161 replies to this topic

[daSilvium]

From autosport :

Montoya just did a 1m 10.4secs.


fab !


http://www.autosport...sp?id=21911&s=5

[Eli]

I don't mean to be picky, but the track record is 1:10.438, so that time isn't saying much....Oh well, maybe I did mean to be picky.

Good time anyway.

[Garagiste]

That's got to be good news for the FW25 - even if it was a qualifying type run, at least it's quicker.
Anybody know if the car now has all the new aero bits on it?

[JPMCrew]

According to Sam Michael, the car being tested at Valencia has all the aerodynamic components missing in Barcelona. The time is impressive taking into account that this is a very different car from last year and that there is still quite a bit to be learned about setup.

[Eli]

$20 say Schumacher breaks the track record with the F2003-GA at Fiorano today.

[maclaren]

Means nothing if Williams just dropped the fuel loads. Good thing is positive comments by team

[cupra]

I agree with JPMcrew, the FW25 must have the potential of doing lower times because it's only its second day of testing at this track and with the new aero bits. There's probably a lot to learn about setups. Good to see it's doing alright

Was 1.11.6 las year's best time for the FW24?

[JPMCrew]

Originally posted by maclaren
Means nothing if Williams just dropped the fuel loads. Good thing is positive comments by team

Eventhough Williams is not known for doing this, I think it is probable that they went that route in order to quiet the critics from the BMW side. However, I'll give them the benefit of the doubt, especially as the record they broke was held by McLaren who are known to play the press by dropping the fuel loads on occasion.

[da Silva]

Originally posted by JPMCrew


Eventhough Williams is not known for doing this, I think it is probable that they went that route in order to quiet the critics from the BMW side. However, I'll give them the benefit of the doubt, especially as the record they broke was held by McLaren who are known to play the press by dropping the fuel loads on occasion.

It not only about fuel loads, McLaren and Coulthard may have praticed Qualifing runs, Q-setup, new tyres and open uped the engine... :

[dfernandd]

I agree with ELI. Schumi will break the track record before Friday.

[eoin]

Have they modified the track,as they were doing 1.09.*** last year????

[Inness]

The FW25 is going to be fast! MacLaren this , light fuel loads that, Kimi this, DC that, yada yada yada bla bla bla bla, second day of testing, wait till FRIDAY! GO Williams GO JPM GO RALF

[Cushno]

Good news! All I want is a battle....!

[Pets22]

Maybe the Williams isn't that much of a lame duck after all....






We will see

[cupra]

I'd love to hear JPM's comments, anybody know if he's said anything today?? I just hope they've gotten rid of that damn understeer!

[eoin]

The FW25 is going to be fast! MacLaren this , light fuel loads that, Kimi this, DC that, yada yada yada bla bla bla bla, second day of testing, wait till FRIDAY! GO Williams GO JPM GO RALF

We won't know until Imola who is in the title hunt.If ain't the fastest car at the first 3 races, it will be down to Ferrari and Mclaren.

[Inness]

Originally posted by eoin


We won't know until Imola who is in the title hunt.If ain't the fastest car at the first 3 races, it will be down to Ferrari and Mclaren.

Show me some solid evidence that the new Mclaren is 1) reliable and 2) fast. All I have heard is talk. I predict KR will be the Gremlins plaything again in 2003

[MR Speed]

Unless its the 2003 lap record i'm pretty sure that in 2002 the cars were doing 1:09:xxx or something last year... .

[Enkei]

Big deal! The barcelona record got smashed with almost one and a half seconds by both McLaren and Williams. And besides, I think McLaren can go faster if they would like since the old record has been set months ago.

[Inness]

Originally posted by Enkei
Big deal! The barcelona record got smashed with almost one and a half seconds by both McLaren and Williams. And besides, I think McLaren can go faster if they would like since the old record has been set months ago.

You have missed the point! The car is not an evolution of the FW24. Williams embarked on a totally new concept for their car. Out of the box it is fast, so the implication is it will get FASTER. As far as Mclaren goes I am sure it will be fast, the issue is whether the Gremlins will attach themselves to Kimi 's ass and stay there like they did last year.

[CdnF1Fan]

Originally posted by Eli
$20 say Schumacher breaks the track record with the F2003-GA at Fiorano today.

Today ?? You're on my friend ..... $20 says he won't ...

CFF

[Eli]

Originally posted by CdnF1Fan


Today ?? You're on my friend ..... $20 says he won't ...

CFF

Schumacher Breaks Fiorano Record with New Ferrari

You owe me $20.

[CdnF1Fan]

Akkkkk !!!! I do SO !!!!!

Where can I send my $$ ??

CFF

[juanftoro]

Originally posted by Eli



Schumacher Breaks Fiorano Record with New Ferrari

You owe me $20.

