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| Mark Webber & Red Bull Doing Pit Stop Practice |
The low temperatures became a main talking point of the test though, as it had a major influence over the tyre performance of the new Pirelli’s for the 2013 season. First brought up by Sergio Perez and later followed up by others.
The graining was initially a worry, with the surface of the
tyre tearing up after merely one or two laps, as the energy in the rubber
simply runs out because of the loss of temperature and pressure – quite an
incredible feat, with Perez evening stating if it were the same at the first
race in Melbourne, to expect between seven
and ten stops.
However, more experienced drivers indicated that this sort
of degradation is usual for the cold conditions of pre-season testing as
thermal degradation kicks in. Nevertheless, it is still believed some races may
be contain many pit stops, producing the sort of race strategies we saw at the
start of 2011.
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| Van Der Garde's Stricken Caterham Doing One Of Eight Red Flags On A Wet Day Four |
As in the last two seasons though, as grand prix take place,
teams will learn how to manage the tyres. One team who seem to have carried on
their trend of being tyre-kind from 2012 is Lotus, with Grosjean racking up 24
laps on a medium tyre which impressed many.
Grosjean and Webber on day 3 ran a race sim at the same
time, with Webber in the Red Bull only out racing the Lotus overall by a mere
two seconds. Many experts are predicting massively close times, both in
qualifying and in races. To emphasise this see the top ten times by drivers
over the four days, as they cover less than one second. Of course, we don’t
know fuel loads and therefore can’t assume everything, but having seven
different teams in the top ten is a stand out fact here. I won’t be surprised
to see this as the case in Melbourne.
1)
Sergio Perez [McLaren] 1.21.848
2)
Fernando Alonso [Ferrari] 1.21.875
3)
Nico Hulkenberg [Sauber] 1.22.160
4)
Romain Grosjean [Lotus] 1.22.188
5)
Sebastian Vettel [Red Bull] 1.22.197
6)
Nico Rosberg [Mercedes] 1.22.611
7)
Pastor Maldonado [Williams] 1.22.675
8)
Kimi Raikkonen [Lotus] 1.22.697
9)
Lewis Hamilton [Mercedes] 1.22.726
10)
Valtteri Bottas [Williams] 1.22.826
Day four saw various times of rain for the drivers, with
eight red flags came out with various spins off the circuit costing over an
hour of overall track time. This only allowed Bianchi who is gunning for the
final Force India seat to slip and slide around, but he did an impressive job
considering no doubt. The day before Adrian Sutil piloted the orange and green
car for the first time since late 2011, it is now up the Force India board to
put us out of our misery and finally decide on the seat hopefully before the
third and final test so they can put in the miles they need.
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| Sutil Keeping His Fingers Crossed To Resign With Force India Ahead Of Rookie Bianchi |
Hamilton set the best time in the rain, but despite the
Mercedes looking quite quick and Rosberg expressing his confidence in the car
in comparison to last year, Lewis refuses to let on any belief that the car is
capable of fighting for podiums and victories at the beginning of the season.
Perhaps he is managing his expectation so any good results that come their way
becomes a huge high rather than a relief.
Whilst Perez topped the timesheets overall, Jenson Button
has admitted that McLaren have had ‘a tricky winter so far’, and that ‘at times
the car feels good; at other times it doesn’t’ - classic Button! Infact, some
experts have begun to believe that it is unsurprisingly Red Bull, but with
Lotus joining them at the top in terms of race pace, and perhaps McLaren third.
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| Lotus Could Improve Once Again This Year After An Impressive 2012 Campaign |
This leaves the last top team Ferrari, with Fernando Alonso making his 2013
bow over the first three days of the test, and poor Felipe Massa setting times
in the rain on day four. Whilst they don’t seem to have fallen to the lows of
the start of 2012, Alonso dubbed their new F138 ‘okay’, further expanding that
it feels more or less the same as where the predecessor was at the end of 2012.
In the terms of the midfield, Nico Hulkenberg has been
impressive in his new Sauber team, as well as the new Williams FW35 which
launched this week, despite the setback of having to replace their exhaust,
which was declared illegal by the FIA as well as for the already slow Caterham
who seem to have made no steps forwards at all disappointingly.
The third and final test starts this Thursday 28th February for four days. Next stop after, Melbourne! Check back for the review of the final test, right here at F1 Hub. Thanks for reading as always, please share and help build our Formula One online community.
Nick, F1 Hub
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