Young Driver Test at Yas Marina

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axletramp

axletramp

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In the aftermath of the Abu Dhabi GP, Red Bull and Mercedes have been running their young driver tests at the Yas Marina circuit. I was interested to note that Mercedes were initially running their car with the 2012 spec exhaust to collect data. Does this not count as testing and was this agreed beforehand?

Also good to see a few Brit drivers testing including Sam Bird who I've watched a few times in GP2.
 
Was the whole field, not just these 2 teams... But yes, I've kept an eye on it to see how its going. Red Bull ran with the "bubble" on the nose again with wires then attached to the front wing. Can only be measuring the wing flexibility. Williams also ran the top exiting exhausts, both teams have angled the exits towards the rear wing to increase efficiency in this area much like the blown diffusers (but probably much less effective, given the open space the air is channeled into).

Its very difficult to read anything into the times themselves though, given all of the different rubber compounds available, fuel loads, current spec vs new spec changes, and the driver levels.
 
I was wondering whether this is one of those agreed 'testing' sessions between the teams, like the pre-season photo sessions.

I agree about the times, but you have to admit that Jean-Eric Vergne hitting 1'38.917 in the Red Bull is pretty impressive. If the car was set up in a similar manner to last week, that would have put him 5th on the grid just behind Webber!
 
axletramp
I agree about the times, but you have to admit that Jean-Eric Vergne hitting 1'38.917 in the Red Bull is pretty impressive. If the car was set up in a similar manner to last week, that would have put him 5th on the grid just behind Webber!
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That Toro Rosso seat must be there for him to snag now. Toro Rosso already said that the driver with a lower points total, which will more likely than not be Buemi, will be substituted out for him.
 
I agree. Perhaps they should run Buemi in a Red Bull test for comparison...
 
It is impressive, but I would hold speculation for a year yet. Ricciardo did something last year. I thought it was over longer, but last year the Abu Dhabi young driver test lasted just the 1 day then moved on.

It is still a good time though, taking nothing away from Vergne.
 
axletramp
You have to admit that Jean-Eric Vergne hitting 1'38.917 in the Red Bull is pretty impressive. If the car was set up in a similar manner to last week, that would have put him 5th on the grid just behind Webber!
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That was indeed a great drive, nearly 2 full seconds ahead of Sam Bird.
 
axletramp
Does this not count as testing and was this agreed beforehand?
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Nope, you could essentially run that in a race if you wanted to.
As long as you do it on the days FIA allows you to.

Like FP´s, Q´s, R´s or like the young driver programme.

Could probably also try stuff in straight line tests and if you are really cheeky, do it during PR days.
 
Good to see American Alexander Rossi being pleased with his Team Lotus run there. And let's hope Corporate America can get involved in Formula 1.
 
Poorly. He was, perhaps, one of the most disappointing drivers at the test. This article contains a comparison of every driver's best time for every day of the test.

The most impressive were perhaps Nathanael Berthon and Rodolfo Gonzalez. Berthon was a late addition to Hispania's lineup and had one of the smallest test programs this week, but he was still within seven tenths of a second of Vitantonio Liuzzi's qualifying time. As for Gonzalez, he usually comes across as out of his depth in GP2, but he said that he found Formula 1 "far easier" than GP2 - probably because there is a lot more to the setup, thus making changes more noticeable - and he was certainly much faster than expected. Robert Wickens and Kevin Korjus were also quite good.

On the other hand, Charles Pic, Stefano Colletti and Rossi were perhaps the msot disappointing.
 
Amazing what a good set of soft tyres and a nice low fuel run can do for your reputation.
There is little to read from these tests for us. To claim anyone is impressive or disappointing is suggesting a level of knowledge that isn't possible for anyone outside of the teams to have.

I believe Rossi didn't get to set a proper fast laptime as he was on a soft-tyre run when Gutierrez brought the red flags out at the end of the session? I know Gonzalez ran soft tyres to set his time.

There is so little information we get about these tests that its a waste of breath trying to discuss who did well. As long as they didn't throw it into the barriers too many times, there isn't much we can really read into all this. Just the same as pre season testing. People always start talking like so-and-so is impressive but its all based on a random singular laptime set in unknown conditions.

One minute people call Ricciardo impressive, the next he is mocked in a HRT and Vergne is considered impressive. Gonzalez goes from laughable pay driver to hero on the soft tyres. People need to stop making snap-judgements on these fastest lap times. They don't mean anything.
 
Ardius
People need to stop making snap-judgements on these fastest lap times. They don't mean anything.
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The young driver tests see fastest lap times set on fresh tyres and light fuel loads. Qualifying for the race is done on fresh tyres and light fuel loads. While there are variables that skew the results (ie the YDT is done during the day while qualifying is run at night), they're not completely meaningless.
 