THis is a thread about FW25 on Valencia not Ferrari in Fiorano Anyway back to the topic, very good news form williams , hopefully will be the start of a very productive season

GO JPM

[Arrow]

Originally posted by Eli
I don't mean to be picky, but the track record is 1:10.438, so that time isn't saying much....Oh well, maybe I did mean to be picky.

Good time anyway.

track record was 1:10:612

montoya did a 10:15 today

quite a bit quicker.

[Clone]

Originally posted by Eli
You owe me $20.

Given I read the news article before I read this thread, I saw that one coming.

Brace yourself folks, there's a lame duck on the loose.

[JPMCrew]

Does anyone know what version of the car was Ralf testing today? He was more than 1.5 secs slower than Rubens' F2002, which hopefully only means that they were contrasting the new aero package with the old one.

[Eli]

Both drivers were using the FW25.

[Eli]

Originally posted by Arrow


track record was 1:10:612

montoya did a 10:15 today

quite a bit quicker.

The track record, set by Coulthard on February 22nd, 2002, was 1:10.438.

Even Marc Gene had done better. He set a 1:10.506 on May 17th, 2002.

Montoya did a 1:10.153 in the afternoon. When I posted that he had done a 1:10.4.

[HSJ]

Originally posted by JPMCrew
According to Sam Michael, the car being tested at Valencia has all the aerodynamic components missing in Barcelona. The time is impressive taking into account that this is a very different car from last year and that there is still quite a bit to be learned about setup.

If this is what FW25 can do with the new aero bits on, it doesn't look good. They didn't break the previous record by much, and allowing that the previous record was done with last year's car(s) and Michelin having improved probably quite a lot since then, the time cannot be considered very encouraging. If the improvement over the last record had been .6-1.0 sec or more I'd be optimistic, but not now. :

[HSJ]

Originally posted by JPMCrew

McLaren who are known to play the press by dropping the fuel loads on occasion.

McLaren aren't Prost or Arrows.

[HSJ]

Originally posted by Arrow


track record was 1:10:612

montoya did a 10:15 today

quite a bit quicker.

The previous track record was lower than 1:10:.612, but I don't remember exactly what it was. The time you mentioned may me some kind of "official" record, but they've gone faster than that.

[holiday]

Originally posted by JPMCrew
Does anyone know what version of the car was Ralf testing today? He was more than 1.5 secs slower than Rubens' F2002, which hopefully only means that they were contrasting the new aero package with the old one.

I only have the info that "Ralf also was underway with the new aerodynamic package".
Must have gone something terribly wrong or an testing programm altogether different.


1. Juan-Pablo Montoya BMW-Williams Michelin 1:10.143 52
4. Ralf Schumacher BMW-Williams Michelin 1:12.527 56

[JPMCrew]

Originally posted by HSJ


McLaren aren't Prost or Arrows.

So how do you explain testing last winter when they blew everyone out of the water only to look like spectators during the first half of the season?

[Alien]

FW 25 a lame duck, my ass

Williams is a hard working squad, last year at Valencia they were battling records with McLaren and look at what happened in qualifying during the year. We´ll see how they perform during the races but i expect them to be competitive, not on 4th place in the championship as some are suggesting.

[daSilvium]

Originally posted by HSJ


If this is what FW25 can do with the new aero bits on, it doesn't look good. They didn't break the previous record by much, and allowing that the previous record was done with last year's car(s) and Michelin having improved probably quite a lot since then, the time cannot be considered very encouraging. If the improvement over the last record had been .6-1.0 sec or more I'd be optimistic, but not now. :

We still don't know what fuel they were running.

Just because it's easily the FW25's quickest time so far, doesn't mean to say it's running on qualifying levels of fuel.
No doubt they took some fuel out, but exactly how much, we don't know.

[MuMu]

Ralf's back must be playing up again

[Inness]

Originally posted by HSJ


If this is what FW25 can do with the new aero bits on, it doesn't look good. They didn't break the previous record by much, and allowing that the previous record was done with last year's car(s) and Michelin having improved probably quite a lot since then, the time cannot be considered very encouraging. If the improvement over the last record had been .6-1.0 sec or more I'd be optimistic, but not now. :

From the looks of your avatar I would concern myself with Mac and Kimis' gremlins instead of worrying about Williams test times ;) .

[JPMCrew]

Originally posted by HSJ


If this is what FW25 can do with the new aero bits on, it doesn't look good. They didn't break the previous record by much, and allowing that the previous record was done with last year's car(s) and Michelin having improved probably quite a lot since then, the time cannot be considered very encouraging. If the improvement over the last record had been .6-1.0 sec or more I'd be optimistic, but not now. :

I would agree with you if not for the car being new. I would think there is quite a bit to come from all the new aspects of the car, from understanding the suspension's behavior to optimizing aerodynamic drag, etc.

