2014 Pre-season and In-season Testing Thread

go_Rubens · Post by **go_Rubens** » 07 Mar 2014, 16:25

Peter wrote:
SgtPepper wrote:
go_Rubens wrote:Meanwhile, I just found this:

http://www.autoweek.com/article/20140305/F1/140309923

I've been wondering for a few weeks now since testing started, is RB technically allowed to either use TR technology, or demand their drivers to move over? I vaugely remember some sort of competition rule saying RB can't technically demand TRs submit to them, but am unsure of where lines are drawn etc.

The most I know is of some sort of rule change after 2009 which disallowed Torro Rosso from using the same chassis as RB, which they had been doing since their establishment, albeit with different engines.

Apart from that, Torro Rosso are pretty much puppets to RB. They aren't really allowed to race Red Bull and will usually get out of their way if ever fighting for position or in qualifying. They don't really publicly order Torro Rosso to submit to them, but it's seemingly pre-arranged.

It's part of the reason why I hate Torro Rosso, as they not only give Red Bull a bit of an advantage over anyone else, but they are never allowed to succeed and serve little purpose in enhancing competition, as it's only meant to mold future youth drivers for them to not use. Everyday I wish that they get purchased by a new entity so they can serve a purpose again.

Hell, if I had the money I'd try to get them out of RBR. It's just that RBR would probably demand a hell of a lot of money so they can buy out another team to make for their own benefit. I wish B-teams weren't allowed in F1, although teams should be able to strike deals with other teams as to raising talent, like Ferrari do with Sauber and Marussia. They're not B-teams, unlike Toro Rosso, who clearly are.

Jocke1 · Post by **Jocke1** » 08 Apr 2014, 20:56

DanielPT, would you consider altering your title to this thread, to include the in-season tests?

The first of four post-race tests scheduled for 2014 got underway today.
Some pretty interesting times there;

1. Nico Rosberg, Mercedes, 1m 35.697s, 121 laps
2. Nico Hulkenberg, Force India, 1m 36.064s, 69 laps
3. Fernando Alonso, Ferrari, 1m 36.626s, 69 laps
4. Kevin Magnussen, McLaren, 1m 36.634s, 102 laps
5. Valtteri Bottas, Williams, 1m 37.305s, 28 laps
6. Max Chilton, Marussia, 1m 37.678s, 60 laps
7. Daniel Ricciardo, Red Bull, 1m 38.326s, 91 laps
8. Sergey Sirotkin, Sauber, 1m 39.023s, 76 laps
9. Robin Frijns, Caterham, 1m 40.027s, 63 laps
10. Pastor Maldonado, Lotus, 1m 40.183s, 16 laps
11. Daniil Kvyat, Toro Rosso, 1m 40.452s, 67 laps

Our Max 0.648 ahead of Ricciardo! (in Q1 he was 1.693 behind)
And only 1.052 behind Alonso! (in Q1 2.662 behind)
1.981 behind Rosberg! (in Q1 2.474 behind)

And all of them with many more laps done than Max.
What have they done to the MR03? New parts? Different tyres than the others?

“Our main aim today was to try different directions with set-up and to get to know the tyres a bit better,” commented Rosberg. “

Fernando Alonso was third for Ferrari. In the morning, the Italian team concentrated on fine tuning various electronic configurations.
In the afternoon, Alonso carried out short runs to evaluate different set-up choices.

Seventh fastest was Red Bull’s Daniel Ricciardo, who commented: “We didn’t get in any performance runs today but we did some good long runs in the afternoon with three set-up changes and we got some good feedback from that.

No performance runs by Ricciardo, but still. Beaten by Marussia. By 6½ tenths!

Max Chilton wrote:Successful day for us today, learnt a lot. I will be handing the car over to Jules tomorrow for day 2 of the test.

I haven't seen any other comments from Chilton/Marussia, but I do wonder what they have found.

I was comparing the times from today with the times set during FP1-FP3 and Q+R from the past weekend,
and while it is interesting, it's never really anything to go by since every day on a track is different.
So, the pace shown by Max today is encouraging. What if Marussia suddenly transforms into a mid-field team?

DanielPT · Post by **DanielPT** » 08 Apr 2014, 21:18

Jocke1 wrote:DanielPT, would you consider altering your title to this thread, to include the in-season tests?

Certainly. It is done!

Post by **Miguel98** » 09 Apr 2014, 06:54

The time Chilton set is encouraging, but it was "only" 300 of a second faster than what he did in qualifying. So, it would be ahead of Ericsson and still behind everyone else. Maybe the car is starting to evolve and by mid-season, the Marussia might be fighting for points.

