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[Jabberwocky]

I know that, I just find it odd that they would not run them, unless they where trying to hide something.

[bud]

Testing is not scrutinised, They do not need to run camera pods in testing. Technically no car is illegal in testing, i mean do you think it is legal to run aero sensors sticking out all over the car? Do not think that would pass scrutineering.

[Jabberwocky]

So why not test with the camera's? I am just saying it could be like why we are not seeing many Monkey seat, there might be some trick that they do not want anyone else to copy.

[bud]

The pods themselves would not contribute a major influence over the whole aerodynamics of the car. It's not a bolt on 1 second per lap part. Redbull know why they haven't run them, I am sure the talented engineers there know what they are doing.

[spankyham]

Engines set to dominate this season ( I think we'd worked that bit out) . This article has the order Merc, McLaren, Williams, forces India. With McLaren about nine tenths off Merc. I'm not sure I'd have. Williams ahead of Force India?

The article says Ferrari are taking a cautious approach ( which I think is what you've been saying Spanky?).....so difficult to place them I guess at the moment.

Lauda says...it's not that we aren't having the problems other teams are having....we're just having less of them
http://www.motorsport.com/f1/news/engin ... inate-2014

Good article, and I agree with their assessment of the Mercedes powered teams.

They did make one fairly glaring mistake "...mere days before performance development of its troubled 2014 'power unit' is mandatorily frozen by the FIA" There is no engine freeze. The engines are homologated. So rather than frozen, we can be sure the engines will end up the same.

That doesn't change the fact that the main battle to win is reliability on the PT.

[spankyham]

Interesting comments from Nico about how challenged he was, even in cruise mode, to make the race distance within the 100Kg limit. I suspected there would be races where fuel economy would be critical, but, I didn't think Bahrain would be one simply because historically they are full throttle (max fuel flow you'd imagine) for only just above 60% of the time - that should be less than the time for the max flow rate.

Fuel consumption 'a big challenge'

Two of the drivers who completed a race distance in testing last week are expecting fuel consumption to be a challenge for teams next year.

The new V6 turbo engines and advanced energy recovery systems are more fuel efficient than the old V8s, but under the regulations are restricted to just 100 litres of fuel per race - a cut of roughly 35% on last year. Mercedes and McLaren were among the teams attempting a race simulation last week in Bahrain and both Nico Rosberg and Jenson Button said the teams have a long way to go to get the most from the engine over a race distance.

"Bahrain is the worst track, so today it was tough to get to the end of the race with 100 litres," Rosberg said. "That's going to be a big challenge in Melbourne and that's what it was about today, to try and judge that and make sure that you get the quickest from the beginning to the end of the race while keeping the fuel consumption consistent."

"I finished the grand prix distance, but in testing it's relatively easy to do because you just drive around really slow," Button added. "I think we are all going to find it tricky and there is a lot of fine tuning that's needed from everyone. I think for most people it's trying to get the car to run for a race distance - that's the biggest issue!"

Rosberg said it's not as simple as driving to a set speed throughout the race.

"You can put your fuel consumption on the dash, but when you have a heavy car it takes a lot more fuel to get this car around the track, even though you're going slower than it does at the end of the race when you have a light car," he explained. "It's not necessarily targeting the same fuel consumption form beginning to end, it varies. It's quite complicated and definitely we will need a lot of help and advice from the engineers."

Button said the lighter fuel load meant the strain on tyres is not as pronounced as it was between qualifying and race conditions last year, but added that there are challenges with the all-new formula.

"The tyres struggled with 150 kilos of fuel [last year] so the cars were a hell of a lot slower [in the race]. Now you are only putting 100 kilos in the car, so there is a smaller difference when you get into race conditions. In a straight line it's a hell of a lot slower and the engine is doing so many different things, and it's doing something different every single lap of the race. That's difficult for a driver to get his head around, because what he felt on the previous lap under braking has completely changed the next lap around. Braking points are so tricky and I think that's the weirdest thing in the race."

[What's Burning?]

Spa and Monza will be interesting.

[spankyham]

That cutting the flow on deceleration thing Ferrari is doing may well prove a valuable little contribution for the team.

[spankyham]

Big bodywork changes on the Mercedes behind the air box, plus what seem like really big camera housings above driver. Also much larger cooling ducts on pods.

Sent from my GT-I9500 using Tapatalk

[CookinFlat6]

According to Italian sources on twitter, Domenically says updates full updates to come and he thinks Ferrari are behind only Mercedes and ahead of the other Merc engine teams.

That sounds promising, would be good to have the 5 best drivers close on top, Seb as a Fangio type genius should be up there as well despite his car, because he is Fangio like

[CookinFlat6]

Perez now fastest for FI. Will Gary Anderson change his predictions and make F1 favorites now?

[CookinFlat6]

BBC Sport’s chief F1 writer Andrew Benson
"Ferrari's form has been difficult to read so far. They have periodically popped up at the top of the times. And a race run done by Fernando Alonso at the first Bahrain test looked reasonably competitive compared to a simultaneous one by Mercedes driver Nico Rosberg, as far as it was possible to tell. But a senior Ferrari figure revealed this week that the team believe their engine is about 75bhp down on the Mercedes, and they don't understand how their rivals are getting so much power while staying within the fuel restriction introduced this year. Which does not paint too pretty a picture for Fernando Alonso and Kimi Raikkonen."

That would tie in with the rumours from before testing that Merc were 100BHP ahead. Does this mean Ferrari have concentrated on fuel economy at the cost of horse power? Or does it just mean that the Merc puts out more BHP for the same fuel usage?

[spankyham]

You're asking the right questions, perhaps after 2 or 3 races we well have some answers

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[CookinFlat6]

I hope and strongly suspect now that Ferrari have some other trick up their sleeve thats not power dependent. The engines are to be homologated next few days I believe so at least we know where everyone is. For Ferrari to have a power deficit like that (if true) and yet for domenically to say they are above all the other Mercs means there is something they are counting on thats on the chassis

I would rather Ferrari are close second on performance than the other Merc teams. Having said that6 Force India just postsed their fatsest time so far and assuming ins a low fuel quali run is seconds off the Merc. So even if Merc is 75 HP up the other Merc teams are still off, including McLaren

Something somewhere doesnt add up. I guess its early still, we need to see every team give it the full beans

[Hammer278]

Just back home....anyone know what was Rosberg's longest stint today? The car's transformed quite a bit! And still waiting on a new front wing it seems.

EDIT

Ferrari's excuse for only 12 laps so far is due to 'bolting upgrades on the car'? Are they for real? Is there some rule I missed where they aren't allowed to touch the car before the start of the test?