Pre-2007 Season Testing

Snowy · Post by **Snowy** » Thu Nov 30, 2006 10:33 pm

Mika has set a 1'19.424 now still proping up the timesheet. I hope he can find more than 10ths this afternoon. This is how they stand at the top. With Luca on 1'16.317, Heikki on 1'16.609, Lewis on 1'17.077, Rubens on 1'17.190, Marc Gene on 1'17.340.

Ed · Post by Ed » Thu Nov 30, 2006 11:01 pm

While this may be a bit excessive, we are trying to keep this thread to reporting and discussing the pre-season testing (here I go again

)as this thread is linked to from a number of pages on the main NewsOnF1 site.
We'll try our best to maintain the conversations but move them to the chat thread here.

GhoGho · Post by **GhoGho** » Thu Nov 30, 2006 11:44 pm

Snowy wrote:Does anybody else suspect Anthony Davidson is actually driving a Honda and not a Super Aguri?

It's a bit suspicious that they only have one car at the test don't you think?

I think they may have had access to the "UNUSED DEVELOPMENT PARTS BIN" at Honda.

Probably not enough bits n pieces to build 2 cars

Remember a couple of years back the Sauber was supposed to be the previous seasons Ferrrari, but turned out to be just a poor immitation.

I wouldnt mind if the SA is a good copy of the Honda though, the more competitive cars out there the better!

gkaytaz · Post by **gkaytaz** » Thu Nov 30, 2006 11:51 pm

GhoGho wrote:
Snowy wrote:Does anybody else suspect Anthony Davidson is actually driving a Honda and not a Super Aguri?

It's a bit suspicious that they only have one car at the test don't you think?
I think they may have had access to the "UNUSED DEVELOPMENT PARTS BIN" at Honda.
Probably not enough bits n pieces to build 2 cars

Remember a couple of years back the Sauber was supposed to be the previous seasons Ferrrari, but turned out to be just a poor immitation.

I wouldnt mind if the SA is a good copy of the Honda though, the more competitive cars out there the better!

Hope you are right. Otherwise we'll be watching 2 Honda and 2 RBR teams next year

Snowy · Post by **Snowy** » Fri Dec 01, 2006 12:06 am

GhoGho wrote: I wouldnt mind if the SA is a good copy of the Honda though, the more competitive cars out there the better!

It would be nice to see close racing, especially between the new guys, Anthony, Robert, Lewis and Heikki

Snowy · Post by **Snowy** » Fri Dec 01, 2006 12:10 am

Has anybody got the Java showing any improvements? I think the html is updating but I can't be sure because no one is going any faster! I think more laps are being added but I can't be sure

Ed · Post by Ed » Fri Dec 01, 2006 12:17 am

gkaytaz wrote:
Ed wrote: Good point Snowy, the official team press releases call it the SF1 team interim car. That doesn't have the designation of last year's cars (SA06).
However, Super Aguri cannot just use the Honda. It could be the SA06 with a Honda rear end or something!

As for the one car, well they could be short on resources or drivers. Williams are only testing with one car and Spyker are not testing at all.

One thing for sure, if they are using a fully built Honda, they'll be some protests!
Certainly. That'd be really unfair to Spyker for one. If Aguri is using a Honda then what's keeping STR from using RBR? Poor old Spyker does not have that kind of luxury...

I was meant to answer this earlier, last year's STR was the 05 RBR but they managed to do that because they argued that the 05 RBR was a Jaguar and that Jaguar was sold and no longer in Formula 1.
We know that Super Aguri tried to use the 05 BAR Honda but failed and that is why they used the old Arrows car for half of last season.

TheFinn · Post by **TheFinn** » Fri Dec 01, 2006 12:19 am

Snowy wrote:Has anybody got the Java showing any improvements? I think the html is updating but I can't be sure because no one is going any faster! I think more laps are being added but I can't be sure

Java seems to be working, Ralf just improved his time to 1.17.359.

Ed · Post by Ed » Fri Dec 01, 2006 12:21 am

Snowy wrote:Has anybody got the Java showing any improvements? I think the html is updating but I can't be sure because no one is going any faster! I think more laps are being added but I can't be sure

Both versions are playing up actually.

No major changes apart from the total number of laps! Honda @ 159 and Renault @ 153 laps with more than 90 minutes remaining!

