Test 2 @ Catalunya 21st - 24th February 2012

[Hampus Andersson]

Maybe that is Vettel´s limit, who knows if someone else can squeeze out even more.

 

[Ivan Mills]

Maybe that is Vettel´s limit, who knows if someone else can squeeze out even more.

Maybe they can,but since the odds of finding out are slim it is save to conclude that noone can push as precise and as hard as him(atm)...his lines are the best and tidiest looking

i cetainly hope that the field comes closer together this year and McLaren are able to be evenly matched with RB,so we can get a better idea and not just McLaren clearly,but Ferrari look a bit slow right now and Merc's pace is still unknown

 

[Ole Marius Myrvold]

Even though you are correct(percentage wise) ,the other 3drivers you are refering to had only 16race seasons to SV's 19....

And that was the reason why i asked if you meant numbers or percentage

 

[Ivan Mills]

having an extra 3 races does impact your overall percentage though

 

[William Levesque]

But gives you more opportunities for poles

By the way, it actually helps your percentage to have more races...

 

[Leon Charmant]

All these cars were in a class of their own,

1988 - Mclaren - Both titles
1989 - Mclaren - Both titles
1992 - Williams - Both titles
1993 - Williams - Both titles
2010 - Red Bull - Both titles
2011 - Red Bull - Both titles

Superior cars comes along every once in a while.
The fastest driver in that team that year will get the accolades for it.
When you have two greats it will be very close, sometimes even controversial.
When you have one great it will be utter domination.

I don't like speculating and guessing a lot, but there does seem to be a trend in this.
Although it's not a valid argument it would (hopefully) mean that a team will enjoy two consecutive seasons in which they are pretty much dominant followed by a period in which the competition finally catches up. Because of new technical advances a team like Red Bull gained a significant benefit over others whilst it takes them two years to catch up.
The diffuser of last year is gone which allows for teams like McLaren and Ferrari (hopefully Mercedes too) to sneak up and attack Red Bull. Could this then be a sign that this year we'll see lots more close racing and variation in qualification and race finish order?
I'm saying this because I hope that the 2012 season will be more exciting to watch than last year. I'm not saying the 2011 season was boring though, but it would be nice to bring the fight all the way until the last race
Let's hope for this trend to continue! For now we'll have to wait, see and speculate until Q1 in Melbourne

 

[Hampus Andersson]

Maybe they can,but since the odds of finding out are slim it is save to conclude that noone can push as precise and as hard as him(atm)...his lines are the best and tidiest looking

Umm no it´s not.
Yea between him and Webber.

The other guys in other cars have totally different cars. Corners that the RB takes flat some cars don´t.
Corners where the RB takes with DRS open other cars don´t.

The others are driving the living crap out of their machines to try and make up for the ridiculous speed deficit to the Red Bull.

 

[Ivan Mills]

But gives you more opportunities for poles

By the way, it actually helps your percentage to have more races...

but it can also screw it up for the other 3guys

 

[Hampus Andersson]

I don't like speculating and guessing a lot, but there does seem to be a trend in this.
Although it's not a valid argument it would (hopefully) mean that a team will enjoy two consecutive seasons in which they are pretty much dominant followed by a period in which the competition finally catches up. Because of new technical advances a team like Red Bull gained a significant benefit over others whilst it takes them two years to catch up.
The diffuser of last year is gone which allows for teams like McLaren and Ferrari (hopefully Mercedes too) to sneak up and attack Red Bull. Could this then be a sign that this year we'll see lots more close racing and variation in qualification and race finish order?
I'm saying this because I hope that the 2012 season will be more exciting to watch than last year. I'm not saying the 2011 season was boring though, but it would be nice to bring the fight all the way until the last race
Let's hope for this trend to continue! For now we'll have to wait, see and speculate until Q1 in Melbourne

All i can say is that i hope so.
But there is a chance that we will see RBR dominate the sport until 2014. Like Ferrari did.

If we just look at the cars you can almost see that the RBR is a few years ahead aero wise. It´s a package that has been refined over what 3 years now i think minus some sideways with EBD etc.

But the base package or philosophy Newey has created is just above everything else.
Nothing is more neat, tidy, clean, smart, efficient, it makes the Big Two look like they have no idea what they are doing.
Ferrari mostly which seems out of tune since 07-08. Mclaren always claws it´s way back up but it´s always too late.

While RBR evolves, teams like Mclaren and Ferrari (especially Ferrari) starts with a clean sheet almost.
And if you don´t get it just right it means you are screwed because you have to be in it right from Race 1.

Mclaren i think will be closest but i´m not so sure they have what it takes. I hope so, i have my money on Hamilton taking the title but he just needs a slightly quicker car in qualifying and race to have equal speed of the RBR.

My prediction is this,

RBR - Mclaren (edge to RBR)
Ferrari - Mercedes (even mostly but the hunger of Alonso keeps him ahead of both mercs.)

 

[Ivan Mills]

Umm no it´s not.
Yea between him and Webber.

The other guys in other cars have totally different cars. Corners that the RB takes flat some cars don´t.
Corners where the RB takes with DRS open other cars don´t.

The others are driving the living crap out of their machines to try and make up for the ridiculous speed deficit to the Red Bull.

i think we are switching off topic again...i didnt say other cars..just one, the RB7
so what im basically saying is: since we will not have two dominant drivers at RB(not in the near future) we can safely conclude that SV had the maximum measure of the RB7,but it is open to speculate that perhaps someonelse can just ever so slightly better those times in the same car,but Not Me

 

[William Levesque]

but it can also screw it up for the other 3guys

I'm confused... Were you saying that Vettel had better numbers or that he didn't because he had more races ?

 

[Hampus Andersson]

Ferrari decided to change testing plans from 1-4th March to 2-5th March joining Renault on the last day.

Red Bull then asked Ferrari if they could tag along and they said sure

http://www.autosport.com/news/report.php/id/97655

 

[Leon Charmant]

I like what you're saying Hampus. I think that Red Bull and McLaren will have some fierce fights for the win and occasionally a Ferrari or Mercedes will finish in the top 3. If it goes a little like that the 2012 season will at least be an improvement over 2011. Maybe no big steps, but the teams will be closing in on eachother eventually (which might indeed last until 2014 although I don't hope that)

 

[Ivan Mills]

I'm confused... Were you saying that Vettel had better numbers or that he didn't because he had more races ?

Im saying that SV is the owner of the most poles in a season,but even though his percentage is only 4th best all time it could be argued as inconclusive, since the other 3drivers had only 16race seasons,meaning they could've WORSEN their percentage(as well as make it even better) in the extra 3races
Better?

 

[William Levesque]

Maybe, but how many pole did Vettel got in those 3 extra races ?

 

[Ivan Mills]

Maybe, but how many pole did Vettel got in those 3 extra races ?

i think you should reverse the question: What would be the outcome(percentage-wise) had the other 3drivers been in a 19race seasons..better,perhaps worse,but it's inconclusive,so its hard to know what SV real pole percentage trully is compared to the other 3

 

[William Levesque]

See it that way... Vettel got 3 more races in which he might have got 3 poles, so you'd need to take them out... No more record...

But anyway, it's not relevant !

 

[Eric Parker]

Autosport's day 4 coverage.

http://live.autosport.com/commentary.php/id/442

 

[Chris Jenkins]

Not that it means too much right now, but Button is 5 tenths quicker on hard tyres than Massa is on mediums.

 

[Eric Parker]

To the earlier discussion, as the cliche goes, the fastest drivers tend to gravitate to the fastest teams.