Barcelona Test - Day One

3rd & 7 37yd

can you give us the temp. And who is circulating the track at the moment

by Pepelarovski 2/19/2015 10:30:48 AM
@Pepelarovski: Current air temp is 10 degrees Celsius, it's been steadily rising all morning. We've got Kimi and Wehrlein out on track at the moment, though I've just heard the Ferrari grumbling its way back down the pit lane.

by Nate Saunders 2/19/2015 10:31:34 AM
As promised, here's a picture of the Red Bull. Note the aero rig at the back of the car, which is monitoring the flow of air after it has been turned and twisted by the bodywork

by Laurence Edmondson 2/19/2015 10:31:49 AM
@Racingfan clearly not a Mclaren fan eh? Jumping all the conclusions there!! I think what Mclaren and Honda are achieving currently is excellent. Good use of filming days to make sure they are ready for today and all those little bugs out the way. I think the ones that need to worry at this stage are F-India and Redbull. Still as Laurence said, early days ;-)

by Steve Taro 2/19/2015 10:32:30 AM
Felipe is back in the garage for some feedback. Currently he is the fastest #F1 #FN12 http://pbs.twimg.com/media/B-M1xTXIMAAyZXq.jpg

by Sauber F1 Team via twitter 2/19/2015 10:34:33 AM
Nate do you have any idea how the barbeque grates measure the airflow please?

by grahamg 2/19/2015 10:35:19 AM
@grahamg: If you look closely at them they are actually a bunch of pitot tubes clustered together. Pretty serious bits of kit and all custom made. Although, no doubt, Ricciardo will throw a shrimp and a burger on it later

by Laurence Edmondson 2/19/2015 10:37:15 AM
@Laurence thanks for the info on the tires, may I add is there a specific number of sets of tires supplied by Pirelli to each team per day?

by Joe 2/19/2015 10:37:39 AM
@Joe: They have a limit over the whole of testing (pre-season and in-season) but the number escapes me at the moment. They can split and divide them over the days as they want to.

by Laurence Edmondson 2/19/2015 10:38:22 AM
I am a McLaren fan since Fittipaldi. I am only not in denial.

by Racing Fan 2/19/2015 10:38:36 AM
@Nate Now that the technology is so advanced , do the teams actually need to test on tracks? Isn't there any powerful software to do that?

by Not_fun_KIMI 2/19/2015 10:38:44 AM
@Not_fun_KIMI: There's plenty of powerful software, but you can't beat running a car in real conditions on a real race track. Vibrations, temperatures, kerb strikes, tyre characteristics - all of these are tricky to simulate exactly with software. But the teams are improving all the time and the amount of testing we do now is just a fraction of what the teams used to do about 10-15 years ago.

by Laurence Edmondson 2/19/2015 10:40:18 AM
The Red Bull looks like its dragging a TV antenna. Are RB still not happy with their aero? Promising start to the second test for McLaren though.

by Russ 2/19/2015 10:40:25 AM
@Russ: Aero rigs are fairly common in testing. New bits and pieces are coming to these cars all the time and it can change the characteristics of the air flow. One area Red Bull and a few other teams are exploring this year are blown wheel nuts, which divert airflow from the brake duct and blow it out of the centre of the wheel. The idea is to manipulate the turbulent airflow coming off the tyres and shift it away from the nice streamlined airflow going over the bodywork and towards the rear wing and diffuser.

by Laurence Edmondson 2/19/2015 10:42:58 AM
Think ther is a typo regarding Nasr's time on your timing/lap list :-)

by graan13 2/19/2015 10:43:18 AM
@graan13: Thanks! We're keeping the times updated manually, hence the gaps in updates and the odd slipped finger on the keyboard.

by Laurence Edmondson 2/19/2015 10:43:53 AM
Lots of blown nuts in an F1 paddock, I suspect.

by mfbull 2/19/2015 10:44:22 AM
Thanks for the explanation on the Pito Tube I googled it and it had this as part of the explanation u = \sqrt{\frac{2 (p_t - p_s)}{\rho}} Clear as mud now . I think I'll stick with the burger and shrimp analogy

by grahamg 2/19/2015 10:44:37 AM
Are there any rules with regard to Red Bulls use of Camo Livery, whats stopping all the other teams doing this to hide their aero packages?

by PIPPYT 2/19/2015 10:44:51 AM
@PIPPYT: The teams can run whatever livery they want - especially in testing. However, the dazzle camouflage is as much a marketing stunt as a true disguise. You can see an awful lot on photoshop if you know what you are doing with the highlights and shadows tools. But the marketing stunt works as we are all talking about it ... and it looks pretty cool, doesn't it?

by Laurence Edmondson 2/19/2015 10:46:50 AM
@racing fan, in that case your are panicking then, chill my friend, all will come good! 2 most experienced drivers on the grid and the awesome power of Honda!!! #believeinmclarenhonda

by Steve Taro 2/19/2015 10:47:15 AM
If they are going to force drivers to stick to one helmet design, then they should only allow one sponsor so we can see some real designs.

by mfbull 2/19/2015 10:47:23 AM
Nasr lowers the benchmark again, dropping down to a 1:27.307. Verstappen crosses and moves into second.

