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[Hammer278]

Nice, thanks. Redbull and McLaren looking strong again with Ferrari probably showboating yesterday.

[spankyham]

Officially the team is saying it was a gearbox failure. But I recall Felipe, on day one, said there was an overheating problem. Could be something more fundamental. At least they have plenty of time to work on whatever the problem was.

[LRW]

Stolen from SkyFeed:

Early days but these are fastest times per team over the 4 days:

1:17.879 - Ferrari (Massa)
1:18.148 - Lotus (Raikkonen)
1:18.175 - Force India (Bianchi)
1:18.565 - Red Bull (Vettel)
1:18.669 - Sauber (Guttierez)
1:18.766 - Mercedes (Rosberg)
1:18.861 - McLaren (Button)
1:19.124 - Toro Rosso (Vergne)
1:19.851 - Williams (Bottas)*
1:21.269 - Marussia (Chilton)
1:21.311 - Caterham (van der Garde)

*Williams using last year's car.

[Hammer278]

All of them on the same tyres?

[LRW]

All of them on the same tyres?

No i doubt it - but I just copied and pasted that - so wouldnt really know.

[Hammer278]

Another 145 laps clocked in for Merc today.

[bud]

All of them on the same tyres?

Different days, different tyres, different fuel loads, different programmes... But by all means start making bets on Melbournes GP winner based on these times!

[spankyham]

Another 145 laps clocked in for Merc today.

It is always very encouraging for a team to get lots of laps done, so that's a big plus for Merc. As to things you can derive from relative performances at testing, well, for me the best indicators are how the looks - watching videos and first hand accounts from unbiased reliable and knowledgeable people at the track. The other thing that can tell you a fair bit is the general demeanor of the team and drivers.

[Ferrari man 009]

The other thing that can tell you a fair bit is the general demeanor of the team and drivers.

Except when Schumacher used to spend all winter saying how the Ferrari was way off the pace, thrash everyone in Melbourne and act so suprised that he'd won

[vlad]

I really like what Sky and Ted have done. Great insight in testing, pure joy to watch.

[LRW]

I really like what Sky and Ted have done. Great insight in testing, pure joy to watch.

Yeah, totally agree. I always enjoy watching Ted.

[vaptin]

It'll still be Redbull at the top though won't it? Nothing has changed for them.


I also suspect, Ferrari's wind tunnel problems, were spin for "our aero department messed up". Byrne has a good shot, but how long since he worked on a f1 car properly?

McLaren I'm not sure about, good team, operational problems should be fixed by now, only question mark I think is the drivers,

Come on Lotus Two good drivers I think, who ought to actually have improved this season (Grojsean calming down, Kimi getting acclimatised to f1).

[LewEngBridewell]

It'll still be Redbull at the top though won't it? Nothing has changed for them.

That's what we said last year, but it took them a while to get to grips with the car. Not the domination people were expecting...

[vaptin]

It'll still be Redbull at the top though won't it? Nothing has changed for them.

That's what we said last year, but it took them a while to get to grips with the car. Not the domination people were expecting...

A WCC and a WDC you mean?

Redbull struggled at the start because the exhaust rules had changed, no using it to blow the diffuser, which was their main area of advantage.

[LewEngBridewell]

It'll still be Redbull at the top though won't it? Nothing has changed for them.

That's what we said last year, but it took them a while to get to grips with the car. Not the domination people were expecting...

A WCC and a WDC you mean?

Redbull struggled at the start because the exhaust rules had changed, no using it to blow the diffuser, which was their main area of advantage.

Indeed, but no one expected the sheer variety when it came to how many different winners there were from different teams, especially at the start of the year. Many people wrote the season off as a RBR cake-walk before it'd started.