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@InsideFerrari
Energy charge before the day's programme starts!

09:46 The Ferrari is out on soft tyres and its second lap of the run is a 1m24.785s.

09:45 Alonso grabs the top spot from Maldonado with a 1m22.510s.

Alonso goes quicker with a 1m21.1 on the soft tyre

That's wrong, its 1.22.192

so it is.

I copied and pasted what was put on the timing sheet. Their fault.

1:21:875 by Alonso now.
Looks like the expectations of new cars being faster than last years was not to far fetched after all. They are setting these times on cold tracks in testing.

Wouldnt it be more beneficial to go to a hotter country for testing since they are all complaining about the tyres and the cold isnt helping. I know its probably for cost savings or something but hey im sure it wouldnt cost a great deal more to test in a hot place.

Perhaps its more down to parts availablilty. Easier and quiker to fly new parts in to spain

They did go to Bahrain a few years back... but they cancelled the test there in 2011 due to the uprising and it wouldn't make much sense to go back there at the moment with all the security issues in the Middle East. Potentially teams could go to Abu Dhabi or Qatar but I think due to costs it would only be the big 5 teams who would want to afford it, and nowadays the FIA wants all teams to agree on a venue

Since all the teams are European based, Spain makes perfect sense. It's the generally the warmest European country with a GP circuit at this time of year (Remember Monza is in Northern Italy and Budapest is Freeeeeeezing at this time of year.)

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#ANYONEBUTVETTEL2013

Pick 10 Competition 2013: Current Championship Standing = 21st with 597 points
Pick 10 Podiums: USA 2012 - 1st Place with 205 points

BLIMEY - Maldonado has done 79 laps already today...

Didn't they cancel the test in Bahrain after the sandstorms they got in 2009? I seem to remember somebody from the teams explaining that cold weather and rain were bad but still allowed for some testing, but that the sandstorms simply made it impossible.

They test in Europe to save money. The difference in sending trucks and sending air or sea freight is pretty massive. Plus you want to have the chance to send the car home between Jerez and Barca to make changes if necessary, and its less taxing on your personnel than flying back and forth to somewhere farther away. Also cheaper for your promotional partners who want to come do filming days and such.

Remember my numbers measure the delta not the pace. RIC might be getting slower more slowly, but he's also started out slower to begin with. Having done the same calculations for his first stint in Australia last year, I can tell you its not far off yesterday's, and closer than the other two I've done the same for. Haven't done more than AUS for him yet. I think the STR started pretty strong and then got lost for awhile, so will be interesting to see how his #'s change when I get to them.


dat rake.

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Looks like he did a full Sunday race. Even the guys on the pits were going pretty fast in his three pit stops.

Before that, he did Saturday qualifying runs.

Was quite a decent stint from Rosberg on Mediums then.

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Vodafone Mclaren Mercedes

Very good stint by RoGro as well

Toro Rosso saying possible chance of rain tomorrow

Are my eyes deceiving me, or does Rosberg look to have the best pace over extended runs today? I'm a Hammy fan, so I might just be woefully optimistic here. PEACE.

red flag for van der garde

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Fastest Laptimes Day 3

1. Alonso / Ferrari - 1:21.875 - 97 Laps
2. Hulkenberg / Sauber - 1:22.160 +0.285 - 91
3. Grosjean / Lotus - 1:22.188 +0.313 - 119
4. Rosberg / Mercedes - 1:22.611 +0.736 - 107
5. Maldonado / Williams - 1:22.675 +0.800 - 79
6. Bottas / Williams - 1:22.826 +0.951 - 67
7. Button / McLaren - 1:22.840 +0.965 - 71
8. Sutil / Force India - 1:22.877 +1.002 - 78
9. Webber / Red Bull - 1:23.024 +1.149 - 108
10. Vergne / Toro Rosso - 1:23.366 +1.491 - 106
11. Chilton / Marussia - 1:25.690 +3.815 - 57
12. van der Garde / Caterham - 1:26.177 +4.302 - 93

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146 laps for Williams today, good effort!

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#ANYONEBUTVETTEL2013

Pick 10 Competition 2013: Current Championship Standing = 21st with 597 points
Pick 10 Podiums: USA 2012 - 1st Place with 205 points

We can't say anything as long as we don't know about the fuel, but 17 lapson the mediums with a last lap faster than the 1st of the stint is not too bad.

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"Everything you can imagine is real." Pablo Picasso

It was a strange stint though, the first few laps were quite slow

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PFI Pick 10 Competition

Current Standing: 16th

There were a lot of very strange stints today. If I had to hazard a guess I'd say its intentional. Keeps everybody guessing except your own guys, because they know when and where you could have gone faster, and roughly how much.

