Barcelona (Times courtesy of Circuit de Catalunya) - 20/02/2008 1 . F. Massa - Ferrari F2008 - 1:30.673 (+ 0.000 ) - 40 laps 2 . M. Webber - Red Bull Renault RB4 - 1:31.213 (+ 0.540 ) - 43 laps 3 . L. Badoer - Ferrari F2008 - 1:31.288 (+ 0.615 ) - 33 laps 4 . D. Coulthard - Red Bull Renault RB4 - 1:31.654 (+ 0.981 ) - 44 laps 5 . F. Alonso - Renault R28 - 1:31.731 (+ 1.058 ) - 28 laps 6 . N. Rosberg - Williams Toyota FW30 - 1:31.963 (+ 1.290 ) - 97 laps 7 . T. Glock - Toyota TF108 - 1:32.407 (+ 1.734 ) - 33 laps 8 . J. Trulli - Toyota TF108 - 1:32.571 (+ 1.898 ) - 47 laps 9 . N. Hulkenberg - Williams Toyota FW30 - 1:33.102 (+ 2.429 ) - 53 laps 10 . K. Nakajima - Williams Toyota FW30 - No Time (+ n/a ) - 33 laps 11 . N. Piquet - Renault R28 - No Time (+ n/a ) - 1 lap. The second day of three scheduled this week at Circuit de Catalunya was another damp affair with limited running for most of the 11 drivers present. Despite an off in the morning session, Felipe Massa set the pace for Ferrari with a best lap of 1:30.673s, just two-thousandths of a second quicker than Nico Rosberg managed on Tuesday. Mark Webber continued to show well in front of the estimated 2000 Spanish fans with the new Red Bull Renault package, recording the second fastest time of the day with a best lap half a second off Massas best. The RB4 featured new aerodynamic additions today as well as a new rear diffuser. Luca Badoer set the third fastest time in his Ferrari F2008 which featured a new rear wing. David Coulthard was fourth fastest in the second RB4. Fernando Alonso completed just 28 laps today for Renault, recording the fifth fastest time, while Nelson Piquet completed just an installation lap in his R28. Williams Toyota ran Nico Rosberg, Nico Hulkenberg and Kazuki Nakajima today, the trio classified sixth, ninth and tenth respectively with the Toyota duo of Timo Glock and Jarno Trulli in between. Nakajima spent his programme practicing pit stops with his crew, hence no lap time recorded. After postponing it track activity on Tuesday due to the unfavourable weather conditions, McLaren Mercedes opted to further delay its scheduled one day test as weather conditions, while marginally improved, were far from ideal. Testing continues on Thursday. © CAPSIS International
Today marked the first day of testing for Ferrari at Circuit de Catalunya as the team plan to test alone for a third and final day alone at the circuit on Friday. On a day when the circuit was affected by intermittent rainfall, Felipe Massa and Luca Badoer were the two drivers designated to start this test. The Brazilian driver debuted some updated aerodynamic component on the F2008 - notably a new rear wing - while the team’s official test driver continued with development of the standard version of the F2008. Given the wet conditions, the team decided to limit the mileage schedule for today and therefore Massa completed just 40 laps but did set the pace with a best time of 1:30.673s. Badoer completed 33 laps with a best of 1:31.288s and was third fastest behind Massa and Mark Webber's Red Bull Renault. The duo remain on track tomorrow. Source: Ferrari
...testing means nothing but ...WAY TOO GOO FORZA FERRARI!!!! ...those redbulls aint looking that bad...the renault engine seems to have stepped to the front...will Alonso have a weapon to attack this year?...is not looking THAT bad!!!...damn.
