Testing complete - 1 day till Free Practice 1 in Melbourne!

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Reason for crash is this from Mercedes AMG F1 twitter:

"Lewis suffered a loss of rear brake pressure, the front brakes enabled him to slow the car but he couldn't avoid the barrier..."

Not very good for Mercedes in the reliability front.

Anyway so far looking like McLaren will be super strong given the comments by Button yesterday and pace. Hoping the following is not the case but Lewis might feel like being in 2009 again, swapped teams around but similar outcome. Worst time to leave McLaren I feel.
 
Saidur_Ali
Not very good for Mercedes in the reliability front.
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These are just antural teething problems. Pretty much everyone will experince some kind of issue during the first test.

Saidur_Ali
Anyway so far looking like McLaren will be super strong given the comments by Button yesterday and pace. Hoping the following is not the case but Lewis might feel like being in 2009 again, swapped teams around but similar outcome. Worst time to leave McLaren I feel.
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You are reading far too much into a single lap time on the first day of testing. Lookinga t the current lap times, Romain Grosjean is just two tenths of a second off Button's time from yesterday.
 
The only thing I like about testing is seeing those weird gizmos sticking out from the cars :D

Not a big fan of LH/Merc but Im hoping they can make a good combo this year
 
prisonermonkeys
These are just antural teething problems. Pretty much everyone will experince some kind of issue during the first test.
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Hopefully they get it sorted it out, car has had so little running on both days now.

prisonermonkeys
You are reading far too much into a single lap time on the first day of testing. Lookinga t the current lap times, Romain Grosjean is just two tenths of a second off Button's time from yesterday.
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I am also taking into account comments made by Button and others, and at the moment things seem to be going exceptionally well. Don't know if Grosjean time was on Mediums or Hards, but given Button's time was on Hards and he was surprised by it, I think these are strong signs given the car is just the base spec, they have got big upgrades to still put on car.
 
Mercedes looks to struggle already. 2 incident on the 2 first days, that is really bad.

It couldnt start worst for Lewis, first day you take the car, it brokes up and you're ending in a wall. Great start :(

I wonder what Lewis is thinking atm.
 
He's alright, he was already prepared for the worst really, almost considering 2013 to be a forced hard lesson for himself. He knows 2014 will be a lot different. You don't have to win every single year you know.

But like PM said, this is testing and problems will arise, no one thinks this is some massive indicator that everything's going to fall apart for Mercedes, we can judge that after their reliability in the first couple races.

It's lunch time over there now. Doesn't like look Mercedes are going to go out again, but there's a chance they might if they can get things sorted fast enough.

Official:
Mercedes is done for day 2.
 
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Wardez
He's alright, he was already prepared for the worst really, almost considering 2013 to be a forced hard lesson for himself. He knows 2014 will be a lot different. You don't have to win every single year you know.
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I dont understand why he would think that 2014 will be different. Sure Mercedes will have a good motor and have an advantage over Mclaren or other "customer" team but they wont have any on Ferrari or Red Bull and Lotus. And the biggest problem with the Mercedes as far as I know is the design of the car, not the engine, since we all know that the engine works like a charm on Mclaren.

Since 3 seasons Ross Brawn has been unable to developp a car that is competitive at the top of the chart, I dont know why suddently he will find something for 2014. Sure the car will be massively redesign but it was the same in 2010 and Brawn couldnt do what he have done in 2009.
 
Here's results from 2012 pre-season testing.

