Formula 1...

[Mr X]

Go Alonso steek hom!

[SeaBee]

In other news... leaked pics from RB! Okay, it's humour...

 

http://oppositelock.jalopnik.com/pictures-leaked-from-red-bull-f1-team-gallery-1527158336

[Iwan Kemp]

Sheesh. That's one helluva difference there, Iwan

 

Yeah. And it gets worse when you look at the mileage done:

 

http://www.f1times.co.uk/news/cache/images/bahrain-test-mileage.png

 

http://www.f1times.co.uk/news/cache/images/jerez-bahrain.png

Edited February 25, 2014 by Iwan Kemp

[Cyclewizz]

Things are look grim for Red Bull :blink:

[Wez-O]

Could be an exciting season after last seasons snore fest.

[SwissVan]

Didn't Red Bull miss out completely on the Bahrain or first few test days last year?

Seemed to have had a positive effect...

 

Anyway I hope its not a one horse bull race this season

[SeaBee]

Agree it does not look stellar from the Bulls at this stage. And yeah, the now have a slightly different focus and things distracting them relative to Merc teams. But... write them off at your own peril.

 

My "de karrie kap aren't wonned in March" moment for the day.

[Iwan Kemp]

Third and final pre-season test starts today.

 

Red Bull - Daniel Ricciardo

Mercedes - Nico Rosberg

Ferrari - Kimi Raikkonen

Lotus - Pastor Maldonado

McLaren - Kevin Magnussen

Force India - Sergio Perez

Sauber - Adrian Sutil

Williams - Valtteri Bottas

Toro Rosso - Daniil Kvyat

Caterham - Kamui Kobayashi

Marussia - Max Chilton

[SeaBee]

Kim didn't like the nose... (good thing he didn't stay at Lotus, then!

[Iwan Kemp]

07:34 Just over 90 minutes into today's running and we only have four cars into double figures. Here's the lap count so far:

 

Perez (Force India) 17

Alonso (Ferrari) 16

Hamilton (Mercedes) 14

Gutierrez (Sauber) 10

Button (McLaren) 8

Bianchi (Marussia 7

Vergne (Toro Rosso) 6

Ericsson (Caterham) 4

Massa (Williams) 3

Maldonado (Lotus) 2

Ricciardo (Red Bull) 1

[Iwan Kemp]

Testing done...

 

Combined test times:

 

Pos Driver Team/Car Time Gap Day

1. Felipe Massa Williams-Mercedes 1m33.258s Sat

2. Lewis Hamilton Mercedes 1m33.278s +0.020s Sun

3. Nico Rosberg Mercedes 1m33.484s +0.226s Sat

4. Valtteri Bottas Williams-Mercedes 1m33.987s +0.729s Sun

5. Fernando Alonso Ferrari 1m34.280s +1.022s Sun

6. Sergio Perez Force India-Mercedes 1m35.290s +2.032s Thurs

7. Kimi Raikkonen Ferrari 1m35.426s +2.168s Sat

8. Nico Hulkenberg Force India-Mercedes 1m35.577s +2.319s Sun

9. Jean-Eric Vergne Toro Rosso-Renault 1m35.701s +2.443s Sun

10. Daniel Ricciardo Red Bull-Renault 1m35.743s +2.485s Fri

11. Kevin Magnussen McLaren-Mercedes 1m35.894s +2.636s Sat

12. Daniil Kvyat Toro Rosso-Renault 1m36.113s +2.855s Sat

13. Adrian Sutil Sauber-Ferrari 1m36.467s +3.209s Sun

14. Max Chilton Marussia-Ferrari 1m36.835s +3.577s Sun

15. Jenson Button McLaren-Mercedes 1m36.901s +3.643s Fri

16. Jules Bianchi Marussia-Ferrari 1m37.087s +3.829s Sat

17. Esteban Gutierrez Sauber-Ferrari 1m37.303s +4.045s Sun

18. Sebastian Vettel Red Bull-Renault 1m37.468s +4.210s Sun

19. Marcus Ericsson Caterham-Renault 1m38.083s +4.825s Sat

20. Kamui Kobayashi Caterham-Renault 1m38.391s +5.133s Sun

21. Romain Grosjean Lotus-Renault 1m39.302s +6.044s Sun

22. Pastor Maldonado Lotus-Renault 1m40.599s +7.341s Thurs

 

Total running in test three:

 

Drivers Laps Km

Valtteri Bottas 236 1277

Sergio Perez 213 1152

Felipe Massa 202 1093

Kevin Magnussen 197 1066

Fernando Alonso 196 1060

Esteban Gutierrez 192 1039

Nico Rosberg 192 1039

Nico Hulkenberg 189 1022

Adrian Sutil 181 979

Marcus Ericsson 172 930

Lewis Hamilton 159 860

Jules Bianchi 153 828

Kimi Raikkonen 141 763

Daniil Kvyat 136 736

Jean-Eric Vergne 135 730

Kamui Kobayashi 125 676

Max Chilton 105 568

Daniel Ricciardo 105 568

Sebastian Vettel 78 422

Jenson Button 74 400

Romain Grosjean 65 351

Pastor Maldonado 62 335

 

