Winter testing 2008-2009 (merged)
#1
Posted 29 September 2008 - 14:20
http://autosport.aei...s.stories/58830
The brand new Portimão circuit in Portugal is due to be homologated by the FIA after an inspection on the 13th of October. After that, it will receive its first event at the 2nd of November which is a World Superbike race. The circuit is currently under the final stages of construction and the road accesses are scheduled to be completed by the 26th of October.
The relevant info? McLaren is set to be the first F1 team to run in the circuit, from the 17th to 19th of November (drivers yet unknown), while all other F1 teams test at Barcelona the same days. Afterwards, McLaren will prepare a report as a review of the circuit's conditions, and if this report is positive, all 10 F1 teams will run in a joint test from the 20th to 22nd of January 2009 in Portimão. Several teams have already started searching for hotels and some info on the area.
F1 is back to Portugal.
Advertisement
#2
Posted 29 September 2008 - 14:26
Ok - keep this thread for all winter testing.
#3
Posted 29 September 2008 - 16:01
#4
Posted 08 October 2008 - 16:38
#5
Posted 08 October 2008 - 18:23
Reminds me a bit Barcelona or Estoril...
#6
Posted 08 October 2008 - 19:06
#7
Posted 08 October 2008 - 19:15
test 2009.2010
bmw 2010
ferrari 2013
what the is this?
#8
Posted 08 October 2008 - 19:16
Originally posted by paranoik0
F1 is back to Portugal.
when?
testing sessions are a boredom.
mclaren there in next nov... hum i'll see that.
#9
Posted 08 October 2008 - 19:23
Originally posted by lukywill
i hope that such threads don't last long.
Would you mind to explain in further detail?
#10
Posted 08 October 2008 - 20:04
Originally posted by lukywill
when?
testing sessions are a boredom.
mclaren there in next nov... hum i'll see that.
wsbk are racing soon there
#11
Posted 08 October 2008 - 20:43
look like a modified Barcelona indeed but good to see F1 back thereOriginally posted by barteks
Reminds me a bit Barcelona or Estoril...
#12
Posted 08 October 2008 - 21:07
I agree I didn't think much of the layout on paper, but after looking at the vid I like it more, there's some big hills in the middle of the track! The sun reflects too much in the asphalt in the beginning of the vid, but you can see the track well from 4:00 onwards.
#13
Posted 08 October 2008 - 21:45
Originally posted by paranoik0
The sun reflects too much in the asphalt in the beginning of the vid, but you can see the track well from 4:00 onwards.
Ah, thanks for pointing out that. I stopped the video after some horrible eye-cancer provoking editing during the first minute and then after the exposure done on the inside of the car rather than on the track.
So I'll give it another try tomorrow
#14
Posted 08 October 2008 - 22:13
Originally posted by lukywill
i hope that such threads don't last long.
Ya kidding?
Pre-season testing is (almost) the most exciting bit of the F1 season as far as I'm concerned. It's already October with the current season almost gone.
And that Portugal track layout looks a LOT like Barcelona, including the final corner chicane.
#15
Posted 23 October 2008 - 18:19
Pinheiro, boss of the new venue, on McLaren coming to test in Portugal: ''It's almost confirmed, but still not completely.''
#16
Posted 23 October 2008 - 18:25
#17
Posted 23 October 2008 - 18:27
Originally posted by potmotr
I wish they'd stayed at Estoril. That was a great track.
It was great before they added the chincane and first corner hairpin. Now it's just same oll, same oll.
#18
Posted 24 October 2008 - 18:16
#19
Posted 25 October 2008 - 01:20
Advertisement
#20
Posted 25 October 2008 - 01:32
Originally posted by Jodum5
THey spend 200 million euro for a test track?
Yeah, I don't quite understand their business model.
There's said to be a lot of interest from all sorts of international series to test, but even if the track is occupied most of the year with testing, and hosts 4 or 5 big events (LMES, FIA GT, Superbikes, A1GP, GP2) plus some national events, I don't see how that is enough to pay a 200 million euro investment.
Then again I'm **** at economy.
