2010 Formula One Spoilers

Today Final Testing times:

1. F. Massa Ferrari F10 1:12.574 102
2. P. de la Rosa BMW Sauber C25 1:12.784 +0.210 74
3. M. Schumacher Mercedes GP W01 1:12.947 +0.373 40
4. N. Rosberg Mercedes GP W01 1:13.543 +0.969 39
5. G. Paffett McLaren MP4-25 1:13.846 +1.272 86
6. R. Barrichello Williams FW32 1:14.449 +1.875 75
7. S. Buemi Toro Rosso STR5 1:14.762 +2.188 18
8. R. Kubica Renault R30 1:15.000 +2.426 69

 

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Felipe Massa says he already prefers the behaviour of the new Ferrari F10 to last year's difficult F60, having topped the testing times at Valencia today (Monday) as the 2010 season preparations kicked off following the end of the testing ban.

Ferrari endured a miserable 2009 season, and shelved development on last season's car early in the summer to pour resources into the new F60 instead.

On the basis of his performance today, Massa reckons that strategy is paying off.

"I think it was a very positive day – the car behaved very well," he said.

"We managed to start and finish our programme like expected, even some more laps than expected.

"So I think everything went very well on the first day and the car behaved in a good direction in terms of I felt [it is an] easier car to drive compared to last year.

"Last year it was always difficult to find the direction and find the balance.

"This year, it was just one day, but at least in the first day it was quite positive and quite easy to find the direction on the set-up and the balance of the car.

"Also with the tyres I didn’t feel any problem to work on these tyres so I think everything went in a very good direction for the first day.

"But it’s not enough. There’s still a lot of work to do to improve the car before the first race, which is the most important thing."

Today's test was Massa's first run in a contemporary F1 car since he suffered terrible head injuries in a crash at the Hungaroring last year – and he said he was overjoyed to be back.

"I’m happy to be back after such a long time watching the races on the television and some times at the track," he said.

"I’m very good on the physical point of view.

"I did 100 laps but I could have done much more and I’m 100% ready to come back to racing."

He said topping the times was particularly pleasing given that it was his first test with other drivers since his accident.

"It’s always nice to be first in any occasion. Even if you are joking with your mum, it is nice to be first!" Massa joked.

"I think after the difficult time I had it is always nice to go on the track competitively.

"But I did some tests with the old car and every test was much better than I expected in terms of lap time and consistency."



http://www.itv-f1.com/news_article.aspx?id=47722

 

Felipe Massa racked up 102 laps in his Ferrari F10 and set the fastest lap time of 1:12.574 on the opening day of multi-team preseason testing at Valencia's Circuit Ricardo Tormo on Monday.

"The first impressions from the car are very positive," Massa said. "The car is easy to drive, has more grip than last year's car and it's also easy for the mechanics to work with. It was a very satisfying day, but clearly there's still a tremendous amount of work to be done, because our competitors are also very strong.

"But I'm very happy with this first day of testing. We didn't have the slightest mechanical problem all day, and the grip was there from the first run and already then the car was already well balanced. Then we worked on the set-up and improved the car. That with the fact the track was also improved during the day allowed us to improve our lap times by quite a lot during the day."

Pedro de la Rosa said he had no problems getting back in the cockpit after such a long time. He ended up second with a time of 1:12.784 in his Sauber.

Michael Schumacher roared back into F1 in convincing style as he was third quickest overall with a time of 1:12.947 in his Mercedes MGP W01 and a full half second faster than team-mate Nico Rosberg who drove the same car for the first two thirds of the day.

"In a way it is like 1991," Schumacher said. "When I came into F1 I was shocked on the first lap and extremely excited on the second lap and further laps. And it is exactly the same today. I feel like a young boy that has a toy in his hands and enjoys himself.

"I think we have done a very good job. The guys did a superb job out there, making a few control checks and making the car reliable. We did more than 80 laps, and for the first day that is a superb job."

Rosberg was fourth after setting a 1:13.543.

"It was a good first day of testing for us and my initial impressions of the new car are very positive," he said. "It felt great to be in the car for the first time and to get our pre-season testing programme underway. Generally everything felt good although I was sitting too low in the car and couldn't see the track very well which we will improve for tomorrow.

"It's too early to get an initial impression of the competitiveness but it was very special to drive the new Silver Arrow out of the garage. I'm looking forward to tomorrow when we have a full day of testing to make further progress."

Gary Paffett, ironically the only test driver who is scheduled to appear, is handling the shakedown duties for McLaren. He wound up fifth with a time of 1:13.846 in the new MP4-25.

Rubens Barrichello caused the only red flag of the day when his Williams stopped out on the track in the afternoon with a throttle problem.

"I feel like it is the first day of school," he said of settling in with his new team.

Sebastien Buemi officially kicked off the test when he drove his Toro Rosso out of the pit lane at Valencia's Circuit Ricardo Tormo shortly after the track opened at 10 a.m. The Toro Rosso team had worked late into the previous night putting the finishing touches on the car.

