The first day of testing in Barcelona resulted in Nico Rosberg setting the fastest time, with a lap of 1m22.616s in his Mercedes, after 54 laps of running. Kimi Raikkonen was just a fraction behind, having completed 44 laps in his Lotus, with a best of 1m22.623s. Fernando Alonso had his first day of running in the new Ferrari and set a best of 1m22.952s, running an impressive 110 laps in the process, while Sebastian Vettel was right with his 2012 Championship challenger with a lap of 1m22.965s, after completing 66 laps. The new Williams was promising with Pastor Maldonado doing 86 laps, setting a best of 1m23.733s on the first day of serious running, while Daniel Ricciardo was next with a 1m23.884s lap, at the end of 73 laps of testing.
Sergio Perez was next up in the new McLaren, completing 77 laps and setting a best of 1m24.124s, which was just ahead of Paul di Resta’s Force India, which clocked 1m24.144s, after 82 laps. There was then a gap of a second back to Esteban Gutierrez, who lapped his Sauber in 1m25.124s, after 68 laps. Further behind were Max Chilton in the Marussia, which clocked 1m26.747s after 65 laps and Charles Pic in the Caterham, which recorded a best of 1m27.534s after 49 laps. There is some quiet pushing and shoving over aerodynamic devices on the Williams and on the Caterham, but otherwise there is little to report today.
While presumably there is no scrutineering before or during the test session it must be very easy to determine the legality of the Caterham and Williams exhaust exit areas by the use of a simple template/gauge. The note on the BBC website seems fundamentally wrong in claiming that:
“The key point here, according to the FIA, is that the sides of the channel down which the exhausts can run may not converge – ie the sides of the U-shape have to be either vertical or slope outwards.”
This is not mentioned in the rules at all, it is quite possible to incorporate the specified imaginary cone from the rear face of the final 100mm straight exhaust pipe, IF the exit channel is wide enough to start with and still allow it some convergence. The cone will be angled upwards in any case, it being on the same axis as the final 100mm pipe.
Were I one of the teams, I would have the template handy to prove my car’s innocence. In fact it would have been a useful aid at some point during the aero development.
I believe the BBC are referring to one of the many unpublished clarifications issued by the FIA to the teams about the exhaust regulations.
For what it’s worth, somewhat interesting to compare with times from last year, caveat emptor – different conditions, different tires, different cars and sometimes different drivers in different cars. Nonetheless:
2013 testing:
1 – Rosberg / Mercedes, 1m22.616, 54 laps
2 – Raikkonen / Lotus, 1m22.623, 44 laps
3 – Alonso / Ferrari, 1m22.952, 110 laps
4 – Vettel / Red Bull, 1m22.965, 66 laps
5 – Maldonado / Williams, 1m23.733, 86 laps
2012 testing:
1 – Vettel / Red Bull, 1m23.265s, 79 laps
2 – Hulkenberg / Force India, 1m23.440s +0.175, 97 laps
3 – Hamilton / McLaren, 1m23.590s +0.325, 114 laps
4 – Ricciardo / Toro Rosso, 1m23.618s +0.353. 76 laps
5 – Alonso / Ferrari, 1m24.100s +0.835, 75 laps
2012 race qualifying (fifth round of 2012 season):
1 – Hamilton / McLaren, 1m21.707
2 – Maldonado / Williams, 1m22.285
3 – Alonso / Ferrari, 1m22.302
4 – Grosjean / Lotus, 1m22.424
5 – Raikkonen / Lotus, 1m22.487
Draw your own conclusions; yes, I had some spare time on my hands.
Sources in addition to Joe’s column above:
1) For 2012 testing – http://www.redbull.com/cs/Satellite/en_INT/Article/F1-2012-Formula-1-News-Vettel-quickest-in-Catalunya-021243167058056
2) For 2012 race qualifying – http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/2012_Spanish_Grand_Prix#Q3
Hi Joe
What’s your take on Mercedes’s speed? They’ve shown remarkable reliability after their shaky start and have begun to regularly show some pace in the last few days of testing at Jerez and Barcelona. I’ve heard that they still have some big degradation issues with the Pirellis, but that’s workable if their car is a front runner.
It is way too early to pass judgement on what is happening in Spain.
Rapco
I am not sure all of the ruels and the FAI “clarifications of them are in the public domaine.
No they do not seem to be, once again! I was fed up before with half the rules/technical agreements being buried in the secret Concorde Agreement, to which the old regs then referred. However the latest regs mention only “The Code” which refers to the FIA international sporting code, a public document. But now with these “clarification sheets” the rules become a mockery again. With effectively secret additional regs we are back in the dark once again, that is unless these sheets are published, I can find no sign of them in the public pages of the FIA website.
Maybe football or cricket would be better if there were secret rules of which the audience and fans are kept in ignorance of their existence. ;-(