Williams and Mercedes lead testing mileage as Lotus hit trouble

31 comments on “Williams and Mercedes lead testing mileage as Lotus hit trouble”

1. 

   JP23
   24th February 2012, 17:03

   Typo in title?
   1. 

      Keith Collantine (@keithcollantine)
      24th February 2012, 17:50

      No.
   2. 

      dam00r (@dam00r)
      24th February 2012, 17:55

      @JP23 and @Hatebreeder :
      “Mercedes have also covered a large distance but have divided their efforts between their 2011 and 2012 cars so far.

      They covered 3,398km with both their cars in public tests, plus a further 354km in a solo test with the W03 in Barcelona earlier this week, giving them a total mileage of 3,752km.”
      1. 

         Bobdredds (@bobdredds)
         24th February 2012, 19:02

         With all the revelations coming to light about Mercedes have under the skin, they could have achieved a lot more than at first suspected with the 2011 car. http://paddocktalk.com/news/html/story-183675.html
         and how the new mapping clampdown could benefit Mercedes. I started a thread in the forum on the double diffuser and how it might work.
      2. 

         Scary Terry (@hatebreeder)
         25th February 2012, 10:52

         only 11 kms more than the mclaren! :D
         Question: how does doing runs with a 2011 car benefit them? Don’t they already have all the data they need of the 2011 car?
         1. 

            Scary Terry (@hatebreeder)
            25th February 2012, 10:53

            ignore the only 11 kms thing. I need a calculator.
         2. 

            Proesterchen (@proesterchen)
            25th February 2012, 11:19

            It’s not about the 2011 car, it’s about taking the 2011 data, and applying them to 2012.

            Mercedes hoped to build a conversion matrix that lets them translate what they already have to the new car and new tyres.

            And so the PR goes that by testing the W02 with 2012 tyres on one occasion, they could isolate changes in the tyres (2011 vs. Jerez Test 2012) and cars (W02 in Jerez vs. W03 in Barcelona), reducing uncertainty in that conversion.
            1. 

               Scary Terry (@hatebreeder)
               25th February 2012, 13:50

               oh!
               so you mean, Old car with old tyres is compared to old car with new tyres, and the changes are recorded and then the new car with new tyres data is compared to make up like a comparison chart and try to make like a data set to apply on all other tracks?
            2. 

               Proesterchen (@proesterchen)
               25th February 2012, 14:22

               @Hatebreeder

               Exactly!
            3. 

               Bobdredds (@bobdredds)
               25th February 2012, 15:56

               They could also test other parts becuse they are under the skin. With a solid base of information they can stick on parts and test the effect it has and how it works. If they are re-directing gasses through the maniifold for example and exiting them through the rear of the car, the parts can be tested to see what if any issues show up on a known platform. When Brawn initially introduced the blown diffused he made comment later that this area of development could have been better controlled by recommedtions made by the working group. Then he went on to win that yer but I always suspected he had another idea up his sleeve and I reckon that is what is on the new car. The device is no match for the exhust blown diffusers IMHO so there was no point in using it until they had other issues solved and the regs changed. Now we are about to see whether this is this seasons must have. I will be very surprised if we dont see a Mercedes win this season. A Mercedes 1-2 in Melbourne is worth a long shot bet and you would get decent odds.
2. 

   Scary Terry (@hatebreeder)
   24th February 2012, 17:05

   you mean williams and mclaren?
3. 

   Harry Palmer
   24th February 2012, 17:16

   No, he means Williams and Mercedes… the reason Mercedes are halfway down the table is that half their mileage was done using the W02 and the table reflects the testing done in the 2012 cars
   1. 

      KeeleyObsessed (@keeleyobsessed)
      24th February 2012, 17:46

      @Hatebreeder This is meant for you I think…
      1. 

         Scary Terry (@hatebreeder)
         25th February 2012, 16:19

         yeah. thanks.
4. 

