Suzuka P1,2 3 ***spoilers***

Where is everyone?......

About half way thru P2. Rubens just threw it into the weeds....

And we have our own man (& wife etc) on site - Very cool!

Cheers,
Ian

 

Minor off for Vettel. Button and Mclaren certainly look good. No big shocks yet.

 

FP1

Pos No Driver Team Time/Retired Gap Laps
1 4 Jenson Button McLaren-Mercedes 1:33.634 20
2 3 Lewis Hamilton McLaren-Mercedes 1:33.725 0.091 18
3 1 Sebastian Vettel RBR-Renault 1:34.090 0.456 22
4 5 Fernando Alonso Ferrari 1:34.372 0.738 24
5 2 Mark Webber RBR-Renault 1:34.426 0.792 25
6 19 Jaime Alguersuari STR-Ferrari 1:34.937 1.303 23
7 6 Felipe Massa Ferrari 1:35.585 1.951 27
8 18 Sebastien Buemi STR-Ferrari 1:35.590 1.956 25
9 7 Michael Schumacher Mercedes 1:36.033 2.399 22
10 10 Vitaly Petrov Renault 1:36.370 2.736 18
11 9 Bruno Senna Renault 1:36.487 2.853 18
12 14 Nico Hulkenberg Force India-Mercedes 1:36.700 3.066 21
13 16 Kamui Kobayashi Sauber-Ferrari 1:36.948 3.314 24
14 15 Paul di Resta Force India-Mercedes 1:36.949 3.315 22
15 17 Sergio Perez Sauber-Ferrari 1:37.103 3.469 29
16 8 Nico Rosberg Mercedes 1:38.197 4.563 18
17 11 Rubens Barrichello Williams-Cosworth 1:38.331 4.697 11
18 12 Pastor Maldonado Williams-Cosworth 1:38.446 4.812 8
19 21 Jarno Trulli Lotus-Renault 1:39.168 5.534 10
20 20 Karun Chandhok Lotus-Renault 1:39.946 6.312 22
21 24 Timo Glock Virgin-Cosworth 1:40.872 7.238 13
22 25 Jerome d'Ambrosio Virgin-Cosworth 1:41.019 7.385 24
23 22 Daniel Ricciardo HRT-Cosworth 1:41.106 7.472 25
24 23 Narain Karthikeyan HRT-Cosworth 1:41.775 8.141 25

 

From Autosport:

86 min: Webber comes round to complete another lap on his race preparation run and it's 1m37.769s. It's almost frightening.


Looks like RedBull is flying. Mclaren are almost 1 sec back.

***06:35 Button leads the pack once again in practice, but the long run pace of Red Bull will make chilling reading for the competition.


In race trim Red Bull look amazing.

 

Watching the onboard with Koby in 130R was ridiculous!!!

 

+1. It was a nice save though!

 

Interesting first day here!

I had the camera in our bag and was holding my son when Vettel went off, just my luck.

Pardon the non-pro quality of these pictures, it's just a simple Canon P&S camera.

The video was mostly just to capture the sound:

http://www.facebook.com/v/239573876092308 (sorry, my phone uploaded it to Facebook automatically, I set it to public, but if no one can see it, let me know, I'll re-up to YouTube instead). I wish the broadcasters would use their hundreds of thousands of dollars worth of audio and video equipment to capture this sound. Watching it on TV it always seems they muffle it so much, I know we need to hear the commentators, but even the "loud" parts of broadcast seem toned down so much compared to real life.

One more video, with a minor offroad excursion by....?????....(fill in the blank please) still can't figure out who this was.
http://www.facebook.com/v/239472169435812


Photo of the crowd, note the three girls, two wearing Jenson Button gear, the other wearing Schumacher attire. Never thought I would see three twenty(ish) year old Japanese girls wearing UK/Germany gear, haha. Also, that is my wife and son enjoying their first Grand Prix, next time I'll convince them that Paddock Passes are worth the money.
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Cool thanks.

 

Button is going from strength to strength.

 

Great report!! No need to apologize, it's wonderful seeing video from the stands, always a cool perspective. It was hard to make out who had the off, but I would guess a Sauber.

 

I knew Mclaren would be fast here. They are very very good through that first sector.

