Testing Starts!!!

[BradSpeedMan 6]

Guys, here's 2 links to follow times and info on testing starting from today at Jerez... Post whatever you find interesting...

http://twitter.jamesallenonf1.com/live?refresh

http://live.autosport.com/index.php/event/90

EDIT: another good link

https://twitter.com/#!/strangautosport

[BradSpeedMan 6]

First flying lap of 2012 done by the Iceman...

08:24 Raikkonen sets a 1m20.992s, our first flying lap of the year.

Button has just done an installation lap...

[BradSpeedMan 6]

very up and down from Kimi at the mo...

08:28 Raikkonen laps in 1m21.065s as he goes onto lap five of his run.

08:28 Kobayashi goes second fastest to Raikkonen with a 1m22.198s.

[BradSpeedMan 6]

Just over half an hour into running/testing on first day....

08:36 AUTOSPORT F1 editor @eddstrawF1 says: "It's no coincidence that the two teams who completed promotional running yesterday - Lotus and Sauber - have completed the most laps of teams with new cars so far.

"As Kamui Kobayashi said yesterday 'we had no problems and went through the programme, so I am happy. It was a good start for us. We can start tomorrow with more detailed testing and are not worried about trouble from the first moment."

expect the other teams to catch up during the day

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08:54 Several of you have asked how the times set so far compare to last year. Very well, is the answer. Raikkonen's 1m20.514s is quicker than the 1m20.709s that Massa set when topping the first day of Jerez testing in February 2011.

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I actually have to start working now

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09:01 The Finn is the only man on track at the moment.

09:01 From trackside we can see that Raikkonen is starting to wind it up, and beginning to lean on the car a little more.

09:01 And is frankly probably happier than he would've been if he had been preparing for Rally Sweden this weekend... hahahahahah

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09:09 Raikkonen took a bite of grass as he entered the pitlane. Not hanging about even on his in-lap. There is purpose in his body and car language.

Keep it up Iceman, keep it up!!! All year long!!!

[BradSpeedMan 6]

Hey, you guys are free to post as we go along

[BradSpeedMan 6]

09:26 @eddstrawF1 also enjoying Raikkonen's comeback so far: "had a watch trackside around the final part of the track. Great to see Kimi leaning on the car. Took a bite of the grass with his front-left entering the pits, so on it on an in-lap. Great to see him back in an F1 car."

09:25 @StrangAutosport: "Kimi looks on it this morning. Taking no prisoners on the apexes and really pushing on to get up to speed."

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09:30 @StrangAutosport with some more Raikkonen analysis: "During his run in the 2010 Renault, two weeks ago, taking into account fuel correction, he was within two tenths of his best lap on his first flyer."

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Ok, seems to be all about Kimi this morning with my post, but hey, what do u expect hhehehehehehe

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09:38 Green flag running throughout so far this morning - a serene start to 2012 testing as the new cars show good initial reliability.---

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09:55 Raikkonen sets a new fastest time - a blistering 1m19.670s.

09:57 That 1m19.6s from Raikkonen was set on medium tyres.

Beautiful is Fast and Fast is beautiful!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

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@StrangAutosport reports that Raikkonen was "inch perfect" through the final corner as he went to the top of the times.

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Whoever's tweeting here from autosport is very funny!!

10:04 Rosberg shaves 0.008s off his previous best and does a 1m21.162s, but that's still 1.4s off Raikkonen.

10:05 Maybe Rosberg would've been quicker with a year or two's rest from F1...? Hahahahahaahahahaha

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10:16 @Lotus_F1Team: "That lap time from Kimi was set on medium compound tyres; it'll be interesting to see how he fares on the softer compounds!"

@TheFifthDriver provides some reassurance for McLaren fans: "For all those asking, @jensonbutton and the team were running some routine systems checks - we'll be on track again shortly!"

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10:31 Force India update: "just checking each system today and dialling the the car at the same time. Priority is also to get miles today for data collection". Paul di Resta has done 28 laps so far, third fastest 1m21.526s, 1.307s off

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nothing happening at the mo...

