The Official 2013 F1 Thread. Spoilers possible!

[HarveyMushman]

Originally Posted by g®eg

. . . Red Bull continues to rely on Vettel exhaust . . .

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

[g®eg]

looks like Kubica stays in rally for 2013

Robert Kubica resigns from DTM, Ralf Schumacher joins Mercedes

Category: DTM

Published: Tuesday, 19 February 2013 19:12

Magdalena Kotlińska

Ralf Schumacher has signed a new contract with the Mercedes team, and he, not Robert Kubica, as previously speculated, will represent the colors of the German team in the 2013 season.
We signed a one-year contract with Ralf and we are extremely pleased that we will be able to benefit from his experience - Toto Wolff said, the new Mercedes-Benz motorsport director.
Schumacher is a clear confirmation of the resignation of the DTM series by Robert Kubica, who a month ago with a team of Mercedes took the test in the car AMG Mercedes C-Coupe and then went off very well.
Robert during the tests was very fast. But unfortunately, he sees himself somewhere else - Wolff revealed.
This situation may indicate that the Polish driver in the 2013 season, will remain in the rally, because, as he said recently in an interview, DTM tests did not significantly influence his decision in the coming year.

[vettex2]

goog posting !

[g®eg]

Sauber testing a DRD



the controversial Williams exhaust





Bottas in his office



poetry in motion

[g®eg]

tail shots:

[wxwax]

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!

[g®eg]

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)

[wxwax]

Originally Posted by g®eg

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.

[g®eg]

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."

[g®eg]

Williams blown wheel nuts & exhaust analyzed

[g®eg]

Originally Posted by g®eg

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)

I guess not so good for JB either

Not a great day for Button

The British driver claims McLaren is having a hard time understanding the MP4-28.
Thursday, February 21, 2013



Jenson Button today at the Circuit of Catalunya (Octane Photographic)



Barcelona, February 21th, 2013 (F1plus). – Two things seem to be bugging Jenson Button; not enough laps and the uneven understanding of the McLaren MP4-28. The Briton lapped today a full second slower than what teammate Perez had achieve yesterday.
Button completed 71 laps today, and with rain the forecast tomorrow, surely that number will not be higher.
"It's going to be wet tomorrow so it is going to be tricky, and for me, I don't feel that I have had enough laps in the car and I think it is the same for Checo as well,"
Today, McLaren mechanics had to work to change the car setting and the delayed Jenson’s time on the track for the afternoon session about an hour.
Button was not hiding his feeling about the team being a bit behind the learning curve and that time on the track has not be the ideal.
"In terms of laps completed and the testing that I have achieved, yes, I think we're behind on that. And a lot of it has been because we've been doing certain tests that have taken a bit longer than we wanted and as soon as one change takes longer it rolls into the next change and then it's lunchtime. So most of our testing is done in the afternoon these days!
"So it's not been perfect and we know we've got a lot of work to do in terms of spending more time out on the circuit and understanding the car." Said Button.
Then it is the issue of the car’s uneven performance, which might justify the difference in time between both drivers one day to the next.
"It's been very tricky to understand where the car is. At times the car feels good, at other times it doesn't. “He said.
"A lot of that is basically understanding the car that we have and understanding the way it's working and making sure it's working the way we expect it. Some of the time that hasn't been the case.
"But there are times when the car's working pretty well. Today on hards I did a 1m22.8s, which I don't think is a bad lap with the fuel that we had on board. And Checo [Sergio Perez] did a 1m21.8s on softs yesterday, which is also pretty good.
"At Jerez we showed pace, but we also showed that we don't have pace at other times.
"We don't know where we are and there's no point trying to compare us to other people. We've got to sort out our own issues and get the best out of the car." The Briton added.

[Fajita Dave]

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.

[wxwax]

Originally Posted by Fajita Dave

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?

[g®eg]

Originally Posted by wxwax

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.

[g®eg]

Red Bull sneaky under-nose duct

HUGE PICTURE!

and a far shot to show how well it is camouflaged