Abu Dhabi test

[chunterer]

Marciello in the Ferrari!

Did it start yesterday or is it today?

[Hawkwood]

It's Tuesday and Wednesday.

I don't suppose anyone is close to their Sky box and can tell me if Sky F1 are showing it at all?

[bella]

Originally Posted by chunterer

Marciello in the Ferrari!

alex lynn in the lotus too... interesting move from red bull (unless it was a prize for winning gp3 or something)

[steve nielsen]

Day 1:

1 Valtteri Bottas Williams/Mercedes 1m43.396s - 80
2 Kimi Raikkonen Ferrari 1m43.888s 0.492s 81
3 Nico Rosberg Mercedes 1m44.512s 1.116s 114
4 Jolyon Palmer Force India/Mercedes 1m44.516s 1.120s 37
5 Carlos Sainz Jr. Red Bull/Renault 1m45.339s 1.943s 100
6 Will Stevens Caterham/Renault 1m45.436s 2.040s 102
7 Charles Pic Lotus/Renault 1m46.167s 2.771s 89
8 Marcus Ericsson Sauber/Ferrari 1m46.487s 3.091s 95
9 Max Verstappen Toro Rosso/Renault 1m47.194s 3.798s 55
10 Stoffel Vandoorne McLaren/Honda - - 3

Max Verstappen had a minor crash after 2 laps after a suspension failure, it took the rest of the morning to repair the car.



Mclaren had a lot of problems with the Honda engine wich first would'nt start because of electronic problems and when it finaly started it broke down after 3 laps.

[TheNo1F1Fan]

Originally Posted by steve nielsen

Mclaren had a lot of problems with the Honda engine wich first would'nt start because of electronic problems and when it finaly started it broke down after 3 laps.

If it ever happens again next year...just wondering

[Biscuits In A Red Bull]

Sounds very promising for McLaren. The good ones break down. We all know the bad ones are reliable but never get much higher than 6th...

[mikuni]

Originally Posted by Biscuits In A Red Bull

Sounds very promising for McLaren. The good ones break down. We all know the bad ones are reliable but never get much higher than 6th...

hah, possibly a good point. I've never really thought about it that way, but the cars of the last few years have been ridiculously reliable.

After the teething troubles for all of the teams at the early testing this year, it is hardly news that McLaren had a little bit of trouble with the Honda in its first outing. I think it took Renault about a week for a car with their power unit to string a few decent laps together.

As is mentioned in an article I read, they are finding these issues in November, which is fantastic. Come the testing in Jerez if they are still in the same position they should begin worrying, but as Red Bull proved this year, it still won't be the end of the world. If you had have told someone in Jerez that Red Bull would be winning races this year, I'm not sure they'd have believed you.

[steve nielsen]

No laps so far for McLaren -Honda on day 2, same problems as yesterday

1 P. Wehrlein 1:44.557 42
2 M. Verstappen 1:45.222 63
3 R. Marciello 1:45.376 48
4 D. Ricciardo 1:45.666 60
5 F. Nasr 1:45.937 21
6 E. Ocon 1:47.013 34
7 M. Ericsson 1:47.173 61
8 W. Stevens 1:48.348 43
9 S. Goddard 1:48.738 33
10 S. Vandoorne 0

[BertMk2]

It interesting to see Caterham piling the laps in - 102 yesterday and they've put in a decent number again today. There must be some pennies left in the piggy bank.

Does anyone think any of the drivers getting their first taste of the F1 cars will be in a race seat next season? With no Marussia and question marks over Caterham then realistically is there anywhere for them to go?

[ScotsBrutesFan]

I hadn't realised that caterham had stayed for the test... Did they not get enough to ship the kit back again ? : bag:

[bravo]

Is that McLaren basically the 2014 chassis with a Honda power unit? If so, amazing they can go from one to another and even manage a few laps only days after finishing a GP using a totally different power unit.

Unless the power units are not so different after all....?

[BertMk2]

Originally Posted by bravo

Is that McLaren basically the 2014 chassis with a Honda power unit? If so, amazing they can go from one to another and even manage a few laps only days after finishing a GP using a totally different power unit.