No ludes, not all of the drivers get given low fuel runs. These are test sessions where the teams can be testing any number of things. The laptimes recorded at the end of the day could have been set on wildly different tyres, settings, strategies, etc just as they are in pre-season testing.
The fastest times are completely meaningless. They are a demonstration of single lap pace at an unknown point in the test session on an unknown fuel load with an unknown level of tyre wear and an unknown setup and strategy. F1 is not about single lap pace - qualifying is not even about single lap pace.

Even when we sometimes get some long-run laptime data from test sessions its still pretty difficult to really read much into it other than who has a decent car. Even that is not particularly reliable.

I would have thought you'd have learnt this by now as you've been around following this stuff before. People were talking about Williams looking impressive in pre-season testing....it happens every year. The only discussion I feel is worth anything is the photos of the various new bits the teams are testing and comparing and discussing these bits.

The only time a surprise has happened in testing that has transferred to the races is Brawn and that was painfully obvious that they had a decent car at least (though unbelievable). I don't think its possible to judge driver skill from testing, at least not from a spectator point of view.
 
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If only there was a spec car to see where all the GP2 drivers could be compared.... Oh wait...

But really, I'm sure teams can take into account the difference in time with the extra fuel.

Why does Force India need to test drivers? They've got the metaphorical Tim Tebow(Di Resta) and Cam Newton(Hulkenberg). Surely all that young talent will stick around for a while, 'till they're sucked up by Mclaren? Max Chilton isn't even that brilliant (Well, in GP2 at least).

Same with Renault-Lotus, they have Petrov, Senna, Kubica, Grosjean, and Heidfeld. Not to mention their test driver lineup...

I know it's good to have backups, and not all of them will get a drive next year (Or even the year after), but this is insane. I know they need testing time/excuses but why?
 
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The times mean absolute zero because nobody knows the fuel loads or what the goals were for the young guns.

it´s the same when pre-season testing, there´s very little you take from that except maybe long run stints and see how the times drop off to get an idea on how the car uses it´s tires.
 
hawkeye122
If only there was a spec car to see where all the GP2 drivers could be compared.... Oh wait...

But really, I'm sure teams can take into account the difference in time with the extra fuel.

Why does Force India need to test drivers? They've got the metaphorical Tim Tebow(Di Resta) and Cam Newton(Hulkenberg). Surely all that young talent will stick around for a while, 'till they're sucked up by Mclaren? Max Chilton isn't even that brilliant (Well, in GP2 at least).

Same with Renault-Lotus, they have Petrov, Senna, Kubica, Grosjean, and Heidfeld. Not to mention their test driver lineup...

I know it's good to have backups, and not all of them will get a drive next year (Or even the year after), but this is insane. I know they need testing time/excuses but why?
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These tests are not so much for the benefit of the teams but for the benefit of young drivers who don't get these chances to test anymore.

This test is agreed between all of the teams to run drivers who have less than 6 Grand Prix of experience to give them a chance to taste F1 machinery. Its effectively mandatory for the teams to test drivers - and they find it useful as they test several 2012 pieces.

This is why Force India and Renault are testing drivers. They make some quick cash from selling the test seats to drivers like Chilton and Charouz and they can also evaluate drivers like Wickens by supplying the test as a prize for winning Formula Renault 3.5.
 
prisonermonkeys
The young driver tests see fastest lap times set on fresh tyres and light fuel loads. Qualifying for the race is done on fresh tyres and light fuel loads. While there are variables that skew the results (ie the YDT is done during the day while qualifying is run at night), they're not completely meaningless.
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Pirelli was trying 2012 spec tyres, so Vergne times could not have been set with 2011 tyres... plus, Red Bull could be trying anything on the car, since they dont have to comply with regulations on this kind of tests. So yes, times are really meaningless for us in the public.
 
Not all times are set on Qual fuel or anywhere close to that.

That isn´t the goal with the tests. Mainly it´s to help the team out with stuff like aero tests, trying new parts and gathering all sorts of data.

The times mean absolute zero because nobody knows the fuel loads etc. aswell as what Rodrigo is saying above.
 
Adding to that, quote from Esteban Gutierrez interview to Autosport:

He (Gutierrez) was cautious not to compare his pace both to others driving during the test and to Sauber's regular drivers because of the differences in programme.

"You cannot compare the laptime," he said. "You have different engine settings, tyre compounds and fuel loads.

 
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The surroundings are very different. We do t know what the conditions were like, how the cars reacted. So therefore lap times don't mean much. Alexander and Stephano can be good. Let them test again.
 

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