TESTING 2014

[J.Clark]

I don't see a thread started yet that would be dedicated to the pre-season testing sessions.  I propose this one be where results, time sheets, questions and discussion of the test sessions be posted.  I have been a member of other forums in which this was done and it made comparison and progress of various drivers/teams relatively simple without having to jump between threads to do that.

I am truly looking forward to this season.  I don't like the idea of the V-6, but then, I wasn't happy with the move to V-8s, nor when they put the V-10s in replacing the V-12s.  It will still be racing though and while much of it will be different because of the changes, that fact alone may shake things up a bit and that will be good for the sport in my opinion.

[vintly]

Good idea keeping testing chat to one thread.

Regardless of who comes out of the testing feeling more positive, I'm looking forward to hearing a) how much slower the cars are than last year, and b) exactly where that time is lost. I only hope it's not more than 2 seconds a lap, or they'll be getting dangerously close to GP2 times, which would be awful.

I don't think that will happen, but testing should provide some answers and all sorts of other interest. Bring it on, it's been AGES since we've heard a car on track.

[lkjohnson1950]

Renault says their engine has met their most optimistic projections and produces enough power that they expect lap times to be very similar to last year.

[vintly]

Renault says their engine has met their most optimistic projections and produces enough power that they expect lap times to be very similar to last year.

Oh that is good news - sounds like a bullish thing to report, in all the right ways (pardon the pun). I read about downforce reductions and potential wheelspinning that may also reduce lap times, but we'll wait and see. I am positively chomping at the bit.

[J.Clark]

We are now only a few days away from it.
Here is the schedule:
    Date    Circuit
1    28-31 January    Jerez
2    19-22 February    Bahrain
3-    27 February – 2 March    Bahrain

[vintly]

Day 2 report from my photographer pal:

Much the same again today I'm afraid!  Red Bull did three laps and cooked itself, Toro Rosso haven't run at all.  Mercedes and McLaren seem to have hit the ground running, but Renault are in the sh*t at the moment by the looks of it.

Ferrari have been running well, but have now ground to a halt. 

Very boring to say the least!


More when I get it.

[Scott]

The RBR engine blew?

[J.Clark]

Here are the times from day 2:
1. Jenson Button   Britain McLaren-Mercedes   1min 24.165secs
2. Kimi Raikkonen   Finland Ferrari-Ferrari   1min 24.812secs
3. Valtteri Bottas   Finland Williams-Mercedes   1min 25.344secs
4. Nico Rosberg   Germany Mercedes-Mercedes   1min 25.588secs
5. Sergio Perez   Mexico Force India-Mercedes   1min 28.376secs
6. Esteban Gutierrez   Mexico Sauber-Ferrari   1min 33.270secs
7. Marcus Ericsson   Sweden Caterham-Renault   1min 37.975secs
8. Sebastian Vettel   Germany Red Bull-Renault   1min 38.320secs

The times are down somewhat from day 1 (yesterday), but still well off of the pace of the first test last season when Massa had his Ferrari on top of the sheets at 1:17 something on first day.  I realize that we are dealing with an entirely different car, especially with the engine/ERS and all, but this car appears to be very slow by comparison to the V-8.  Kimi was on top yesterday and was a full 10+ seconds slower than Massa's pace last season in the same test session.  Today they are closing in, but still a full 7 seconds slower than the first day last year.

I imagine the different power plant and changes in downforce have had a significant impact (aside from being just plain ugly on most cars).  With that in mind however, I would have thought that someone would give the new car a run at the limit on day two so I hope that this not indicative of the performance we can expect.

[Irisado]

I'm not bored in the least .  Unreliability at last .  This could make the first race very hard to predict if it continues.

[vintly]

The RBR engine blew?

Don't think so, but a serious enough issue for a lot of head scratching I think.

The lap times are worrying. The lack of laps is worrying. The lack of healthy cars is worrying. The drivers must be aghast at this, having already had to rein in their potential last year because of the chocolate tyres. If they can't properly get going in testing then the start of the season will be a big anticlimax, with slow cars beating one another on reliability alone. Yeesh.