#21
Posted 03 November 2008 - 02:27
Now we will have probably the most important "winter season" in ten years or even more. KERS, slicks, aerodinamic changes... All the teams must run against time. In 98 McLaren showed up in Melbourne over a second faster than anyone else after a sucessfull winter season. This time we could expect something like that or it will be a very close call for all the teams?
This year yet:
17-19 November: Barcelona
8-11 December: Jerez
15-17 December: Jerez
#22
Posted 03 November 2008 - 02:32
#23
Posted 03 November 2008 - 05:01
#24
Posted 03 November 2008 - 05:25
I find winter testing more interesting than the racing on track its. So your not aloneOriginally posted by ruby soho
I dont know if i like winter testing and the cars coming together more than actual racing
#25
Posted 03 November 2008 - 05:43
Originally posted by Lazy Prodigy
I find winter testing more interesting than the racing on track its. So your not alone
I wouldn't go that far. But definetly the real work is done during those sessions.
#26
Posted 03 November 2008 - 06:00
#27
Posted 03 November 2008 - 06:02
Toyota to introduce KERS only in mid-2009
"We are working flat out on KERS, but our sincere view is that people underestimate some of the major challenges,"
"We will run a car in January with KERS in a monocoque not designed for it, which we could not race, but it will be a test platform - and our gut feeling is that the earliest (it will race) will be mid season. We don't know yet. We are still testing on rigs.
So it is not that we are not going to race it. Just our position is different from some other teams who believe it will be an instant in."
"Fundamentally we will have a car that will run KERS, but it will be very difficult to race. That is all I am prepared to say, and we would have to modify it to be able to race."
The dilemma about racing KERS at the start of the season is further complicated by the fact that next year's move to slick tyres means that teams ideally want as much weight as possible at the front of the car.
Williams co-owner Patrick Head believed that such an issue could force other teams to follow Toyota's lead and delay the introduction of the systems.
We've got now four grooves in the front tyres, it started with three, and we've got four grooves in the rear tyre," explained Head.
When you take those grooves out it increases the contact patch area more at the front in relative terms than it does at the back. That is quite likely to cause you to want to run quite forward weight distribution.
I'm not sure what it's like for other people, but for us, with pretty much all of our ballast taken up with a KERS that we can't really run more forward than the impact area for the side impact test, it's very difficult for us to achieve the weight distribution that we suspect we will need to make a successful car next year."
"You have got to remember that the KERS, when you analyse the potential, the difference it makes can be somewhere between 0.1s and 0.3s, perhaps at the maximum 0.35s per lap, putting aside whether it helps you overtake.
Having your weight distribution inappropriate for the tyres by more than one or two percent will probably make more difference than those one or two tenths of a second per lap."
Howett also expressed his disappointment that news of Toyota's plans for KERS had leaked out of the FOTA discussions in China.
"I do resent that people have mentioned that," he said.
"It was a genuine meeting of absolute confidence where everybody sincerely explained (their situation) - saying that if we allowed this concession on certain discussions then we want to freeze the monocoque. We said okay, this is our sincere position at the moment."
Max and his KERS is giving F1 teams a real headache... especially when you consider it is being used as leverage to spec the monocoque.
#28
Posted 03 November 2008 - 07:40
Originally posted by raiseyourfistfor
Are bridgestone supplying slicks for these tests? Also will the teams be running 09 aero already?
Well, I don't have the answer but probably they should do both things. I don't see the point in using something from 08 season. Unless KERS testing, that could be made with 08 cars.
#29
Posted 03 November 2008 - 17:06
#30
Posted 03 November 2008 - 17:22
Originally posted by raiseyourfistfor
Are bridgestone supplying slicks for these tests? Also will the teams be running 09 aero already?
Bridgestone have been supplying slicks for some of the tests already this season, and the teams have simulated the 09 aero, but obviously the real thing won't be available until the new cars hit the track.
Which team will win that race?
#31
Posted 03 November 2008 - 17:23
Bring on the winter tests!
#32
Posted 03 November 2008 - 17:42
It depends on whether they want people to see it. Some will just run 'b' versions of the current car. Williams have already run a spec of the new rear wing of course.Originally posted by Clatter
Bridgestone have been supplying slicks for some of the tests already this season, and the teams have simulated the 09 aero, but obviously the real thing won't be available until the new cars hit the track.
