F1 Insiders Est. 2012
Below follows an analysis provided by German publication AMuS and kindly translated by Patrick Heemstra. Paraphrased by thejudge13 and John Myburgh.
The ‘perfect lap’ is defined as one where the best 3 sector times from any driver are added together to give the ultimate lap time at a given race occasion. So before the cars hit the track in Melbourne here’s one last look at what we can glean from Barcelona test 2.
The F1 authorities and money men need to grow up and get with the 21st century. Their continued attempts to control the media outlets together with corporate images and messages they attempt to ram down our throats is pitiful.
These offerings conceived by PR companies and advertising agencies are as transparent as the gazillion dollar cathedrals of glass in which they reside.
TheJudge13 is partly a social media project as well as a great place to find F1 news and gossip, learn about the technical aspect of the sport and discuss all this with fans as passionate as you from across the worldwide village.
Barcelona was the last time Formula 1 cars are driven in anger until Albert Park in around 10 days time, and whilst the past week or so was a case of smoke and mirrors (to be expected) there was quite a lot to be learnt once you dug up under the surface. Some teams struggled, whilst others prospered, and it creates a very interesting picture ahead of the first race of the season. So without further ado, let’s grab a spade and see what we can uncover.
The stand out performers from the second test had to be Mercedes. Yes I will be the first to admit, I was one of the big detractors over the winter period, criticising their management structure and how they were so drastically reorganising the team so close to the start of the season. But if the past few weeks are to go by, the W04 does seem to be a very competent car indeed. Whether showing front running pace for the majority of testing has shown the team’s hand far too soon is another matter, but when Rosberg went 1.6 seconds faster than his Qualifying time last year in Barcelona, it shows progress has been very good over the winter at Brackley.
| Barcelon pre-season test 1: Day 3 | |||||
| Driver | Car | Best time | Laps | Diff | T |
| 1. Fernando Alonso | Ferrari F138 | 1’21.875 | 97 | S | |
| 2. Nico Hulkenberg | Sauber C32 | 1’22.160 | 91 | 0.285 | S |
| 3. Romain Grosjean | Lotus E21 | 1’22.188 | 119 | 0.313 | S |
| 4. Nico Rosberg | Mercedes W04 | 1’22.611 | 108 | 0.736 | M |
| 5. Pastor Maldonado | Williams FW35 | 1’22.675 | 79 | 0.800 | S |
| 6. Valtteri Bottas | Williams FW35 | 1’22.826 | 68 | 0.951 | S |
| 7. Jenson Button | McLaren MP4-28 | 1’22.840 | 71 | 0.965 | H |
| 8. Adrian Sutil | Force India VJM06 | 1’22.877 | 78 | 1.002 | S |
| 9. Mark Webber | Red Bull RB9 | 1’23.024 | 108 | 1.149 | M |
| 10. Jean-Eric Vergne | Toro Rosso STR8 | 1’23.366 | 106 | 1.491 | S |
| 11. Max Chilton | Marussia MR02 | 1’25.690 | 58 | 3.815 | S |
| 12. Giedo VD Garde | Caterham CT03 | 1’26.177 | 93 | 4.302 | S |
Not big on testing times, but Jenson on the hard tyre looks good. Sutil may be a little disappointing but its been a while and Caterham bottom of the pile again. TJ13 believes and stated for some time Marussia will overtake Caterham in 2013 and those colours are still nailed to the mast.
Tony F is AWOL and has apparently just spent £70m on 2 footballers for QPR (acquisition fee and wages over the life of their contracts). His tweets are mostly Air Asia and QPR related too.
Red Bull
I don’t know what this tells us about the team but Red Bull tweeted today, “Most obvious sign of changeover from Seb to Mark? Car’s parked on other side of the garage today… “.
Follow thejudge13: Why not follow thejudge13 by email. Click on the button at the top right of the page to receive an email when (and only when) a new article hits the interweb.Â
I have now put 2 RSS feeds at the bottom of the right hand bar for those of you who know how to use them for updates. Today thejudge13 in 18 weeks and 2 days will see its 100,000 visitor. Thank you all. Any comments you have please feel free to add them.
I have been trying different styles of content to see what fits best – so we’re on this journey together.
Alonso and Politics: You have to love Ferrari and when I reported there was a new communications man in charge, Renato Bisignani, I was concerned we’d see a drastic change. I need not have been worried. This went out on their website today – I’ll publish it word for word
Madonna di Campiglio, 17 January –Alonso, politics and rivals: a lot has been said about this triumvirate during 2012 and someone – over the other side of the Alps – has felt the need to kick off 2013 on the same note. Clearly, the media who do their job and usually enjoy these verbal skirmishes, made the most of the situation, repackaging some of these now classic questions for Fernando.
Follow thejudge13: Why not follow thejudge13 by email. Click on the button at the top right of the page to receive an email when (and only when) a new article hits the interweb.Â
I have now put 2 RSS feeds at the bottom of the right hand bar for those of you who know how to use them for updates.
Note from thejudge13’s chambers:Â We hit 600 email followers yesterday and all in less than 18 weeks. Just over 450 on twitter and about 1,000 of you come direct from your browser/as a saved favourite. RSS appears to be stuck on 14 – but it said this on day 1 I put up the RSS feed – so my RSS reader may be telling porkies.