Teams Laps Km

Williams 438 2370

Force India 402 2175

Sauber 373 2018

Mercedes 351 1899

Ferrari 337 1823

Caterham 297 1607

Toro Rosso 271 1466

McLaren 271 1466

Marussia 258 1396

Red Bull 183 990

Lotus 127 687

 

Engines Laps Km

Mercedes 1462 7912

Ferrari 968 5238

Renault 878 4751

 

Total running across pre-season testing:

 

Drivers km:

Nico Rosberg 2813

Fernando Alonso 2698

Kevin Magnussen 2471

Valtteri Bottas 2389

Lewis Hamilton 2159

Esteban Gutierrez 2122

Felipe Massa 2034

Adrian Sutil 1917

Nico Hulkenberg 1840

Kimi Raikkonen 1790

Sergio Perez 1777

Jenson Button 1683

Marcus Ericsson 1536

Kamui Kobayashi 1365

Jean-Eric Vergne 1347

Daniil Kvyat 1111

Jules Bianchi 982

Sebastian Vettel 866

Daniel Ricciardo 845

Pastor Maldonado 796

Max Chilton 704

Romain Grosjean 492

Felipe Nasr 471

Robin Frijns 412

Daniel Juncadella 359

 

Teams km:

Mercedes 4973

Williams 4893

Ferrari 4489

McLaren 4153

Sauber 4039

Force India 3975

Caterham 3313

Toro Rosso 2458

Red Bull 1711

Marussia 1686

Lotus 1288

 

Engines:

Mercedes 17994km

Ferrari 10214km

Renault 8770km

Edited March 3, 2014 by Iwan Kemp

[Steven Knoetze (sk27)]

Just read Vettels post test interview and while he says the pace is not worrying him, he is concerned about the Renaults reliability.

 

That being said he cam across as being very confident, with his usual smugness.

Wouldn't write him off just yet on the numbers alone.

 

I reckon a top 3 in Melbourne at least.............

[Iwan Kemp]

Not so sure. Max amount of laps they've done in go was 17 which is not nearly enough. I think it will be a Mercedes, Williams, Ferrari fight (from what I've read) with the other Merc engines biting at their heals. Lotus, RBR and Caterham will most likely be chuffed just to see the finish line.

 

But what do I know, read here for the pro's view on it!

http://www.jamesallenonf1.com/2014/03/analysis-the-pecking-order-after-the-most-unpredictable-f1-winter-tests-for-years/

 

I don't care if it's Merc whitewash, as long as Rosberg and Hamilton fight each other to last corner of the last lap of the last race of the year. Or the first corner of the last race of the year and I will most likely watch some Senna vs Prost YouTube videos as soon as I've posted this...

[Steven Knoetze (sk27)]

Not so sure. Max amount of laps they've done in go was 17 which is not nearly enough. I think it will be a Mercedes, Williams, Ferrari fight (from what I've read) with the other Merc engines biting at their heals. Lotus, RBR and Caterham will most likely be chuffed just to see the finish line.

 

But what do I know, read here for the pro's view on it!

http://www.jamesalle...ests-for-years/

 

I don't care if it's Merc whitewash, as long as Rosberg and Hamilton fight each other to last corner of the last lap of the last race of the year. Or the first corner of the last race of the year and I will most likely watch some Senna vs Prost YouTube videos as soon as I've posted this...

 

REALLY , just take away my glimmer of hope will you!!!!

 

Anyway I will continue to support my driver. If he should win I don't think it will be able to be attributed to a good car. As long as that annoying Hamilton doesn't win!!!

Suprise for me is Massa, everyone wrote him off after his big accident and look now.....

[Johny Bravo]

I was reading the comments on the bbc F1 website, where they have now renamed the Red Bull to the Dead Bull. Had a good laugh at that one. Hope its true. Fernando gonna do it this year.

Edited March 3, 2014 by Johny Bravo

[Iwan Kemp]

REALLY , just take away my glimmer of hope will you!!!!

 

Anyway I will continue to support my driver. If he should win I don't think it will be able to be attributed to a good car. As long as that annoying Hamilton doesn't win!!!

Suprise for me is Massa, everyone wrote him off after his big accident and look now.....

 

 

Massa suffers from the same issue as Pedrosa - mentally not strong enough. I think he'll be strong in the first part of this year, but as soon as Bottas finds his rhythm and out-qualify and out-race Massa he will struggle mentally. But I seriously hope Williams has found good form and pace. Lots of it.