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[Hammer278]

So it's official the 26 is shiite and cant do more than 6 laps at once. McLaren have been going backwards since 08.
2010 is exception only coz of F-duct,RB messing up and a non-existent Massa.

Looks like this year LH&JB will duke it out with the Saubers and Toro Rossos if they're able to finish the race (IF)

Pretty negative take there. I'm dissapointed as well as the key to winning the Championships is to start fast out of the box and I dont think McLaren have that chance anymore. But race wins are most definitely on the cards...this is McLaren and they have the best driver on the grid. They ought to be gunning for Championship glory every year though, and that's a question mark at the moment.

[spankyham]

Good day for Kovalainen in the Lotus i think!

Interesting to see both Webber and Vettel marking out Ferrari as the team to beat so far. Do they genuinely think that or are they deliberately being conservative?


Seems flexi wings are back on the agenda too...

Apparently, the Ferrari's long-run pace is superior, which might be what the two are hinting at.

@Scotty - There are 3 teams now with definite flexi front wings - RB & Ferrari (to a lesser degree) from last year and now Merc, but Merc's seems nearly as good as RB.

@Denthul - I'm still not sure we can say one teams has more pace than another because we really don't know the fuel loads - although, I agree from the race sim we can have a fair idea. But for me, it's not the the lap times themselves that are exciting from a Ferrari perspective, it our drop off rate compared to all the other teams. I mean, on 12 and 13 lap runs our times are only dropping off like a total of 2 seconds. I think Ferrari have, exactly as they said, worked very hard on understanding these Pirelli's and have really perfected "curing" their tyres. Of course the reliability is great.

Ferrari and all their clients have had a great pre-season.

[spankyham]

Check out the hole in the Merc front wing ...

[Jensonb]

So it's official the 26 is shiite and cant do more than 6 laps at once. McLaren have been going backwards since 08.
2010 is exception only coz of F-duct,RB messing up and a non-existent Massa.

Looks like this year LH&JB will duke it out with the Saubers and Toro Rossos if they're able to finish the race (IF)

ease up tiger, it was a far worse position in 09 testing for McLaren and look how that season turned out., the car that was poo, turned into a race winner. I wouldn't write them off before the season has already begun.

Mhm. And besides...

BBC Sport F1 wrote:">Jenson Button positive ahead of Australian Grand Prix

Jenson Button remains positive ahead of the Australian Grand Prix despite a disappointing finish to testing in Barcelona on Friday.

The 31-year-old McLaren driver only managed to post the 13th-fastest time by the end of the day.
Lewis Hamilton continues testing for McLaren on Saturday, but Button says McLaren can perform well in Australia.
"It's going to be a tricky weekend but if anyone can pull back after tough testing it's McLaren," he said.
Button was restricted to 57 laps on day four - although only day three for McLaren - of the final pre-season test at the Circuit de Catalunya on Friday.

He spent the morning practising pit stops and aerodynamic assessments before recording his best time of one minute 25.837 seconds after an engine change - 4.5 seconds behind pacesetter Michael Schumacher for Mercedes.

Ferrari's Fernando Alonso trailed the German by 0.346 seconds, while Red Bull's Sebastian Vettel finished 1.665 seconds off the pace.
Although Button said he was disappointed not to get more miles under his belt in testing, he is looking forward to the season's first race.
"We had an engine change over lunch which took a little bit more time than we thought so I haven't got a lot of running done really," he said.
"But I think after Tuesday we were quite positive with the direction we've taken with the car and I think there is more to come in Australia."
Button, who made his Grand Prix debut in Australia in 2000, won in Melbourne in an incident packed race in 2010 to follow up his victory there in 2009.

"It's a circuit I love and I've had great experiences there," said Button. "I'm looking forward to going back and hopefully we'll find a bit more performance and our reliability will be good." Button is equally bullish about McLaren's chances of finding the pace and reliability to contest the championship over a season. "I don't think you should ever write off a top team, especially one that's won so many championships and fought for so many championships like McLaren," he said.

"I agree that it's been a tough winter and we haven't done the mileage that we'd have liked and we haven't been able to get the performance out of this car that we expect to, but it doesn't mean that we're not going to be challenging this year. The first race is going to be difficult to really challenge the Ferraris and the Red Bulls, but you never know."

Button is hoping his Japanese girlfriend Jessica Michibata, who was in her homeland during the earthquake that hit the country on Friday, will also be in Melbourne to cheer him on. "She's OK, just a bit shaken," he said. "Hopefully I'm going to see her in a couple of days in Australia if they can get flights out of Japan and give her a big hug."

Button added: "It's horrific and very devastating. It's difficult to know what to do but my thoughts are with all the people in Japan, especially in Sendai."

[vlad]

Check out the hole in the Merc front wing ...

This looks weird... It actually might work well!


Anyway, I think McLaren is going to progress a lot during the season, so we might expect them have a winning car for Turkey or Barcelona...

[texasmr2]

Watched the SPEED Report yesterday and Schumi finished at the top of the list daym near .5sec ahead of 2nd place with Nico in 3rd.
http://www.itv.com/formula1/news/2011/3 ... -top-1285/

[Gaz]

Watched the SPEED Report yesterday and Schumi finished at the top of the list daym near .5sec ahead of 2nd place with Nico in 3rd.
http://www.itv.com/formula1/news/2011/3 ... -top-1285/

Hopfully they were fueled the same?