   Banburyhammer (@banburyhammer)
   24th February 2012, 18:01

   Hmm, after all the comments about HAM and BUT, Button ends the test faster…

   Perhaps more relavently, is there any way you could see the drop off in time on a run of more than, say, 15 laps? Apparantly the McLaren is pretty damn close to the Red in that respect.
   1. 

      Simon
      24th February 2012, 19:13

      It’s clear neither Mclaren was pushing too hard, therefore who was “faster” is rather meaningless, no?
5. 

   Keith Collantine (@keithcollantine)
   24th February 2012, 18:28

   Some information from Pirelli on the tyres the top three drivers on each day used:

   Day 1
   1. Vettel 1’23.265 on Hard New
   2. Hülkenberg 1’23.440 on Medium New
   3. Hamilton 1’23.590 on Soft New

   Day 2
   1. Hülkenberg 1’22.608 on Supersoft New
   2. Perez 1’22.648 on Supersoft New
   3. Vettel 1’22.891 on Soft New

   Day 3
   1. Maldonado 1’22.391 on Supersoft New
   2. Schumacher 1’23.384 on Soft New
   3. Kobayashi 1’23.582 on Soft New

   Day 4
   1. Kobayashi 1’22.312 on Soft New
   2. Maldonado 1’22.561 on Supersoft New
   3. Di Resta 1’23.119 on Supersoft New
   1. 

      Pato Milan
      24th February 2012, 19:27

      I guess the most impressive time is Kobayashi’s fastest with Softs and Vettel on the Hard tyres. I guess that Kobayashi’s time was influenced by the amount of rubber on the track but nonetheless faster than Maldonado and Di Resta on the Super Softs.
      1. 

         Jake (@jleigh)
         24th February 2012, 21:07

         Button’s 23.200 today was also on hards. More rubbered in track than for Vettel though
         1. 

            Will Mesquita
            24th February 2012, 22:29

            And the hottest day of testings. Even with this Button’s time was impressive.
            1. 

               Mike (@mike)
               26th February 2012, 1:00

               You can look at pretty much any of the cars and give reasons why they look promising… -.-
            2. 

               AndrewTanner (@andrewtanner)
               26th February 2012, 11:44

               Pretty much, @Mike
            3. 

               free sutil
               27th February 2012, 0:09

               none of these times were remotley impressive.

               the top cars could easily do sub 1.20

               are people that bored they have to start trying to compre lap times

               look past the times, look at lap time drop off…listen to drivers and team’s and GOOD commentators (those who have been part of teams(recently))

               that’s the ONLY way of gleening information from testing
6. 

   BasCB (@bascb)
   24th February 2012, 20:04

   Well, after horrible reliability last year, I guess its a good sign to see how many laps Williams managed over the past couple of weeks.
   I wouldn’t read much into Maldonado being “fast” though, after all, didn’t Rubens set the fastest testing time last year?
   1. 

      Skett (@skett)
      24th February 2012, 22:07

      True, but last years car was apparently designed to run at a lower ride height than was legal, and were running it at this height when Barichello made the time.

      I’m doubting they will have made a cock up like that again. But I still wouldn’t take too much from any testing times.
7. 

   Broxter (@)
   24th February 2012, 20:41

   777 > 348 + 399
8. 

   Broxter (@)
   24th February 2012, 20:44

   Never mind. I should learn to read the comments carefully before saying anything.
9. 

   Dan Newton (@dan-newton)
   24th February 2012, 21:15

   Was wondering if anyone could please clear up some confusion for me, what engines do the teams use for testing? I doubt/haven’t heard that the engines for races are used/run in so how many can they get away with using?
   1. 

      Proesterchen (@proesterchen)
      25th February 2012, 0:45

      I don’t think there is a limit to the number of engines used during testing. Testing is not bound by the 8 engines per driver per year allocation for the race weekends.
      1. 

         AndrewTanner (@andrewtanner)
         26th February 2012, 11:48

         @Proesterchen Thanks for that. I was wondering a couple of weeks ago as well.

         I guess that counts on gearboxes as well?
         1. 

            Proesterchen (@proesterchen)
            26th February 2012, 20:26

            AFAIK yes.

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