Times so far

1 Raikkonen Lotus 1m19.670s

2 Rosberg Mercedes 1m20.219s +0.549

3 Di Resta Force India 1m21.526s +1.856

4 Kobayashi Sauber 1m22.112s +2.442

5 Ricciardo Toro Rosso 1m22.270s +2.600

6 Massa Ferrari 1m23.391s +3.721

7 De la Rosa HRT 1m25.535s +5.865

Red Bull and Mclaren running in the next half an hour

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10:41 Blaz Stremfelj asks how many laps each driver has done so far. Raikkonen, 38; Rosberg, 36; Di Resta, 30; Kobayashi, 14; Ricciardo, 22; Massa, 24; De la Rosa, 17; Kovalainen, 3; Button 2, Maldonado, 3

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10:48 Button improves to a 1m22.440s on his second lap. McLaren looking pretty solid so far.

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10:54 Ah. The moment you've all been waiting for as Red Bull's RB8 takes to the track for the first time. It's Mark Webber at the wheel today.

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[JHS18 0]

Oh testing. The time when some fans start to get paranoid *cough* McLaren fans *cough* and others start to get too confident *cough* everyone else *cough*.

Should be fun.

[Quiet One 15]

Oh testing. The time when some fans start to get paranoid *cough* McLaren fans *cough* and others start to get too confident *cough* everyone else *cough*.

Should be fun.

That's only because people inevitably tends to read too much into testing times which is, of course, completely idiotic.

Having said that, and upon a more thorough analysis of the data provided by Brad, I will just humbly predict:

Team Poochie will be the WDC and WCC 2012 by a HUGE margin!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Rosberg beats Schumi into oblivion!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Di Resta 3rd on his secoond year???? Force India 3rd!!!!!!!!!

De La Rosa and HRT into top 10!!!!!!!!!!!

Alonso, McLaren and Red Bull simply disappear from this Universe!!!!!!!!!

Oh, man, what a shocking season!!!!!!!!!!!

[BradSpeedMan 6]

Oh testing. The time when some fans start to get paranoid *cough* McLaren fans *cough* and others start to get too confident *cough* everyone else *cough*.

Should be fun.

lol yeah, at least there's action and one do get an indication of who's fastest or near the front, normally after all the tests.

[BradSpeedMan 6]

That's only because people inevitably tends to read too much into testing times which is, of course, completely idiotic.

Having said that, and upon a more thorough analysis of the data provided by Brad, I will just humbly predict:

Team Poochie will be the WDC and WCC 2012 by a HUGE margin!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Rosberg beats Schumi into oblivion!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Di Resta 3rd on his secoond year???? Force India 3rd!!!!!!!!!

De La Rosa and HRT into top 10!!!!!!!!!!!

Alonso, McLaren and Red Bull simply disappear from this Universe!!!!!!!!!

Oh, man, what a shocking season!!!!!!!!!!!

Now don't get ahead of yourself . I'm following testing thats all

[BradSpeedMan 6]

11:46 @redbullracing We were late getting out today because of the delayed arrival of some components due to heavy fog! We're all systems go now though


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[JHS18 0]

lol yeah, at least there's action and one do get an indication of who's fastest or near the front, normally after all the tests.

Yeah, but not typically after the opening day of the very first test. Fun to read some posts on other forums with teams already being written off by arm chair experts. But I guess testing wouldn't be testing without that sort of thing.

[BradSpeedMan 6]

Yeah, but not typically after the opening day of the very first test. Fun to read some posts on other forums with teams already being written off by arm chair experts. But I guess testing wouldn't be testing without that sort of thing.

or that Fernando will win his 3rd first championship after a really quick lap....happened last year....

Still, there's something happening

[JHS18 0]

Haha yeah, it's nice to see F1 cars back on track again, even if it is hard for me to get excited for the first race seeing as I won't get to see it live thanks to Sky...actually, I'll save that rant for another topic...

Also, for anyone who is on Twitter, TF1's favourite driver David Coulthard has signed up.

[JHS18 0]

Autosport's attempt to create headlines:

Well Caterham certainly has looked okay today. Only four tenths of Ferrari so far, so could be a good year for Norfolk - or a bad one for Maranello. Very early days though

[Quiet One 15]

Now don't get ahead of yourself . I'm following testing thats all

my comment wasnt aimed at you, quite the contrary, keep up the updates, it's the only way I have to know what's going on!

But as James pointed out, some other forums have already started talking as if these were the final standings of the season.

[David Adams 0]

my comment wasnt aimed at you, quite the contrary, keep up the updates, it's the only way I have to know what's going on!

But as James pointed out, some other forums have already started talking as if these were the final standings of the season.