1. Nico Rosberg Germany Mercedes-Mercedes 1m 17.613s*
2. Romain Grosjean France Lotus-Renault 1m 18.419s
3. Michael Schumacher Germany Mercedes-Mercedes 1m 18.561s*
4. Fernando Alonso Spain Ferrari-Ferrari 1m 18.877s
5. Mark Webber Australia Red Bull-Renault 1m 19.184s
6. Sebastian Vettel Germany Red Bull-Renault 1m 19.297s
7. Lewis Hamilton Britain McLaren-Mercedes 1m 19.464s
8. Daniel Ricciardo Australia Toro Rosso-Ferrari 1m 19.587s
9. Jean-Eric Vergne France Toro Rosso-Ferrari 1m 19.597s
10. Kimi Raikkonen Finland Lotus-Renault 1m 19.670s
11. Sergio Perez Mexico Sauber-Ferrari 1m 19.770s
12. Paul di Resta Britain Force India-Mercedes 1m 19.772s
13. Kamui Kobayashi Japan Sauber-Ferrari 1m 19.834s
14. Nico Hulkenberg Germany Force India-Mercedes 1m 19.977s
15. Bruno Senna Brazil Williams-Renault 1m 20.132s
16. Jules Bianchi France Force India-Mercedes 1m 20.221s
17. Felipe Massa Brazil Ferrari-Ferrari 1m 20.454s
18. Jenson Button Britain McLaren-Mercedes 1m 20.688s
19. Pastor Maldonado Venezuela Williams-Renault 1m 21.197s
20. Heikki Kovalainen Finland Caterham-Renault 1m 21.518s
21. Pedro de la Rosa Spain HRT-Cosworth 1m 22.128s*
22. Jarno Trulli Italy Caterham-Renault 1m 22.198s
23. Giedo van der Garde Holland Caterham-Renault 1m 23.324s



Narain Karthikeyan India HRT-Cosworth n/a
Timo Glock Germany Marussia-Cosworth n/a
Charles Pic France Marussia-Cosworth n/a


http://www.crash.net/f1/results/176687/1/jerez_f1_test_times__combined_7-10_february.html
 
Day 2 results:
o55r7lj.jpg
 
Only 15 laps for Hamilton and 11 for Rosberg yesterday. It really hasn't gone well for Mercedes so far.
 
SimonK
Only 15 laps for Hamilton and 11 for Rosberg yesterday. It really hasn't gone well for Mercedes so far.
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HA!!

I wonder if the rumours that Mercedes are looking to get rid of Ross Brawn are true.
 
IceMan PJN
I wouldn't bet on him because he isn't good enough. He is good, but there are better drivers on the grid. He has a better chance in 2013 now that Lewis isn't in the same car, but if Jenson wins the WDC it's because he had the best car while better drivers had lesser cars.
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But he is "good enough". He's not the best, but he can win the WDC given the car and he is a very safe pair of hands.
To me he represents a very safe bet with reasonable odds.

I'm also tempted to go for a slightly more dangerous bet such as Perez or Hulkenburg. Its very unlikely either of them will take the title considering the competition...but their odds are very high and well you never know. Perez could genuinely surprise and odds like 14/1 is possibly worth a go.

Keep in mind were talking gambling here - its not worth betting on Vettel or Alonso because their odds will be very low. Or at least, its not very exciting betting on them.
 
peter_vod69
What a load of rubbish. He's already proven himself in a car that didn't have any sponsorship on it. And he's already more than held his own against an often-patchy Lewis Hamilton. Jenson is in one of the top three teams for a damn good reason, and it isn't his nationality. He's an intelligent, strategic driver who can carry a set of tyres a lot further than almost anyone else on the grid, and who can bang out consistent laps as well as anyone else on the grid.
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I certainly won't be ruling out Jenson for the title. I'm not a fan of his but he's a top driver for sure and also in a top team who have a good chance to get something right after last year's development. I think Lewis left a little early.

Alonso, Button and Vettel are my picks.
 
prisonermonkeys
Ah, testing. My least-favourite time of the year because everyone gets carried away over lap times that ultimately mean nothing. Case in point: people predicting Jenson Button as the 2013 World Champion on the back of a single flying lap on the very first day of the test.
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I'm pretty sure it was sarcasm.:dunce:
 
peter_vod69
What a load of rubbish. He's already proven himself in a car that didn't have any sponsorship on it. And he's already more than held his own against an often-patchy Lewis Hamilton. Jenson is in one of the top three teams for a damn good reason, and it isn't his nationality. He's an intelligent, strategic driver who can carry a set of tyres a lot further than almost anyone else on the grid, and who can bang out consistent laps as well as anyone else on the grid.
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The Brawn 2009 car was a bit of a cheat car in the first half, though. Or, well, cheat car isn't the right word. They were so much ahead of everyone else because they had such a long time developing the car and then there was the loophole with the double diffuser. When the matter on these diffusers was solved, Red Bull quickly caught up and in the end Vettel came really close to snatching the title off of Button.

