The official 2013 F1 winter testing thread

[Mini1275]

Testing starts tomorrow in Jerez, here's the driver schedule:

Ferrari: Massa, Massa, Massa, De la Rosa

Mclaren: Button, Pérez, Button, Pérez

Force India: di Resta, di Resta / Rossiter, Rossiter/ di Resta, Bianchi

Caterham: van der Garde, van der Garde, Pic, Pic

Marussia: Chilton, Chilton, TBA, TBA

Toro Rosso: Ricciardo, Ricciardo, Vergne, Vergne

Red Bull: Webber, Webber, Vettel, Vettel

Sauber: Hulkenberg, Hulkenberg, Gutiérrez, Gutiérrez

Lotus: Grosjean, Grosjean, Raikkonen, Raikkonen

Mercedes: Rosberg, Hamilton, Rosberg, Hamilton

Williams (running last year's car for the first test): Maldonado, Maldonado, Bottas, Bottas

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Live commentary and timing can be found here.

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I can't wait to see some track action again.

[ALK3]

Do you know if theres any Live Streaming for this test??

[Mini1275]

No live streaming unfortunately (that I know of, anyway).

[Pkh72]

Sky sports F1 (now Ch406) has 15 minutes of highlights followed by 15 minutes of Ted Kravitz round up Tues-Fri 9pm.

[prostang]

At £10 month for sky F1 you would have thought they could have managed a bit more than 15 mins

[London424]

prostang said:

At £10 month for sky F1 you would have thought they could have managed a bit more than 15 mins

How's the BBC coverage

And technically it's free, the £10 is for the HD pack.

[Chrisgr31]

London424 said:

How's the BBC coverage

And technically it's free, the £10 is for the HD pack.

Depends of course one might argue it £31.75 a month on top of the BBC fee of £145.50 per annum. Anyway do testing times help us know what will happen?

[DanielSan]

Chrisgr31 said:

Depends of course one might argue it £31.75 a month on top of the BBC fee of £145.50 per annum. Anyway do testing times help us know what will happen?

Not really. They give an idea who might be quick and that's about it really.

[Mini1275]

Testing has now started.

[AlexS]

prostang said:

At £10 month for sky F1 you would have thought they could have managed a bit more than 15 mins

I believe that it is the FIA that restrict the coverage of testing.

[Richard-G]

prostang said:

At £10 month for sky F1 you would have thought they could have managed a bit more than 15 mins

Bernie doesn't like the testing being filmed too much, it's too raw for him! Like backstage f1 with no glamour. It's all sky or anyone are allowed to show really. Trust me if they could they'd put on all of it, they do like content!

[detomaso]

Not even off the first page before Sky v BBC crops up... can we keep this to just testing talk?

[Megaflow]

AlexS said:

prostang said:

At £10 month for sky F1 you would have thought they could have managed a bit more than 15 mins

I believe that it is the FIA that restrict the coverage of testing.

Sort of. All coverage of the cars running is produced by FOM, formally owned, and still controlled by B. Ecclestone. You can see the switch from the broadcasters feed to FOM's feed during a race, it is always 5 minutes before the start and it's when Bernie's whirly thing comes across the screen.

As for the £10 a month, that is for the HD package, the F1 is just a bonus.

[Cyder]

I do like the look of the new Marussia, not sure on the Caterham though.

[2fast748]

Megaflow said:

Sort of. All coverage of the cars running is produced by FOM, formally owned, and still controlled by B. Ecclestone. You can see the switch from the broadcasters feed to FOM's feed during a race, it is always 5 minutes before the start and it's when Bernie's whirly thing comes across the screen.

Isn't testing actually when Bernie doesn't control the rights? Some teams have used testing footage in the past in adverts because race coverage is under Bernie's ownership and thus costs £10 Beeeelion for 1 nanoseconds worth.

Cyder said:

I do like the look of the new Marussia, not sure on the Caterham though.

The new Marussia looks like it was designed to a different set of rules, all swoopy and not angular like most of the others.

[Teppic]

And it begins...

Sky Sports F1 said:

‏@SkySportsF1

The first red flag of the day as Jenson Button's new McLaren stops out on track... http://bit.ly/11NdI7w

[Wanta996Gotta]

Quickest time over the 4 days testing last year was in the 1:17's.

[PeXy]

Second red flag, Rosbergs merc parked up smoking..

[Mini1275]

Button's problem was the fuel pump...

[Mini1275]

I know it's early days but this year's Mercedes looks to be on fire.