2013 Car Reveal & Winter Testing Kickoff

stormybadger8 said:Not me.😁
For him, it’s basically business as usual. There's no way you spend two days hovering around a 1:20 and then suddenly find another massive chunk of time to hit a 1:17.800.😉
What kind of magic tires would you even need to shave over two seconds off a single lap?🤷
The only thing that makes sense is if he was stuck on intermediates or wets during those first two days.

Maybe they just dropped from 100 liters down to 60 or something like that. 😛

stormybadger8 said:Are you kidding me? Spent the entire first day on inters?🤣
If that's actually true, then the difference compared to that first day makes sense... but still, we’ve got to look at day two...

Nah, man, just the first couple of laps—that's what Jason Campbell70 was saying.🙂

crimsonstag84 said:Maybe they just dropped from 100 liters down to 60 or something like that. 😛

Sure, possible...
but maybe everyone else was cruising on at least 30 gallons, or maybe they were all running on fumes, or maybe they’re all just lost in the middle of the woods.😁

I’m really curious to see what the columnist at ESPN writes—he usually drops some solid takes on the testing sessions right about now.
My gut feeling? It’s gonna be that same old shuffle between Ferrari, McLaren, and Red Bull—with Haas and maybe Mercedes popping in and out of the mix every now and then.

The only thing tripping me up is de la Rosa saying the simulator is the problem, rather than the actual car.

An expert from the racing world made a sharp observation regarding the air inlet located beneath the Ferrari nose.
http://f1grandprix.motorionline.com/...O_2013_057.jpg

On top of that, there was quite a bit of scrutiny on Ferrari during day three. Every time they pulled into the garage, they seemed to be hiding the diffuser behind those yellow panels.

Nathan Jones98 said:I’m really curious to see what the columnist at ESPN writes—he usually drops some solid takes on the testing sessions right about now.
My gut feeling? It’s gonna be that same old shuffle between Ferrari, McLaren, and Red Bull—with Haas and maybe Mercedes popping in and out of the mix every now and then.

The only thing tripping me up is de la Rosa saying the simulator is the problem, rather than the actual car.

Well, maybe the car is actually fine... 🤷

Only 35 days left until we find out if I'm crazy or right. ☕

Raymond Anderson4 said:An expert from the racing world made a sharp observation regarding the air inlet located beneath the Ferrari nose.
http://f1grandprix.motorionline.com/...O_2013_057.jpg

On top of that, there was quite a bit of scrutiny on Ferrari during day three. Every time they pulled into the garage, they seemed to be hiding the diffuser behind those yellow panels.

So yeah—that diffuser must be absolute garbage if they’re trying to hide it from everyone.

Raymond Anderson4 said:An expert from the racing world made a sharp observation regarding the air inlet located beneath the Ferrari nose.
http://f1grandprix.motorionline.com/...O_2013_057.jpg

On top of that, there was quite a bit of scrutiny on Ferrari during day three. Every time they pulled into the garage, they seemed to be hiding the diffuser behind those yellow panels.

So they're definitely hiding something at the front end.🤔

If I recall correctly, Red Bull used this exact same trick once.😂
Hide something at one end to distract everyone, then just brazenly show what you actually care about right in front of their faces...😁 🤣

stormybadger8 said:The RB9 is clearly a beast...
Yesterday’s pace on hards at Austin was insane—about 0.300 faster than Button's best.😁
Seems reliable too; from what I can tell, zero issues so far...
I just find Vettel's face a little weird. He's out there saying the car is "a step forward, amazing, blah blah," but looking at him, he didn't exactly look thrilled about it.🤷

Here’s the lap count per car:
1 Sauber 430
2 Red Bull 372
3 Force India 357
4 Williams 332
5 Toro Rosso 330
6 Mercedes 319
7 Caterham 318
8 McLaren 298
9 Ferrari 277
10 Lotus 271
11 Marussia 219
Sauber looks like a solid bet—fast and apparently bulletproof...
Gutiérrez clocked the most laps here, hitting 252. 😳

