Bahrain Testing 19th-22nd February

[Jimmm]

So more testing this week. Just checked the weather and it looks like it's going to be sunny between 15-22 degrees every day. I keep reading conflicting reports on whether the Renault engines are sorted or not. Hopefully we'll get a bit more insight into the scale of the issue this week.

Other points of interest are the Lotus debut and possible Williams Martini livery launch?

For reference fastest lap from Practice 1 in 2013 was 1:34.487 and pole time was 1:32.330 I know laptimes don't matter these are just for reference as I stated!

[voicey]

Can't wait for this to start again, part of the attraction of F1 is the engineering and it'll be fascinating to watch the Renault powered teams catch up to where they should be.

[Lincsblokey]

The time is nearly upon us...

Some intriguing questions to be answered....

Can Red Bull manage a lap in the savage desert heat without self combusting?

Are The Mercedes cars truly a mile ahead of the rest?

Will Alonso manage another test without spitting a dummy at Kimi's pace?

What say the PH database?

[007 VXR]

Take it Sky will be showing more this time ?

[jack01825]

what day and time (local time) is the first bahrain test?

[Esseesse]

Gaz. said:

007 VXR said:

Take it Sky will be showing more this time ?

Not as yet, 15 minutes with that chap from SSN, then 30 mins of #askCroft for each of the four days. Could change though.

Don't Sky have a channel for F1?

[007 VXR]

Esseesse said:

Gaz. said:

007 VXR said:

Take it Sky will be showing more this time ?

Not as yet, 15 minutes with that chap from SSN, then 30 mins of #askCroft for each of the four days. Could change though.

Don't Sky have a channel for F1?

Yes, but they did not show much of the last testing

[Esseesse]

007 VXR said:

Esseesse said:

Gaz. said:

007 VXR said:

Take it Sky will be showing more this time ?

Not as yet, 15 minutes with that chap from SSN, then 30 mins of #askCroft for each of the four days. Could change though.

Don't Sky have a channel for F1?

Yes, but they did not show much of the last testing

Useless! You'd have thought that they would be there whenever there's something F1 that they're allowed to cover.

[Mikey G]

Esseesse said:

Useless! You'd have thought that they would be there whenever there's something F1 that they're allowed to cover.

Pretty sure there are filming or broadcast restrictions during testing.

[London424]

Esseesse said:

007 VXR said:

Esseesse said:

Gaz. said:

007 VXR said:

Take it Sky will be showing more this time ?

Not as yet, 15 minutes with that chap from SSN, then 30 mins of #askCroft for each of the four days. Could change though.

Don't Sky have a channel for F1?

Yes, but they did not show much of the last testing

Useless! You'd have thought that they would be there whenever there's something F1 that they're allowed to cover.

You do all know that Sky don't actually "film" any of the coverage right? They just broadcast the pictures...no pictures to broadcast hence no pretty pictures.

[Allyc85]

And if you have ever been to a test, all the red flags and periods where nobody is on track can be pretty tedious!

[voicey]

So I guess the teams will be staying over there. I was wondering if they continued to use the pit garages or if they all rented lockups to carry on working on the cars until the next test. Anyone know?

[Vocal Minority]

I'd have thought the easiest thing to do would be to rent and stay in the garages at the circuit - unless there is another requirement for them? Saves the teams packing and unpacking, gets the circuit owners a bit of extra lolly - everyone wins.

[jack01825]

what time is it on over here local time?

[Some Gump]

voicey said:

So I guess the teams will be staying over there. I was wondering if they continued to use the pit garages or if they all rented lockups to carry on working on the cars until the next test. Anyone know?

Bernie commandeers the local quick fit for the week. Teams have to take it in turns to use the ramp, those waiting their turn get to share an old settee, a copy of Autocar from the Tiff Nedell era, and it's 25p per coffee.

On the plus side, the coffee is slightly hotter than the sun, so at least there's no concern about germs.

[Jimmm]

jack01825 said:

what time is it on over here local time?

If by over here you mean the UK, testing starts at 6.00am GMT.

If by it you mean the Sky Sports F1 programming, then that is 9.00pm-9.45pm GMT.

[Tony2or4]

If Red Bull show a big improvement over their performance in the Jerez test, they'll be changing the name of the car to the Red Bull RB10A.

(Hoping I'm the first one to have thought of that! )

[dafeller]

voicey said:

So I guess the teams will be staying over there. I was wondering if they continued to use the pit garages or if they all rented lockups to carry on working on the cars until the next test. Anyone know?

That would be economical, which brings me to my question: how can it possibly be economical to test in Bahrain? If we're worried about the cost of the sport, wouldn't allowing testing closer to home make sense, where you design and make your parts? Or am I hopelessly behind the technology: everyone just hauls a CAD/CAM station and EOSINT M 280 Machine to the track and goes at it with rapid prototyping craziness?

What do we think the cost of taking the circus to the desert is, actually?

[ewenm]

dafeller said:

That would be economical, which brings me to my question: how can it possibly be economical to test in Bahrain? If we're worried about the cost of the sport, wouldn't allowing testing closer to home make sense, where you design and make your parts? Or am I hopelessly behind the technology: everyone just hauls a CAD/CAM station and EOSINT M 280 Machine to the track and goes at it with rapid prototyping craziness?

What do we think the cost of taking the circus to the desert is, actually?

Unfortunately for most teams, closer to home is cold and wet at the moment. Bahrain is likely to give reliable dry weather running.

[London424]

So over 2 hours in and still no sign of the Red Bull.