Which team will win that race?
#33
Posted 03 November 2008 - 18:05
Originally posted by wewantourdarbyback
It depends on whether they want people to see it. Some will just run 'b' versions of the current car. Williams have already run a spec of the new rear wing of course.
Only until the new car is ready. No way a team will delay running it any longer than they have to.
#34
Posted 03 November 2008 - 19:04
The answer is often worrying...I dont know if i like winter testing and the cars coming together more than actual racing
2008/9 winter testing will be epic given all the changes, for example Williams have already run a 2009 rear wing and diffuser. Roll on the 17th!
#35
Posted 03 November 2008 - 19:09
#36
Posted 03 November 2008 - 19:22
Originally posted by Francesc
I can't wait for this to start, and Loeb is going to test for Red bull in 2 weeks at Barcelona
yeah, bring him on...
Kimi and Robert have been talking about WRC career recently...
this would be awesome!
#37
Posted 04 November 2008 - 07:59
Originally posted by quasi C
The answer is often worrying...
2008/9 winter testing will be epic given all the changes, for example Williams have already run a 2009 rear wing and diffuser. Roll on the 17th!
i wonder why other teams didn't introduce that before. For sure an engine cover with no wings and holes can be made quickly, with small men power and front wing also. They have 500 or 1000 people at factory.
I know they tried it all out in simulators and stuff, but do you thing it will be a hide and seek game in this year testing season. I am sure teams will try to hide every advantage they will come up with.
#38
Posted 04 November 2008 - 09:39
#39
Posted 04 November 2008 - 10:17
Originally posted by Francesc
Honda already said they will introduce a RA109 in January which will be completly different to the car they will run at Melbourne
Which is basically what every team says each year at the launch of their car. And once they've gotten to the first race there are often only a few things that are different, well from the outisde at least...
#41
Posted 04 November 2008 - 22:34
#42
Posted 06 November 2008 - 00:00
#43
Posted 11 November 2008 - 14:14
#44
Posted 13 November 2008 - 19:22
17th Monday - Kubica & Klein
18th Tuesday - Kubica & Heidfeld
19th Wednesday - Heidfeld & Klein
Red Bull - Barcelona
17th - Loeb
18th - Vettel/ Loeb
19th - Vettel
Renault
17th - van der Garde & Piquet
18th - van der Garde & Piquet
19th - Grosjean & Piquet
Williams
17th - Hülkenberg
18th - Rosberg
19th - Hülkenberg
Torro Rosso
17th - Buemi & Sato
18th - Buemi & Sato
19th - Buemi & Sato
Honda
17th - Di Grassi & Senna
18th - Di Grassi & Senna
19th - Di Grassi & Senna
Force India
17th - Sutil
18th - Sutil
19th - Sutil
Mclaren
17th - Paffett & De la Rosa
18th - Paffett & De la Rosa
19th - Paffett & De la Rosa
Ferrari
17th - Badoer
18th - Badoer
19th - Badoer
#45
Posted 13 November 2008 - 19:35
Originally posted by intelligentsia
Red Bull - Barcelona
18th - Vettel/ Loeb
Awesome!!!!
#46
Posted 13 November 2008 - 19:58
Originally posted by intelligentsia
Torro Rosso
17th - Buemi & Sato
18th - Buemi & Sato
19th - Buemi & Sato
I thought Bourdais was supposed to going to test for 1 and a half days
Originally posted by intelligentsia
Mclaren
17th - Paffett & De la Rosa
18th - Paffett & De la Rosa
19th - Paffett & De la Rosa
[/B]
They could use Di Resta instead of Paffett...
#47
Posted 13 November 2008 - 20:22
#48
Posted 13 November 2008 - 20:48
can't wait to see how he does. Maybe a full time switch?? would never happen but would be good.
#49
Posted 13 November 2008 - 21:00
#50
Posted 13 November 2008 - 21:03
Originally posted by race addicted
McRae did some very respectable times testing a Jordan in, I think '97. (But whichever year it was, the car was the previous seasons model.)
Id expect noting less form McRae legend!!!!