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Circuit de Catalunya 19th-21st February 2013
4.655km / 2.892 miles

Driver lapery (km)
01. Alonso / Ferrari - 283 Laps / 1317 Km
02. Chilton / Marussia - 189 / 880
03. Hulkenberg / Sauber - 179 / 833
04. Perez / McLaren - 174 / 810
05. Maldonado / Williams - 165 / 768
06. Bottas / Williams - 165 / 768
07. Rosberg / Mercedes - 161 / 749
08. Pic / Caterham - 151 / 703
09. Vettel / Red Bull - 150 / 698
10. di Resta / Force India - 144 / 670
11. Ricciardo / Toro Rosso - 142 / 661
12. Hamilton / Mercedes - 121 / 563
13. Grosjean / Lotus - 119 / 554
14. Webber / Red Bull - 108 / 503
15. Vergne / Toro Rosso - 106 / 493
16. van der Garde / Caterham - 93 / 433
17. Raikkonen / Lotus - 87 / 405
18. Sutil / Force India - 78 / 363
19. Button / McLaren - 71 / 331
20. Guiterrez / Sauber - 68 / 317

Total Pirelli mileage
2754 Laps
12 820 Km / 7965 Miles

Combined fastest times
01. Perez / McLaren - 1:21.848
02. Alonso / Ferrari - 1:21.875 +0.027
03. Hulkenberg / Sauber - 1:22.160 +0.312
04. Grosjean / Lotus - 1:22.188 +0.340
05. Vettel / Red Bull - 1:22.197 + 0.349
06. Rosberg / Mercedes - 1:22.611 +0.763
07. Raikkonen / Lotus - 1:22.623 + 0.775
08. Maldonado / Williams - 1:22.675 +0.827
09. Hamilton / Mercedes - 1:22.726 + 0.878
10. Bottas / Williams - 1:22.826 +0.978
11. Button / McLaren - 1:22.840 +0.992
12. Sutil / Force India - 1:22.877 +1.029
13. Webber / Red Bull - 1:23.024 +1.176
14. Vergne / Toro Rosso - 1:23.366 +1.518
15. Ricciardo / Toro Rosso - 1:23.718 + 1.870
16. di Resta / Force India - 1:23.971 + 2.123
17. Chilton / Marussia - 1:25.115 + 3.267
18. Guiterrez / Sauber - 1:25.124 + 3.276
19. van der Garde / Caterham - 1:26.177 +4.329
20. Pic / Caterham - 1:26.243 + 4.395

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even some individual laps are stranger still, e.g Alonso doing fastest final sector and backing off for the first two sections.

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Merc actually look pretty good as do McLaren. I think you can tell more from what people say than what the laptimes are.

Nico Rosberg seemed pretty happy. Alonso didn't look happy but he generally plays things down, Felipe was very happy in Jerez.

Perhaps Ferrari and Red Bull are feeling the after effects a tad of last year's dramatic title battle.

Ted Kravitz was slightly concerned that Mercedes were running the old Coanda back to back with the new Coanda. Apparently they want to be absolutely 100% sure that the Coanda exhaust will deflect back correctly and not be directed onto the insides of the rear tyres, which was a problem they had last year most dramatically in Texas and also a couple of other times.

So it perhaps wasn't as worrying for Mercedes as you might think, as long as they are still not having that problem!

I make a point never to be concerned with whatever Ted is concerned with. He's a sensationalist, and a guesser. And is wrong a lot. There is a lot of analysis out there by folks who aren't selling a product (coverage) and it always seems much less alarmist this time of the year.

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I suppose that's why Alonso missed the first test. Let the team iron out any obvious teething problems in the first then do extra, hopefully more useful mileage in the second. Seems sensible if have that position in the team.

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Thanks for compiling the combined list. Since Pirelli says the gap between each compound is between 0.6-0.8s (an average of 0.7s), I've gone ahead and normalized those fastest lap times with medium tyres accordingly (i.e. +0.7s for those using softs, -0.7s for those using hards), in an attempt to figure out the pecking order of the top 5 teams at this very moment:

1. Hamilton / Mercedes - 1:22.026
2. Perez / McLaren - 1:22.548 + 0.522
3. Alonso / Ferrari - 1:22.575 +0.549
4. Rosberg / Mercedes - 1:22.611 +0.585
5. Raikkonen / Lotus - 1:22.623 + 0.597
6. Button / McLaren - 1:22.840 +0.814
7. Grosjean / Lotus - 1:22.888 +0.862
8. Vettel / Red Bull - 1:22.897 + 0.871
9. Webber / Red Bull - 1:23.024 +0.998

