Jerez testing Feb 10,11,12,13

He mentioned that over a week ago. Yeah, the buttons are taking some getting used to.

 

Schumacher sets a flyer this morning:

1. Michael Schumacher Mercedes-Mercedes 1m 20.352s
2. Felipe Massa Ferrari-Ferrari 1m 20.413s
3. Jaime Alguersuari Scuderia Toro Rosso-Ferrari 1m 21.214s
4. Jenson Button McLaren-Mercedes 1m 21.543s
5. Mark Webber Red Bull-Renault 1m 21.613s
6. Sergio Perez Sauber-Ferrari 1m 21.857s
7. Adrian Sutil Force India-Mercedes 1m 22.066s
8. Vitaly Petrov Lotus Renault GP-Renault 1m 22.493s
9. Pastor Maldonado Williams-Cosworth 1m 22.591s
10. Jarno Trulli Team Lotus-Renault 1m 23.216s
11. Timo Glock Virgin-Cosworth 1m 23.808s


Fastest lap was set on the first lap of a 10 lap run by Schu

 

Long run: Schu vs Webber. they look very very close. no idea what their fuel loads are, but it's nice to see W02s tires not falling apart as the laps go on
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Nothing changed. It was a 10 lap run and he banged it out on the first lap. Obviously some tweaks from yesterday and possibly fresh tires.


Some perspective, last year testing at Jerez yielded a few teams breaking into the upper 1:18 range. MB didn't break 1:20 last year at Jerez. W01 has quite a bit more downforce and during testing last year they were pretty much running their race setup. I have no doubt several teams will at least be in the 1:19 range before the weekend is over. W02 is not getting their race ready aero pack out until much later this time....

 

some data, because data is fun:

It's not really comparable because we don't know what tyres or fuel loads most of the cars were on, but here is the closest I can get to some meaningful information on longer runs done today.

Massa:
Long. 26.2, 26.1, 26.4, 26.9, 26.5, 26.8, 27.0, 27.0, 27.2, 27.4, 28.2, 28.7, 29.3
Mid. 22.2, 21.9, 22.4, 22.7, 22.7, 22.5, 22.5, 22.7

Webber:
Long. 25.3, 25.4, 25.1, 24.8, 24.8, 24.4, 24.5, 24.9, 28.5, 24.3, 24.2, 24.0, 24.4, 24.2, 25.4, 25.0, 25.3, 25.9, 26.7
Mid. 24.3, 23.8, 23.6, 23.6, 23.4, 23.5, 23.5, 23.5, 24.1, 28.2, 23.6, 23.9

Schumacher:
Long. 24.9, 23.4, 33.6, 23.6, 23.6, 23.9, 24.1, 24.1, 24.1, 24.2, 24.3, 24.9, 24.7, 25.3, 25.6, 26.4, 26.5, 26.3, 27.6
Mid. 20.3, 21.3, 22.0, 22.6, 22.9, 23.8, 24.2, 24.2, 24.1, 24.6

Alguersuari:
Mid. 21.2, 21.6, 22.3, 21.9, 22.3, 23.5, 22.5, 22.4, 22.9, 23.2

Trulli:
Mid. 24.1, 24.1, 24.2, 23.9, 23.8, 23.9, 26.7, 23.9, 24.2, 24.4

Glock:
Mid. 23.8, 25.3, 25.9, 26.0, 26.2, 26.1, 26.0, 25.9

 

Red Bull set some good times at Jerez last year the first couple days and the sort of relaxed the following couple days. Mclaren and Ferrari were the top teams though. Sauber were running some glory laps though.

 

I figured he was on the super softs considering how quick they fell apart. A 10 lap run would dictate around 40kg of fuel. Add .300 seconds per 10kg of fuel at this track. Interpret that how you want. The Benz is quick though. Qualy runs are done with something like <5kg of fuel.

 

I get the feeling Mclaren is going to break 1:18 on Sunday. They aren't really even getting warmed up yet.

 

3-4 laps is low fuel. 10 laps is at least a reasonable amount, and his hot lap was on his first lap. No sense in arguing as there's reasonable conjecture for both positions. I believe he had less than 40kg of fuel as the drop off after the first lap was immediately to the low 1:22 range meaning the super softs were falling off and the fuel weight was making itself more known. It would be nice to know who else was trying super softs. Make no mistake the big players will bring some heat come tomorrow and Sunday. Just like last year.

 

From Button today:

Button was third after his first day of running in the new McLaren, 0.657s slower than Michael Schumcher’s Mercedes.

