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HandyNZL

2013 First Test (No, Not Cricket...)

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That red on the Lotus sure looks a lot better on-track than in-studio. Crisis avoided; Räikkönen will look just fine winning races this year.

I can't tell anything from these times, of course. I still think Lotus employ an aggressive testing strategy on the basis that they have been really quick in testing year after year. That said, to go that fast means they can physically go that fast in some kind of conditions, so the car has to have redeeming qualities.

Still expecting the Red Bull and McLaren to be the best cars. Lotus may assert itself to third. From there, it gets murkier. I just don't see Ferrari being competitive because I don't think they are a good team (a team is all about people and nothing else; Red Bull knows this, Ferrari denies it, and it shows in how each is staffed. Some puzzle pieces at Ferrari (Alonso) are right. Others are good on paper but don't fit together in reality and would be better off elsewhere. Others (Massa, Domenicali) are just part of an entirely different puzzle, trying to jam the cow into the pig's spot). Lotus have the right driver to capitalize on the shortcomings of others, and if Ferrari and Mercedes are to be sometimes-quick-sometimes-crap as I believe they might be, that plays into Lotus' favor for being best-of-the-rest.

Sauber might surprise; sometimes design risks work out to be the kind of things that are really excellent at one track and not so good elsewhere. Basically, the car could be a mechanical equivalent of Sergio Pérez, meaning they still have everything they lost (what Pérez will lose, of course, is points for McLaren, but he's young and he has more upside than any of the others in his age-group, so whatever, it will be immaterial relative to the final margin between Barney the purple dinosaur and themselves).

I hate that Williams are behind because they had a good car held back by crap driving last year. Bottas could be part of the solution long-term, but that last word's what they wouldn't give Hülkenberg, so I don't know. It's a bad show to be late. They're getting it back together, Maldonado is fast if nothing else, Bottas is highly-anticipated, and we're sitting here with nothing to say about them (and yet I'm using many words to get there :lol:)...

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That red on the Lotus sure looks a lot better on-track than in-studio. Crisis avoided; Räikkönen will look just fine winning races this year.

I can't tell anything from these times, of course. I still think Lotus employ an aggressive testing strategy on the basis that they have been really quick in testing year after year. That said, to go that fast means they can physically go that fast in some kind of conditions, so the car has to have redeeming qualities.

Still expecting the Red Bull and McLaren to be the best cars. Lotus may assert itself to third. From there, it gets murkier. I just don't see Ferrari being competitive because I don't think they are a good team (a team is all about people and nothing else; Red Bull knows this, Ferrari denies it, and it shows in how each is staffed. Some puzzle pieces at Ferrari (Alonso) are right. Others are good on paper but don't fit together in reality and would be better off elsewhere. Others (Massa, Domenicali) are just part of an entirely different puzzle, trying to jam the cow into the pig's spot). Lotus have the right driver to capitalize on the shortcomings of others, and if Ferrari and Mercedes are to be sometimes-quick-sometimes-crap as I believe they might be, that plays into Lotus' favor for being best-of-the-rest.

As you say Eric, it's going to be an interesting battle for 3rd. The question is can Romain be consistent in races? He's certainly fast over one lap, and he said he could've gone faster but he was impeded by the Mclaren. Kimi was on the edge doing that fast lap "Edd Straw could tell Raikkonen was pushing from trackside. He's just asked us how quick that first flying lap was." That time that massa set was incredible, I don't think Kimi could touch it. Temperatures were higher than normal with that Massa lap though, so we'll just have to see. Early days though...

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Lewis's saying that Mercedes lacks downforce as compared to McLaren probably confirms that it won't be a good year for them.

About Sahara Force India, I don't know how that team will continue to stay afloat. Mallya's been in trouble for some time. So is Sahara for its Ponzi scheme, having been recently ordered by the Supreme Court to return almost $5 billion to its investors. I won't shed any tears if this team goes to hell.

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I did not know that about Sahara....shame on you Jay for not keeping us heathens all in the loop!

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No, really....not one news report about Sahara has been, er, reported. To be honest, I have no idea what they do. Indian news doesn't usually get a word in on international newsfeeds.

We all know Mallya is in trouble.

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Found the first test quite interesting from the bits I was able to follow of it.

Red Bull, McLaren and Ferrari look strong. But there are no surprises there. Lotus I'm not too sure...it would be too easy to say that it was just a low fuel glory run to attract sponsors...but I'm not sure. They've clearly got a solid car, but I'm not sure it'll be a title contender. Mercedes are some way behind them, having recovered well in the last two days of testing.

Sauber and Toro Rosso look like they've made a decent step forward. Was pleasantly surprised by Gutierrez's pace yesterday, hopefully he can prove a few people wrong this year like Perez did in 2011. The Toro Rosso looked quick in the hands of Ricciardo and less quick in the hands of Vergne, so not entirely sure what that is all about. Most likely that Ricciardo's the quicker driver. tongue.png

Force India...not too sure what to make of them really. Bianchi looked good yesterday. Hoping that was enough to finally be confirmed as their second driver.

Marussia and Caterham? I struggle to really find them interesting at the best of times, so ehh...probably same old scenario.

Looking forward to see what Williams can bring to the party now. I like their driver line up. Maldonado in some ways reminds me of how Montoya in his early days in F1 - fast, but more often than not quite wild. Bottas I think could spring some surprises too.

It only just dawned on me this morning how close we now are to the start of the season. Having not really paid much attention to how many days left there were to Melbourne, and having not really missed F1 over the winter, it was a surprise. But yeah, starting to feel the excitement a bit now.

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Found the first test quite interesting from the bits I was able to follow of it.

Red Bull, McLaren and Ferrari look strong. But there are no surprises there. Lotus I'm not too sure...it would be too easy to say that it was just a low fuel glory run to attract sponsors...but I'm not sure. They've clearly got a solid car, but I'm not sure it'll be a title contender. Mercedes are some way behind them, having recovered well in the last two days of testing.

Sauber and Toro Rosso look like they've made a decent step forward. Was pleasantly surprised by Gutierrez's pace yesterday, hopefully he can prove a few people wrong this year like Perez did in 2011. The Toro Rosso looked quick in the hands of Ricciardo and less quick in the hands of Vergne, so not entirely sure what that is all about. Most likely that Ricciardo's the quicker driver. tongue.png

Force India...not too sure what to make of them really. Bianchi looked good yesterday. Hoping that was enough to finally be confirmed as their second driver.

Marussia and Caterham? I struggle to really find them interesting at the best of times, so ehh...probably same old scenario.

Looking forward to see what Williams can bring to the party now. I like their driver line up. Maldonado in some ways reminds me of how Montoya in his early days in F1 - fast, but more often than not quite wild. Bottas I think could spring some surprises too.

It only just dawned on me this morning how close we now are to the start of the season. Having not really paid much attention to how many days left there were to Melbourne, and having not really missed F1 over the winter, it was a surprise. But yeah, starting to feel the excitement a bit now.

Are you sure? :P

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