by Nate Saunders 2/19/2015 10:47:23 AM
still wondering what tyres nasr is on

by kathy 2/19/2015 10:47:33 AM
@kathy: Nasr is on the medium compound.

by Nate Saunders 2/19/2015 10:47:40 AM
I used to work with ventilation, and we used a kit which put a low voltage electric current through copper wires and then measured temperature losses through wind cool. Could be something like that included in the barbeques as well. Measuring where the wind flows the strongest should be close to aero efficiency.

by Ritchie Rich 2/19/2015 10:48:42 AM
What's the feeling in the paddock regarding the pecking order? I remember a few years back that the teams were able to establish another car's fuel load by analyzing its sound. So I suppose the should know more than lap times tell us.

by Johannes 2/19/2015 10:51:34 AM
@Johannes: Usually we get a better idea at the end of the second test and the start of the third test - although sometimes we are also spectacularly wrong. Fuel loads are the main things muddying the water as 10kg of fuel can be worth as much as 0.35s per lap. Fuel tanks are 100kg, so there is plenty of potential for teams to disguise their pace on heavy fuel or make themselves look good on fumes.

by Laurence Edmondson 2/19/2015 10:53:55 AM
will/can Susie Wolff go any faster than 1m30s?

by Krishna Teja 2/19/2015 10:54:15 AM
@KrishnaTeja: The Williams and Susie are definitely capable of a quicker lap but it all depends on whether quick laps are in the programme. Williams rarely sets times to grab headlines and at race weekends often runs quite a bit heavier than its rivals in practice. Different teams simply have different ways of working.

by Laurence Edmondson 2/19/2015 10:55:38 AM
To add to that point, Wolff has been completing laps pretty solidly for half an hour now. They haven't been near Nasr's headline time but its clear Williams is focusing on longer, heavier-fuel runs this morning.

by Nate Saunders 2/19/2015 10:59:06 AM
Approaching midday in Barcelona, approaching 30 laps on track http://pbs.twimg.com/media/B-M8KFxIAAA8DwF.jpg

by Renault Sport F1 via twitter 2/19/2015 11:00:54 AM
Can it be true that ferrari discovered 40bhp from their new engines ? Those these are testing days , looking at the pecking order it does look like it

by ESPN_F1 2/19/2015 11:01:57 AM
@ESPN_F1: Interesting name, is there an echo in here? Anyway, I would say 40bhp is very possible. Renault admitted to being 10% down on horsepower to Mercedes last year, which is roughly a 80bhp deficit. It could be that 40bhp is not enough, assuming Mercedes will also have made big performance gains over the winter.

by Laurence Edmondson 2/19/2015 11:03:48 AM
We have confirmation that Perez will take over in the Force India this afternoon as Wehrlein swaps cockpits to the Mercedes to fill in for the ill Lewis Hamilton.

by Laurence Edmondson 2/19/2015 11:05:02 AM
I can't see why everybody's saying that Ferrari can't get back to the front over the winter. I think the main point is when have they actually began designing this year's car and systems. Honda / Brawn have pulled the trick in 2009, coming from the low midfield straight to dominating the first half of the season, so I wouldn't out Ferrari as being able to do the same.

by Yevgeny 2/19/2015 11:05:24 AM
@Yevgeny: I wouldn't rule out Ferrari completely, but you have to remember the size of Mercedes advantage last year and not underestimate the strides they will have taken over the winter. The Brawn advantage came after a major change in the regulations and was largely thanks to the double diffuser that Honda had been working on for a couple of years when it owned that team. It's much more difficult for Ferrari with stable regulations over the winter.

by Laurence Edmondson 2/19/2015 11:07:23 AM
I could understand the pessimism with pecking order in first test. but now in second test also people are not being optimist about Ferrari

by Tungath 2/19/2015 11:07:42 AM
Any paddock reaction to DannyRic stomping on HAM's Top Gear time? I doubt he printed t-shirts like when Barrichello was first to beat the Stig, but any p1$$-taking going on?

by mfbull 2/19/2015 11:08:22 AM
Change of plans! @SChecoPerez will be in the car this afternoon, taking over our testing programme for the remainder of today. #FeelTheForce

by Sahara Force India via twitter 2/19/2015 11:08:35 AM
@mfbull: None that I've seen just yet, but no doubt Ricciardo will have a big smile on his face if it's mentioned at his media briefing later.

by Laurence Edmondson 2/19/2015 11:09:02 AM
I think vettel had done no mistake in switching to ferrari from red bull,red bull is like mclaren of 2013

by aman 2/19/2015 11:09:36 AM
Hi Nate...Any one on track at the moment ??

by AM 2/19/2015 11:17:06 AM
@AM: Ricciardo has just re-emerged after a long spell in the garage. Wehrlein is out there too.

by Nate Saunders 2/19/2015 11:17:33 AM
A look at the rear of the McLaren. Not the extra cooling around the exhaust - this might be tightened up later in the season, but is also for the MP4-30's cooling layout. A good view of the slats and louvres in the rear wing endplates.

by Laurence Edmondson 2/19/2015 11:18:34 AM

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