 

as long as Button is ahead of Hamilton...

And behind Vettel/Ferrari

 

This story seems to be gathering some attention. Apparently several of the teams are noticing Red Bull come to each and every race with an enormous change to the underside or some aspect of their cars specific to each individual circuit's needs. Other teams know that RB cannot make such changes without being in violation of spending limits as each kit of each car at the track is about 800k EURO and RB have done this at nearly every race this year.

Every winning car is scrutinized, but I can certainly understand these complaints as there is absolutely no other team who goes to the track with a completely different package for each race yet pretend to stay within spending limits.

 

Now they're just getting desperate. There are so many loopholes in the 'spending limit'; I have 0 doubt that Ferrari, Mclaren, Mercedes and to some extend, Renault, where all breaking this at the beginning of the season to try and keep up with Red Bull.

 

You're probably right, but the proof is in what they bring to the track. And no one brings as much changes as RB does......to every race. That is huge $$$$ doing that.

 

Very cool! Thanks for posting - We'll all live vicariously thru you!

Ya think!

Until you experience 'em live you simply don't understand!..... There is *nothing* IMO that compares to the sound these things make. Some eras are "better" than others, but they've always been unique even with the current flatulent overrun! [Which I don't like.] The other thing I never came to terms with was TC - Spoilt everything when it kicked in.

Cheers,
Ian

 

I wlll indeed live vicariously through you all weekend. Awesome!

 

Newey has warned the other teams they will be amazed at the new Red Bull for next year. Who's to say they arent testing something for next year. Just like Ferrari have stated they will do in the remaining races.
I was under no illusion a spending cap was realistic for this series. Who is managing the enforcement?

 

800K Euro! Per car! For what? A completely new floor & bodywork doesn't cost that much to do - Modify or make new molds, lay 'er up and pop 'er in the autoclave - Done job!

I'm sorry, but I don't "see" ~$2MM of mods on the cars at each race.

Cheers,
Ian

 

I wish it were me saying this. Excuse the crappy translation.


Even otherwise stirs resentment about Red Bull One wonders how it is possible in the context of cost reduction plans to build a special Monza kit. "Three sets of wings, cover and lower floors cost in the production of 800,000 euros. For this, the wind tunnel costs. For us it would be irresponsible to sacrifice so much money for a race. Since we have to save elsewhere," expects Mercedes before team boss Ross Brawn.


and


Already at the Monaco Grand Prix, the base of the Red Bull was the subject of questions. At the Italian GP, Mark Webber is out in the Parabolica and an amateur video has shown a broad vision of the rear of the car in Austria. Ross Brawn, was surprised to view details to see a special kit for the Monza RB7. While the cost controls are in place. The additional cost is set at 800,000 euros for KIT..... For a race!

 

Don't know your source (that scaremongering German paper? ) but I'm not buying it. They're all running their tunnels as much as permitted (I don't think they're allowed to run 24x7 anymore) so those costs are about equal between all of 'em.

Making a few wings, covers and floors just doesn't cost that much IMO.

Cheers,
Ian

 

So far, practice times show that last year cars were quicker here. Pole was 1:30.785 after the track had the rubber wiped off of it from rain. P2 best time is still over a second off that. That being said, practice times last year are a bit slower than this year. Everyone holding back?? Probably

 

I truly hope you are right sir! Terrifying costs if even half of it is true. Perhaps they're
talking about development costs combined with manufacturing costs? Who knows

http://www.auto-motor-und-sport.de/formel-1/f1-technik-exklusiv-red-bull-unterboden-illegal-4043971.html

http://www.tomorrownewsf1.com/laerodynamique-de-la-red-bull-rb7-en-question-24518?

 

Auto Motor & Sport reports the discussions about the RB budget in their newest issue (print, at least). The motorsport variety of said scaremongering paper meanwhile has the 753th iteration of "how does Sebastian Vettel prepare for his race?"

 

Keep in mind the bit about "saving money elsewhere." In my opinion Redbull had the least amount of development change from last years' car. Theoretically, fewer big changes would save funds for more small changes. And who is to say they didn't pre make different track kits at the beginning of the year, or carry them over from last year. It's not like they have never run these tracks before, data isn't just thrown out