Or by the fastest normalized lap time of each team:

1. Hamilton / Mercedes - 1:22.026 (Rosberg 0.585s behind)
2. Perez / McLaren - 1:22.548 + 0.522 (Button 0.292s behind)
3. Alonso / Ferrari - 1:22.575 +0.549 (Massa not participating yet)
4. Raikkonen / Lotus - 1:22.623 + 0.597 (Grojean 0.265s behind)
5. Vettel / Red Bull - 1:22.897 + 0.871 (Webber 0.127s behind)

(I don't care about the midfields and the backmarkers, but feel free to complete the rest of the list with them.)

With the conditions in Barcelona at the moment, I dont think the gap is even 0.6s between two compounds. Teams were getting less than 0.5s by using soft tyres. Whatever Pirelli says, their estimates are for race conditions. We saw drivers switch from medium/hard to soft and get less than or about half a second gain from 1 lap.

To normalize, wouldn't you want to take half of 0.7s? IOW, +/-0.35s to the times? In any case, that's still a really crude way to go about it. PEACE.

Been visiting and keeping a eye this thread the past couple of weeks and enjoy all the banter and bits of info you guys provide. Keep up the good work.


I don't believe they are the fastest outright but Lotus look like they have the most consistent car which like last year will benefit them during races. Mercedes look fast but they always have during testing and sometimes during qualifying only to get to the race and after 5 laps the tyre deg ruins their race. Red Bull are obviously the team that sand bag the most and no doubt will have a title challenging car. Ferrari look to have decent speed but i believe the times set today by Alonso were low fuel runs.

I know you can't know for sure a cars true pace from testing times but it does look pretty much the same as last year. Red Bull will be fastest the team just looks so relaxed and confident i'd be surprised if they are not. Ferrari, Mclaren and Lotus fighting for second and possibly Mercedes if their tyres don't dissolve on them.

Hmm thanks for the input on the actual gap between different compounds in Barcelona. I've taken your "less than 0.5s" as 0.45s and modified my normalized ranking accordingly.

1. Hamilton / Mercedes - 1:22.276
2. Perez / McLaren - 1:22.298 + 0.022
3. Alonso / Ferrari - 1:22.325 + 0.049
4. Rosberg / Mercedes - 1:22.611 + 0.335
5. Raikkonen / Lotus - 1:22.623 + 0.347
6. Grosjean / Lotus - 1:22.638 + 0.362
7. Vettel / Red Bull - 1:22.647 + 0.371
8. Button / McLaren - 1:22.840 + 0.564
9. Webber / Red Bull - 1:23.024 + 0.748

And by the fastest normalized lap time of each team:

1. Hamilton / Mercedes - 1:22.276 (Rosberg 0.335s behind)
2. Perez / McLaren - 1:22.298 + 0.022 (Button 0.542s behind)
3. Alonso / Ferrari - 1:22.325 + 0.049 (Massa not participating yet)
5. Raikkonen / Lotus - 1:22.623 + 0.347 (Grojean 0.015s behind)
7. Vettel / Red Bull - 1:22.647 + 0.371 (Webber 0.377s behind)Why would you want only half the gap? The gap is between each compound, i.e. between soft and medium, and between medium and hard, not between soft and hard.

But yeah for sure this is a very crude way to get an estimation, but without further telemetry of each car this is all that's available for us to work with (for fun of course).

RED FLAG - Massa in the gravel

It will be good to get a few wet laps in to see how the car feels, the drivers today will gain a small understanding of the car in the wet, but wont need to do lots of running as once you know theres no point.

So lots of pit stop stuff and a little bit of running is all we'll see today unless the weather changes

come on glorious sunshine!!!

Massa the rain master.....oh wait

09:20 Our third red of the day.

looks like it's gonna be testing of red flags

dog on the track apparently!

I guess there might also be some different lengths of runs on the Pirelli wet tyre to see how it degrades over time - as that could prove useful should there be a wet race later this season...

Jenson struggling to understand the car and rekons the rest of the field may have a jump on McLaren as they'll be driving developments from last years car. At the risk of incurring the wrath of a circling fanboy (gratefully missing so far from this thread by common sense and excellent mods) is this another example of JB's achilles heel i.e. car set up.

Do you know exactly what is the drivers contribution in setting up the car?

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PF1 Pick 10
Aus13: 2nd
Chi13: 3rd