First Jerez Testing - 10-13 February (timing/updates)

so much for CFD.

 

J-Lo may need a drive

 

And you think her posterior could fit in an F1 car?? It alone weighs more than Nick Heidfeld.

 

looks like Button had some sort of mechanical failure - he caused the third red flag of the day - another test day where the amount of fuel on board is not disclosed -

pending official confirmation, here's the results

1 Kobayashi Sauber 1m19.950s
2 Buemi Toro Rosso 1m20.026s +0.076
3 Button McLaren 1m20.618s +0.668
4 Hulkenberg Williams 1m20.629s +0.679
5 Liuzzi Force India 1m20.754s +0.804
6 Schumacher Mercedes 1m21.083s +1.133
7 Alonso Ferrari 1m21.424s +1.474
8 Kubica Renault 1m22.003s +2.053
9 Webber Red Bull 1m22.043s +2.093
10 Glock Virgin 1m29.964s +10.014


here's Schumi and Rosberg's cars for the week...
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Final times (kobiyashi's time has not been confirmed; he was in the lower half of the time sheets all day I believe)
**LATEST TIMES

1 *Kobayashi Sauber *1m19.950s
2 *Buemi Toro Rosso *1m20.026s**+0.076
3 *Button McLaren *1m20.618s**+0.668
4 *Hulkenberg Williams *1m20.629s**+0.679
5 *Liuzzi Force India *1m20.754s**+0.804
6 *Schumacher Mercedes *1m21.083s**+1.133
7 *Alonso Ferrari *1m21.424s**+1.474
8 *Kubica Renault *1m22.003s**+2.053
9 *Webber Red Bull *1m22.043s**+2.093
10 *Glock Virgin *1m29.964s**+10.014

 

the word on the McLaren -> Button stopped because of a warning alarm - so shut the car down to be safe

Carol

 

I know what they say about testing........but sure feels good to see all those ferrari powered cars up top. Has to be good for moral.

 

I bet these teams play games with one another just to keep everyone guessing. If I were a team head, there is no possible way I would want to try and show all my cards before the season starts. At this point, it's anyone's ballgame, but I bet Montezemolo's little speach about Mercedes put the fear in some fans. The other teams probably saw this coming regardless.

 

what was it ?

 

Link please?

 

There was a thread about it here just the other day. He said "Mercedes will be the team to beat".


http://www.ferrarichat.com/forum/showthread.php?t=273364

di Montezemolo admits: Ferrari has 'lots of problems to resolve'
Mon, 08 Feb 12:30:27 2010 - crash.net

Ferrari President Luca di Montezemolo has warned the excited tifosi that the Scuderia still has ‘lots of problems to resolve’ and that ‘Mercedes will be the team to beat’ in F1 2010 – despite the highly encouraging and pace-setting low-fuel form demonstrated by both Felipe Massa and new recruit Fernando Alonso during the opening pre-season test at Valencia last week.

 

Hes right. Thats why they are not doing so many laps. Schumacher is doing minimal laps for a reason.
Alonso is doing hundreds of laps, why?

 

ferrari was the talk of the paddock just a few weeks ago. i think luca is just trying to not raise expectations to an unreasonable level, but he expects his cars to be just as competitive as mercedes, if not faster.

 

6. M. Schumacher Mercedes GP W01 1:21.083 +1.133 laps 124
7. F. Alonso Ferrari F10 1:21.424 +1.474 laps 129

 

+1 Mercedes is doing a huge amount of laps although I believe they had a highly intuitive agenda to the session which was primarily tire compounds and pressures and their affect with various fuel loads. Make no mistake this preseason stuff is all a game and the truth will come out on qualifying day and no sooner.

 

One always looks better when he under promises and over delivers.

It appears Ferrari (and it's engines) continue to make impressive showings.. at least lightly loaded. I'm not buying into the notion that any team is intentionally holding back... there's just not enough testing opportunity.

I think the only sandbagging is that hot lap times don't necesarily equate to competitive lap times at the weight required for the bulk of the running. It will be interesting to see if teams optimize for weighted running up front early or accept running further back early in the hopes of making a good run later.

