new Williams livery should be shown soon, will be stunning
I hear the very first time RB10 was fully assembled was indeed at Jerez. Newey plainly confirms they did not have the dyno time with the Renault power unit which was causing the bodywork around the sidepods to ignite. "What stopped us at Jerez, on our side as opposed to Renault's side, was a problem where the bodywork local to the exhaust was catching fire," Newey told AUTOSPORT. Alarm bells ringing at Red Bull "It's a problem which hopefully we can get on top of ready for Bahrain. "It was really a lack of time [that caused the problem]. It was something that we could have proved out on the dyno if we had managed to get everything together earlier. "But Renault have been up against it in terms of their use of the dyno, we have been up against it making the parts in time. "So I think had we been a couple of weeks further ahead then that could all have been done in private on the dyno. But unfortunately it was done in public." Renault has also had to work flat out since the test to solve both hardware and software problems in its engines, which afflicted all three of its cars that ran at Jerez. RENAULT'S COOLING NEEDS "PARTICULARLY LARGE" Newey accepted responsibility for the exhaust problem, although he stressed that Renault's 1.6-litre turbocharged V6 engine is particularly demanding in terms of cooling. "Hands up on our side, that was a Red Bull problem," said Newey. "It was, you could argue, a result of aggressive packaging but we felt that we needed to take a few risks to try to get a good package that would minimise the aerodynamic damage of this very large cooling requirement. Technical analysis: Red Bull RB10 "The Renault seems to have a particularly large cooling requirement. "Everybody of the three engine manufacturers will have a different target for how hot their charge air is going back into the plenum and Renault have given us a fairly challenging target. "It has all sorts of advantages if we can get there, but it is not easy to achieve." Newey also admitted that the packaging demands of the new engines are an especially big challenge. "It is certainly a challenge to package everything in," said Newey. "The radiator area that we need to cool the charge air from the turbo and additionally all of the extra cooling we need for the electrical side of things, the batteries, the motor generator unit and so forth, the control box... It means that the radiator area is roughly double last year's car with the V8. "So trying to package that in without compromising the aerodynamics too heavily is a challenge."
Its all up in the air. Even McLaren or Williams could surprise us all. Too early to think Red Bull are weak.
I hear Renault are shopping for technical answers and that the issue is bigger than they're letting on as Renault are asking permission to essentially bring in big developments to just get the thing running somewhat reliably above 75% power. Newey pushed too far with packaging RB10 and the Renault power unit itself is still overheating all energy recovery components. Don't kid yourself, this won't be anywhere near sorted until Spain and even then RB10 won't be competitive, it might just finish a race by then. IMO, Red Bull got arrogant with RB9 and pushed development way too far in the interest of racking up as many wins as they could as they knew the new power units were not going to favor Red Bull. Newey got greedy with RB10 and pushed packaging way over the limit WITHOUT EVER assembling the car OR putting the car on any packing dyno to see if it would work. RB10 was only ever assembled at Jerez! Madness. Such a lack of effort to prepare for 2014 is incredible. Developing RB9 to the point they did was a either a horrible idea as it essentially destroyed RB10, or Newey knew Renault weren't going to have the drivetrain developed in time anyway, so get the wins while they could as they may not see them again for quite some time.
Perhaps this is what Vettel was alluding to after winning a GP last year when he said "enjoy this because it will not last forever" or something along those lines
F-pilot very bold. No one in the press here or in the UK is quite panicky yet. Time will tell but with so many variables in play, no one is actually looking strong or reliable yet. I will think more of who is at the front when Bahrain is over this weekend. The heat will be telling.
Something interesting from Pirelli for the next test -- Pirelli preparing for tyre warmer ban | Formula 1 | Formula 1 news, live F1 | ESPN F1 Pirelli will allocate one set of tyres per team "to test tyre behaviour without warming blankets" at this week's Bahrain test, as it prepares for a ban on tyre warmers in 2015. The second week of pre-season testing for 2014 gets underway in Bahrain on Wednesday, with the teams allocated 30 sets of tyres each over the four days plus an additional set of mediums to be used without warmers. "These are actually considered to be 'prototypes' as their purpose is to test tyre behaviour without warming blankets, which will be banned from 2015 onwards," Pirelli explained. The tyre manufacturer will also bring its "winter compound" to this week's test, which was specially developed to ensure rapid tyre warm-up in the cool temperatures at the opening pre-season test in Jerez. It returns in Bahrain at the request of the teams. Pirelli has allocated 22 sets of tyres per team, including two of soft tyres per team, 10 sets of mediums (plus the extra set allocated for use without tyre warmers), eight hard compounds and two winter compounds. The teams will then get to choose which compounds they use for the additional eight sets of tyres over the week. "The first test of the year in Jerez was all about the teams getting their first taste of a very different set of technical regulations, so as expected running was limited and evaluating tyres was not a priority," Pirelli motorsport director Paul Hembery explained. "On top of that, winter conditions in Europe - even in southern Spain - are not representative of the race conditions we will generally encounter throughout the rest of the season. In Bahrain, we're expecting better weather and more running, which will allow ourselves and the teams to assimilate more data and knowledge of the tyres." © ESPN Sports Media Ltd. Read more at Pirelli preparing for tyre warmer ban | Formula 1 | Formula 1 news, live F1 | ESPN F1
11:16 Hamilton leaps back to the top of the times on his 53rd lap of the test. First man into the 1m37s, putting him just a second shy of Vettel's fastest race lap at last year's Bahrain Grand Prix.
Oops. Missed RACE lap. Still a good 5 seconds short then.... But, about 2 seconds faster with (presumably) more fuel onboard than GP2 in quali trim.
Sebastian Vettel is under no illusions about the scale of Red Bull's problems so far this year and has warned that there will not be a quick fix. Read more at http://en.espnf1.com/redbull/motorsport/story/145747.html#iwL8cLJdkJVw4Kbj.99
Less expenditure first and making it more of a show. People with new tires will have to be more careful, like in the old days, and even more with damped circuits. Not being able to warm the intermediates will make for good fun (at least to me) as certain drivers will have to be extra cautious.
I think when you add that to the advantage we're seeing with Mercedes (so far), you're probably on a bit of a roll right now. Even getting their car together doesn't guarantee they will be running at the front of the pack.
Banning them under the guise of cost savings is hilariously stupid. I doubt this is a popular move with drivers. Might make for some interesting wet weather sessions (as you allude to).
It sort of saddens me as I really want to see Seb get beaten fair and square, or at least in a car that is 2nd or 3rd best like Hamilton and Alonso have had to deal with.
Or at least in a car that's equal to to theirs. That would be the best measure of the pecking order, versus one being in a superior, dominant car. Seems that this year the Merc duo may have the upper hand, but Ferrari may be close to them at least. Red Bull have their work cut out (plus no form of EBD is going to change things for them anyway)
Successful drivers and constructors never know when the win for the LAST time. We may never see Vettel or Reb Bull winning a GP ever again (very unlikely). We have become so used to them dominating, that we cannot imagine that. Vettel was slightly prophetic there ...