CoopsII · Post by **CoopsII** » 09 Apr 2014, 09:06

Miguel98 wrote:The time Chilton set is encouraging, but it was "only" 300 of a second faster than what he did in qualifying. So, it would be ahead of Ericsson and still behind everyone else. Maybe the car is starting to evolve and by mid-season, the Marussia might be fighting for points.

Points? By mid-season I expect Marussia to be sticking it to Mercedes and leading the championships.

This will happen.

Jocke1 · Post by **Jocke1** » 09 Apr 2014, 09:28

DanielPT wrote:
Jocke1 wrote:DanielPT, would you consider altering your title to this thread, to include the in-season tests?

Certainly. It is done!

Great!

Miguel98 wrote:The time Chilton set is encouraging, but it was "only" 300 of a second faster than what he did in qualifying. So, it would be ahead of Ericsson and still behind everyone else. Maybe the car is starting to evolve and by mid-season, the Marussia might be fighting for points.

I'm sure that track conditions, car set-ups and fuel amounts on all cars differed in the test yesterday as compared to qualifying.
But true, in the test yesterday Chilton only improved on his Q1 time by 0.235.
But at the same time, Ricciardo was 2.106 slower than his Q1 time.

In fact, removing Sirotkin and Frijns, out of the 9 drivers in the test yesterday who also participated in Q1,
only Chilton improved on his Q1 time. The other 8 drivers were slower than their Q1 times.
Interesting. I wonder why/how.
Of course, Chilton being the slowest driver in Q1 had it easier to gain on his lap time than
the others had on theirs, but is that the only reason?

I don't know how Marussia treated the test yesterday, if they told Chilton to go out and perform qualifying times or not,
I haven't read any statements from the team yet, and no media outlets wrote anything about them last night.
But I can't see how Marussia's to-do-list during the test could have been much different to the others.

Jocke1 · Post by **Jocke1** » 09 Apr 2014, 09:47

Found some quotes, and it doesn't sound like Marussia did anything particularly different from the other teams.
Max could have even gone faster.

Bahrain International Circuit, Sakhir

CHILTON MR03-02 P6/11 1:37.678

The opening day of running at the Bahrain Test saw Max Chilton in the MR03 (Chassis 02) for his one-day programme. The Team made good progress working through its development checklist, with Max ending the day 6th out of the 11 drivers.

Max Chilton #4
“Generally we’ve had a positive day in which we’ve completed the programme and developed the car a further step in only a short space of time. We did have a hydraulics issue which stopped us for a while but this was fixed quite quickly and, in actual fact, the period for which we were confined to the garage was when the track was at its hottest. We were able to keep our tyres back until later in the day and make use of them when the track was a bit more usable and representative. I’m pleased with the timesheet at the end of the day, especially since there was room for improvement with my quick lap.”

Dave Greenwood, Chief Engineer
“After such a positive outcome to the race on Sunday, Max was naturally keen to be back in the car as soon as possible and get into the testing items that will hopefully contribute to us maintaining the momentum in China next weekend. We have a comprehensive programme for this test, which began today with aerodynamic measurements and moved into set-up programmes exploring mechanical and aero changes. In the background we continued with mapping work and an evaluation of some revised parts for electronic reliability. Aside from a hydraulics issue, the first day has been productive and we look forward to continuing the progress with Jules tomorrow.”

LionZoo · Post by **LionZoo** » 09 Apr 2014, 15:33

...and in non-Chilton news, apparently Sauber can't seem to get correct sized shoes for Sirotkin: http://en.espnf1.com/sauber/motorsport/ ... 53427.html

You'd think all those Russian millions would buy some proper shoes.

DanielPT · Post by **DanielPT** » 09 Apr 2014, 16:05

LionZoo wrote:...and in non-Chilton news, apparently Sauber can't seem to get correct sized shoes for Sirotkin: http://en.espnf1.com/sauber/motorsport/ ... 53427.html

You'd think all those Russian millions would buy some proper shoes.

It is all part of weight reduction measures. Smaller sized shoes equals lighter shoes. Sirotkin should get used to it as it is better than to starve!

Post by **mario** » 09 Apr 2014, 20:41

DanielPT wrote:
LionZoo wrote:...and in non-Chilton news, apparently Sauber can't seem to get correct sized shoes for Sirotkin: http://en.espnf1.com/sauber/motorsport/ ... 53427.html

You'd think all those Russian millions would buy some proper shoes.

It is all part of weight reduction measures. Smaller sized shoes equals lighter shoes. Sirotkin should get used to it as it is better than to starve!

