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[LewEngBridewell]

Makes you wonder, Massa isn't going to be winning many fans in that camp with his negativity.

When you consider Massa's personality was really winning him over in the Ferrari camp, if it starts to to wane and follow his standard of performance downhill, then he can't have long left there.

[andrew]

Massa was doomed as soon as Alonso joined Ferrari

[LewEngBridewell]

Massa was doomed as soon as Alonso joined Ferrari

He was doomed as soon as he joined Ferrari full stop. Managing to emerge from Raikkonen's shadow in '08 was an immense achievement, but it was sadly only a flash in the pan.

[racechick]

I think the top three teams could be really close this season ..which bodes well!! McLaren seem to have had less reliability problems. But when you consider that the McLaren and Red Bull are evolutions from last years cars whilst Ferrari have gone for something completely different, you would expect them to have a few more issues.

[scotty]

Total laps per team:

Lotus: 404
Williams: 372
Caterham: 358
Mercedes: 348 (2011 car)
Toro Rosso: 316
Force India: 308
Sauber: 298
RedBull: 297
McLaren: 273
Ferrari: 270
Hispania: 108


Pirelli Analysis

Pirelli tyres complete 14,949 kilometres of testing

Testing facts & numbers

Friday 10 February 2012

Pirelli supplied 1176 tyres for the first Formula One test of the 2012 season, held at the Jerez circuit in the south of Spain over four days. A total of 3380 laps were covered by 23 drivers – equating to 14,949 kilometres.

The new P Zero White medium tyre completed the most running in Spain with 1776 laps run (91 sets used), followed by the new P Zero Yellow soft with 1010 laps run (57 sets used) and the P Zero Silver hard with 594 laps run (33 sets used). Although the new Pirelli Cinturato Green intermediate tyre and Pirelli Cinturato Blue tyre was brought to Spain, it was not used as the weather stayed dry despite ambient temperatures that dipped to as low as -2 degrees centigrade.

The 2012 tyres performed in line with expectations at Jerez, but with most teams running brand new cars in different phases of development, it was hard to draw firm conclusions about relative performance.

Pirelli’s motorsport director Paul Hembery said: “The tyres performed exactly in line with our expectations here in Jerez. We’ve had a very positive reaction from the drivers and teams so far, who have reported more grip at the rear, fewer ‘marbles’ and a reduced lap time difference between the compounds as well as faster overall performance – which is precisely what we wanted. We’re happy with the level of degradation and we had no issues, as was the case for all of last year. But as the temperatures in Jerez were very low and the teams have also concentrated on other areas than tyres, it’s too early to draw any detailed conclusions. We’ll see more tyre development work at the next test in Barcelona, as together with the teams, we fully understand the implications of the latest rules. However, with all three of our available slick tyres having set a fastest time, it’s a clear sign that we are on course to meet our objectives.”

Lotus driver Kimi Räikkonen – who last drove on Pirelli tyres in the 2010 World Rally Championship – set the pace on the opening day, with a spectacular return to Formula One thanks to a time of 1m19.670s on the P Zero White medium tyre.

Mercedes were quickest on the second and third days using their 2011 car. Michael Schumacher lowered the benchmark to 1m18.561s on day two with the P Zero Silver hard tyre and Nico Rosberg set a time of 1m17.631s on day three with the P Zero Yellow soft: the best time over all four days.

The Jerez test ended with Ferrari’s Fernando Alonso going quickest with a time of 1m18.877s on the final day, again using the soft tyre.

Testing facts:

- During comparison runs between the new medium and the new hard tyre on day one, there was a difference of between 0.4-0.5 seconds, with better grip and less wear: particularly at the rear.
- The driver to complete the most laps at Jerez was Kimi Räikkonen, who racked up 192 laps on the soft, medium and hard over the first two days: nearly the equivalent of three grands prix.
- Most teams started off with short runs initially, before trying longer runs and race simulations for the first time as they expanded their development programmes.
- The top times on all four days comfortably beat the benchmark established at the last test in Jerez one year ago, where Rubens Barrichello went fastest for Williams with a time of 1m19.832s.

Testing numbers:

- Total number of sets brought to Jerez: 294 sets which equals 1176 tyres
- Of which soft tyres: 71 sets
- Of which Medium tyres: 105 sets
- Of which Hard tyres: 43 sets
- Of which Intermediate tyres: 38 sets
- Of which Wet tyres: 37 sets

- Total amount of sets used: 181
- Of which soft tyres: 57 sets
- Of which Medium tyres: 91 sets
- Of which Hard tyres: 33 sets
- Of which Intermediate tyres: 0 sets
- Of which Wet tyres: 0 sets
- Longest run: 26 laps on the hard compound, 27 laps (medium), 20 laps (soft)
- Highest / lowest ambient temperature over four days: 20 °C / -2 °C
- Highest / lowest track temperature over four days: 26 °C / 0 °C

Tyre summary:

Day 1
1. Räikkönen 1’19"670 on Medium New
2. Di Resta 1’19"772 on Medium New
3. Rosberg 1’20"219 on Soft New

Day 2
1.Schumacher 1’18’’561 on Hard New
2. Webber 1’19’’184 on Soft New
3. Ricciardo 1’19’’587 on Soft New

Day 3
1. Rosberg 1’17’’631 on Soft New
2. Grosjean 1’18’’419 on Medium New
3. Vettel 1’19’’297 on Soft New

Day 4
1. Alonso 1’18"877 on Soft New
2. Vergne 1’19"597 on Soft New
3. Vettel 1’19"606 on Medium New

Ted Kravitz's thoughts:

[youtube]Ez6LzeiO-gU[/youtube]

[scotty]

In that previous post, note that Grosjean's 18.4 which was quickest of all new cars all week was set on Medium tyres only. Lots more speed to come yet for several teams...

[bud]

In that previous post, note that Grosjean's 18.4 which was quickest of all new cars all week was set on Medium tyres only. Lots more speed to come yet for several teams...

The last day of testing the fastest times were done in the morning, It was a very cold day probably why we see Vergne and Alonso on Softs. Vettel didn't come out until the afternoon.

[andrew]

Massa was doomed as soon as Alonso joined Ferrari

He was doomed as soon as he joined Ferrari full stop. Managing to emerge from Raikkonen's shadow in '08 was an immense achievement, but it was sadly only a flash in the pan.

Not really a flash in the pan. He was more than a match for Schumacher on several occasions.

[LewEngBridewell]

Thanks for posting the YouTube link scotty, it was an interesting watch. In that slow-motion replay of the Lotus, the car doesn't look bad at all, even with the platypus nose. Some teams have just made it look rather good.

[spankyham]

Makes you wonder, Massa isn't going to be winning many fans in that camp with his negativity.

I don't want to open up a can of worms, but often what's not reported is as interesting as what is reported. It can completely change a story as Jonathon Noble says about the way Autosports reported Massa's interview and also the reporting of Fry. (I've attached his tweets on the subject below).

I think Alonso was flying on fumes!!

Well, he had enough "fumes" as you put it, to complete another 6 laps and his in-lap. Perhaps SF need some lessons on how to do glory runs. TBH I'm acutally happy if SF can just stay completely under the radar and be dismissed as Ted Kravitz did. They can just get on with their work load. With such a new/different car I don't think they will even come close to realizing the F2012's potential (whatever that may be) until we are in Europe. Noble makes same comment really (see image below as well).

[bud]

Well I don't think it was fumes as such after all Grosjean had a faster time than Alonso the day before, but it was on Softs compared to Vettels on Medium in the arfternoon.
Regardless these times mean nothing especially first test week.

[LewEngBridewell]

Well I don't think it was fumes as such after all Grosjean had a faster time than Alonso the day before, but it was on Softs compared to Vettels on Medium in the arfternoon.
Regardless these times mean nothing especially first test week.

Absolutely. As Andrew Benson put it:

So, after four days of testing and nearly 3,500 laps of running at Jerez in sunny southern Spain, what has the first Formula 1 pre-season test revealed about the season to come?

The simplest answer – as ever – is “not much”. Testing – or the “winter world championship”, as McLaren chairman Ron Dennis famously described it – is a notoriously poor guide to form.

Or at least it is if you look only at the headline lap times. At the end of last year’s test in Jerez, the fastest man was Williams driver Rubens Barrichello – and his team were about to embark on the worst season in their once-illustrious history.

Likewise, if anyone thinks Lotus driver Romain Grosjean is going to win this year’s world championship after setting the pace in Jerez this week, they will be waiting a long time for those pigs to fly in front of that blue moon.

[acosmichippo]

Anybody seen this?



I wonder if it's there to try to capture the exhaust... whatever it's for, I'm surprised it's legal.

edit:

looks like at least a few teams have it...

[bud]

McLaren had it on their launch car, given McLaren has an exhaust "funnel" I don't think this is for exhaust capture.

I'm pretty sure it's legal as well as you can have a wing mount in that position.

[kerc]

Makes you wonder, Massa isn't going to be winning many fans in that camp with his negativity.

I don't want to open up a can of worms, but often what's not reported is as interesting as what is reported. It can completely change a story as Jonathon Noble says about the way Autosports reported Massa's interview and also the reporting of Fry. (I've attached his tweets on the subject below).

I think Alonso was flying on fumes!!

Well, he had enough "fumes" as you put it, to complete another 6 laps and his in-lap. Perhaps SF need some lessons on how to do glory runs. TBH I'm acutally happy if SF can just stay completely under the radar and be dismissed as Ted Kravitz did. They can just get on with their work load. With such a new/different car I don't think they will even come close to realizing the F2012's potential (whatever that may be) until we are in Europe. Noble makes same comment really (see image below as well).

Dammit, Autosport, don't hide facts. I'm not even a Ferrari fan and what you did with the article kinda pissed me off.