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[Myoclonic Jerk]

http://instagram.com/p/klnoTPw7lI/

Video by Koba showing the Ferrari when it first left the pits before stopping halfway through the lap

 

[Shaneus]

Any sign of the Williams yet? New livery?

 

[Myoclonic Jerk]

@redbullracing: "Good morning from a sunny Bahrain. Working hard in the garage at the moment but we'll be out on track soon. #Bahrain"

@shaneus - I didn't see any pics on Autosport of the Williams

 

[Wax Free Vanilla]

If those Amus Jerez speed traps are true then I guess 4-5 seconds slower will be the norm with the gimped fuel running and lack of downforce.

The top speed this year was faster than last year's by 2 km/h, but the fastest sector one speed trap was down by a whopping 48 km/h.

 

[Hana-Bi]

The new Lotus:

 

[Hackbert]

huh.. Magnussen impresses me. Should be an interesting fight at the start of the season between Ferrari/Mclaren and Mercs. plus maybe Williams

 

[jey_16]

Look how fat the lotus is at the rear.....no wonder red bull is struggling

 

[Tempy]

I wonder if Lotus will mirror the tusks depending on whether the track is clockwise or counter-clockwise.

 

[Zeknurn]

I'm surprised no one posted this. It was making the rounds on twitter yesterday.

Looks great tbh.

I wonder if Lotus will mirror the tusks depending on whether the track is clockwise or counter-clockwise.

They said they weren't going to do that because the benefit wasn't high enough.

 

[John_B]

huh.. Magnussen impresses me. Should be an interesting fight at the start of the season between Ferrari/Mclaren and Mercs. plus maybe Williams

Magnussen was single-seating before learning how to pee straight:

 

[Tempy]

Magnussen was single-seating before learning how to pee straight:

That's cute! Wish I had a car like that when I was a kid.

 

[Nicktendo86]

Still no sign of red bull or torro rosso...

 

[brotkasten]

Because Taki Inoue ‏is so much fun on Twitter

"Jesus..... Red Bull has done zero lap so far now? WTF!! Really wants to know the comment of Dr. Marco.

Presumably Dr. Marco doesn't have any one whom he can blame and complain instead of @AussieGrit ."

RB is still going to be fine.

e: Extra cooling outlet on the Lotus.

 

[dalin80]

That's cute! Wish I had a car like that when I was a kid.

Red bull wish that they had that car now!

 

[Nicktendo86]

The sound of cutting or grinding equipment coming from the rb garage apparently

 

[dalin80]

The sound of cutting or grinding equipment coming from the rb garage apparently

They are probably trying to extract Helmut from Vettels backside so he can get in the car.

 

[Dead Man]

They are probably trying to extract Helmut from Vettels backside so he can get in the car.

LOL

 

[Psychotext]

Still really not looking good for the Red Bull group.

 

[Nicktendo86]

Still really not looking good for the Red Bull group.

Renault seems to have fixed their issues, relatively speaking, I think we can safely say now this is a rb packaging issue. Newey gone to far again, I hope this is another mp4-18!

 

[NHale]

Renault seems to have fixed their issues, relatively speaking, I think we can safely say now this is a rb packaging issue. Newey gone to far again, I hope this is another mp4-18!

At least the MP4-18 was able to finish 2 laps without the car catching fire.

 

[ElTorro]

 

[dalin80]

The curious thing is that the car hasn't even moved yet so why did they leave the cutting until now? If they knew they had an issue then this is really the wrong time to make changes.

 

[Mastah]

From Autosport forum:

Craig Scarborough has reported new information on this Renault problem on the Pit Stop Radio Show podcast on Monday evening. One can download the show here, also.

@ minute 14:17, after discussing the ES problem briefly, Craig then says the big problem is in the ERS-K system. He said the ERS-K was apparently bringing its power in too quickly back to the ICE mainshaft, causing failure in the ERS-K, and the crankcase itself. He said there is a fundamental problem with the shaft of the ERS-K. Consequently, they now have a big redesign.

"For the rest of testing, they're going to have to without full ERS power... There is also some debate as to whether this part will be ready for Melbourne as well. So potentially for some of the first races the Renault engines could be handicapped because of this problem with this motor generator."

http://forums.autosport.com/topic/191766-renault-problems-are-catastrophic/?p=6585453

 

[Nicktendo86]

From Autosport forum:

Jesus Christ.