Snowy · Post by **Snowy** » Fri Dec 01, 2006 12:52 am

Thanx. The weather conditions must have changed quite a bit and slowed them all down

gkaytaz · Post by **gkaytaz** » Fri Dec 01, 2006 4:05 am

Ed wrote:
gkaytaz wrote: Certainly. That'd be really unfair to Spyker for one. If Aguri is using a Honda then what's keeping STR from using RBR? Poor old Spyker does not have that kind of luxury...
I was meant to answer this earlier, last year's STR was the 05 RBR but they managed to do that because they argued that the 05 RBR was a Jaguar and that Jaguar was sold and no longer in Formula 1.
We know that Super Aguri tried to use the 05 BAR Honda but failed and that is why they used the old Arrows car for half of last season.

Thanks Ed. Let's see how the rest of the story plays out

Especially for Aguri.

Ed · Post by Ed » Fri Dec 01, 2006 8:37 am

Third day of testing concluded with Badoer setting the fastest lap time with a 1:16.317, Kovalainen in second with a 1:16.609 and Robert Kubica in 3rd with a 1:16.729.
Hamilton, Barrichello, Gene, Schumacher (Ralf) and Piquet Jr. made the top 8.

Hakkinen finished 18th but improved his time to a 1:19.340.

Hakkinen said of the test:

It has been an exciting day for me and I have really enjoyed the opportunity to drive a Formula 1 car after a five year break, made even more special as it was with Team McLaren Mercedes that I won my two World Championships with. I spent the morning really acclimatising to the environment of the cockpit again and just getting to grips with driving a 2006 car, I didn't expect to be quick straight away, and Barcelona is of course a hard track on both the car and driver. It took several laps before I was up to speed, but we were all expecting this to be the case. Although it was great fun today I also had to do some serious work for the team, as any feedback I could give them from today's experience will help them with their preparations for the 2007 season. As a result I was really pushing to try and do the best job that I could to assist them in any way possible. We have done some good work today and got some great results and I am really grateful to the team for this opportunity and the mechanics for working so hard for me.

Quotes from the other drivers and teams to follow a bit later.

Testing concludes for all the teams except Toyota.

Click here for the lap by lap times

Ed · Post by Ed » Fri Dec 01, 2006 4:35 pm

Quotes from teams and drivers at the Barcelona Test.

Christian Silk - Renault Chief Test Engineer

When we arrived in Barcelona, our main aim was to understand how to run the car, in collaboration with our new partner Bridgestone. We achieved that, which is very positive. The whole team put in a lot of effort this week, working late into the night to prepare the cars and analyse the data. And I think the progress we have made over the three days shows the effort was worth it. We will now continue in the same direction, and we hope to have made solid progress by the team we conclude testing before Christmas.

Heikki Kovalainen - Renault Race Driver

I am pleased because we made good progress this week, and worked very hard on all three days. This is a good starting point, and we have a long winter's work ahead of us, starting next week in Jerez.

Nelson Piquet Jr - Renault Test Driver

These three days of testing were very interesting for me, both in terms of continuing my learning process about Formula 1 and for settling in to the team. I feel at ease now, I am starting to get to know the team and I think I made good progress this week. I now need to continue the same way.

Lewis Hamilton - McLaren Race Driver

This week has been my first test as an official Team McLaren Mercedes Formula 1 driver and I have enjoyed every moment of it. With the announcement being made last week it has meant that I have been able to come here and really get to grips with driving the Formula 1 car and building a relationship with the team in preparation for the 2007 season. It is early days still but this week has been really positive, I have done 920km in the car and the work we have done with the Bridgestone Potenza tyres has been really encouraging. I had to spend a little time in the garage on Wednesday whilst team made some changes to the set up, but that is often the case when testing and I need to get used to it.

Pedro de la Rosa - McLaren Test Driver

Our first week back on the test track after the winter break has been very productive and encouraging. This was the first test we have carried out with our Tyre Partner Bridgestone and so our main focus has been on evaluating their performance with our package and so far we have gathered some positive results. We have also been weighing up some aerodynamic packages for 2007 alongside a continuing brake assessment programme. It has been great to get back out on the track and start working towards the challenge of the 2007 season.