Unless the power units are not so different after all....?

I believe it's a modified 2014 car - but it won't be one of the race chassis from the weekend, it'll be the car they shook down at Silverstone (last week?).

[Nicholosophy]

Originally Posted by BertMk2

It interesting to see Caterham piling the laps in - 102 yesterday and they've put in a decent number again today. There must be some pennies left in the piggy bank.

Does anyone think any of the drivers getting their first taste of the F1 cars will be in a race seat next season? With no Marussia and question marks over Caterham then realistically is there anywhere for them to go?

Car and staff are already there. Stevens would be funding things like fuel and what not. If there are prospective owners in the Middle East it makes sense for them to hang around and put some laps in. Also makes sense for Stevens to get some more mileage in order to get him in the minds of other teams for future drives, should Caterham not exist next year.

[Mike Harte]

Originally Posted by ScotsBrutesFan

I hadn't realised that caterham had stayed for the test... Did they not get enough to ship the kit back again ? : bag:

The kit was brought over with the other teams in Ecclestone's chartered air-freighters, and at no cost to Caterham. The return to the UK was also to be free, and would therefore go in the same air-freighters as the rest of the grid after the test.

It would, therefore, seem to make sense to make the most of the days in Abu Dhabi; the cost would be minimal in comparison to the cost of transporting everything back to the UK independently.

[steve nielsen]

end of day 2

1 P. Wehrlein 1:42.624 96
2 R. Marciello 1:43.208 91
3 M. Verstappen 1:43.763 78
4 M. Ericsson 1:44.551 112
5 W. Stevens 1:44.888 76
6 S. Goddard 1:44.944 89
7 D. Ricciardo 1:45.151 88
8 F. Nasr 1:45.937 83
9 A. Lynn 1:46.168 52
10 E. Ocon 1:47.013 34
11 S. Vandoorne 2

The Honda now stopped in the second installation lap, so Honda did not even 5 whole laps in 2 days of testing.

[bella]

Originally Posted by Mike Harte

The kit was brought over with the other teams in Ecclestone's chartered air-freighters, and at no cost to Caterham. The return to the UK was also to be free, and would therefore go in the same air-freighters as the rest of the grid after the test.

It would, therefore, seem to make sense to make the most of the days in Abu Dhabi; the cost would be minimal in comparison to the cost of transporting everything back to the UK independently.

i think this is why the actual amount the crowdfunding sought was far greater than the cost of competing in the gp. as it happens they've got some decent mileage done and some good intel about next seasons tyres.

fwiw, they had to transport a decent amount more stuff over by air than usual because they were out of sync with the non-urgent kit shipping routines. iirc. so they *may* have incurred extra air freight costs there.

[wdave0]

Originally Posted by bella

i think this is why the actual amount the crowdfunding sought was far greater than the cost of competing in the gp. as it happens they've got some decent mileage done and some good intel about next seasons tyres.

fwiw, they had to transport a decent amount more stuff over by air than usual because they were out of sync with the non-urgent kit shipping routines. iirc. so they *may* have incurred extra air freight costs there.

Just think of what a good run like this at the test - lots of laps and far from slowest, will do for resale value! Surely that's the major consideration now.

[bella]

exactly, and it only stopped working right at the end of the final day. so much for a flaky team turning up to compete in abu dhabi - looks like the cars have lasted exactly as long as they needed to. given the crap hand they've been dealt it's pretty impressive stuff.

hopefully someone steps forward with some wedge quickly enough to get the 2015 car into motion in time for some of the testing and races.

[Gingers4Justice]

In more classic "F1 in its own bubble" news, Force India are trialing a new "information display system". Pioneering stuff, eh!

http://www.autosport.com/news/report.php/id/116942

Which begs the question - what on earth is wrong with the two systems already commonly used elsewhere?

[wnut]

Red Bull pull the plug on Vettel - NO Ferrari testing

http://www.autosport.com/news/report.php/id/116901