Didn't Hulkenberg have problems with his boots catching on the edge of the pedal box last year? What is it with Sauber and drivers having footwear issues?

On another note, it seems that testing is going from bad to worse for Ferrari - they were forced to scrap all of their running for today after the chassis they were using turned out to be too badly damage to use. It seems that they were using the chassis that Kimi had damaged on Friday when he hit the kerb in Turn 4 during the practise sessions - although they had repaired the damage to the chassis, it appears that the repaired section has failed again and this time forced Ferrari to withdraw that chassis altogether. http://www.bbc.co.uk/sport/0/formula1/26961345

Jocke1 · Post by **Jocke1** » 09 Apr 2014, 20:55

Day 2 times;

1. Lewis Hamilton, Mercedes, 1m 34.136s, 120 laps
2. Jean-Eric Vergne, Toro Rosso, 1m 35.557s, 64 laps
3. Kevin Magnussen, McLaren, 1m 36.203s, 26 laps
4. Sergio Perez, Force India, 1m 36.586s, 63 laps
5. Daniel Ricciardo, Red Bull, 1m 37.310s, 67 laps
6. Jules Bianchi, Marussia, 1m 37.316s, 93 laps
7. Giedo van der Garde, Sauber, 1m 37.623s, 77 laps
8. Fernando Alonso, Ferrari, 1m 37.912s, 12 laps
9. Marcus Ericsson, Caterham, 1m 39.263s, 66 laps
10. Felipe Nasr, Williams, 1m 39.879s, 64 laps
11. Romain Grosjean, Lotus, 1m 43.732s, 16 laps

Bianchi spent the morning exploring various set-up options on Pirelli’s medium compound,
before moving onto analysing brake developments in the afternoon.

And he was 6th fastest, just like Chilton the day before, 0.006 behind Ricciardo!

Lap counter;

1. Mercedes - 241 laps
2. Red Bull - 158 laps
3. Marussia - 153 laps
4. Sauber - 153 laps
5. Force India - 132 laps
6. Toro Rosso - 131 laps
7. Caterham - 129 laps
8. McLaren - 128 laps
9. Williams - 92 laps
10. Ferrari - 81 laps
11. Lotus - 32 laps :oops:

UncreativeUsername37 · Post by **UncreativeUsername37** » 09 Apr 2014, 21:26

Marussia T-3rd. I only see one way to interpret that.

watka · Post by **watka** » 09 Apr 2014, 22:22

Whilst we are talking about in-season testing, would anyone be up for round 2 of the F1 Rejects-visit-to-Silverstone-to-see-F1-cars-far-more-cheaply-than-going-to-the-British-GP-event? I believe 8th-9th July are the days and I'm assuming it will be open to the public again.

AndreaModa · Post by **AndreaModa** » 09 Apr 2014, 22:26

watka wrote:Whilst we are talking about in-season testing, would anyone be up for round 2 of the F1 Rejects-visit-to-Silverstone-to-see-F1-cars-far-more-cheaply-than-going-to-the-British-GP-event? I believe 8th-9th July are the days and I'm assuming it will be open to the public again.

As I won't be at the GP this year, I might be up for this. Put me down as a provisional yes for now!

Jocke1 · Post by **Jocke1** » 09 Apr 2014, 23:29

AndreaModa wrote:
watka wrote:Whilst we are talking about in-season testing, would anyone be up for round 2 of the F1 Rejects-visit-to-Silverstone-to-see-F1-cars-far-more-cheaply-than-going-to-the-British-GP-event? I believe 8th-9th July are the days and I'm assuming it will be open to the public again.

As I won't be at the GP this year, I might be up for this. Put me down as a provisional yes for now!

Will Barcelona be open to the public, anyone?

Rusujuur · Post by **Rusujuur** » 10 Apr 2014, 00:08

Can someone tell me why is it that the Lotus cannot do more then a few laps in testing (and fp 1/2/3) but still manage to go the full race distance?

dinizintheoven · Post by **dinizintheoven** » 10 Apr 2014, 00:35

watka wrote:Whilst we are talking about in-season testing, would anyone be up for round 2 of the F1 Rejects-visit-to-Silverstone-to-see-F1-cars-far-more-cheaply-than-going-to-the-British-GP-event? I believe 8th-9th July are the days and I'm assuming it will be open to the public again.

Don't see why not. Let's just hope it's a bit less scorching hot this time...