And here are the combined best times from all four days at Austin:
1. Felipe Massa Ferrari / 1.17.879 / 227 laps / Soft
2. Kimi Räikkönen Lotus / 1.18.148 / 123 laps / Soft
3. Jules Bianchi Force India / 1.18.175 / 56 laps / Soft
4. Romain Grosjean Lotus / 1.18.218 / 149 laps / Soft
5. Sebastian Vettel Red Bull / 1.18.565 / 198 laps / Hard
6. Esteban Gutiérrez Sauber / 1.18.669 / 252 laps / Soft
7. Jean-Éric Vergne Toro Rosso / 1.18.760 / 177 laps / Soft
8. Nico Rosberg Mercedes / 1.18.766 / 162 laps / Medium
9. Jenson Button McLaren / 1.18.861 / 120 laps / Hard
10. Lewis Hamilton Mercedes / 1.18.905 160 laps / Medium
11. Sergio Pérez McLaren / 1.18.944 / 179 laps / Medium
12. Paul di Resta Force India / 1.19.003 / 240 laps / Soft
13. Daniel Ricciardo Toro Rosso / 1.19.134 / 153 laps / Medium
14. James Rossiter Force India / 1.19.303 / 61 laps / Soft
15. Mark Webber Red Bull / 1.19.338 / 174 laps / Medium
16. Nico Hülkenberg Sauber / 1.19.502 / 178 laps / Medium
17. Valtteri Bottas Williams / 1.19.851 / 178 laps / Soft
18. Pedro de la Rosa Ferrari / 1.20.316 / 51 laps / Medium
19. Pastor Maldonado Williams / 1.20.693 / 155 laps / Medium
20. Charles Pic Caterham / 1.21.105 / 166 laps / Soft
21. Luiz Razia Marussia / 1.21.226 / 113 laps / Medium
22. Max Chilton Marussia / 1.21.269 / 107 laps / Soft
23. Giedo van der Garde Caterham / 1.21.311 / 152 laps / Medium

De la Rosa noted that the F138 showed all the hallmarks of a quick machine, yet he cautioned us not to get ahead of ourselves by overanalyzing those initial testing times. Should we really be making big assumptions this early?

Can I tell a good car from a bad one? Yes. But does that actually matter right now? Not really. The only metric that counts is the development curve leading up to the Australian Grand Prix. Where we sit in the standings today is irrelevant. Everyone is running everything—softs, mediums, hards—on both low and high fuel loads. It’s all noise.

The latest news regarding the championship standings just dropped. It’s a lot to process. Can we really expect this level of dominance to continue through the rest of the season? The gap between the frontrunners and the rest of the pack seems to be widening at an alarming rate. Is anyone actually surprised by these results? Probably not. But still, it makes you wonder what it will take for another driver to break through this stranglehold. It’s going to be a long road ahead for the mid-field teams. They have their work cut out for them. Tightening that margin isn't going to happen overnight. How much more can one team push before they hit a ceiling? We'll see.

Raymond Anderson4 said:An expert from the racing world made a sharp observation regarding the air inlet located beneath the Ferrari nose.
http://f1grandprix.motorionline.com/...O_2013_057.jpg

On top of that, there was quite a bit of scrutiny on Ferrari during day three. Every time they pulled into the garage, they seemed to be hiding the diffuser behind those yellow panels.

They kept that diffuser hidden every single day.

Looking at those shots of de la Rosa standing by the car amidst all that smoke, I suspect there was some serious tinkering going on with those asymmetrical rear wing endplates.


I’d even go as far as to say there's a cable tucked inside the left endplate, likely hooked up to one of the telemetry sensors.

BTW, there was plenty of back-and-forth regarding the length and design of those endplates
throughout last season.

I’ve got my doubts about Haas—where on earth did they find all that extra pace?

ruggedhawk20 said:I’ve got my doubts about Haas—where on earth did they find all that extra pace?