Do I mean with this Jenson lucked into the 2009 title? No. But do I believe he would've taken the title either way if the diffuser matter was cleared up before the start of the season? I wouldn't place a bet on it.

However, I would love Jenson to prove me wrong this year. I really like him as a driver, such charisma and flamboyance. Something the other drivers are missing these days. But when it comes to pace, I do think he is lacking the ultimate pace to challenge Alonso, Hamilton and Vettel. He is very consistent, though, and feasts upon all the small mistakes the other drivers make. I will definitely cheer for him, but I'm more exited to see how Perez will do at McLaren.
 
Bram Turismo
The Brawn 2009 car was a bit of a cheat car in the first half, though. Or, well, cheat car isn't the right word. They were so much ahead of everyone else because they had such a long time developing the car and then there was the loophole with the double diffuser. When the matter on these diffusers was solved, Red Bull quickly caught up and in the end Vettel came really close to snatching the title off of Button.

Do I mean with this Jenson lucked into the 2009 title? No. But do I believe he would've taken the title either way if the diffuser matter was cleared up before the start of the season? I wouldn't place a bet on it.

However, I would love Jenson to prove me wrong this year. I really like him as a driver, such charisma and flamboyance. Something the other drivers are missing these days. But when it comes to pace, I do think he is lacking the ultimate pace to challenge Alonso, Hamilton and Vettel. He is very consistent, though, and feasts upon all the small mistakes the other drivers make. I will definitely cheer for him, but I'm more exited to see how Perez will do at McLaren.
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That's exactly what I think. Well said.
 
Yeah, Ted got interviewed earlier in the week and said that he thinks Alonso's taking a strategic approach to sitting the first test out. Since the drivers have to split up time testing, he said he'd rather test at a proper modern GP circuit like Catulyuna and leave the initial testing and installation to Massa and DLR. Giving them the two days allows him more time with the car at his preferred track, where he feels he can comes to grips with the new set up better.
 
Has anybody been following Autosport's live coverage of the test? They've just voted for the worst Formula 1 driver in twenty years over Twitter, and the winner was Taki Inoue ... but Inoue himself was leading the campaign to be voted the worst driver. And over the past few days, he's really been making a point of talking about how bad he was. It was funny to begin with, but now it's just kind of weird.

Is he high?
 
Footage of Lewis's crash yesterday:



More dramatic than I'd thought!
 
IceMan PJN
I wouldn't bet on him because he isn't good enough. He is good, but there are better drivers on the grid. He has a better chance in 2013 now that Lewis isn't in the same car, but if Jenson wins the WDC it's because he had the best car while better drivers had lesser cars.
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Having a frontrunning car underneath you is the most basic of pre-requisites to win a world championship, your point is moot. If there is an equal driver in a faster, more reliable car, you aren't going to win. Take 2004; Button finished 3rd behind the two dominant Ferraris. In 2011, Button finished comfortably in second place behind Vettel in the dominant Red Bull (If you question this, question why Webber finished ahead of Hamilton, Alonso and Massa).

Button has only had a pacesetting car for one season in his entire career (That's at a push, realistically it was only the fastest for the first half of the season). It's no coincidence that he won his one and only world championship that year. What more do you expect of him? To win championships in an inferior car?

It's worth noting that for the past 2-3 decades, the World Drivers Champion has almost always been in the quickest car (Any exceptions are highly debateable, though there is a good case for Hakkinen in the 99 season). It's extremely rare for a driver to win a championship in a car which is outclassed by another.
 
Wardez
And it shows:
yNw4mFL.jpg


Still hot back there!
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I read something today about a backmarker team from the early 90s - it may have been Larousse or Lotus - the article mentioned that the cars behind them became dirty because of the higher-than-normal amount of oil in their emissions.
 
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