 

[theignoramus]

From Autosport forum:

oh my

 

[ElTorro]

From Autosport forum:

That would be a ridiculous failure on Renault's part, if true.

 

[Psychotext]

Massive facepalm.

 

[Psychotext]

Well, they have a lap on the board now at least. An extremely slow one, but a lap nonetheless.

 

[Nicktendo86]

They have four laps now, panic over. Lol

 

[ramparter]

They are 7 secs off the pace. Clearly they can't do quick laps yet.

Hamilton leaps back to the top of the times on his 53rd lap of the test. First man into the 1m37s, putting him just a second shy of Vettel's fastest race lap at last year's Bahrain Grand Prix.

I expected the cars to be much slower than last year, glad I was wrong.

 

[Shaneus]

Holy shit @ that Scarbs info. Renault be fucked.

RBR, Williams and Caterham are all using those engines, right? Whose merch am I gonna buy in Melbourne now?!?

 

[dalin80]

Massively different temps though, the tyres were getting melted during the race last year so it's not a great indicator of pace.

 

[Hasney]

Holy shit @ that Scarbs info. Renault be fucked.

RBR, Williams and Caterham are all using those engines, right? Whose merch am I gonna buy in Melbourne now?!?

Williams are using Mercedes.

 

[Dilly]

Holy shit @ that Scarbs info. Renault be fucked.

RBR, Williams and Caterham are all using those engines, right? Whose merch am I gonna buy in Melbourne now?!?

RBR, STR and Caterham, Williams switched to Mercedes.

 

[brotkasten]

I remember mentioning how advantageous it would be for RBR to have their B-Team STR using Renault engines too and how much more info they'd get.

I bet the STR guys now wish they had stayed with Ferrari.

RBR, STR and Caterham, Williams switched to Mercedes.

Is that a joke I'm not getting? RBR and STR are using Renault, Caterham, too. Only Williams switched to Mercedes.

 

[Psychotext]

Look at the comma. He's saying what you said.

 

[Big Takeover]

They are probably trying to extract Helmut from Vettels backside so he can get in the car.

 

[Myoclonic Jerk]

1. Lewis Hamilton (Mercedes) 70 laps

2. Adrian Sutil (Sauber) 57

3. Robin Frijns (Caterham) 44

4. Fernando Alonso (Ferrari) 40

5. Nico Hulkenberg (Force India) 32

6. Kevin Magnussen (McLaren) 25

7. Sebastian Vettel (Red Bull); Romin Grosjean (Lotus) 7

8. Felipe Massa (Williams) 3

9. Jules Bianchi (Marussia) 2

 

[Psychotext]

Bit more encouraging for the Red Bull. Still 4 seconds off the pace, but given it's the first day they've done any real mileage it's not too bad.

Edit - Though it looks like Vettel might have just stopped on track. So maybe not.

 

[ramparter]

The lap Vettel was on looks to have been around 2-2.5 seconds down on Hulkenberg's best before the Red Bull stopped.

wait... wat

edit
oh my mistake, I thought he meant faster than Hulks...

 

[Hasney]

wait... wat

edit
oh my mistake, I thought he meant faster than Hulks...

Well he was 4 down. Wonder if then engine overheated when he even slightly started to push it.

 

[Zeknurn]

Everything working as intended.

 

[Psychotext]

What on earth happened to that tyre? Messy.

 

[DrM]

RBR aka cook me gently

 

[malyce]

As much as I hated the RBR dominance of the last few years, it kills my whole vibe to see them having this much problems. I know I know I know, it's way too early to call and RBR will be fine, but I'd much prefer them to get these issues sorted out for Melbourne.

 

[DrM]

Laps by engine manufacturer:


Mercedes 238
Ferrari 148
Renault: 84

 

[brotkasten]

What on earth happened to that tyre? Messy.

For me it's not even that. It's the front tyres that look tiny!

 

[Lima]

I'd be fine with the slower times if it means for better racing... I'm probably alone in this though

But then the races would be even longer. Think about all the kids these days that don't have the attention span to follow a 2 hour race.

 

[Psychotext]

Laps by engine manufacturer:

Mercedes 238
Ferrari 148
Renault: 84

That just today?

 

[DrM]

That just today?

Yep

Also some trippy stuff from Mercedes aka 360° video from Silverstone