Mark Ellis - Honda Chief Engineer Vehicle Performance

Our on-track preparations for the 2007 season started this week, with our primary focus on learning about the new Bridgestone tyres and developing the relationship with our new partner. It is early days and there is obviously a long way to go in adapting the car to optimise the performance of the tyres, but we are pleased with the progress we have made throughout this week. We have methodically collected a huge amount of data that will be analysed ahead of next week's test in Jerez where we will continue our work with the new tyres. We are pleased that Christian has adapted well to working with the team and was able to contribute positively to the programme in his first test.

Rubens Barrichello - Honda Race Driver

It's good to be back in the car again after the long break since Brazil. I have been working on my training in preparation as the hard work for our 2007 season starts here. It's good to be working with Bridgestone again and we've had a pretty good start to our new relationship. I think we have a decent understanding of how we can begin to maximise the tyres with our car and obviously the team has two more tests in Jerez to continue this development. All in all, a good start to our winter campaign.

Christian Klien - Honda Test Driver

Overall I have had a good couple of days testing for my new team. It has been very enjoyable start to my relationship with Honda and I think I have worked well with the engineers and mechanics. After I had acclimatised to the car and started to understand the way the team operates, I was able to get down to some proper testing, generating some real data and feedback for the team to work with. Working with a new car, a new team and new tyres for the first time is always going to be a challenge but I am pretty happy with my performance here taking into account all those factors. I'm looking forward to Jerez where I am scheduled to run for two days.

James Rossiter

We had an interesting first day, running on the Bridgestone tyres for the first time. We spent the morning gathering data relevant to the tyres and during the afternoon we were able to work on some longer runs to evaluate the performance of the Bridgestones. Overall it was a successful day for me with no issues.

Timo Glock - BMW Sauber F1 Test Driver

The characteristics of an F1 car is quite different from a GP2, so it took me some laps in the morning to adapt my driving style. It?s a fantastic feeling to drive this car. Particularly in the fast corners the speed is really impressive. I did many laps today and was able to improve constantly, so I?m really happy, and I?m looking forward to my next test in Jerez.

Ian Morgan - Red Bull Chief Test Engineer

We've had a productive three days, collecting a lot of data, beginning to get an understanding of the Bridgestones and they are certainly very different to what we had been running. David's programme ran very smoothly throughout and today, as Mark had other commitments, Michael Ammermuller took his place and actually managed to get through more work than we had expected. Next week, we move to Jerez, where tyre work will again be the main priority when we start running on Wednesday, this time with a softer compound to assess.

Graham Taylor - Super Aguri Sporting Director

The test plan was completed with a respectable mileage. Working with Anthony for the first time showed both parties a great deal of promise. Cementing Anthony?s comments, we gained a lot of knowledge about the 2007 Bridgestone Potenza tyres and how we need to develop to maximize their potential. Overall, we are very satisfied with the reliability of the car and information gathered from this test in Barcelona.

Anthony Davidson - Super Aguri Race Driver

It has been a positive first test and I have really enjoyed working with my new team. We covered a lot of laps in the three days and every day we gained more confidence in each other and the way we work. Reliability was good and our understanding of the Bridgestone Potenza tyres was the key factor of this test and we made lots of progress. I am looking forward to maintaining this momentum at our test in Jerez next week.

Laurent Mekies - Toro Rosso Chief Engineer

Our aim was to understand all the implications of switching to a new tyre supplier. Bridgestone seems to be making a big effort despite the lack of competition.
We carried out some fairly basic tests as it was our first run on these tyres and let's say there were no bad surprises. It was vital to try and separate the results of car performance and tyre performance, in order to understand what data will still be relevant when we run with next year's car. The drivers also had to adapt their driving styles to suit the new rubber.

Note: No official quotes from Ferrari. Toyota team and driver quotes to be provided at the end of their test.

gkaytaz · Post by **gkaytaz** » Fri Dec 01, 2006 4:38 pm

Hmm, anyone noticed that the Aguri people talk only about the tyres? Taylor mentions the car's reliability in passing. No touchie

Ed · Post by Ed » Fri Dec 01, 2006 4:44 pm

You continue to press that theory gkaytaz!

Actually most the quotes are concentrated on the tyres

Anyway, everything will become clear soon. I still doubt they will be able to run the 06 Honda.

Isn't it pretty early where you are ?