RedBull run similar sensors last year.

They sure are going "radical" this year.

I think the Lotus looks like a damn fine car. If looks alone counted for performance, I'd say this was a race winner.

that mclaren looks like it's very aroused

Quote from RiseAgainstMe! :

that mclaren looks like it's very aroused

Haha.

Reminded me of this.

http://www.formula1.com/news/headlines/2011/3/11788.html

Nice

Liuzzi chosen by HRT as last slot on 2011 grid is filled

http://www.formula1.com/news/headlines/2011/3/11801.html

Not bad considering that favorites for that seat included several people who probably doesn't even deserve a Super License.

And that's cool to see Liuzzi remaining in F1 after being "dropped" from Force India in such a way.

Quote from GreyBull [CHA] :

Not bad considering that favorites for that seat included several people who probably doesn't even deserve a Super License.

And that's cool to see Liuzzi remaining in F1 after being "dropped" from Force India in such a way.

Name and not shame?xD

I guess:

Liuzzi
Klien
Yamamoto
Mondini
Kral

?

Best choice(IMO Klien is also good, but was once replaced by Liuzzi) of the candidates, but Liuzzi is still average. Di Resta shows potential.

Quote from Swiss-Spirit :

Name and not shame?xD

I guess:

Liuzzi
Klien
Yamamoto
Mondini
Kral

?

Best choice(IMO Klien is also good, but was once replaced by Liuzzi) of the candidates, but Liuzzi is still average. Di Resta shows potential.

I was mainly refeering to Mondini and Valerio.

Klien is good(guess he would be the best choice with Liuzzi talent/experience wise). Kral has shown some promising stuff so far but hard to say if he'll ever been F1 worthy. Yamamoto is a bit meh but at least he has shown so far he can be a decent F1 backmarker.

I thought Valsecchi tested too? Or was that for Lotus o Virgin?

E: Just saw he's Lotus' tester.

And I wonder how much worse Mondini is compared to Yamamoto...

Yea Valsecchi did test the HRT IIRC, and he was part of the favorites for the seat at some point. He's decent too anyway.

I belive he later tested the Lotus thanks to his GP2 AirAsia seat.

Some testing times from last test 18th - 21th of february.

Quote :

Sergio Perez set a surprise fastest time for Sauber on day three of Barcelona testing, as the Swiss squad interrupted Red Bull's dominant week. There was no doubt that the Mexican's 1m21.761s - even quicker than world champion Sebastian Vettel's Wednesday lap - was done on a low-fuel qualifying simulation, as Perez went through a string of one-lap runs during the morning, but the pace was still impressive regardless of the car's configuration. A later race-style run was interrupted by a KERS problem and Perez also caused a late red flag by stopping at the pit exit.
Felipe Massa's second place time for Ferrari, 0.331 seconds down on Perez, was also achieved on a single lap outing just a few minutes after the Mexican's lap, so Sauber could be very content with its day. Ferrari also achieved impressive mileage again, Massa leading the day's lap count with 127.
Red Bull was only third this time, with Mark Webber's best of a 1m22.466s coming on a relatively light but not totally empty run - the Australian staying out for a further four laps after putting in that time. It came during a fascinating phase of the morning when both Red Bull and Ferrari kept doing short runs almost in unison and setting comparable times, as testing briefly resembled a pole position battle.
Rubens Barrichello twice pulled off and caused stoppages, but the Williams still managed to cover 105 laps and go fourth-fastest with a 1m22.637s on a qualifying-style run.
Mercedes also set its best time on a very short stint. The team mostly ran heavier fuel loads as it worked to get a baseline with its new exhaust design before adding the rest of the major upgrade package for the second half of the test. But Michael Schumacher also slipped in a 1m22.892s on a single-lap run to complete the top five.
Lotus split its day between its two race drivers - which worked out much better for Heikki Kovalainen than Jarno Trulli. The Italian only completed six laps before a gearbox change was required, and then a water leak prevented any further running. A slight water leak remained for the afternoon - a replacement radiator having been damaged in transit - but Kovalainen was able to do 39 laps and take seventh.
It was a similar story at Renault, as a KERS problem limited Vitaly Petrov's mileage in the morning, though he still covered 24 laps and did a time good enough for eighth before Nick Heidfeld - back after his illness earlier in the week - took over and grabbed sixth in the secnd session.
Force India and Toro Rosso focused on mileage and longer runs, and yet more pitstop practice in STR's case, as Adrian Sutil and Jaime Alguersuari both exceeded 100 laps in ninth and 10th. Jerome D'Ambrosio again brought up the rear for Virgin.

Could Sauber be mixing it with the heavyweights this season?

Quote from anttt69 :

Could Sauber be mixing it with the heavyweights this season?

no

Perez cut the chicane on his fast lap.

Don't forget, Sauber did exactly the same thing in testing last year. They're severely lacking sponsors, so it somewhat makes sense to get fastest times in practice via various tricks just to attract sponsors.

Quote from DeKo :

Perez cut the chicane on his fast lap.

Test day 1 Perez did a 21.1 that he cut the chicane but earlier today (10th of march) he sat a 21.7 that wasn't cutted. Thats some proper qualli pace. Best time for a sauber last year in the race weekend was a 1:21.672 in practise session 2.


and also true about the sponsor thingy, they need some. And same as last year.

On the live text commentary for the testing days:
"Before the Sauber fans get too excited, remember this time last year the Swiss squad also ran an 'aggressive' testing programme, we all tipped Sauber as a dark horse and then Bahrain came..."

In the past desperate teams would run under the weight restriction during pre-season testing to drum up some interest (since there was no requirement for the car to conform to the weight regulations in testing). Is there any possibility that is still going on, or do the cars need to go through scrutineering during testing now?

Quote from amp88 :

In the past desperate teams would run under the weight restriction during pre-season testing to drum up some interest (since there was no requirement for the car to conform to the weight regulations in testing). Is there any possibility that is still going on, or do the cars need to go through scrutineering during testing now?

No, they are free to run in any form they wish while in testing.

Well Schumacher has put in a 21.2 in the Merc so that puts the Sauber's time into perspective.

Single lap times don't really give much information. Long runs combined with eye-witness reports as well as some paddock talk help give a better picture. Right now RBR are out front easy with Ferrari on their tails.

Quote from DeKo :

They're severely lacking sponsors, so it somewhat makes sense to get fastest times in practice via various tricks just to attract sponsors.

Are Telmex and Slim this year not enough?

Quote from Intrepid :

Well Schumacher has put in a 21.2 in the Merc so that puts the Sauber's time into perspective.

Lol no it doesn't..

Sauber was fast in last season's testing as well, and ended up solidly mid-pack. Testing really tells us fans nothing useful w/r/t pace.

Horner stirring up rumors of a Hamilton switch to Milton keynes.

http://en.espnf1.com/mclaren/motorsport/story/43264.html

Quote from Mustafur :

Horner stirring up rumors of a Hamilton switch to Milton keynes.

http://en.espnf1.com/mclaren/motorsport/story/43264.html

I love how they are already talking about 2012.

While I love McLaren, I think it would be intresting to see how Hamilton would do in RBR, I think the colors over all would suite him and more so, I think the life style would suite him more. I think it could be a good fit.

That said, who would replace him at McLaren? MSC? Wouldn't that be ironic.

Granted, all of this is just a pipe dream.