to me, it's fairly obvious that Massa's last stint was on super softs, but am i just being simple?


from what it looks to me, the Ferrari might have the raw speed, but the Mclaren might be better on long runs, but maybe i'm just guessing...

Guys, just popped into the Mercedes thread. They had a picture of there car covered in flow-vis

Guys, just popped into the Mercedes thread. They had a picture of there car covered in flow-vis

Massa and Button started their afternoon long runs almost at the same time which meant that their performance (for once) was fairly easy to compare. Out of this came some interesting information for those who looked close enough. Button started off doing laps of 1m28’, whereas Massa did 1m26. As the laps ticked by Button had a linear improvement in lap time, from 1m28 to 1m27 to 1m26 and finally before the pit stop 1m25. Massa, meanwhile started off doing 1m26 and more or less stayed in the 1m26’ during the whole stint. This implies that the Ferrari is a quicker car than the McLaren, but does not conserve tires as well since the decrease in fuel weight was offset by less grip and therefore rendering much the same lap time. This indication got even stronger after the pit stop when both cars had new tires. Button continued to lower his lap times fractionally starting with a lap time in the 1m24’, whereas Massa had a massive jump in lap time, from 1m26 down to a high 1m22. If this is an accurate reflection of their respective performances we should have some interesting racing to look forward to in the season to come.

Here the stints, gap per laps and cumulative gap
Button Massa Gap Cum. Gap

87,432 87,411 -0,021 -0,021
87,438 87,745 0,307 0,286
87,718 87,197 -0,521 -0,235
88,333 87,649 -0,684 -0,919
87,501 87,967 0,466 -0,453
88,302 88,553 0,251 -0,202
89,181 88,804 -0,377 -0,579
87,646 89,278 1,632 1,053
89,026 89,687 0,661 1,714
90,928 92,888 1,960 3,674
92,543 93,940 1,397 5,071
89,683 90,333 0,650 5,721
88,073 87,716 -0,357 5,364
87,314 86,824 -0,490 4,874
87,422 85,880 -1,542 3,332
87,606 85,884 -1,722 1,610
87,501 85,742 -1,759 -0,149
87,708 85,689 -2,019 -2,168
88,179 85,802 -2,377 -4,545
88,323 86,562 -1,761 -6,306
86,623 86,502 -0,121 -6,427
86,469 86,160 -0,309 -6,736
86,827 86,108 -0,719 -7,455
86,497 86,434 -0,063 -7,518
86,488 86,182 -0,306 -7,824
86,837 86,073 -0,764 -8,588
86,688 86,198 -0,490 -9,078
85,899 86,397 0,498 -8,580
85,653 86,372 0,719 -7,861
85,762 86,339 0,577 -7,284
85,511 86,759 1,248 -6,036
85,718 86,521 0,803 -5,233
85,430 86,295 0,865 -4,368
85,605 86,972 1,367 -3,001
85,676 86,492 0,816 -2,185
85,778 86,770 0,992 -1,193
85,861 86,529 0,668 -0,525
85,972 86,284 0,312 -0,213
85,875 86,441 0,566 0,353
85,987 87,176 1,189 1,542
84,913 86,429 1,516 3,058
84,670 86,181 1,511 4,569
84,734 86,481 1,747 6,316
84,651 86,023 1,372 7,688
84,270 86,188 1,918 9,606
84,147 86,198 2,051 11,657
85,531 87,033 1,502 13,159
84,108 86,320 2,212 15,371
83,891 82,716 -1,175 14,196
83,903 82,479 -1,424 12,772
83,935 82,966 -0,969 11,803
83,840 82,723 -1,117 10,686
84,200 82,840 -1,360 9,326
84,950 82,798 -2,152 7,174
85,118 82,344 -2,774 4,400
85,136 83,102 -2,034 2,366
85,149 83,645 -1,504 0,862
85,088 84,688 -0,400 0,462
85,112 85,836 0,724 1,186

Massa and Button started their afternoon long runs almost at the same time which meant that their performance (for once) was fairly easy to compare. Out of this came some interesting information for those who looked close enough. Button started off doing laps of 1m28’, whereas Massa did 1m26. As the laps ticked by Button had a linear improvement in lap time, from 1m28 to 1m27 to 1m26 and finally before the pit stop 1m25. Massa, meanwhile started off doing 1m26 and more or less stayed in the 1m26’ during the whole stint. This implies that the Ferrari is a quicker car than the McLaren, but does not conserve tires as well since the decrease in fuel weight was offset by less grip and therefore rendering much the same lap time. This indication got even stronger after the pit stop when both cars had new tires. Button continued to lower his lap times fractionally starting with a lap time in the 1m24’, whereas Massa had a massive jump in lap time, from 1m26 down to a high 1m22. If this is an accurate reflection of their respective performances we should have some interesting racing to look forward to in the season to come.

Just like I predicted.
Well done Mclaren. If JB seems to know what to do with the car to get more out of it, he should be at the garage tomorrow. Do I sense some lack of confidence in LH from JB?