I hope they get on top of this before Melbourne, and it's early days, but if top teams are struggling to get anywhere near decent lap times then we could be in for a disappointing season. <sad face>

[Scott]

I watched Ted's notebook from Day 1 (haven't managed to find Day 2 yet) and he is obviously on Cos's side with regards to the little motors.  Said he hasn't had to put in his earplugs yet, and spent about 1/4 of his show holding his mic out as a car went by and chuckling that it isn't all that bad. 

All the new systems on the car, plus the new engines, new aero and 9 short days to test (maybe in Bahrain they'll turn the lights on and let them go 24hrs?).  It seems to be winding up for a royal cluster-F.  I like the idea of less reliability, but when most teams are running 10-15 laps in two days of testing, there are a lot of issues to sort out in a relatively short amount of time, especially if they need to be sorted out at the factory.

[vintly]

Day three:

Another late start from RBR - not out of the garage until 11am, then from BBC:

"...No sooner had Daniel Ricciardo been waved away from the pitlane, smoke emanated from the back of the RB10 and it came to a stop on the track."

More recently Ricciardo has completed three laps 'without a hitch'. Whoopee!

[J.Clark]

Times from Jerez for day 3:
1. Kevin Magnussen   Denmark McLaren-Mercedes   1min 23.276
2. Felipe Massa   Brazil Williams-Mercedes   1min 23.700
3. Lewis Hamilton   Britain Mercedes-Mercedes   1min 23.952
4. Jenson Button   Britain McLaren-Mercedes   1min 25.030
5. Fernando Alonso   Spain Ferrari-Ferrari   1min 25.495
6. Nico Hulkenberg   Germany Force India-Mercedes 1min 26.096
7. Jean-Eric Vergne   France STR-Renault   1min 29.915
8. Adrian Sutil   Germany Sauber-Ferrari   1min 30.161
Max Chilton   BritainMarussia-Ferrari   No Time
Robin Frijns   Netherlands Caterham-Renault   No Time
Daniel Ricciardo   Australia Red Bull-Renault   No Time

Things are picking up it appears.
Looking at the times from today, realizing of course that "it is only testing" an interesting thought came to mind.  If Williams should return to a top contender this season, giving Massa a quick car, he could have Alonso behind him again and I doubt Frank Williams would say anything like, "Fernando is faster than you, do you understand?
 

Red Bull having trouble still with fires.  I hope it is an omen.  I am relatively sure that Newy will get it all sorted out, but the problems are costing them a lot of testing time/laps and perhaps that will stunt their progress to give some of the other teams a jump-start in the opening races.  I wouldn't mind seeing Vettel struggle a bit to get himself into the running for the WDC this season.  I am a Ferrari fan, and have been for about 50 years, and in spit of that, I don't like seeing dominance by any team/driver - not even when it was Ferrari.

[Scott]

Thanks for the report J...

I'm sure there's a reason Jens couldn't get more than 2sec behind Magnussen...but if there isn't a reason, and Kevin stays at the pointy end of that teammate battle, at the very least Whitmarsh will be justified in dumping Perez. 

RBR woes I view with a bit of a smirk (again, they are my team, but just rather see them struggle a bit at the beginning of the season).  Didn't some of the teams make cutouts a few years ago when they had cooling issues?  Time to get the dremel tool out and start hacking away at bodywork.  I think RBR needs to do their bodywork fix back at the factory before Bahrain, but in the mean time need to get some laps in and check out other issues of the aero and suspension and car balance and...well, get on it boys!

[John S]

Thanks for the report J...

I'm sure there's a reason Jens couldn't get more than 2sec behind Magnussen...but if there isn't a reason, and Kevin stays at the pointy end of that teammate battle, at the very least Whitmarsh will be justified in dumping Perez. 

The simple answer is that Wednesday was designated the wet running day so all the cars will have been set up for that, and the track had bowsers sprinkling the track at certain times. Jens did put slicks on to do his best time but he will still have had a wet set up and a colder than usual track.

It's also difficult to know where anyone really is as all the engine makers appear to have been limiting the revs to 13,000. This could also explain the comments about lack of the usual F1 ear shattering noise.

Now I can hear you all asking:- if Red Bull and Renault are having trouble at 13k revs what's gonna happen when they turn the wick up?   Just Just