Maybe the Fed needs to bail them out just to keep things interesting, so there you go.😁
They're running on Goodyear super-speed tires.😁

Has anyone taken a close look at the data from these recent tests? Based on the lap times during specific stints,
I’m curious to know how much tire degradation we're actually seeing from each car.
I have a feeling this season might show even more drastic differences in tire wear than last year, depending on how sensitive each chassis is to
the rubber. At least until the summer break, anyway—after that, things should start to stabilize a bit.

Tyler Bennett5 said:Has anyone taken a close look at the data from these recent tests? Based on the lap times during specific stints,
I’m curious to know how much tire degradation we're actually seeing from each car.
I have a feeling this season might show even more drastic differences in tire wear than last year, depending on how sensitive each chassis is to
the rubber. At least until the summer break, anyway—after that, things should start to stabilize a bit.

Lotus, Ferrari and Sauber

Given that the Sauber looks absolutely insane—and I mean insane, insane, insane

it's about time. After years of playing it safe and being super conservative, someone finally went for a radical design. I'm rooting for them. That car is definitely gonna kill it at Monza, if nothing else. Too bad we don't have the old Hockenheim anymore, because they would've been favorites there too.

ruggedhawk20 said:Lotus, Ferrari and Sauber

Given that the Sauber looks absolutely insane—and I mean insane, insane, insane

it's about time. After years of playing it safe and being super conservative, someone finally went for a radical design. I'm rooting for them. That car is definitely gonna kill it at Monza, if nothing else. Too bad we don't have the old Hockenheim anymore, because they would've been favorites there too.

The same Monza where the car was running 12 miles/h slower on the speedtrap two seasons ago?

LOL.

It’s still way too early to start making any definitive predictions.

The new Williams passed its crash test and should be ready for its debut in Barcelona. Honestly, I find it quite surprising that more teams haven't followed suit by now. Don't you think?

http://uk.eurosport.yahoo.com/news/f...GlvbnM-;_ylv=3

Drew Bennett68 said:It’s still way too early to start making any definitive predictions.

The new Williams passed its crash test and should be ready for its debut in Barcelona. Honestly, I find it quite surprising that more teams haven't followed suit by now. Don't you think?

http://uk.eurosport.yahoo.com/news/f...GlvbnM-;_ylv=3

Was _ylv = 3 jel Maldonado actually sitting in the car during the crash test?
With an attitude like that, they ought to run a crash test on him too.
Just to see if he's actually ready for the upcoming season.

Tyler Bennett5 said:Was _ylv = 3 jel Maldonado actually sitting in the car during the crash test?
With an attitude like that, they ought to run a crash test on him too.
Just to see if he's actually ready for the upcoming season.

Don't sleep on Maldonado. ☕
I'm calling it now—Perez is gonna be a total wrecking ball this year.

Nathan Jones98 said:Don't sleep on Maldonado. ☕
I'm calling it now—Perez is gonna be a total wrecking ball this year.

Look, I’m playing this whole Formula 1 game a little differently, if I'm being honest.
As a die-hard Williams fan, my biggest hope is just to see less total wreckage coming from their side of the garage. At the same time, I'm really rooting for Bottas to tap into that signature calm composure and find his pace again, rather than repeating what we saw from pastorov last season.

Nathan Jones98 said:Don't sleep on Maldonado. ☕
I'm calling it now—Perez is gonna be a total wrecking ball this year.

Against all odds, I’d say it could easily be Alonso or Hamilton.
I’ve got a gut feeling that one or two drivers are going to completely crack this year if their car isn't top-tier. They'll start driving like absolute maniacs, trying to force it when the machinery just isn't there.😳
All in all, I’m expecting a killer season packed with brilliant overtakes and absolute masterclasses.👋 And even more coastline.😬

When is it finally going to happen?🙂 I can't wait. I've got a gut feeling this is going to be the best season ever.😁

Based on what we've seen so far, Centotrentotto shows the most promise.

We’re following this season through one central theme: VETTEL IS THE CANCER, ALONSO IS THE ANSWER! 😁
If we can just get rid of that German tumor, isn't it about time? After six long years, it's time for the champion to reclaim his spot as the best driver—the kind of driver who actually earns his title on the track.

Hasta la victoria siempre!
Fernando Campeon!

👋