Jocke1 · Post by **Jocke1** » 10 Apr 2014, 18:45

Why is it that the pre-season tests were heavily broadcasted and analyzed by Sky Sports
in particular (treating them almost like Grand Prix weekends) and other outlets in general,
while the recently concluded in-season test at Bahrain has had virtualy no media interest at all?

watka · Post by **watka** » 10 Apr 2014, 23:56

Jocke1 wrote:Why is it that the pre-season tests were heavily broadcasted and analyzed by Sky Sports
in particular (treating them almost like Grand Prix weekends) and other outlets in general,
while the recently concluded in-season test at Bahrain has had virtualy no media interest at all?

The pre-season tests are big events because it is the first time we get to see that cars after a very long wait (i.e. there is a big visual impact for the media to sell on) and there are so many unknowns answered regarding the pace of said cars. In-seasoning testing is less well publicised as they usually come just after the race at a certain circuit so there is a hint of "after the Lord Mayor's show" about them. Plus, as there is already a fair bit known under the teams by this point they don't tend to tell us much new.

madmark1974 · Post by **madmark1974** » 11 Apr 2014, 09:19

dinizintheoven wrote:
watka wrote:Whilst we are talking about in-season testing, would anyone be up for round 2 of the F1 Rejects-visit-to-Silverstone-to-see-F1-cars-far-more-cheaply-than-going-to-the-British-GP-event? I believe 8th-9th July are the days and I'm assuming it will be open to the public again.

Don't see why not. Let's just hope it's a bit less scorching hot this time...

Just thought I'd mention this, Formula E is doing 5 days of free admission testing at Donington Park from 3rd July, so you could double-up?

Main topic in the FE thread here : http://f1rejects.com/forum/viewtopic.php?f=4&t=5188&start=240#p298109

roblo97 · Post by **roblo97** » 11 Apr 2014, 20:37

dinizintheoven wrote:
watka wrote:Whilst we are talking about in-season testing, would anyone be up for round 2 of the F1 Rejects-visit-to-Silverstone-to-see-F1-cars-far-more-cheaply-than-going-to-the-British-GP-event? I believe 8th-9th July are the days and I'm assuming it will be open to the public again.

Don't see why not. Let's just hope it's a bit less scorching hot this time...

I might be able to go with my dad and I may even try driving there. FYI, I am 17 at the end of June.

razta · Post by **razta** » 14 Apr 2014, 06:57

My Pics from the test days

Day 2

Jocke1 · Post by **Jocke1** » 11 May 2014, 14:55

Any forumites going to the Catalunya test Tuesday and/or Wednesday?
I will be taking the train out from Barc early Tuesday morning/noon with dad.
Going there completely happy-go-lucky too, for it is far from certain we'll gain access.

Jocke1 · Post by **Jocke1** » 15 May 2014, 00:19

Saddened not to have met any forumites, but we had a great time none the less.
We were at the circuit four hours Tuesday and about 2 hours Wednesday. And all of my hopes
were realized, I got to see Max Chilton (put the MR03 on P1), got to see Kimi, Pastor and Susie and the Merc.
As an added bonus I got to have a conversation with Rachel Brookes at turn 12

It's 2am and I just got back home, will put some vids and pics up later..

Shizuka · Post by **Shizuka** » 15 May 2014, 05:05

Speaking of testing, Maldonado went fastest on day 2 :shock:

go_Rubens · Post by **go_Rubens** » 16 May 2014, 00:03

Shizuka wrote:Speaking of testing, Maldonado went fastest on day 2

Plus, he had joint second for most number of laps done on day 2, tied with Rosberg.

And with the second test day, Stoffel Vandoorne is now eligible for a superlicense to race in F1.

CoopsII · Post by **CoopsII** » 16 May 2014, 07:16

Shizuka wrote:Speaking of testing, Maldonado went fastest on day 2

That's what's so frustrating about him, when he wants to he can be quick its just when the red mist descends this happens....

DanielPT · Post by **DanielPT** » 16 May 2014, 08:35

CoopsII wrote:
Shizuka wrote:Speaking of testing, Maldonado went fastest on day 2

That's what's so frustrating about him, when he wants to he can be quick its just when the red mist descends this happens....
[img]image[/img]

I agree. We all know the Reverend has the pace. No one breaks a Williams win drought in a race with 5 retirements only with pure luck. It is just a shame that he decides, for most of the time, to be a lose cannon. It increasingly looks like, though, that the stars aligned that day and that the Universe or God (depending on your beliefs) decided to look upon us, F1 Rejects, and concluded that the day where a wacky reject would win a race had come. I cannot even imagine if this was to happen with Max Chilton...