I'm not concerned about the Michellin factor as McLaren has tested there this year with the new Michellins too and they didn't go this fast.

[Cociani]

For the record, I have never thought all this FW25 is a lame duck had any credence at all. I think Williams will still be faster than MacLaren in 2003 and may be a rival for Ferrari.

[renaultFan]

Yes, Montoya's time is good but I am more impressed by the time Alonso set! It was set using the "old" aero package....with the new package I would expect them to go a bit faster, prehaps a 1:10.5??? Im really impressed by Renaults speed! Anyone else impressed?

[Ghostrider]

Originally posted by renaultFan
Yes, Montoya's time is good but I am more impressed by the time Alonso set! It was set using the "old" aero package....with the new package I would expect them to go a bit faster, prehaps a 1:10.5??? Im really impressed by Renaults speed! Anyone else impressed?

I agree, that was a really good time. Michelin maybe have some supersoft tyre that Michelin teams have tested today, I mean the Williams wasn't slow either.

[KinetiK]

Originally posted by HSJ


McLaren aren't Prost or Arrows.

actually, what he says is true.

[CdnF1Fan]

Originally posted by Cociani
For the record, I have never thought all this FW25 is a lame duck had any credence at all. I think Williams will still be faster than MacLaren in 2003 and may be a rival for Ferrari.

Cociani: You may well be right: The Williams could well be a rival for the Ferrari (F2002). Question is though, how's it going to stack up against the F2003-GA?

That being said, and considering the times that both the new Williams' and Ferrari's did Tuesday, we may have ourselves a more interesting season than we did last year

CFF

[glorius&victorius]

Originally posted by renaultFan
Yes, Montoya's time is good but I am more impressed by the time Alonso set! It was set using the "old" aero package....with the new package I would expect them to go a bit faster, prehaps a 1:10.5??? Im really impressed by Renaults speed! Anyone else impressed?

Alonso impresses me also. I wonder though if there's the Renault or Alono factor. It's way to early but the kid must have something special. Can't wait to see more.

As for Williams posting such a good time on a tight circuit is very good. Remember that last year Williams wasn't strong in this area (chassis-aero). So it's good to see them improving so well.

However I think that Ferrari will improve at the same rate as Williams...

[Force Ten]

Originally posted by JPMCrew


So how do you explain testing last winter when they blew everyone out of the water only to look like spectators during the first half of the season?

These times they got testing with Michelin's asymmetrically grooved tires which FIA banned just before the start of last season. These tires were supposed to be quite a bit faster and Michelin wasted allot of effort on these for nothing.

[karlth]

Originally posted by Force Ten

These times they got testing with Michelin's asymmetrically grooved tires which FIA banned just before the start of last season. These tires were supposed to be quite a bit faster and Michelin wasted allot of effort on these for nothing.

Was that ever confirmed? I remember Michelin denying it.

[dan2k]

This new car has so much protential, Michael Schumacher pisses his pants worrying about what Montoya could do in it when its up to speed.
So he goes praising McLaren, because he wants to piss off Williams, and give McLaren bullshit hope.

Anyways.
I'm not sure if any of you have seen a track map of Valencia, but I can tell you its a short medium speed kind of a track.
Not long, fast and winding like Barcelona.
So cars tend to be alot closer around this track, like Magny-Cours.
While tracks like Barcelona, there would be a massive difference.
So Montoya breaking the lap previous record by almost half a second, is big deal at a track like Valencia.
MS also lowered the track record by about half a second at Fiorano, which is also a track similar to Valencia.

I dont even believe at all that Montoya ran with qualifying fuel loads.
We dont know ofcourse, but I just get the feeling Williams is leaving the very best till that final day testing at Valencia.
I rekkon that car probaly had 5 laps worth of fuel, and a setup that is not yet perfect.
The car is also only running its second day with the full aero kit, so they are still learning.
The next record the FW25 sets, it will easily go under 1:10.
And when they return to Barcelona, expect a new record that makes the McLaren team go scratching their head.

[baddog]

Originally posted by dan2k
This new car has so much protential, Michael Schumacher pisses his pants worrying about what Montoya could do in it when its up to speed.
So he goes praising McLaren, because he wants to piss off Williams, and give McLaren bullshit hope.

Oh **** here we go, another season beginning with overhype.. wonder if THIS one will end with excuses like the last 2?

Shaun

[wawawa]

Originally posted by dan2k
I dont even believe at all that Montoya ran with qualifying fuel loads.

He must have - that time corresponds to a qualy setup time. If he set that on anything heavier, we'll have a blue and white '03... which I doubt ;)