last year? A net loss of 4 seconds. Half way to being a Caterham...

**27forever** · 2nd March 2014, 09:15

Hello everyone! New buddy here from Singapore, just want to add what it looks from here....The reason why we are just so behind with the times (surely Fernado will prove me wrong, I hope) is because we do not use or we are still not able to use in full one or both electrical power recovery systems. We are either sandbagging (Fernado posted few times fantsastic sectors just to abort the last one without apparent reason) or perhaps we are not still there with the reliability of those system. Just gut feelings nothing proven!

Cordialmente!

**icedeepan** · 2nd March 2014, 09:15

Originally Posted by Kyss4k

Oh I hope... But Ferrari is not doing anything to prove them wrong so far, if they are even possible to do so.

Dont think Ferrari have to prove anything to anyone during testing apart to themselves. They will come out all guns blazing in Australia!

The team knows by now how quickly they can go(without showing it to other teams on the track) and thats what matters.

**Forzi** · 2nd March 2014, 09:16

Any news what the conditions are today? Still windy as yesterday, or has it calmed down?

**emirBoz** · 2nd March 2014, 09:18

Originally Posted by Ste

Ask yourself one question. No buts.

Do you think we are two seconds slower than a Williams, that was two seconds slower than us last year? A net loss of 4 seconds. Half way to being a Caterham...

and 0.2 seconds faster than toro rosso and renault engine

this is just test , rbr was 2 seconds slower than mercedes in 2013 tests

**vcs316** · 2nd March 2014, 09:19

Originally Posted by 27forever

Hello everyone! New buddy here from Singapore, just want to add what it looks from here....The reason why we are just so behind with the times (surely Fernado will prove me wrong, I hope) is because we do not use or we are still not able to use in full one or both electrical power recovery systems. We are either sandbagging (Fernado posted few times fantsastic sectors just to abort the last one without apparent reason) or perhaps we are not still there with the reliability of those system. Just gut feelings nothing proven!

Cordialmente!

Welcome to TSN mate!

**Hornet** · 2nd March 2014, 09:20

Originally Posted by 27forever

Hello everyone! New buddy here from Singapore, just want to add what it looks from here....The reason why we are just so behind with the times (surely Fernado will prove me wrong, I hope) is because we do not use or we are still not able to use in full one or both electrical power recovery systems. We are either sandbagging (Fernado posted few times fantsastic sectors just to abort the last one without apparent reason) or perhaps we are not still there with the reliability of those system. Just gut feelings nothing proven!

Cordialmente!

IMO, there's no point in sandbagging as there's nothing we can learn from intentionally being slow. This year all teams have very limited testing time due to the huge changes, so I don't see anyone wasting time sandbagging.

I think it's more likely that the team may not be turning up everything to it's full potential yet, due to reliability concern or other reasons