CoopsII · Post by **CoopsII** » 16 May 2014, 08:54

DanielPT wrote:It increasingly looks like, though, that the stars aligned that day and that the Universe or God (depending on your beliefs) decided to look upon us, F1 Rejects, and concluded that the day where a wacky reject would win a race had come. I cannot even imagine if this was to happen with Max Chilton...

Before that was the closest thing to it Sebs Toro Rosso (Minardi as was) win at Monza? Was this forum going then? Either way, that was some feat at the time.

UncreativeUsername37 · Post by **UncreativeUsername37** » 16 May 2014, 13:06

DanielPT wrote:It increasingly looks like, though, that the stars aligned that day and that the Universe or God (depending on your beliefs) decided to look upon us, F1 Rejects, and concluded that the day where a wacky reject would win a race had come. I cannot even imagine if this was to happen with Max Chilton...

As if he would need any help.

dr-baker · Post by **dr-baker** » 16 May 2014, 15:42

UgncreativeUsergname wrote:
DanielPT wrote:It increasingly looks like, though, that the stars aligned that day and that the Universe or God (depending on your beliefs) decided to look upon us, F1 Rejects, and concluded that the day where a wacky reject would win a race had come. I cannot even imagine if this was to happen with Max Chilton...

As if he would need any help.

But he DID get help. From HWNSNBM. He decreed it to be so!

RonDenisDeletraz · Post by **RonDenisDeletraz** » 18 May 2014, 10:04

Shizuka wrote:Speaking of testing, Maldonado went fastest on day 2

That is the effect of having Beitske Visser visit your pit garage

go_Rubens · Post by **go_Rubens** » 20 Jun 2014, 01:22

http://www.autosport.com/news/report.php/id/114526

Guys, just bathplug off with the noise problem. There isn't much of one at the track according to a lot of people who go there. Just fix the camera audio for God's sake!

Plus, the casual fan's opinions really don't matter much. Just let the cars be.

CoopsII · Post by **CoopsII** » 20 Jun 2014, 07:00

go_Rubens wrote:http://www.autosport.com/news/report.php/id/114526

Guys, just bathplug off with the noise problem. There isn't much of one at the track according to a lot of people who go there. Just fix the camera audio for God's sake!

Plus, the casual fan's opinions really don't matter much. Just let the cars be.

I agree totally, that stuff's so three months ago. Nobody cares except Bernie, who doesnt even watch the races any more and di Montezemolo, who thinks the quiet engines are the reason his team sucks.

AustralianStig · Post by **AustralianStig** » 07 Jul 2014, 11:04

Apparently Bianchi was due to run on the Wednesday for Marussia, but has been moved forward to the Tuesday. Wednesday was the day Raikkonen was due to test the Ferrari.

Sounds to me like Jules will be in the Ferrari!

roblo97 · Post by **roblo97** » 07 Jul 2014, 11:44

AustralianStig wrote:Apparently Bianchi was due to run on the Wednesday for Marussia, but has been moved forward to the Tuesday. Wednesday was the day Raikkonen was due to test the Ferrari.

Sounds to me like Jules will be in the Ferrari!

According to Tom Clarkson from BBC, Ferrari are readying Pedro De La Rosa to drive in place of Raikkonen.

Salamander · Post by **Salamander** » 07 Jul 2014, 13:42

AustralianStig wrote:Apparently Bianchi was due to run on the Wednesday for Marussia, but has been moved forward to the Tuesday. Wednesday was the day Raikkonen was due to test the Ferrari.

Sounds to me like Jules will be in the Ferrari!

You called it.

Alextrax52 · Post by **Alextrax52** » 07 Jul 2014, 13:58

Salamander wrote:
AustralianStig wrote:Apparently Bianchi was due to run on the Wednesday for Marussia, but has been moved forward to the Tuesday. Wednesday was the day Raikkonen was due to test the Ferrari.

Sounds to me like Jules will be in the Ferrari!

You called it.

Benson also confirmed it on twitter. He also states that Raikkonen should be fit for Germany

AustralianStig · Post by **AustralianStig** » 08 Jul 2014, 02:09

Salamander wrote:
AustralianStig wrote:Apparently Bianchi was due to run on the Wednesday for Marussia, but has been moved forward to the Tuesday. Wednesday was the day Raikkonen was due to test the Ferrari.

Sounds to me like Jules will be in the Ferrari!

You called it.

I'll admit the BBC were speculating about it first, but I take what I can get

Post by **Londoner** » 08 Jul 2014, 11:28

Some teams are testing Pirelli's new 18 inch tyres at this test. Here's a rendering

DO NOT WANT. Thanks a bunch Michelin.