The car spent much of the day in the garage because of problems with the gear selection mechanism.

"I am expecting mistakes because a young team makes mistakes, and this is why we are here early," said Toro Rosso's technical director Giorgio Ascanelli. "I tried to get the car on the ground as soon as I could so that we would have time to react to the glitches and the problems that for sure we are going to get."

Buemi, who only completed 18 laps, got out late in the day to clock a 1:14.762 which was seventh fastest overall.

"It is a bit too early to speak about how the car feels," Buemi said. "At the moment I am just looking at my seat, the position and all the other things we need to solve on the car. For the rest we will wait for the next test."

Robert Kubica ended up at the bottom of the time sheets with a time of 1:15.000 in the Renault R30.

"There are some areas of the car to improve," he said, "but the overall feeling of the car is quite good."

In the morning the drivers were doing short runs punctuated by long stops in the pits for the cars to be checked over.

"The main target here is to check all the systems," said BMW Sauber's technical director Willy Rampf. "We want to get an overall picture about the car, and where we are regarding weight distribution, for example, because this will be one of the main issues this season. And then we will feed that information back so that in the next tests we can work on set-ups and preparing everything."

The weather cooperated with it being sunny throughout the day and the air temperature climbing to 13 degrees Centigrade.


Times at the close of testing:


Pos. Driver Car Best Time Laps
1 Felipe Massa Ferrari F10 1:12.574 102
2 Pedro de La Rosa BMW Sauber C29 1:12.784 74
3 Michael Schumacher Mercedes MGPW01 1:12.947 40
4 Nico Rosberg Mercedes MGPW01 1:13.543 49
5 Gary Paffett McLaren MP4-25 1:13.846 86
6 Rubens Barrichello Williams FW32 1:14.449 75
7 Sebastien Buemi Toro Rosso STR5 1:14.762 18
8 Robert Kubica Renault R30 1:15.000 69


© ESPN EMEA Ltd.

 

fantastic, he has just worked out what his knob is for................

 

Forza F60

 

I thought it was an F10 ??

 

Nice to see the Renault is a rocketship.



NOT!

 

Well the knock to Massa's head seemed to help

Woot Schumie 3rd!

Early days of course.

 

bugger Schuey, Merc BBQs

Ferrari are sandbagging

 

Times at close of testing on Tuesday:


Pos. Driver Car Best Time Laps
1 Felipe Massa Ferrari F10 1:11.722 124
2 Kamui Kobayashi Sauber C29 1:12.056 96
3 Lewis Hamilton McLaren MP4-25 1:12.256 108
4 Robert Kubica Renault R30 1:12.426 119
5 Nico Rosberg Mercedes MGPW01 1:12:899 119
6 Rubens Barrichello Williams FW32 1:13.377 102
7 Sebastien Buemi Toro Rosso STR5 1:13.823 107

 

Why is Rubens still racing. He had his chance last year.

Also seeing Kobayashi ahead of Lewis makes me smile

 

this dude's brother?

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=w4BU2pOLvxA

 

Live timing...go Alonso and Schu

http://live.autosport.com/commentary.php/id/173

 

It's good to see Ferrari back on top. Even if it's testing

 

Pos. Driver Car Best Time Laps
1 Fernando Alonso Ferrari F10 1:11.470 127
2 Pedro de la Rosa Sauber C29 1:12.094 80
3 Michael Schumacher Mercedes MGP W01 1:12.438 82
4 Jaime Alguersuari Toro Rosso STR5 1:12.576 97
5 Jenson Button Mclaren MP4-25 1:12.951 82
6 Vitaly Petrov Renault R30 1:13.097 75
7 Nico Hulkenberg Williams FW32 1:13.669 126

Fernando Alonso was quickest on the third and final day of testing at Valencia's Circuit Ricardo Tormo. His lap of 1:11.470 was also the fastest by any driver over the three days. His Ferrari team-mate Felipe Massa had been quickest overall with a 1:11.722 on Tuesday.

All seven teams have changed their driver line-ups from Tuesday to Wednesday. Four drivers were in their new car for the first time: Alonso in the Ferrari F10; Jenson Button in the McLaren MP4-25; Vitaly Petrov in the Renault R30; and Jaime Alguersuari in the Toro Rosso STR5. Nico Hulkenberg had a brief run in the Williams FW32 in England, but this was his first proper test of the new car. Pedro de la Rosa was back in the Sauber C29, and Michael Schumacher did almost a full day of running in the Mercedes MGP W01.

De la Rosa brought out the only red flag of the day just 25 minutes into the session. He stopped out on the track after bumping wheels with Hulkenberg. The latter made it back to the pits. De la Rosa ended up second quickest of the day with a 1:12.094.

