The Official 2013 F1 Thread. Spoilers possible!

This explains the deviled eggs and collard greens in the Red Bull hospitality tent.

looks like Kubica stays in rally for 2013

goog posting !

Sauber testing a DRD



the controversial Williams exhaust





Bottas in his office



poetry in motion

tail shots:

It's hard to read much into winter testing. Here's about all I think we might (or might not) know:

* Tires may degrade even more quickly this season
* Ferrari won't be two seconds off the pace to start the season
* Williams will be better
* Mercedes won't be better

Any and all of the above could be wrong!

Perez was saying the tires went off on the McLaren really quickly.
It'll be interesting to see what JB has to say about tire life (although I always thought Perez was "kind" to tires)

So far every comment I've read mentions how quickly the tires are degrading. Alonso said they could only get one lap of good data before the tire degradation interfered.

Some are wondering if the cold weather might have something to do with it. I always thought heat killed tires, not cold.

There was a story that the drivers are already speculating that we might see more pit stops this year because of the tire issue.

Drivers say extreme tyre wear not great

Pirelli had advised that new compounds were going to last less compared to 2012.
Thursday, February 21, 2013



More Pit-Stops are expected.



Februay 2013 (GMM).- 'Pirelli' is the buzzword in the Barcelona paddock, as the F1 world gets to grips with the extreme degradation of the Italian supplier's 2013 tyres.
McLaren's Sergio Perez was quickest in his McLaren on Wednesday, but he admitted to being surprised by how quickly the Pirellis were wearing out.
"I don't know what to say," the Mexican is quoted by Spain's AS newspaper. "It is worrying and I hope it changes for the first race.
"It doesn't matter what you do, what talent you have," said Perez.
"It is an unpleasant surprise," he is quoted by Speed Week.
"The cool temperatures are making it worse; in Melbourne it will probably be better, otherwise we will be doing seven or ten pitstops."
Up and down the pitlane, the comments were similar. Toro Rosso's Daniel Ricciardo spoke of being shot with "rubber bullets" - the chunks of discarded 'marbles' as the tyres wear - as he drove around the Circuit de Catalunya.
"I'm not sure if what the tyres are doing is what they (Pirelli) had expected," said the Australian.
According to Germany's Auto Motor und Sport, Mercedes boss Ross Brawn commented: "The wear is twice as high as last year."
Force India's Nico Hulkenberg added: "The tyres have overshadowed everything. After a lap the grip is going away."
No matter the tyre situation, it's the same for everyone. Teams, then, are more guarded than ever about their setups and technical solutions with just one more test after this week's running to prepare for Australia.
Red Bull is being highly secretive, with mechanics rushing to fit covers as the RB9 is wheeled backwards into the garage.
Bild newspaper suspects a "hacker" or a "virus" may have contributed to the world champions' glitches in the McLaren-supplied software so far this week.
Contemplating Red Bull's rivals, Dr Helmut Marko admitted: "The McLaren and Lotus look the best."
As ever in testing, reliability is a big factor, and on Wednesday Ferrari continued to raise suspicions about an exhaust design flaw, when Fernando Alonso suffered a failure.
Sebastian Vettel and Kimi Raikkonen also had problems. When asked what he did during his downtime, the laconic Lotus driver admitted: "I had a sleep."

Williams blown wheel nuts & exhaust analyzed

<iframe width="1280" height="720" src="http://www.youtube.com/embed/6F0ghECsydQ" frameborder="0" allowfullscreen></iframe>

I guess not so good for JB either

So I guess he really doesn't like the tires but he's trying to avoid blaming Pirelli? I can't imagine a car just changing moods like hes describing unless weather or tire condition comes into play.

Oh, they've all talked about the quick tire degradation, about one good lap and then they go off apparently. It may be that they're not ripping Pirelli by name because they know that the manufacturer is only doing the FIA's bidding.

One driver had the nous to mention that this kind of tire made for exciting races last season. A driver with perspective, whodathunk it?

well it was exciting if it happened to be in favor of a driver you were cheering for, and frustrating if it hurt the driver you were cheering for...

but just like last year, the teams figured it out, and it was business as usual after that.

I asked one of my tech guys what he thought of the tires and he felt that the cold temps contribute to the tire "tearing" rather than wearing properly. Maybe at normal temperatures we will see some different results.

Red Bull sneaky under-nose duct

HUGE PICTURE!

and a far shot to show how well it is camouflaged

Interesting test rig on the Lotus



they tell me it is a Kistler RoadDyn: it measures wheelforces for gathering tire model data.

as far as the tires go.. I can see your point.
but, it seems to me the spin (in the end) and the fan understanding of the dynamics is much better than you give credit for. it seems to me the fans of F1 are pretty smart.. I'm a fan & I am smart ... but I digress

the fact that the tires are all the same (level playing field) and some drivers do better than others on different days doesn't seem to reflect badly on Pirelli.

I think they handle it all pretty well since it isn't a tire war anymore. now if there were a couple of suppliers, like the old days, and one set wasn't up to scratch, that would cause a big stink.

Button on tires:

I agree. Anyone who watches racing knows that tires degrade. So the only issue is how fast they degrade.

I don't think Pirelli is being harmed by this. Their brand is getting an enormous amount of exposure. People may be talking about tire degradation, but not in a way that reflects poorly on Pirelli.