 

Do a search for 2009 pre-season testing and take a look at the hot-lappers topping the boards at the end of the day and then compare that to how they performed for the rest of the season and you get your answer on exactly what teams think about lap times during testing.....not much.

 

+1

although i do think Virgin is done for

 

I agree.

This goes back to the rumors about the F10 not being competitive because of a design flaw. It looked amazingly well in the first tests, but who know under what conditions those were run.

Once we get the first qualifying in Bahrain behind us, we will know who has been sandbagging and who hasnt. And thanks to the no refueling rule there qualifying order really will be the pecking order.

 

STR on top again this morning in the WET conditions. Makes you wonder what their secret might be - they may be a team to add to the watch out list.

Six cars out on track and the session is RED FLAGGED right now.....not good.

Carol

 

Must be pouring out there

 

Q & A with Fernando Alonso

By Edd Straw Friday, February 12th 2010, 11:13 GMT


Although Ferrari has not dominated the top of the timesheets at Jerez this week in the way that it did at Valencia, Fernando Alonso's pace on a 48-lap run on Thursday underlined that the team is in great shape.

Afterwards AUTOSPORT heard from Alonso as he discussed Ferrari's progress with the press.

Q. What is your impression of the new car now?

Fernando Alonso: It was okay. Nothing really new to say. We keep concentrating on the laps - and the number of laps in these days makes the car very strong. We've pushed some parts of the car to the limit in terms of mileage.

So we're happy with the car. We did a lot of laps in the wet on Wednesday and also in the dry so we're happy with that aspect and we'll continue working.

Q. What does it mean to you to work with Ferrari?

FA: The team spirit is very good, very special. You feel part of a big team, part of a legendary team, and it's a nice feeling. I keep enjoying life. The team is very, very friendly with me and I felt at home straightaway.

Q. How do you feel about the return of Michael Schumacher and having four world champions on the grid?

FA: Of course, I always enjoy the big names and the big battles, and for sure it's very, very special to race with Michael again. If you have a fight and you win a race it's always nicer to have a battle with Michael than any other driver.

Q. Could this be a great year for Spain in both football and Formula 1?

FA: I hope so. I think we're in a good moment in Spain with many sports at the top level, and hopefully Formula 1 can again get a chance with a Spanish driver this year.

Q. You did a very long run of nearly 50 laps in one stint on Thursday. How different did the car feel from the first lap compared to the last?

FA: It was different, but to be honest with the degradation of the tyres, the balance of the fuel - because every lap you have less and less - at the end of the day the car feels very similar every lap. You lose a bit of grip with the tyres, but you gain a little bit with the fuel.

It was a good test. We put the tyres to the limit. We've been working very closely with Bridgestone to discover the limits of the tyres for this year with heavy cars. It's very useful information. As always with tests the priority is to have valid information for the races and I think today we had very good answers on some important things.

Q. This track is better than Valencia for evaluating the car, have you learned anything new?

FA: Because of the rain to be honest in terms of set-up we didn't run with the Valencia set-up and we didn't test anything special here. Like I said, the priority was to do a lot of laps and push the engine, the gearbox and everything to the limits of their mileage.

I think the car is feeling quite good, as we felt in Valencia. No big problems. For sure there are some set-up possibilities to find a couple of tenths, but there will be time for that.

Q. You have a different tyre compound here. Was the warm-up just as good?

FA: It was good here as well. That was a very good thing about the tyres, the warm-up was very good. I think all the teams had some graining with the tyres but after a few laps you go through the graining and the tyres come back a little. We all have the same tyres, so at the end of the day we all have the same problems.

It's good but in Bahrain with the hot temperatures it will be completely different so we have to be very careful with the results from the tyres.

 

this is encouraging for Virgin:

15:05 Di Grassi returning from his first run in the Virgin

Given the conditions at the time, he was lapping within about five seconds of most teams.

AT LEAST THEY ARE TURNING LAPS!!!

Carol

 

Yea great that they've got a working car, but 5sec?! I really hope they improve quickly otherwise we're going to have LeMans type races.

It'll be interesting to see how Lotus is in relation to them, and prove or not Newey's view on 100% CFD.

 

the Lotus is supposed ot be unveiled at 5 pm uk time - hopefully that 5 second deficit will improve, heck they just put the front wing back on this morning after this>>>>>
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