planetf1.com

He's in the new car,

http://www.sutton-images.com/searchresu ... 46a&page=4

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1994 1995 2000 2001 2002 2003 2004

Chilton crash could be mechanical. (brakes or suspension?)

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So either a show car or last years pic then.

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Disclaimer: The above post maybe tongue in cheek.

"I thought I'd get your theories, mock them, then embrace my own. The usual."

Could be a back up car in case they do suffer a crash or break down? Then at least they get info on the new tyres all day. I think learning the tyres quickly is going to be key again this season. Which is why McLaren and particularly Mercedes are on the back foot already.

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1994 1995 2000 2001 2002 2003 2004

It can't be last year's pic as the Chelsea FC partnership wasn't announced until midway through last season.

Probably there for commercial reasons as you say.

suspension fail for marussia!

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Not Chilton's fault then. I still have my doubts about him though. He's not ready to be the development leader of a team.

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1994 1995 2000 2001 2002 2003 2004

IIRC as soon as a new chassis is on the track (i.e. past the pitlane exit line) they are not allowed to run the old one.




Good point dear Sir.

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Disclaimer: The above post maybe tongue in cheek.

"I thought I'd get your theories, mock them, then embrace my own. The usual."

Webber goes quickest. The Red Bull delivers a 1m19.709s.

I've never heard of that rule before.

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1994 1995 2000 2001 2002 2003 2004

everybody getting quicker times in now

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Suspension failure could be as simple as going over a camber to aggressively, have to wait for all the details really

Was part of the whole thing to stop teams using more than 2 chassis designs a year like Ferrari used to do I think.

I remember it being talked about in 2010 (IIRC) when Macca used the old car for the first test.

Actually come to think of it is not there not a one chassis per day rule as part of the cost regs? and thats why the teams only take one chassis that gets shared.

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Disclaimer: The above post maybe tongue in cheek.

"I thought I'd get your theories, mock them, then embrace my own. The usual."

Maldonado (78) and di Resta (79) battling for the most laps completed today

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It could have been a big crash too.

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Button kills the timing screen!!!!

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1:18.861 nice lap on the 'ards

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Hello McLaren!
Obviously far too early to read anything yet, but going quick after a difficult day can't be a bad thing.

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I don't follow F1 so I don't know what I'm talking about

Don't forget it's unofficial so there could be a cut corner in their somewhere.


Almost a second is a big chunk of real estate.

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Disclaimer: The above post maybe tongue in cheek.

"I thought I'd get your theories, mock them, then embrace my own. The usual."

I disagree. Testing is important, but if they have fast car it will be fast in Oz regardless of number of laps completed during testing. There is little time to fix major flaws, cars are already after crash tests. Look at Lotus last year. They missed many days, but RoGro started from front row in Melbourne. Ferrari on the other hand was dog and stayed dog despite extensive testing.

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Renault!

2012 Planet F1 Prediction Competition Champion

1 chassis per test, regardless of old/new.

I see a lot of reading too much into the first day of testing type comments...relax folks

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Fast and fragile. Like last year...

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Renault!

2012 Planet F1 Prediction Competition Champion

Come on Grosjean you're almost a full second down! Kimi went faster a year ago after spending two years in a ditch beside a WRC stage!

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Räikkönen - Vettel - Rosberg - Bottas

well that's your lot

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Caterham over 3 secs down.. I wonder is that gvg or is that the car? My bet bit of both

If they can't test then they can't iron out little problems. If they are fast in Oz but can't make it to the end of the race then they'll score nothing. Simple as that.

Merc will want as much track time as possible to learn the new tyres. If they don't then they'll be on the back foot all year.

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1994 1995 2000 2001 2002 2003 2004

Fastest laps - Day 1
01. Button/McLaren - 1:18.861 - 37 Laps
02. Webber/Red Bull - 1:19.709 +0.848 - 73 Laps
03. Grosjean/Lotus - 1:19.796 +0.935 - 54 Laps
04. di Resta/Force India - 1:20.343 +1.482 - 89 Laps
05. Ricciardo/Toro Rosso - 1:20.401 +1.540 - 70 Laps
06. Massa/Ferrari - 1:20.536 +1.675 - 64 Laps
07. Hulkenberg/Sauber - 1:20.699 +1.838 - 79 Laps
08. Rosberg/Mercedes - 1:20.846 +1.985 - 11 Laps
09. Maldonado/Williams - 1:20.864 +2.003 - 84 Laps
10. van der Garde/Caterham - 1:21.915 +3.054 - 64 Laps
11. Chilton/Marussia - 1:24.176 +5.315 - 29 Laps

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Chilton?

They are busy fixing reliability. Testing worked as intended. Problem was spotted and they are fixing it.

My point is if they are not quick out of the box, they will find it hard to fix it regardless of number of laps. Much of the design is already frozen.

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Renault!

2012 Planet F1 Prediction Competition Champion

You can show up with something completely different in Australia than you had in Jerez. Nothing is frozen.

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Is anyone else surprised by the lap Jenson put in? nearly 8 and a half tenth's quicker thank mark in the RB. I know its not a good idea to read too much into the test times, but this would seem like a pretty large gap. Reminds me of 2009 with the brawn.

I'm not sure if you can easily fix length and height of car or configuration of suspension etc. Teams just add new parts around crash protection structures and monocoque. If you do something wrong there you are doomed.

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Renault!

2012 Planet F1 Prediction Competition Champion

it says Fastest Laps, chilton was slowww...

updated

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Mclaren look in good shape, they had some teething trouble, but they managed to overcome it and set a very good lap.

As I said before, it's all unofficial so there could be a cut corner in there somewhere

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Disclaimer: The above post maybe tongue in cheek.

"I thought I'd get your theories, mock them, then embrace my own. The usual."

No.

It's testing. I think we need to put this in big bold letters at the top of the forum for testing days.

No time, high or low means anything. They all mean naff all as:

1) Its unofficial
2) You dont know who is/isnt usind DRS/Kers during testing
3) You dont know fuel loads
4) You dont know tires
5) You dont know if they cut corners
6) Every single car except 1 may be on a very conservative test, thus making one seem amazingly fast.
7) It's testing
8) It's testing
9) It's testing
10) It's testing

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Length and height are dictated by the rules, and teams make changes to their suspension configuration throughout the season so they certainly can do it during testing. Its unlikely that a fundamentally poor area of the car would be the crash structures or monocoque. THey are, again, largely dictated by the rules. We have seen many times, even recently, cars turn up in Melbourne that are vastly different from what ran around in Spain. Think McLaren 2011, RBR 2012.

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Its all very well saying its testing but i'm pretty sure you can get some sort of pecking order from testing. At the end of the day Mclaren are top and Marussia are bottom of the timing screens. Familiar picture to the actual season.

What im saying is you cant completely rule out the testing times as they do tend to paint a true picture of the order (reading between the lines)

Not really. Grosjean was 4 tenths faster last year . Taking into account development and the fact that pirelli claim their tires are 0.5 sec per lap faster i think we will see some cars breach the 1:16 barrier by the end of the test.

No, they really don't. Tires, fuel loads, and run programs dictate the times. There are no constants to use for comparison.

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