Anyway a big shout out to ‘ForzaJay’ from the forum www.thescuderia.net who posted a link to my ‘Da Vinci Code’ type article from yesterday and we had loads of reads from his colleagues there. Please say Hi ‘ForzaJay’ when you are here next.
Also Hi to ‘Tonka’ from Autosportforums who did the same with my article on Adam Parr, “Ecclestone, Parr and the night of the long knives”.
If any of you visit other F1 sites, please feel free to post links to an article on TJ13 that is relevent to whatever discussions are taking place in their forums/comments. Helps spread the word greatly. Grazzia 😀
One final word. There is a now a search tool on the right hand side. I use this daily to find stuff I’ve written before. If you want to exclude loads of things coming up as results try to use a 2 or 3 word search in “” eg. “Vettel yellow flag”. It searches the content of articles not just the titles so its pretty useful.
On to the day’s events – new’s is a little light so far, so I’ll publish this page and add to it as the day progresses.
Follow thejudge13: Why not follow thejudge13 by email. Click on the button at the top right of the page to receive an email when (and only when) a new article hits the interweb.
I have now put 2 RSS feeds at the bottom of the right hand bar for those of you who know how to use them for updates. If you’re not sure, maybe a thejudge13 reader can write us a short piece on how you can utilise these well.
Lewis and Ron: I’ve taken a bit of stick on twitter for my Lewis was pushed” story and to be honest I can’t be bothered banging drums or justifying myself – and as Chris and erstwhile thejudge13 commentator pointed out, “we may be quibbling over semantics”.
I have said what I have to say on the matter, but what is worth of note is why is Big Ron still talking about it to CBI magazine and raising the issue again?
Follow thejudge13: Why not follow thejudge13 by email. Click on the button at the top right of the page to receive an email when (and only when) a new article hits the interweb. WE REACHED 500 email followers yesterday only in thejudge13’s 15th week and just over 400 by twitter.
(This page will be updated through the day – as F1 news breaks – new stories will be posted just above the ‘on this day in F1’ which is at the bottom)
thejudge13 archive:Â For readers new to thejudge13 while news is a little thin in the winter I’m posting links to articles you may have missed. For those of you interested in how new circuits come online in F1, read “S. Korea, Ecclestone and the Emporer’s new clothes”
 Ferrari and split project teams: A couple of stories knocking about from Maranello. Firstly Stefano appears to have kept his job. He behaved pretty strangely following the chequered flag in Brazil. As far as I’m aware, he gave no English interviews and people there since told me there was a marked departure from the usual bon homme and easy access he gives the paddock media.
Onto a dreaded topic that will surely go down in Ferrari F1 folk-lore – the wind tunnel et al. Stefano informs us that “for a few months now, we have been working on a programme of reorganization along with the introduction of new methodologies, especially concerning the wind tunnel. As you know, we are rebuilding the Maranello facility which will be closed until August. Until then, we will use the Toyota wind tunnel in Cologne”.
Follow thejudge13: Why not follow thejudge13 by email. Click on the button at the top right of the page to receive an email when (and only when) a new article hits the interweb. WE REACHED 500 email followers yesterday only in thejudge13’s 14th week and just under 400 by twitter.
thejudge13 archive:Â There have been a number of questions about Nikki Lauda, his time at Jaguar, why Mercedes recruited him…I did a couple of articles around the time of the announcement so if you’ve joined the site since then, here they are. “Lauda: Ross Brawn’s new boss” I wrote this about 2am on October 2nd after reading an online article on a German newspaper site – that was going out the following day. The story hadn’t been picked up even on titter to my recollection.
This was a part 2 follow up – written when I was more alert (the next day) and had time to reflect on the  implications. “How Lauda got the top job in Mercedes F1” – my conclusions are now quite interesting post Haug’s departure.
Barcelona shafts Valencia: The circuit de Catalunya has over the past 2 years been making consistent noises about how much money it is losing which resulted in an initial agreement with Valencia, also under big financial pressure, to alternate the Spanish GP between them – al la Hockenheim and Nurburgring.
This deal has been agreed with Ecclestone clearly as Valencia’s extended contract signed in 2009 meant they would remain on the calendar until 2014. So either they are paying out $30m a year in hosting fee’s and not having a race – or the Spanish GP sharing with Barcelona has been agreed with FOM.
Follow thejudge13: Why not follow thejudge13 by email. Click on the button at the top right of the page to receive an email when (and only when) a new article hits the interweb. WE REACHED 500 email followers yesterday only in thejudge13’s 14th week and just under 400 by twitter.
thejudge13 archive: I started a consultation document to agree the parameters of what we should use as our interpretive grid to establish, “Greatest F1 Drivers”. We’ve had many new readers since then so, here it is again and next week I’ll publish part 2 (LINK). Read my starter for 10 and then the comments already made and add your ideas, this article will be co-written by thejudge13 readers. A collaborative work that carries therefore great breadth of source and as such has more persuasive force. You’ve heard how the camel came into being? A committee attempting to design a horse. So I will have final editorial privileges 🙂
Jordan says Lauda can’t have it both ways: Since 1996, Nikki Lauda has been an F1 pundit for German speaking TV station RTL. Jordan questions how he can operate objectively as a journalist whilst working as chairman of Mercedes AMG F1.
Lauda claims he is a ‘grown man’ and knows how to discharge his responsibilities for both employers. He claims that he received praise for a schizophrenic performance he gave in Brazil, where as RTL journalist he allegedly interviewed himself simultaneously as Chairmen of Mercedes F1.
