Is that sarcasm? lol here are the times and # of laps for the day: 1 Sergio Pérez Force India 1m35.290s 105laps 2 Valtteri Bottas Williams 1m36.184s +0.894s 128laps 3 Kimi Räikkönen Ferrari 1m36.432s +1.142s 54laps 4 Nico Rosberg Mercedes 1m36.624s +1.334s 89laps 5 Adrian Sutil Sauber 1m37.700s +2.410s 89laps 6 Kevin Magnussen McLaren 1m37.825s +2.535s 109laps 7 Daniel Ricciardo Red Bull 1m37.908s +2.618s 39laps 8 Max Chilton Marussia 1m38.610s +3.320s 44laps 9 Daniil Kvyat Toro Rosso 1m39.242s +3.952s 56laps 10 Pastor Maldonado Lotus 1m40.599s +5.309s 31laps 11 Kamui Kobayashi Caterham 1m42.285s +6.995s 19laps
That's from yesterday. Here are today's times: FASTEST TIMES P Driver Team Time 1 Perez Force India 1m35.570s 2 Alonso Ferrari 1m35.634s +0.064 3 Ricciardo Red Bull 1m35.743s +0.173 4 Massa Williams 1m36.507s +0.937 5 Button McLaren 1m36.901s +1.331 6 Bianchi Marussia 1m38.092s +2.522 7 Hamilton Mercedes 1m39.041s +3.471 8 Vergne Toro Rosso 1m39.636s +4.066 9 Gutierrez Sauber 1m39.976s +4.406 10 Maldonado Lotus 1m41.613s +6.043 11 Ericsson Caterham 1m42.516s +6.946
Difficult to say who has got the out right pace/speed at min, be sure teams are holding back with aces up there sleeves. Reliability is the key.
Just noticed this on motorsport.com this morning.... Motorsport.com | Racing News, Race Results - F1, NASCAR, IndyCar and more
+1...we know that Merc can do better than 1:39. We know that Ferrari is faster than 1:35. I think they're more interested in race laps than quali laps right now, though.
Look at the flo-vis on the Mclaren guys...best I've seen so far from any of the 2014 cars. Very clean stuff going on that rear: http://i.imgur.com/9pcOduL.jpg
Love it! Regardless of how we feel about the engine size/noises, these are highly advanced machines versus f1 cars of old. Before anyone chimes in about the lack of speed versus past cars, remember that power is not the issue. It's a) lower aerodynamics and b) forced fuel conservation. I wonder what a laps would look like with a blown diffuser, coanda exhaust, etc. Definitely faster than last year.
The new Mercedes nose won't be seem just yet as it failed crash testing. It will probably be seen in Australia as the next crash test is march 10. Ferrari with new rear brake ducts too. Lots coming from ferrari and Merc. Should be a great season. The ferrari engines still shift very different to the Merc units. Don't know which is better or worse really
We won't know until Australia (since both teams are being conservative with performance laps this testing session), but Ferrari is suggesting that Mercedes (the team) has an hp advantage. Perhaps their gearing has been adjusted to mitigate the advantage? So, are you tipping Ham or Ros for the WDC? I went with Ham because he's been there before, but I really do think it's a coin flip. If Merc is the front-running team we anticipate, it really can go either way. If they have to battle with other teams (which I anticipate they will) that's where I give Lewis the slight advantage.
Meanwhile at Red Bull... http://img2.auto-motor-und-sport.de/Red-Bull-Formel-1-Test-Bahrain-28-Februar-2014-fotoshowImage-5cc564e8-758401.jpg lol.
What in the hell is that? A drain pipe? lol If that's how they're cooling the MGU-H or MGU-K systems, then they have some real problems with their design There goes my rant about 'technologically advanced machines'...
Based on it's placement and the published specs from Renault it looks to be cooling for specifically the MGU-K unit. See inlet pic at bottom left: http://www.ausmotive.com/F1/2013/Renault-F1-2014-V6-engine-13.jpg Here's a better close-up of RB's temporary cooling fix (can't be permanent even if they wanted them to, it'd be against the rules lol): http://images.scribblelive.com/2014/2/28/ac9039df-0f48-468c-aa6d-44858167c486_800.jpg
I think we've already seen that the team favours Lewis, so unless Nico gets a huge points lead early, he'll be told "Lewis is faster than you", and that'll be the end of that.
I know it doesn't mean much, but I liked Checo being on P1 both days. He had a good number of laps too, so at least the reliability is getting there. Can't wait for Melbourne.
As I've said before, 'you've gotta do what you've gotta do!'..... Great stuff! Thanks for the pic, Cheers, Ian
Ted's Notebook of Bahrain 3rd Test, Day 1, some very tasty observations and tidbits (at least for me) Part I: [ame=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0yjLpRbRJ6o]Ted's Notebook - F1 Bahrain 2014 Testing - 3rd Test Day 1 PART 1 - Sky Sports F1 - YouTube[/ame] Part II [ame=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ra0tp-dP6Bw]Ted's Notebook - F1 Bahrain 2014 Testing - 3rd Test Day 1 PART 2 - Sky Sports F1 - YouTube[/ame] Haas allegedly will use delores chassis w ferrari engines for their 2015 F1 entry.
No laps completed from Red Bull yet today. BBC Sport - Day three of the final pre-season test in Bahrain
Who would've thunk it: 13:45 Williams' Felipe Massa smashes the Toro Rosso's time with a 1:34.450. That's the quickest lap we've seen this week. So who's everyone betting on now lol. Final day of testing summary: • Red Bull end day without completing a lap • Mercedes delayed after engine change 1 Massa Williams 1m33.258s 2 Rosberg Mercedes 1m33.484s +0.226 3 Raikkonen Ferrari 1m35.487s +2.229 4 Magnussen McLaren 1m35.894s +2.636 5 Kvyat Toro Rosso 1m36.113s +2.855 6 Hulkenberg Force India 1m36.205s +2.947 7 Bianchi Marussia 1m37.087s +3.829 8 Ericsson Caterham 1m38.083s +4.825 9 Grosjean Lotus 1m42.166s +8.908 14:31 That's it, another day of testing in the books. Raikkonen improves by less than a tenth as the chequered flag comes out, leaving Massa at the top of the times with the fastest lap we have seen in Bahrain over seven days of running here.
Conspiracy theorists are already at it: "It seems suspicious that Raikkonen is having more problems than Alonso and suggest Ferrari could be scheduling repairs on Kimi's days to give Alonso trouble-free running."
