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I read somewhere McLaren with Button ended 0.8s quicker than Mark Webber today. Not bad going for the 1st day. But they need an extra second for Button to have a chance of being WDC.
EDIT
Scratch that...its on the official website.
37 laps done on the shakedown day...in terms of McLaren VS Mercedes, first blood to McLaren. Sigh.
I read somewhere McLaren with Button ended 0.8s quicker than Mark Webber today. Not bad going for the 1st day. But they need an extra second for Button to have a chance of being WDC.
EDIT
Scratch that...its on the official website.
37 laps done on the shakedown day...in terms of McLaren VS Mercedes, first blood to McLaren. Sigh.
Didn't we have this discussion last year.... The times don't matter diddly squat.
I read somewhere McLaren with Button ended 0.8s quicker than Mark Webber today. Not bad going for the 1st day. But they need an extra second for Button to have a chance of being WDC.
EDIT
Scratch that...its on the official website.
37 laps done on the shakedown day...in terms of McLaren VS Mercedes, first blood to McLaren. Sigh.
Didn't we have this discussion last year.... The times don't matter diddly squat.
yes we did but Hammer needs some way at having an off handish dig at Button/Mclaren and this is his attempt.
Mark Webber believes Red Bull will have to work on reducing understeer on its RB9 after the first day of pre-season Formula 1 testing at Jerez.
The Australian said that the new car felt similar to the 2012 RB8 that won both the drivers' and constructors' championships, but he added that the team had areas to work on before testing resumes on Wednesday morning.
"The car was very understeery today, so we need to improve that tonight and get it a little more responsive," Webber told reporters at Jerez.
"Obviously this was the first day at school. We're not having a grand prix tomorrow, thank God, so we'll work hard, as will everybody else.
"The car's not massively different. The last few years we've had regulation changes, but this year it feels pretty similar.
"We've got some front wing stuff going on, but I felt pretty comfortable pretty quickly."
Webber added that the combination of the new 2013-spec Pirelli tyres and the rough Jerez track surface could be exaggerating any car traits.
"The tyres are going away quite a bit," he said. "If you see a car on fresh tyres the performance is quite nice, if you see one on older tyres it doesn't look very nice.
"The naked eye can even see the problems. The tyres are struggling to do quite a few laps, and you see the times in the 1m22s and 1m23s.
"But this track is always hard on tyres. You can always scare yourself here and then get to other places and it's OK."
Giedo van der Garde believes that Caterham still has some work to do with finding rear grip with its new car despite a positive first day of 2013 Formula 1 testing.
The Dutchman, who will make his F1 debut for Caterham this year was entrusted with the new CT03 for its first day of running.
He completed 64 laps in the new car, lapping 3.054 seconds off pacesetter Mark Webber's Red Bull.
Asked by AUTOSPORT about the overall impression of the car, he replied: "I think positive.
"The front end is a bit stronger than last year, which suits me better, and this was also a target that [ex-Caterham driver] Heikki [Kovalainen] was working on a lot.
"The rear is a little issue at the moment. It's a little loose, but for the first day, I was quite happy."
Van der Garde is scheduled to continue in the car on Wednesday before handing over to team-mate Charles Pic for the final two days of the Jerez test.
He accepts that the team still has some way to go with understanding the 2013 Pirelli tyres and that this will be an area to focus on during Wednesday's track time.
"It's responding quite well but the biggest thing is that we still need to get a handle on the tyres because it's quite different from last year," he said.
"We'll see what we can do tomorrow, but the feeling with the car is quite positive."
Felipe Massa says Ferrari is on a 'different planet' compared to the difficult situation it found itself in during pre-season Formula 1 testing last year, after getting his first impressions of the new F138 at Jerez on Tuesday.
The Brazilian ended the day sixth on the timesheets, but was not too worried about the lap times, because most importantly Ferrari had banished the prospect of a repeat of 2012's opening test nightmare.
"I think if you compare to last year it is a completely different planet," said Massa, when asked by AUTOSPORT about how his first day's running with the new car compared to 12 months ago.
"Last year I remember we were struggling a lot to drive the car. It was tricky to keep the car on the track, so this year the base on the car is completely different to last year.
"The car is much more balanced. I felt a good direction on the rear of the car as well, with traction. This is a track that is very difficult on the rear, degradation is very high. I would say that the difference to last year is huge."
Massa said early issues with the F138 have cropped up - like the need to improve cooling in the cockpit - but there were no alarm bells ringing about significant performance problems.
"I don't think it is a difficult thing to fix," he said. "I am not disappointed definitely.
"The 1m18.8s [lap time of Jenson Button] is an incredible time definitely, but the 1m19.7s [of second fastest Mark Webber] I don't think is.
"If you look at the first day, looking at how we ran, how we drove and the direction we had for the first day, I am not really disappointed.
"There is a lot to do, a lot to work on, a lot to develop on the car for the first race. That is clear. But I am not disappointed."
Romain Grosjean claims Lotus had a better than expected start to 2013 Formula 1 testing at Jerez on Tuesday, as he ended the day third fastest.
The Frenchman was the first man to try out the new Lotus E21, which the team hopes will be enough to lift it into top three contention this year.
And although Grosjean ended up nine tenths of a second behind pacesetter Jenson Button, he was hugely encouraged by what he discovered.
When asked if he had got what he had hoped to from the car, Grosjean said: "Yes, but I would say even better to be honest.
"The first feelings were very, very good. It's been a long time since we drove last time, but it has also been a short time at the same time.
"Honestly, three laps in and the car was already on the pace and the car was good without any set-up work."
The new Lotus E21 is an evolutionary design from last year's car, but Grosjean says he already feels progress has been made.
"I think it's a good step forward, compared to where we were last year - which was already a good starting point," he said.
"There was no issue with the car today; we could do 55 laps which were all pretty quick, and that's a good point."
What I dont understand, and Im sure some of the much wiser members will be able to tell me:-
What do Williams get from sending Maldonado out on track in the 2012 car....? Does this mean theyve not made many changes to the 2013 car - or are they secretly trying out new 2013 parts, without having to 'launch' the car...?
What I dont understand, and Im sure some of the much wiser members will be able to tell me:-
What do Williams get from sending Maldonado out on track in the 2012 car....? Does this mean theyve not made many changes to the 2013 car - or are they secretly trying out new 2013 parts, without having to 'launch' the car...?
I read somewhere McLaren with Button ended 0.8s quicker than Mark Webber today. Not bad going for the 1st day. But they need an extra second for Button to have a chance of being WDC.
EDIT
Scratch that...its on the official website.
37 laps done on the shakedown day...in terms of McLaren VS Mercedes, first blood to McLaren. Sigh.
Didn't we have this discussion last year.... The times don't matter diddly squat.
yes we did but Hammer needs some way at having an off handish dig at Button/Mclaren and this is his attempt.
Oh, sorry. Right, I'll let him get on with it. Maybe I should call Bud in?
What I dont understand, and Im sure some of the much wiser members will be able to tell me:-
What do Williams get from sending Maldonado out on track in the 2012 car....? Does this mean theyve not made many changes to the 2013 car - or are they secretly trying out new 2013 parts, without having to 'launch' the car...?
I think they were running new front and rear wings today. What Williams gain from running the old car is data to work with and a well known baseline (ie from last year's car) to compare things to, to see how they are different - new parts, the new tyre compounds, etc. Does that make sense?
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