Seriously? Oh very dear! Nice to see the Lotus so fast out of the box though, not many pictures of fancy innovations yet though, I'm looking forward to seeing the rear end (oh-er) of the McLaren without the 'fake plastic' bits! :-D

David

[BradSpeedMan 6]

Seriously? Oh very dear! Nice to see the Lotus so fast out of the box though, not many pictures of fancy innovations yet though, I'm looking forward to seeing the rear end (oh-er) of the McLaren without the 'fake plastic' bits! :-D

David

It's lunchtime now. Button has done only 22 laps so far...Mclaren has been busy with checks most of the morning... and balances when it concerns Button

[Quiet One 15]

Seriously? Oh very dear! Nice to see the Lotus so fast out of the box though, not many pictures of fancy innovations yet though, I'm looking forward to seeing the rear end (oh-er) of the McLaren without the 'fake plastic' bits! :-D

David

I have no idea as which times can be considered "fast". Perhaps somebody has last season's times for comparison purposes? Best times and final average test times would be the only useful. Teams have to run very thorough tests and end speed and qualy laps is only the last concern when you first need to test functionality and reliability.

First day is never about who goes fastest, but about whose car does not spontaneously disintegrates or which team discovers that placing the fuel hatch placed beneath the driver's a$$ was not as efficient on the track as it seemed on the design board.

[David Adams 0]

I have no idea as which times can be considered "fast". Perhaps somebody has last season's times for comparison purposes? Best times and final average test times would be the only useful. Teams have to run very thorough tests and end speed and qualy laps is only the last concern when you first need to test functionality and reliability.

First day is never about who goes fastest, but about whose car does not spontaneously disintegrates or which team discovers that placing the fuel hatch placed beneath the driver's a$ was not as efficient on the track as it seemed on the design board.

Haha, sounds like an Adrian Newey concept there! :-P

And from the autosport feed:

"08:54 Several of you have asked how the times set so far compare to last year. Very well, is the answer. Raikkonen's 1m20.514s is quicker than the 1m20.709s that Massa set when topping the first day of Jerez testing in February 2011."

[BradSpeedMan 6]

I have no idea as which times can be considered "fast". Perhaps somebody has last season's times for comparison purposes? Best times and final average test times would be the only useful. Teams have to run very thorough tests and end speed and qualy laps is only the last concern when you first need to test functionality and reliability.

First day is never about who goes fastest, but about whose car does not spontaneously disintegrates or which team discovers that placing the fuel hatch placed beneath the driver's a$$ was not as efficient on the track as it seemed on the design board.

If you tell me this is'nt impressive for the first day... I think it's excellent for a start

http://www.autosport.com/news/report.php/id/97384

EDIT: I think what helped was yesterday's promotional run, and setting the car up earlier than the others

[BradSpeedMan 6]

13:23 And we have our first sight of Pirelli's supersofts in 2012. This set is bolted on to Kobayashi's Sauber - get ready for a quick lap. Wonder if the team's sponsors have just arrived...

LOL

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13:24 How inspiring. It's an installation lap for the Japanese racer as he pits... and then goes straight back out again.

This autosport guy has a cool sense of humour...my kinda style

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13:25 Some Finnish guy in a black car goes onto the track... Raikkonen. Yes, that's his name. And he's not messing about either as he scythes through Expo and up to Michelin (so nice to have corner names, rather than numbers here).

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13:26 Funnily enough, Pirelli's press release from yesterday says there will be no supersofts at Jerez. Somebody's had their felt tips out then...

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14:56 Red Bull looks good again in the technical sections - Webber records the highest top speed of any car today through sector two.

I think they're using high fuel loads again....

[F1 FANatic 1]

Ok, maybe I am a bit daft, but why exactly the new nose configuration. As far as I understand the noses were to be lowered. But as far as I can tell the bottom of the new noses are still just as high as the bottom of last years noses. I thought the entire point was to bring the bottom of the nose down. Technically that would make sense to reduce aero efficiency under the car. Bringing the top down just makes sense if you want to create extra thing spears to slice through the tub if there is a T-bone crash.

Am i just not seeing the fact that the noses are lower?

[Massa 0]

I know it's testing and it means nothing, but I'll put out an offer...any driver who dethrones Sebastian Vettel and Red Bull, and I mean any driver, regardless of whatever I have said about him in the past, will win my blind affection.

Get after it, Kimi.

[Massa 0]

Autosport:

Have a think

Oh god do Brits really talk like that?