But he revealed afterwards he had not done a competitive run using the super-soft tyres or Drag Reduction System (adjustable rear wing).

Speaking to journalists after his first run in the MP4-26 he said:

“This morning we were mostly just fitting me into the car and getting used to KERS because it’s new to me, as it is to most drivers.

“And it’s alright, I quite like the boost of power and the system’s been running really well. So it’s just been getting used to using it as a set-up tool and everything.

“So it was a positive morning getting used to that. I feel a lot more comfortable in the car now than I did this morning, played around with a few things in the cockpit just to make me feel properly comfortable and it’s all good now, we’ve made some good progress.”

One attempt to do a flying lap on super-softs had to be aborted due to Pastor Maldonado’s crash:

“I had a go, we were trying to do a back-to-back with them and neither of my runs were good – one was for a certain reason and the other one was because of Maldonado.

“I’d just started my quick lap on the tyre. And because the tyre is so soft, that’s it, it’s done. So we came in and went out again and it wasn’t a massively quick lap.”

According to Button the difference in performance with the Pirelli tyres is greater than it was with Bridgestone – which he thinks will be good for racing:

“We tried the different tyres which has been interesting. There are big difference from the hard to the medium, to the soft, to the super-soft.

“The difference is in terms of lap time but also in terms of durability and degradation. So it’s going to be fun for racing.

“I know that the soft is changing considerably but the other tyres are staying pretty much the same. I think what everyone wanted is tyres that are very different and there a pretty big gap between the different positions of tyres.

“The viewers will know and we all know the differences between the tyres and I think it’s good to see that on the circuit.”

He added: “I’ve heard that people are finding a second from soft to super-soft tyres, half a second between soft and medium, and half a second between medium and hard.

“There’s a lot of difference between the tyres and if you run one one day and you run it the next day you’ll see a big difference in pace and competitiveness. It’s very difficult to know – I haven’t got a clue where we are, really.”

He said he was happy with the progress the team made in his first day of running with the new car:

“It’s good to get to know the tyres. We’re going to do some set-up work, we haven’t done a lot of set-up work, it’s been mostly just getting to grips with certain things.

“We had a big change over lunch which took a long time, an hour and a half to two hours.

“It’s a good first day – we haven’t set the world alight but we’ve collected data and it’s been important to do that. On Sunday we can have a crack at seeing what the car has in it.”

He added: “The important thing is the basic balance of the car is reasonable and there’s something to build on.

“There’s nothing that stands out as ‘wow, that’s an area where we’re weak’. Its not weak.”

Button said McLaren’s experience with KERS has helped him get to grips with the technology, which he hasn’t used before:

“The team, obviously, are quite experienced in that area. I’m guessing I jumped into a car that had the system pretty well set up already.

“I think it’s a very useful tool. I had no issues at all on the braking. Maybe we were a little bit conservative with it. I did a lot of laps in the simulator with it so I’m used to pushing buttons to use the KERS.

“It was fine, I felt very at home with it. There were no issues at all and hopefully it will continue that way.”

Button did some preliminary trials of the Drag Reduction System, but so far has only tested it to make sure it works properly:

“I also tried the rear wing a couple of times – not in anger, just making sure it’s working. It’s just like pushing the KERS button, it’s amazing the boost you get from it.

“I sat behind the Renault on the main straight and he was adjusting it and I didn’t realise how quickly it was going to move from stalled to getting it back.

“It’s an amazing bit of kit. It’s comedy watching someone using it thought because it just looks wrong, the rear wing moving. It looks like something has fallen off. It’s going to take a bit to get used to it and stop laughing.

“It is quite busy in the cockpit, first day in a new car. We’ll get used it pretty quick. The buttons won’t be an issue with the KERS and the rear wing.

“The KERS I feel I’m very at home with already. I’m sure the rear wing’s going to take a little bit longer to use it correctly.

“It’s like pushing the KERS button. It’s very efficient, it’s amazing the speed you pick up.

“I never used it on a timed lap, we only used it on in-laps to just get a feel for it and make sure everything is working correctly. It’s oner of those things you want to take a bit of time with before you actually use it in anger.

“I’m pushing the button just to see if it’s adjusting. I’ve got the mirrors set up also on the rear wing so I can see what’s happening, making sure it’s re-attaching. I was quite surprised how quickly it reacts to the button which is good.”



So as I said before, Mclaren is just getting warmed up. We will surely see them in the 1:19s once they decide to angrily use the wing, kers, and supersofts. Being .7 off of Schu is no biggie when I'm sure they have a full second to knock off their current times.

 

Confirmed. Massa running supersofts today as well.