Motors The Bit-Tech Formula 1 2014 Thread - Season Complete

Thing is, a lot of these "this'll cause loads of excitement!" type things, well, haven't much.

 

http://www.jamesallenonf1.com/2014/02/williams-sign-deal-with-petrobras/

Williams get Petrobras sponsorship to go along with Mr Massa, precisely no one on planet Earth is surprised.

 

It may cause excitement, but most likely it'll be simulated to death until the teams get their head round how it affects things and then they'll carry on as before [or as close to it as possible]...

 

A little bit from Adrian Newey regarding the Red Bull issue.

http://www.espn.co.uk/redbull/motorsport/story/145501.html

 

http://www.mercedesamgf1.com/en/car...l&utm_source=facebook.com&utm_campaign=buffer

Incredible footage. The sound of the new engines is growing on me - I love the turbo noises.

 

Meanwhile, Hulkenburg posted a 1m36.953s, which is faster than the fastest lap in last years GP. Who said these would be slow cars! (Qualifying pace compared to race pace probably, but still)

I really like the noise. Less screaming, more hissing/buzzing.

 

This being the second test, I don't think that they're running full quali pace yet.
Yes, they're going faster than in Jerez, much closer to flat-out, but not there yet (at least not the bigger teams).

Red Bull coming to the party late have some catching up to do, much like the STRs.
The good news is that at least in the Caterham, the Renault engine seems to be holding up, and the issues seem somewhat more team specific now.

I am a bit surprised by no one having changed anything too drastic yet.

The most interesting bit so far is the revelation that if anything, these cars are not MUCH slower than last year, and Lotus' off-centre rear wing mount (I assume to offset the uneven nose)

 

That's an awesome video where you can swivel around and zoom in or out. I'd like to have this option in more videos.

 

Nice

 

http://www.jamesallenonf1.com/2014/...n-bahrain-as-red-bull-racing’s-woes-continue/

Day 1, Vettel is fifth fastest, but managed the almighty sum of 14 laps.

It's an improvement, based on today he'd have made it into Q2.

Hulk, Lewis, Nando and Magnus the Blonde top four, all putting in lots of laps in the Bahrain heat, good news for Merc just like Jerez.

Red Bull, Toro Rosso and Lotus all stopped short by battery, oil pressure and 'unspecified' faults, with less than two weeks to go before engine specs are fixed for the season, can't imagine the scene at Renault right now.

 

Well there car ended up on fire on the sky tv pictures. Either there left rear tyre has killed itself or it looks like its been burned by something.

 

From reading the reports it sounds like the rears locked up, hence the flat spot, then overheated/burnt itself. Probably the e braking or the ERS unit failing.

 

Well, RBR did say that their issues right now are unrelated to the issues in Jerez. Not that that is very telling.

That said, the first red flag this morning was caused by a merc stopping randomly.

 

Merc Issues are related to a sensor, Merc themselves shutdown the car on both occasions this morning was confirmed by sky sports late this morning.

They have also did a bit of space age lap speed reduction by using some wierd calculations ill never understand they had lewis 1st yesterday in terms of raw lap speed, then Alonso. Enough both lewis and alonsos cars with fitted with a wide range of things cant imagine they help airflow so I wonder how they work it all out.

Redbulls issues are related to packaging.

General feeling is anyone short on laps is going to suffer going into the 3rd test where teams can finally start working on performance.

Would never rule our RBR but the looks on horners and neweys faces yesterday when the car was smoking suggests they know something more than we do.

 

Feeling I got looking at the Autosport commentary and Twitter today was as follows:

Merc - sensor issues are no biggie. I didn't know they shut down the cars, but yeah.. no biggie, that.
The Mercedes teams seem to be in a strong position right now, with the Ferrari-teams looking decent as well. The renault teams are catching up a bit due to the almost useless Jerez test.

Merc had sound recording guys out at the end of the straight today, which seems to imply that they're looking for an indication of where they are in terms of performance compared to others.

Force India and McLaren seem quite comfortable, with those last two runs from Magnussen clearly being "quali runs" (and mighty ones at that, all things considered).
2.6s off the Quali time set by Vettel last year, and faster than the fastest race lap last year is definitely a sign of these cars not being much slower than last year, quite possibly even faster.

Another thing that occurred to me is that there is likely to be less sandbagging this year than for the last few years, since everything is new. Especially with the new engine and gearbox, they need to see how fast they can push it for how long, etc.

 

I'm not sure about the sandbagging - I'd still be expecting them to run quite a bit of fuel and a slightly restricted engine map yet.

 

Right now, no doubt about the restrained engine maps.
However, I think that the next testing dates will see more people go flat-out.

 

So today..

Merc teams completed 342 laps between them, With Lewis (67), Jenson (103) and Felipe (60) first second and third respectively, then Sergio (57) fifth.

Special mention to Valteri Bottas, 55 laps without setting a single lap time! Serious pit stop practice there. Williams did 115 laps without issue, that Merc engine is properly bullet proof.

Ferrari teams only did 144 thanks to Ferrari having their first mechanical malady of testing and Kimi only getting in 44 laps, whilst Marussia continue to be Marussia and covered 4. Gutierrez managed 96 and fifth fastest.

Renault put in 209 laps, for the first time this season they didn't do the least mileage. 98 laps for Ericsson in the Caterham, Kvyat 57 laps and no breakdowns, Maldonado and Ricciardo 26 and 28 with plenty of breakdowns. More to the point, Kvyat fastest Renault engine, 4.7 seconds down on Hamilton.

As much as everyone says testing times mean nothing, I really think the first part of this season will be between Mercedes and Mclaren, not only are they fast right now, they're banging out entire race simulations that are consistent and fast whilst the other teams are still getting to grips with just making the tech work. Come Melbourne they'll be lining up with their first upgrade packages fitted whilst everyone else will still be busy ironing out the faults.

 

That will be a problem that the Renault powered teams will face.

The mercedes powered teams and the ferrari teams will be able to put upgrades on there cars already.

The Mercedes car itself looks quick. Lewis time was 0.7 seconds quicker on a slower tire. JBs best time was on the super soft once again a quicker tyre than lewis best lap. Do wonder with the super soft if we would of seen a sub 1.33.5 lap time which is what sky pundits were theorying on. Which is a massive 1.4 seconds ahead of the fastest super soft lap. ( all tyres were confirmed by the teams )

Id never write off RBR but they are in trouble at this minute, Engine is down on power in 7 days the regs are locked in place so if its not sorted by then they could start the season down on power. That and a lack of cooling provision is costing them hugely.

All renault teams dont do energy recovery systems all that well. with 100-150bhp coming from energy recovery its a area that if it fails as its done on the passed on RBR and there sister car to some extent then they could find themselves in massive trouble.