TESTING TIMES AHEAD
OK we are into the pre season testing stage tomorrow. All three days of it.
At least we can watch car things rather than try to work out what Horner has sent to who and how suggestive were his suggestions. I dont buy the pics of bodyparts spoken of in some areas .of the press, if only a hope., More if only on the basis of no one could be that stupid. Can they? Maybe they can. Anyway it will be what will be, and Horner may or may not be running the team.
For the first time ever we have F1 testing being televised and streamed here in Aus. We have only ever had promises before, followed by disappointment. Now we have it happening I find I dont even feel excited about it. Maybe when it all goes live tomorrow I might be more excited about it. If only out of curiosity as to who seems to have found the most over the off season. I guess we will likely see how ugly the Red Bull is in real life, and are the sidepods as small as some seem to say they are.
Actually I guess that is one thing that intrigues me... is this talk of Red Bull doing their own version of size zero side pods. As we know Merc were conviced size zero was the way to go for a season and a half before throwing it all in the bin and going for a more conventional design.
Some questions .... when will we see answers. If we see answers?
Has Newey with all his wisdom and expertise found the secret tweak to make zero (ish) sidepods work. If anyone can it will be him.
Wiil Red Bull have found a new scret weapon and still be streets ahead?
Will Mercedes have found their Mojo and start the season on the right foot and running.?
Will Ferrari turn up with a car that is more driveable and driver friendly?
Wii McLaren have continued their tag of best improver from last year?
Will Williams have found more pace from their car?
Will STR / AT / VCARB call them what you will have turned up with an RB that looks similar to a Red Bull?
What about Alpine... will they continue to be mediocre? I cant imagine they wont be.
Aston Martin were talking it big. Is that warranted?
Will we call Sauber Sauber, or will it be Mistake, maybe Kicking thmselves?
Will they be able to spot the Flow-Viz on their very green livery?
How will a Steiner lacking Haas go. Will they still be the tail end of the field?
Will Steiner be a Sky reporter / in an F1 expert pundit type role? I cant imagine a Steiner free paddock.
So when does testing start?
Tomorrow, Wednesday the 21 st Feb.
Yeah its crept up quick and the distractions in the offices have probably been the cause of that.
What will we see in terms of sandbagging, smiley faces and frowns. The uncertainty of who has found what in the way of progress over the off season might not be full apparent certinly on day 1. No doubt day 1 will be the usual mass of strakes, sensors and veritable scaffolding of paraphernalia to help gather data. Plus of course all the liveries they have spent squillions of developing will all be dowsed in flow-viz paint for more data.
Its at Bahrain International in the middle of the desert. Will we get perfect weather? We have seen this time of year in Bahrain not be all sun and perfect weather. We have seen testing grind to a halt because of sandstorms.
Its going to get underway at 10:00AM local time every day from tomorrow Wednesday 21st Feb and run through to 7:00 PM on Friday 23rd
Usual arrangement each team will have one car, and an array of drivers on duty fromrace drivers to reserve and rookie drivers.
What sort of times will we be looking to see.?
We saw a best time in Practice 1 at last years GP of 1:32.758 for Sergio in the Red Bull.
By qualifying we saw that speed up to a 1;29.708 from Max with Sergio a tenth shy.
Follow it here in this thread.
@erwin greven can you perhps edit the thread title to include pre season testing.
Find out who has done the best job, and maybe hope it isnt Red Bull again.