Mclaren was accused of glory runs at Jerez as well. A lot of people are pleasently surprised by Brawn.. even tho the car has been in development for quite some time.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mz_W2UbWEgg

3:30 Hamilton loses CHUNKS of time. He doesn't load the tyres one bit which is odd. In isolation however who knows what lap he was on. But that car behavour, or driving behavour is pretty consistant with what we've seen in other vids. Pretty much coasting and not pushing the car one bit. odd indeed or is it?

5:07 that's the first time i have actually seen the McLaren in some difficulty. the rear is terrible. hamilton smashing the kerbs unlike everyone else. Again though just 1 lap

His in lap was better! lol

I am still in two minds. There is still a strong possibility they are sandbagging. If that video is a true representation of the car however - zero throttle for AGES through mid range corner and when it is pushed its dire at the rear - they may as well give up now

Or maybe their super simulator is 100% bang on and this new way of testing will be the future of motorsport developement

The lack of proper on track analysis though is surprising from F1 media. Would expect more journo's with their stop watches out doing splits and what not because lap times don't tell the whole story

That is very poor, barely even half throttle by the time everyone else seems to be at 100%... But I can't tell from the video if it's on purpose or not, and by the sounds of it neither can the teams or journalists there!!!

The kerb use looks like driver frustration to me though - the times aren't there, so he's being desparate to find some time, and costing more in the process...

A number of KERS teams have reported rear-tyre graining problems: Toyota and Williams, and there is a hint that RBR and STR are also suffering. I wonder if McLaren is facing the same issue.

The new regs have made the cars more oversteer-happy on slower corners, so perhaps tail-happy drivers will be forced to adapt more and that might be Lewis' achilles heel. Bourdais' isn't happy with it, neither is Rosberg or Trulli, Webber was happy but has changed his mind. Vettel seems very happy (despite being a tail-happy driver), Glock is happy in the wet, Heikki hasn't complained.

Im not going to say anything more about Mclaren becuase i did the same thing agiasnt BMW last year and then in Melbourne I looked like a complete idiot.

Imo the Brawn GP will be a midfield car and might possible have a few strong points to challenge for podiums in avery few races but i don't see it being up there with the best.

I don't know whos going to be No 1 but im saying right now it looks like ferrari are right up there, as well as Toyota.

Quote from samjh :

A number of KERS teams have reported rear-tyre graining problems: Toyota and Williams, and there is a hint that RBR and STR are also suffering. I wonder if McLaren is facing the same issue.

The new regs have made the cars more oversteer-happy on slower corners, so perhaps tail-happy drivers will be forced to adapt more and that might be Lewis' achilles heel. Bourdais' isn't happy with it, neither is Rosberg or Trulli, Webber was happy but has changed his mind. Vettel seems very happy (despite being a tail-happy driver), Glock is happy in the wet, Heikki hasn't complained.

They said last year the TC ban would punish Massa, and Lewis more than anyone else too

Top F1 driver should know something about avoiding kerbs, but if it is about Hamilton, it is acceptable that he may want to destroy these annoing kerbs or he just tests car behaviour on them.

Does that sandbagging really work in F1? I don't think they would pose like poor and slow frustated noobs, to look cunning and stay with sacrificed tests.

Well the kerb riding in Canada didn't do Hamilton any harm at all so it may not be as untidy as it looks. Its the cars behavour through the right hander before that chicane that should be a cause of more concern. Just didn't look good at all.

who knows maybe they're sandbagging. They don't seem to be putting the car through many laps which you would expect if they had major problems?

Some folks are quite impressed with Brawn, even if they ARE running low fuel! http://en.f1-live.com/f1/en/he ... detail/090312084418.shtml

Quote from Intrepid :

nope this is

http://www.f1today.nl/fotos/vagxs1lo10.jpg

PMSL! That's hillerious!


Here's some things to look at if anyone's bored.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v ... &feature=channel_page


Brawn GP towards end of vid

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v ... gpiAg&feature=related
That guy ^ has 33 videos of the Jerez test.

Also, see attached some photo's of the Brawn GP car.

It was the long stints too where BrawnGP were extremely impressive, if to be beleived, SERIOUSLY impressive. Willaims are in the 1.19s today too so maybe that quali pace isn't unimaginable.

