Sergio Perez set the fastest time of the second day of the Barcelona testing, with a lap that was eight-tenths faster than the best time on Tuesday. The time was three-tenths faster than Sebastian Vettel’s best in the Red Bull. Perez completed nearly 100 laps in his McLaren, while Vettel managed 84 in the Red Bull. Kimi Raikkonen was kept off the track for much of the morning because of a gearbox problem but completed 43 laps later in the day and ended up third overall, with a best of 1m22.697s.
Lewis Hamilton had a trouble-free day and ran 121 laps with a best of 1m22.726s, while Fernando Alonso did 76 laps for a best time of 1m23.247s, his day ending early because of problems with an exhaust pipe. Valtteri Bottas was sixth fastest in the new Williams, having completed 98 laps to record a best of 1m23.561s, while Daniel Ricciardo was next with a lap of 1m23.718s after 70 laps.
Paul di Resta had another day at the wheel of the Force India and clocked a 1m23.971s after 62 laps, while Nico Hulkenberg was ninth overall in his Sauber, with a best of 1m24.205s after 88 laps. This was well clear of the best time set by Max Chilton in the Marussia, a 1m25.115s after 67 laps, while Charles Pic brought up the rear in the Caterham, completing 102 laps with a best of 1m26.243s.
Is there any way or any boots on the ground who has an idea of what the testing programs the teams are testing? Any scouts out there with a clipboard and a set of binoculars?
Yes, there are journalists that actually go to testing.
There are not many who pay their own way to go testing. It makes no sense.
The Caterham being over a second slower than the Marussia, does not sound too hopeful. You may have to roll your sleeves up Joe and start cracking the whip at Leafield.
Wilson
(Yawn)
“cracking the whip” is not the way to inspire people
Hi Joe, forgive me for the completely different subject matter, but I was watching a NASCAR Sprint Cup practice today and there was a shiny McLaren trailer parked amongst the Rousch Fenway Crew of trailers. Does McLaren provide some sort of technical services to their teams?
Yes, it provides all the engine ECUs in NASCAR, and IndyCar come to that.
And F1 right?!
Thanks for the posts Joe. Hope you had a great time away.
I noticed a comment on BBC about how secretive Red Bull are being. Is their level of secrecy unusual? If not what has been the most surprising thing you have ever seen at testing?
Was this a standard press release joe?
I only ask as the Santander Facebook update from today was that post verbatim, and I want to have a little faith.
Stephen
No, I wrote it. If they copied it then I should have a word with someone!
Yup, they copied it then – I can send you a screengrab if you want, or just go into Facebook and type Lewis & Jenson Santander into the search and it’s at the top of their timeline.
I guess the fact that it is called “Lewis ” & Jenson Santander should’ve been the first clue…
I would like to see that.
Here you go Joe.
This is a screenshot of your original article (for posterity): http://imgur.com/LEaqRr2
This is a screenshot of the facebook group:
http://imgur.com/ZFFkgJJ
Not sure how official the group is – but it’s still a stinky thing to do.
Hi Joe, it is true that 50% of Lotus F1 has been sold ?
I have not heard that (recently) but it is possible.
from which (reliable) source did you see or hear that?
Hi Carl, probably just rumour , was just curious
funny how caterham slower than marussia at all tests (almost)….considering how big they are its quite sad…..24/7 tunnel time, 380 staff….whats going on there
Good question. However, it should be said that Marussia does have McLaren help this year, so that will be a leg-up.
still though, caterham are as big as force india from what i know and they are using 24/7 wind tunnel….im still astonished how far away they are
It is not as simple a comparison as you think because the two teams have adopted very different strategic thinking and I think you underestimate the importance of industrial infrastructure in F1 these days. Force India is a long-established team with a close-knit core of staff who know what they are doing, if they are given the right money to do the job. It is also maximising its “instant impact” with an extensive technology deal with McLaren, which costs a great deal of money but which provides a bullet-proof drivetrain, simulation work, use of the simulator and so on. That is worth a lot. Caterham is a new team, with engineers who have only worked together as a group for a couple of years, during which time there has been a lot of change. It spends a little on renting the Williams windtunnel and buying gearboxes from Red Bull, but it has been investing in the right infrastructure for the future. It has, for example, built its own simulator in the last 12 months, rather than buying time on someone else’s. This investment is a long and arduous process but should be more rewarding in the end, because at some point Force India will need to make similar kinds of investments (and might even need a new factory) if it is to move up the ladder further in F1, so it has simply been putting off the pain. Vijay Mallya has announced that he is going to spend $50 million on new infrastructure and it will be interesting to see that happening.
In terms of staff numbers and running budgets Force India I believe had a budget of around $95 million and Caterham was $90 million. The staff count was 300 at Force India and 260 at Caterham, which is a significant difference, particularly given the McLaren assistance that Force India gets. The difference in performance is not THAT surprising given the background. I think in terms of comparisons it is more relevant to put Caterham up against Marussia and HRT and look at their relative rates of progression. Marussia has done a technology deal with McLaren as well and so seems (at the moment) to have pulled ahead of Caterham. And if one looks at HRT one can see the other end of the scale…
i beg to differ….renault power train and renault gearbox, 24/7 windtunnel a rather large aero department (compared to marussia). they have no excuses to be honest. i read somewhere that marussia do very little windtunnel running compared to caterham however they dont seem to be doing that bad. remember they are with the cosworth powertrain and that huge gearbox from xtrac(??)…there arent any miracles in this sport, but i hope they do well.
I believe that Marussia now gets its aero work done at McLaren and that things have ramped up considerably, but you can beg to differ if you wish. I was simply stating facts and extrapolating from them.
they use their wind tunnel and i think their full scale rakes when track testing (maybe), but thats it. anyways, i hope to see them beat the caterhams
I think the deal involves rather more than that. I believe that it involves access to the McLaren wind tunnel, simulator and 7-post rigs in Woking.