2014 Winter Testing

[KevC]

Yeah it is. It was for filming so bits of old and new together for maximum sponsorship area.

[mikhailv]

Thought it would be.

Total replaced by PDVSA it appears. Does that me they can ditch the awful red and just stay Black and Gold?

[phil1993]

There are a few small Total logos left.

[mikhailv]

Primary branding has majoratively gone though =[

[mikhailv]

Apparently james Allen said that he was told Lotus managed to do a single lap yesterday.

The standard race distance for Maldanado ofcourse, but not a good thing for Renault.

[kals]

Well that one lap leaves them level pegging with what Red Bull achieved in the first test then.

[mikhailv]

[phil1993]

Lotus completed the full 100km permitted on their second day of running at Jerez.

[kals]

So now they're ahead of Red Bull, yet everyone thought they'd have lost ground by missing the first test...

[phil1993]

I'm trying to give a little bit of behind the scenes from testing, on my blog if anyone is interested
http://rhombi8.wordpress.com/2014/02/10 ... up-or-not/

[François]

So now they're ahead of Red Bull, yet everyone thought they'd have lost ground by missing the first test...

I'll be extremely surprised if Lotus can run the Renault power unit and RBR can't. It has obviously been upgraded since Jerez, and the Red Bull car will have been upgraded too. Let's wait until we can compare competitive lap times.

[tderias]

So now they're ahead of Red Bull, yet everyone thought they'd have lost ground by missing the first test...

I'll be extremely surprised if Lotus can run the Renault power unit and RBR can't. It has obviously been upgraded since Jerez, and the Red Bull car will have been upgraded too. Let's wait until we can compare competitive lap times.

I think it depends. I'm honestly lost at all the Lotus/Renault/Lotus Renault changes that have happened over the past couple years. Have Lotus lost all direct ties with Renault? As in, is the team representing a manufacturer's F1 outfit, or is it as much a customer team as RB? If it's the latter then I don't see why they should be at an advantage like Mercedes or Ferrari would be compared to their customer teams.

[kals]

So now they're ahead of Red Bull, yet everyone thought they'd have lost ground by missing the first test...

I'll be extremely surprised if Lotus can run the Renault power unit and RBR can't. It has obviously been upgraded since Jerez, and the Red Bull car will have been upgraded too. Let's wait until we can compare competitive lap times.

Not according to a recent Autosport article, which quotes Renault as saying updates will be ready for the next test in Bahrain.

As for Lotus, what I'd assume is that Red Bull has a far more aggressive design (standard for Newey) which pushes the envelope on reliability.

[phil1993]

I think Jerez was just the perfect storm for Red Bull. The car was late, the packaging was too tight and then there were the problems with the PU. They've lost a lot of their advantage from the 2009-13 era (downforce, especially the blown floor and diffuser aspect), but they're still effectively Renault's number one team, albeit with the caveat that it's not as tight an operation as Mercedes & Ferrari.

Caterham and Toro Rosso had problems but they were slightly different. Caterham's car was just not ready at all - with Red Bull a lot of the problems were overheating and that's down to the packaging.

Jerez was a disaster for Red Bull but I wouldn't write them off just yet. Sure, if I was a betting man I'd p money on Mercedes (and for me, Rosberg), - but they were my pre-season favourites even before the first test. But equally I wouldn't want to say that Red Bull is doomed! If their problems persist in Bahrain then the situation will change.

[François]

Not according to a recent Autosport article, which quotes Renault as saying updates will be ready for the next test in Bahrain.

http://en.espnf1.com/f1/motorsport/story/144891.html

"Updates developed in the dyno at Viry during and post-Jerez test were run. Updates included minor hardware changes, software bug fixes and calibration improvements."