The Sauber looked impressively quick in Valencia. Technical director Willy Rampf and his design team have created a good car, but observers in the pit lane keeping track of estimated fuel loads believed that the car was running with 20 kilos less fuel than the others. The teams were generally running about 80 kilos of fuel, half a tank, which gave them data of the average set-up needed for the car that will start the race with 160 kilos of fuel and end it with an empty tank.

Sauber, however, was apparently running with 60 kilos, which was the average weight teams tested with last year, so that the engineers could make some direct comparisons between its 2009 and 2010 cars.

Schumacher ended up third with a time of 1:12.438 which beat the best lap of 1:12.899 team-mate Nico Rosberg set Tuesday. "You should be careful not to read too much into the lap times, especially not into those of me and Nico," Schumacher said. "We only have started working with the car, and Nico struggled with his seating position. So from me, a much more sound comparison is not between Nico and myself, but between Ferrari and Mercedes. Ferrari was showing constant and quick laps. We managed to have a certain consistency as well, we are within our plan. It is no secret that Ferrari is one of the teams you have to beat if you want to win grand prix this year."

Although a hydraulic leak on the car ended Schumacher's test early, he was pleased with his performance after three years out of the cockpit. "I feel fine and I think the lap times reflected that," he said. "Yes, it could have been possible that I got a feeling of self doubt, but the good feeling with the car and my pace never let that happen."

This was the first ever F1 test for Alguersuari, who ended up fourth quickest with a lap of 1:12.576. He made his debut in last year's Hungarian Grand Prix, but with the various testing restrictions he never got a chance to drive the car outside of a race weekend. "It should be good for everyone to have more testing," he said. "Not just young drivers, but to improve the teams and to improve the cars. Maybe there is an economic limitation, but I guess if we could deal with it, it would be good for everyone."



Vitaly Petrov enjoyed his first active day as a Renault driver but could only record the sixth best time © Sutton Images

Button was fifth with a time of 1:12.951. He spent a long time in the garage after doing three installation laps in the morning. There was nothing wrong with the car, a team spokesperson told ESPNF1. The crew was merely changing his seating position and ticking off a long check-list after Jenson's first laps ever in a McLaren.

McLaren did an aeropaint test on Lewis Hamilton's car on Tuesday. The procedure, which the team has used previously, involves heavily spraying a specially formulated green paint on a particular part of the car (in this case the left front wing) and then immediately sending the driver out for one quick lap. The paint is spread backwards over the car by the rush of air, and thus the engineers can see exactly what influence certain parts have on the air flow, and exactly where that air then streams over the rest of the car.

Petrov was sixth after turning a 1:13.097 in the Renault, but the car will be considerably updated for the next test.

"We will furiously add new bits to it as the season approaches because our team like every other team in the pit lane is going to be developing at a very fast rate," said Renault's technical director James Allison. "These rules, while this is the second season with them, everybody I am certain is still finding improvement at a rate that far outstrips the historical average that we have been used to over the last five or six years. The job list is very daunting to be ready for the first race. We have to build a lot of pieces and we have to get through a lot of work on the car just to make sure that it will get to the end of the race."

Hulkenberg was seventh with a time of 1:13.669. The team concentrated on half race runs, and he did 126 laps. Williams' technical director Sam Michael is relieved that none of the other teams have come out with anything radically new on their cars so far. "There are little bits and pieces and differences on the cars," he said, "but there is nothing that I look at think 'Oh God, we didn't think of that.'"

For the third consecutive day the teams enjoyed a sunny day and a dry track. Testing resumes at Spain's Jerez circuit on February 10.


http://en.espnf1.com/f1/motorsport/story/8086.html?CMP=OTC-RSS

 

Nick Wirth of March/Simtek/Benneton/Manor/Virgin Racing has designed a very pretty new car.

http://www.thecheckeredflag.co.uk/2010/02/virgin-racing-launch-cfd-designed-vr-01/

Interestingly, they're based in Bicester, where March started. Wirth did the Leighton House March's, which I've always liked.

 

Bizarre factoid of the day: Roland Ratzenberger was killed driving a Simtek in the same meeting as Senna.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Roland_Ratzenberger

Nice mention down the page there of Mosley attending Ratzenberger's funeral because "everyone" was going to Senna's and he didn't want to see him forgotten..

 

Yes, Max is not all bad. I'm reading James Allen's book on Schumacher at the moment (even though he's the world's worst F1 TV commentator, he's an OK writer) and it talks about Schuie not going to Senna's funeral because he thought "the crowd would tear him apart". He visited the grave 2 years later. Of course he famously cried when he equalled Senna's 41 wins, so he's not all bad either.

 

It was the night of my wedding.

 

I too found James Allen's biography of Schuie quite well written and insightful. It had a bit of a theme of Schuie's flawed greatness but well documented with some great quotes from many sources.

 

thats one way of remembering ur anniversary

 

Has made it hard to forget. 01/05/1994

 

divorce dates are easier to remember

 

bigger party?

 

one less 'guest'