Massa and Button started their afternoon long runs almost at the same time which meant that their performance (for once) was fairly easy to compare. Out of this came some interesting information for those who looked close enough. Button started off doing laps of 1m28’, whereas Massa did 1m26. As the laps ticked by Button had a linear improvement in lap time, from 1m28 to 1m27 to 1m26 and finally before the pit stop 1m25. Massa, meanwhile started off doing 1m26 and more or less stayed in the 1m26’ during the whole stint. This implies that the Ferrari is a quicker car than the McLaren, but does not conserve tires as well since the decrease in fuel weight was offset by less grip and therefore rendering much the same lap time. This indication got even stronger after the pit stop when both cars had new tires. Button continued to lower his lap times fractionally starting with a lap time in the 1m24’, whereas Massa had a massive jump in lap time, from 1m26 down to a high 1m22. If this is an accurate reflection of their respective performances we should have some interesting racing to look forward to in the season to come.

nah, i think that due to the difference in driving styles between button and hamilton each drivers setup wont be easily transferable. so any extra time to hone in on a setup is wanted. this is the way i see it. this and also that the morning was blighted by rain so the setup configuring wont have been great for the race sim on the afternoon.

Someone suggested that they got the flowviz from following behind the mclaren

JB actually said that he was unable to do much of a set up and that the car was fast and consistent out of the box.
The driving style maybe different but the base configuration will be the same, no?

http://www.autosport.com/news/report.php/id/81771

Button sounds very happy and excited about the car, hopefully Lewis gets a good day of running tomorrow

Quite Positive, except for "not getting the best out of the car" and one more time in case we didn't get it Jenson "not getting the best out of the car" ;-)

"We went from having high fuel in the car to going out and doing some low fuel runs, and it is very difficult because you haven't done any set-up work. The day was too short for me really. I would rather have another day of testing.

"I know what I would do to the car to improve it, and hopefully Lewis [Hamilton] will be testing a few things that will be useful tomorrow.

"Because out of the box, with a new package, to be as consistent as we are and the pace we have, I am happy. I don't think we are at our maximum yet, but we will do our best tomorrow to get the maximum out of the car."

For reference. Amazing how Jense turns a 9sec deficit to a 15sec lead then almost loses it

What did we miss? This were JB's exact words:

In race simulation at one point Button had 2 stints of about 20 laps. Massa had 1 stint of 41 laps.
When Button was 9 seconds down he had a pit stop and got new tyres. Massa stayed out on same tyres and that is why he lost his 9 seconds. Button was just much faster on a new rubber.
Ferrari is doing 40+ lap stints in their race simulations now but they probably won't do that in races. In other words we have no clue what Ferrari can do on a 20 lap stint.

Yes we do, we can see that in the first 20 stints, no?

Seems that Mclaren is complicated car that needs quite time to tuned it up (we all know that, it's not easy with all those dead zones, blowing wings, diffuser of too many justice, knee managed snorkel ). I hope when all things come together, we'll be at front

you mean comparing Massas first 20 laps and Jensons first stint?

No you can't compare that.

I will write what i wrote in Ferrari thread:

If you knew that you were on a 20 lap stint you would push like you normaly would.

If you are on a 40 lap stint you will try to find consistency and push less and save tyres.

Thread quieter than usual...wonder why?

Fair point.

you mean comparing Massas first 20 laps and Jensons first stint?

No you can't compare that.

I will write what i wrote in Ferrari thread:

If you knew that you were on a 20 lap stint you would push like you normaly would.

If you are on a 40 lap stint you will try to find consistency and push less and save tyres.

I disagree, you will push regardless of whether you are on a 40 lap stint or a 20 lap stint, the difference being that you will have tyres that can last 40 laps rather than 20 laps.

Simples

I think I probably expected too much out of this package. Left me a little bit disappointed.

But, as long as the car stays in the mix, that's all right.

I think I probably expected too much out of this package. Left me a little bit disappointed.

But, as long as the car stays in the mix, that's all right.

Well... If we take Jensons words at face value, the car can go a lot faster but they need more time to adjust the setup and balance (weight distribution?), which he is hoping Lewis can finish tomorrow. This is understandable.

Another big update will come before the 1st GP and we 've already seen the effect of today's package. So stay optimistic

I disagree, you will push regardless of whether you are on a 40 lap stint or a 20 lap stint, the difference being that you will have tyres that can last 40 laps rather than 20 laps.

Simples

For reference. Amazing how Jense turns a 9sec deficit to a 15sec lead then almost loses it, I think this season could be one of the best for some time.

Not often at all, but look at what happened at Ferrari.
You don't want to miss out on a possible championship by fielding a B (or even C) class driver.

I think it might actually not be good because they will be pitting out of sequence and therefore they won't be on the track at the same time.

Not really because you'll have one guy pulling out 1-2secs a lap in pursuit which is exciting. This year once you get in someone's diffuser you can pit start pulling out a gap and nulify any time lost and more than likely gain time, which is a contrast to previous year where you had to have a utterly dominant car to do that and even then with Vettel being an example at Barcelona it wasn't enough.

Button started on lap 33, pitted on 55 and 76.

Massa started on lap 40, pitted on 50 and 93.

But if you don't believe your own eyes, that's not my problem.

Thread quieter than usual...wonder why?

I'm still here my friend. After all the BS in 2009, I prefer to be the skeptic until proven wrong. Button sounds very confident about the car indeed. I hope his confidence is justified.