The Lotus F1 Team caused the surprise of the first winter test session last week in Jerez with Frenchman Romain Grosjean setting the best lap time of all 2012-specification F1 cars.
However, it is very difficult to compere lap times as teams ran their new cars with different fuel loads, different tires and various test programmes.
Additionally, it was relatively cold in Southern Spain last week, making it hard to bring the tires to their correct working temperatures.
Pirelli supplied 1176 tires for the first F1 test. A total of 3380 laps were covered by 23 drivers – equating to 14,949 kilometres. The new P Zero White medium tire completed the most running in Spain with 1776 laps run (91 sets used), followed by the new P Zero Yellow soft with 1010 laps run (57 sets used) and the P Zero Silver hard with 594 laps run (33 sets used).
Most teams started off with short runs initially, before trying longer runs and race simulations for the first time as they expanded their development programmes.
The longest run performed on hard compound was of 26 laps. It was of 27 laps on the medium compound , and down to 20 laps on the soft compound.
Grosjean set his best time on a set of new Medium tires, which tends to prove that the Lotus E20 is really quick. Running in similar conditions that same day, Sebastian Vettel's Red Bull RB8, running in new Soft tires was almost nine tenths of a second slower than the Lotus.
Several teams also used flow-viz paint (as seen on this photo of the Toro Rosso) to visualise the flow of air on specific aerodynamic components of the car.
Best lap times per team (Note that we left out the Mercedes AMG team from this analysis because they were running their 2011 car):
Lotus F1 Team
RAI 1m19.670s RAI 1m20.239s GRO 1m18.419s GRO 1m19.729s
Ferrari
MAS 1m22.815s MAS 1m20.454s ALO 1m20.412s ALO 1m18.877s
Red Bull Racing
WEB 1m20.496s WEB 1m19.184s VET 1m19.297s VET 1m19.606s
McLaren
BUT 1m21.530s BUT 1m20.688s HAM 1m19.464s HAM 1m19.640s
Toro Rosso
RIC 1m20.694s RIC 1m19.587s VER 1m19.734s VER 1m19.597s
Tire summary:
Day 1
1. Räikkönen (Lotus) 1m19.670 on Medium New
2. Di Resta (Force India) 1m19.772 on Medium New
3. Rosberg (Mercedes 2011) 1m20.219 on Soft New
Day 2
1. Schumacher (Mercedes 2011) 1m18.561 on Hard New
2. Webber (Red Bull) 1m19.184 on Soft New
3. Ricciardo (Toro Rosso) 1m19.587 on Soft New
Day 3
1. Rosberg (Mercedes 2011) 1m17.631 on Soft New
2. Grosjean (Lotus) 1m18.419 on Medium New
3. Vettel (Red Bull) 1m19.297 on Soft New
Day 4
1. Alonso (Ferrari) 1m18.877 on Soft New
2. Vergne (Toro Rosso) 1m19.597 on Soft New
3. Vettel (Red Bull)1m19.606 on Medium New
All timing unofficial
However, it is very difficult to compere lap times as teams ran their new cars with different fuel loads, different tires and various test programmes.
Additionally, it was relatively cold in Southern Spain last week, making it hard to bring the tires to their correct working temperatures.
Pirelli supplied 1176 tires for the first F1 test. A total of 3380 laps were covered by 23 drivers – equating to 14,949 kilometres. The new P Zero White medium tire completed the most running in Spain with 1776 laps run (91 sets used), followed by the new P Zero Yellow soft with 1010 laps run (57 sets used) and the P Zero Silver hard with 594 laps run (33 sets used).
Most teams started off with short runs initially, before trying longer runs and race simulations for the first time as they expanded their development programmes.
The longest run performed on hard compound was of 26 laps. It was of 27 laps on the medium compound , and down to 20 laps on the soft compound.
Grosjean set his best time on a set of new Medium tires, which tends to prove that the Lotus E20 is really quick. Running in similar conditions that same day, Sebastian Vettel's Red Bull RB8, running in new Soft tires was almost nine tenths of a second slower than the Lotus.
 |
| Flow-viz paint, Toro Rosso STR7. (Photo: WRi2) |
Several teams also used flow-viz paint (as seen on this photo of the Toro Rosso) to visualise the flow of air on specific aerodynamic components of the car.
Best lap times per team (Note that we left out the Mercedes AMG team from this analysis because they were running their 2011 car):
Lotus F1 Team
RAI 1m19.670s RAI 1m20.239s GRO 1m18.419s GRO 1m19.729s
 |
| Romain Grosjean, Lotus E20. (Photo: WRi2) |
Ferrari
MAS 1m22.815s MAS 1m20.454s ALO 1m20.412s ALO 1m18.877s
 |
| Fernando Alonso, Ferrari F2012. (Photo: Ferrari) |
Red Bull Racing
WEB 1m20.496s WEB 1m19.184s VET 1m19.297s VET 1m19.606s
 |
| Sebastian Vettel, Red Bull RB8. (Photo: Red Bull Racing) |
McLaren
BUT 1m21.530s BUT 1m20.688s HAM 1m19.464s HAM 1m19.640s
 |
| Jenson Button, McLaren MP4-27. (Photo: WRi2) |
Toro Rosso
RIC 1m20.694s RIC 1m19.587s VER 1m19.734s VER 1m19.597s
 |
| Daniel Ricciardo, Toro Rosso STR7. (Photo: WRi2) |
Tire summary:
Day 1
1. Räikkönen (Lotus) 1m19.670 on Medium New
2. Di Resta (Force India) 1m19.772 on Medium New
3. Rosberg (Mercedes 2011) 1m20.219 on Soft New
Day 2
1. Schumacher (Mercedes 2011) 1m18.561 on Hard New
2. Webber (Red Bull) 1m19.184 on Soft New
3. Ricciardo (Toro Rosso) 1m19.587 on Soft New
Day 3
1. Rosberg (Mercedes 2011) 1m17.631 on Soft New
2. Grosjean (Lotus) 1m18.419 on Medium New
3. Vettel (Red Bull) 1m19.297 on Soft New
Day 4
1. Alonso (Ferrari) 1m18.877 on Soft New
2. Vergne (Toro Rosso) 1m19.597 on Soft New
3. Vettel (Red Bull)1m19.606 on Medium New
All timing unofficial