[texasmr2]

Yeah thats a good question.

[darwin dali]

It was a quali sim so MS was running on fumes - but still impressive for the ole man.

[vaptin]

Over the final two pre-season tests in Barcelona, team analysts have been poring over reams of data, calculating fuel levels and conjuring tyre tactics to try to find out where their team falls in 2011's pecking order.

The teams were unanimous in one thing - Red Bull will once again be the ones to watch in 2011.

But as the field of 12 teams prepares to race under new regulations for the new season, the champions may not have it all their own way.

Just like last season, Ferrari are not far behind Red Bull.

Nevertheless, after four pre-season tests, it is widely agreed Red Bull have an advantage in both qualifying and race pace.

Dammit!

In terms of pure pace, the champions have yet to push the RB7 in full qualifying trim - with some insiders saying they believe the car has never been on track with less than 80kg of fuel on board when 10kg is usually enough for qualifying.

Despite this, world champion Sebastian Vettel and team-mate Mark Webber have managed to top the timings in Barcelona four times out of eight days between them.

Red Bull have also raised eyebrows with their consistency and speed over longer spells on track.

Analysis of Webber's long runs at the final test suggested that after 10 or more laps he was 0.7 seconds per lap faster than others, showing the car has pace and is kinder on the tyres.

Double damn!

Over at Ferrari, championship runner-up Fernando Alonso and his team-mate Felipe Massa have both shown pace in shorter bursts and strength in race simulations, but analysts point to tyre life as a potential weakness for the Italian marque.

After teething problems in the first three tests, Mercedes bared their teeth in Barcelona as Michael Schumacher was unassailable at the top of day four's timesheets in the heavily upgraded Mercedes.

Insiders within the team are confident they are now the third fastest team on track - if not the second.

Behind Red Bull, Ferrari - and now perhaps Mercedes - the pack tightens around the midfield of Renault, Williams, McLaren, Toro Rosso and Sauber.

After a catalogue of headaches, from exhaust, hydraulics and engine problems to a lack of spare parts, McLaren have done little to show they will start 2011 where they left off as F1's third fastest team.

Of 2010's three new entrants, Team Lotus appear to have made the most progress - on pace alone the Norfolk-based team have made up at least a second over the winter to move closer to Force India at the back of the pack.

http://www.bbc.co.uk/blogs/sarahholt/20 ... _wint.html,

Sarah Holt from the bbc, I think this is the first time she's written a more "serious" blog on f1, so not sure on how accurate she normally is.

[vlad]

I think it's pretty accurate. Mercedes was first today, they did most laps...

[scotty]

Complete washout today then, unluckily for those who decided to test today. Schumacher and Alonso barely did any laps.

Williams seem confident they've fixed their KERS problems and will run it in Melbourne, good stuff.

Hamilton said today he reckon's Macca are about one second off the pace - that is, Mercedes' pace over one lap. He said he thinks they are a bit better over long runs though.

In terms of pure pace, the champions have yet to push the RB7 in full qualifying trim - with some insiders saying they believe the car has never been on track with less than 80kg of fuel on board when 10kg is usually enough for qualifying.

Every 10kg is supposed to be worth 3 tenths around Barcelona... so i find the idea of them having never run less than half tanks somewhat hard to believe.

[vaptin]

Complete washout today then, unluckily for those who decided to test today. Schumacher and Alonso barely did any laps.

Williams seem confident they've fixed their KERS problems and will run it in Melbourne, good stuff.

Hamilton said today he reckon's Macca are about one second off the pace - that is, Mercedes' pace over one lap. He said he thinks they are a bit better over long runs though.

In terms of pure pace, the champions have yet to push the RB7 in full qualifying trim - with some insiders saying they believe the car has never been on track with less than 80kg of fuel on board when 10kg is usually enough for qualifying.

Every 10kg is supposed to be worth 3 tenths around Barcelona... so i find the idea of them having never run less than half tanks somewhat hard to believe.

I hope so, although I guess none of the other big teams have shown their hands with an all out lap on fumes in quali either, plus new tyres would add a lot of time on.

I'm not sure how Hamilton can be that accurate, but if they are - judging from previous years, thats a serious amount. Even if its lower on long runs, they'll still be losing the amount their behind per lap.

[Robert12010]

i think red bull and ferrari will be the teams to beat in the early part, but i still think that mclaren will come good and have a chance in the constructors because of the fractions at red bull and ferrari, and no one can deny that

[f1ea]

i think red bull and ferrari will be the teams to beat in the early part, but i still think that mclaren will come good and have a chance in the constructors because of the fractions at red bull and ferrari, and no one can deny that

Hmmm its not that easy.
Considering RB and Ferrari are ahead.... how about Mercedes, Renault, Williams, Toro Rosso and Sauber ?? so far they've looked much better than Mclaren and if they are able to chew a few points from Mc they might find themselves way back by the time they catch.

Also.... do you think the factions at either Ferrari or Red Bull (even Merc) are going to allow the BS that happened last yr? Red Bull know how much all the drama almost cost them. They are going to work much better as a team and make sure the team is 1st. The same goes for Ferrari... as long as either driver is not considerably struggling no way they are going to allow other teams to take constructors points from them! of course, if they simply dont have to car to challenge theres not much they can do... but if they have strong cars... forget about it. The team comes first. Just you wait and see.