With less than 2 weeks to go before the starts of the season,
here is an insight to what to expect this season.
From the Autosport forum:
Quote:
Gary Andersons latest testing impressions in
Motorsport-Aktuell:
"Ferrari:
Barcelona is still very abrasive for the tyres despite its new
chicane, and Ferrari is still the best when it comes to tyre
degradation. It wasnt a surprise to me since Ferrari is working
with BS for several years now. Ferraris advantage on the long runs
is obvious which leads to the following conclusions: either Ferrari
sandbagged and mislead the competition, or Barcelons magnifies the
tyre-issue.I watched this car for hours in turn 3, 7 and the new
chicane and it was clearly the best car there, it stays very
stable, turns in very quick and isnt any nervous at all despite the
drivers fighting with the harder compound. It caught my eyes that
Massa knows how to handle tyres better than Kimi does, he sure
learned a lot from Michael. It looks like Kimi still has to catch
up there. So i think that Kimi and Massa will be equal on a fast
lap, but Massa will be faster on a long run.
Renault:
Their car impressed as well, but its not as stable as the Ferrari.
The rear is more nervous than the Ferraris but there is no other
car that generates as much downforce as the Renault.
Laptimes are very consistent. Kovalainen and Fisicella shoule be
happy.
McLaren:
I was surprised how Alonso handles the Mclaren. It seems he tries
to enforce his Renault-drivingstyle on the cars front-axle and
overdrives it there. This leads to a premature degradation of the
front-tyres, something i could'nt see on Hamiltons car. I think its
time for Alsonso to give up his Renault-thinking. Its like
Räikkönen, fast on one lap, but worrying on the longrun. Hamiltons
style, in contrast, is very smooth which amazed me. I thought he
was all over the track to keep up with Alonso. His car looks more
'calm' then Alonsos, and i think its the driving-style that makes
the difference and not the setup.
BMW:
The BMW is still very impressive. It embodies a simple but
effective chassis with a very good handling in all sorts of curves.
It was interesting to watch the two very different drivers.
Heidfeld, beeing very unspectacluar, is already very confident with
the new tyres. On the other side Kubica who finally tries to get
rid of his aggressive turn-in style. In fast corners the BMW is as
good as the Renault, and in slow corners the car is impressive as
well. Im worried about their new gearbox which seems to be
fragile.
Williams:
The new Williams is almost as good as the BMW. But Nico had to
fight a lot of teething problems. Wurz drove a lot more than Nico.
The car scores good for turn-in response and 'road holding'(? =
Straßenlage), and traction out of slow corners. When i look at the
longruns i think their 1 year of BS-experience must be worth a
lot.
Honda:
Very disapointing. I heard of problems but didnt think that the
grip-deficit was that dramatic. I cannot see that there is anything
fundamentally wrong with car and im sure the wind-tunnel results
are better than the ones of the RA106, but the competition made a
bigger step. In highspeed-corners Button and Barrichello are not
even close to their rivals. It lacks grip in the chicanes as well.
If the aero-updates, planed for the Bahrain-test, dont work we can
write them off.
Toyota:
While we are at the teams that should be at the front ... This will
be thier sixth season and we are talking about the biggest
car-manufactory in the world with unlimited ressources.
The front-axle just doesnt like any corners. Aweful. The
front-suspension, in this setup, wont work in one million years. Im
sure Toyoata will desperatley try to make the front-tyres work
better and ruin the rear-suspension while they are at it ... The
car lacks downforce as well. They wont score their first win this
year that way.
RedBull:
Like Honda and Toyota, RedBull has much work to do. While the car
looks good in fast corners, it lacks grip in slow ones. Or did they
miss to adept to the new tyres? The car looks very nervous and
difficult to handle when braking and shift of direction. I heard
that the drivers feel uncomfortable in the car as well."