However if they are runnign without a KERS system in their car, and removed ballast that couls somewhat explain their speed. If not Rubino could be a WDC contendor? Bruno Senna must be p1ssed considering everyone thought the Honda drive would be pants lol

can't confirm these but I think they are for real

Long stint comparison

Massa Button

0:1:21.698 1’21”355
0:1:21.541 1’21”044
0:1:21.911 1’20”967
0:1:21.141 1’20”928
0:1:23.099 1’20”566
0:1:21.590 1’20”718
0:1:21.450 1’20”739
0:1:21.347 1’21”018
0:1:21.821 1’25”751
0:1:21.114 1’20”938
0:1:21.321 1’20”839
0:1:21.421 1’20”745
0:1:21.084 1’20”694
0:1:20.993 1’20”612
0:1:21.770 1’20”739
0:1:22.821 1’20”940
0:1:20.801 1’21”166
0:1:20.982 1’21”613
0:1:21.430 1’21”512
0:1:23.352 1’22”003
0:1:22.903 1’24”896
0:1:21.198 1’21”644
0:1:21.494 1’21”258

31:18.3 31:12.7

Tyres/fuel/KERS/strategy all are factors. I prefer to go from actual visuals of the cars behavour, and from what I ahve seen of the BrawnGP it looks pretty handy if not a tad twitchy on turn in

wtf - http://www.autosport.com/galle ... rtest2/image/l__o9t8883-2 lol

More test footage from yesterday, this one contains quite a bit of the bgp001 http://www.youtube.com/watch?v ... &feature=channel_page

I'm just wondering the deal with the adjustable front wings.. Are the allowed / able to adjust the front wing several times in a lap? I mean, if they could reduce the angle on the long straights to get some extra speed that would be a massive advantage despite the extra work it would mean for the driver.

They can adjust it once per lap and back again (or possibly simply twice per lap, would need to read the rules again to see) to a maximum of 6 degrees.

LOL, Rubinhos time now is 1:18.926... Any thoughts?

Lewis had a fantastic day. Managed to park his car above the Force India and Torro Rosso on the time sheets. At least he didn't crash

I do believe come Melbourne qualifying we'll look back on our comments and ask "what were we thinking saying that?"

lol

I actually can't, and for now refuse to believe what is going on with Brawn GP.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v ... &feature=channel_page

noteworthy - Hamilton is taking a completely different approach to the last chicane than from yesterday. Much softer on the brakes, and no major kerbage.

Still looks pants in the earlier section of the lap. Very odd still. I'm confused!

Something makes me think Mclaren and Honda/Brawn are pulling some kind of practical joke, swapping liveries.

In a way it isn't that suprising, because it has been said that Honda started work on their 2009 challenger quite a bit before everyone else, back in 2007.

anyone else remember 98 when mclaren were supposed to be struggling in pre season testing and then lapped the whole filed in the first race?

hope to god they're not about to do the same, the last thing we need is a dominant year by any team

Quote from 5haz :

Something makes me think Mclaren and Honda/Brawn are pulling some kind of practical joke, swapping liveries.

In a way it isn't that suprising, because it has been said that Honda started work on their 2009 challenger quite a bit before everyone else, back in 2007.

How could they if they didn't even know regs?

They could have started researching things like running with slicks etc back then.

And weren't there 'draft' regulations released back then?

Slightly off the current discussion line but i wonder if the Brawn will run that livery at the first race or if they will unveil some kind of sponsors. From what i understand they already have a full budget for 2009 so i guess they dont really need any.

Dont really like the current colours though.

Quote from RockBottomWalsh :

Slightly off the current discussion line but i wonder if the Brawn will run that livery at the first race or if they will unveil some kind of sponsors. From what i understand they already have a full budget for 2009 so i guess they dont really need any.

Dont really like the current colours though.

Ever heard of Interim?

Quote from TAYLOR-MANIA :

i hope we'll see the grid all mixed up... liek Mclaren at the back and BrawnGP in their place!

+1, can't wait for Australia.

Well, lets just hope McLaren does something mighty big, or else they are going to slack at the back