Sepang testing

[ioan]

No one seems interested about the testing session that started yesterday at the Sepang GP circuit, I'll bring it up however as there is nothing else, involving running F1 cars, to talk about at the moment.

The first 2 days are over and supposing that all of them have the same goal, finding the best set-up for the race, some interesting times were posted.

Williams and BMW are right up there at the front with Honda and Toyota also closer than in Oz.
Ferrari are doing good while McLaren and Renault didn't show a great deal of pace untill now.

[Tazio]

KR almost .5sec clear of the field today! It does not bode well for the rest of the field!

[harsha]

link please,and how does Massa compare with Rakka's time

[ioan]

link please,and how does Massa compare with Rakka's time

They are allowed to run only one car. Felipe will take over tomorrow.
Times and some more to be found at http://www.pitpass.com , as well as any other F1 site.

[harsha]

thanks...

[ioan]

You're welcome!

[jas123f1]

One thing is clear after two days testing in Sepang, Renault has problem the car is NOT in balance. Times are 1,5 sec behind Ferrari. That explains also (however partly) the poor result they had in Melbourne. I was waiting more of them but now Fisi has started to speak that they have to make new design of part of car because it’s impossible to keep same tempo as Ferrari, BMW and McLaren.

[Valve Bounce]

Does any here really doubt there will be a Ferrari total domination this year?

[jens]

To my biased view it seems that since early March Toyota has become better and better almost every day. At Sepang they clocked 6th (27.03) and 4th (28.03) fastest times. It's a while ago by now, when Toyota was in such high positions at testing. This only raises interest about the upcoming Malaysian Grand Prix, which hopefully brings more excitement than that dull Australian GP (and that sentence is not said purely from Toyota's perspective).

Anyway, I would be satisfied if both Toyotas manage to finish in the points, the team manages to establish itself as 5th strongest force and shows signs of closing on Top4.

[futuretiger9]

Toyota does seem to have dispelled some of the gloom stemming from its pre-season testing form. However, it has a long way to go to consistently match Ferrari, McLaren and even BMW and Renault.

[POS_Maggott]

Tire markings look great. Far better than Melbourne... hopefully they keep the white line, it makes it so much easier on everyone...

[ioan]

Toyota does seem to have dispelled some of the gloom stemming from its pre-season testing form. However, it has a long way to go to consistently match Ferrari, McLaren and even BMW and Renault.

Not so sure about the Renault part, they seem to have a flawed design.

[ioan]

A link to some pictures from Sepang:

http://f1.gpupdate.net/en//photolarge.php?photoID=70710&catID=2193

It seems like they are using some Star Wars ships for inspiration, that car looks more like a "Jedi-mobile".

[Garry Walker]

They are extending the test till friday, due to it raining today.

[ShiftingGears]

May someone please tell me what is with that sharp thing above the winglet on the roof?

[Garry Walker]

May someone please tell me what is with that sharp thing above the winglet on the roof?

Some data collecting thing

[luvracin]

May someone please tell me what is with that sharp thing above the winglet on the roof?

Looks like a pitot tube to collect air density and speed data.

Especially useful in tuning the car in Malaysia due to the high humidity there.

[Tazio]

It looks like more wet weather for testing tomorrow!
The extended forecast calls for rain the next 6 to 10 days!
If rain is eminent going into race day do you think it might affect Ferrari's decision whether to change KR's engine?
With rain comes (slightly) lower ambient temperatures. But with rain it a driver of Kimi's skill could really overtake in short order!
My opinion: I don't have a clue!
I need input! I still haven't made my picks!!!
http://weather.yahoo.com/forecast/MYXX0031.html

[ioan]

Last day of testing at the Sepang circuit is over:

1.Kovalainen
2.Massa
3.Davidson
...
http://www.pitpass.com/fes_php/pitpass_news_item.php?fes_art_id=30908

It seems that Renault used dome upgraded parts today.

Anyway over these 4 days everyone wen more or less up and down on the time sheets, with maybe Ferrari a bit more stable, so difficult to draw a conclusion with the available data.

[jas123f1]

Nice to see that Renault has got better speed now, maybe Kovalainen can show his true capacity in Malaysia GP. :burnout:

[jens]

So the testing is over. The rankings have sometimes been quite strange, but we may make some conclusions, what can be expected from Sepang.

Basically there won't be too dramatic changes. Ferrari the fastest with McLaren closely behind and then BMW with a bit bigger gap. Renault despite that flier still remains a question-mark to me. Maybe Williams (if they can better their one-lap performance) and Toyota can challenge them. Kovalainen is one of the biggest questionmarks at Sepang. He has to perform better, otherwise he will get under huge pressure.

Red Bull and Honda - as both have insisted - better have to wait for the start of the European season (Sakhir is only one week later than Sepang, so there won't be significant changes compared to Sepang). Maybe Super Aguri can get mixed into the battle of "drinks" and "Earths". As Australia showed, Red Bull can be quick on one lap, but the question-mark remains on longer stints. Three years ago Webber qualified that Jaguar into front row, so we might him getting into the last quali session again.

[jas123f1]

Sure, there are some questionmarks, I think Red Bull is one of the biggest. However I was expecting more of them after that Adrian Newey was employed as constructor for their new car. Newey said recently that Red Bull needs more time (and who doesn’t) , but I have a feeling that it will get much better already in next PG and in Bahrain. I would like to see the "old man" on the podium at least once more before he shall retire forever.
Kovalainen is not a big questionmark for me, I’m sure he had a bad day in Melbourne (above the fact that it was his first competition after 1,5 years testing and that it was his first competition in Melbourne). The pressure from the team was not realistic (and with that car). It cant be so easy to make top results in F1. In my mind Flavio also made a mistake afterwards when he starts to speak too much :talk: (as usual) and show his frustration to the whole world. I think Kovalainen will at least be on the same level as Fisi but he needs only some GP first. So I don’t think there are any really problems and I'm sure Kovalainen knows it too. :)