Pure speculation, F1 News: Ferrari test driver Marc Gene believes that Fernando Alonso may be sandbagging in testing. Sandbagging is when a team or driver deliberately conceals the full pace that they have, leading to slower lap times. Sandbagging is often done to mislead onlookers and rival teams about the true pace of the car or driver. Gene believes that Renault may be quicker than their testing times suggest. Although they have not been the best in testing, they knew since April of last year that their car was not working well enough, and they started then working for 2008, he explained. It is possible that we are witnessing a wolf in sheeps clothing and that Fernando will be at the front again, It is not the first time that Renault have been thought to be sandbagging just before the start of the 2007 season, many believed that Renault had yet to show their true pace in testing. However, it appeared that at the time, Renault were not sandbagging as they failed to challenge the top teams on race weekends as expected.
I can understand, to a certain degree, it but I dont agree with it either as I would get more enjoyment scaring the hell out of the other team's with serious speed.
They've got 3 pics up on the media site... I've cropped them as tight as I could (so you can see the car as big as possible) FWIW: I don't see any changes (certainly nothing on the nose) Image Unavailable, Please Login Image Unavailable, Please Login Image Unavailable, Please Login
Thanks for the effort. they said it's a new rear wing...guess we gotta wait for Mr. YellowBird for more details.
The only thing that stands out a bit is the cutoffs at the back of the upright wing panels, then again those could have been there before and I just missed them.
Barcelona* - 21/02/2008 - Test day #3 1 . K. Nakajima - Williams Toyota FW30 - 1:22.153 (+ 0.000 ) - 32 laps 2 . H. Kovalainen - McLaren Mercedes MP4-23 - 1:22.185 (+ 0.032 ) - 64 laps 3 . P. de la Rosa - McLaren Mercedes MP4-23 - 1:22.208 (+ 0.055 ) - 92 laps 4 . F. Massa - Ferrari F2008 - 1:22.213 (+ 0.060 ) - 96 laps 5 . N. Rosberg - Williams Toyota FW30 - 1:22.248 (+ 0.095 ) - 109 laps 6 . M. Webber - Red Bull Renault RB4 - 1:22.477 (+ 0.324 ) - 82 laps 7 . D. Coulthard - Red Bull Renault RB4 - 1:22.499 (+ 0.346 ) - 104 laps 8 . L. Badoer - Ferrari F2008 - 1:22.535 (+ 0.382 ) - 102 laps 9 . F. Alonso - Renault R28 - 1:22.657 (+ 0.504 ) - 61 laps 10 . T. Glock - Toyota TF108 - 1:22.901 (+ 0.748 ) - 110 laps 11 . N. Piquet - Renault R28 - 1:23.286 (+ 1.133 ) - 105 laps 12 . K. Kobayashi - Toyota TF108 - 1:24.132 (+ 1.979 ) - 56 laps 13 . N. Hulkenberg - Williams Toyota FW30 - 1:24.222 (+ 2.069 ) - 54 laps. The lap times tumbled on the third and final day of the group test in Barcelona today as the winter sun bathed the 4.655km Grand Prix circuit for the first time this week after the now traditional damp start. Underlying the potential pace of the Williams Toyota, Kazuki Nakajima topped the timesheets with a best lap of 1:22.153s, three-hundredths ahead of Heikki Kovalainen in the leading McLaren Mercedes who stopped on track with a mechanical issue today. McLaren tester Pedro de la Rosa was third fastest in the second MP4-23 while Felipe Massa and Nico Rosberg were next up for Ferrari and Williams respectively. Indeed, less than a tenth of a second covered the top five - an encouraging sign ahead of the new season. Mark Webber and David Coulthard recorded the sixth and seventh fastest times for Red Bull Renault ahead of Luca Badoer in the second Ferrari. Over at Renault and Fernando Alonsos predictions that the team face another tough season may - or may not - be wide of the mark as the former champion lapped the Spanish circuit half a second shy of Nakajima and was ninth fastest. New team-mate Nelson Piquet took the 11th best time. Timo Glock was tenth best in the Toyota with new test driver Kamui Kobayashi 12th fastest overall just ahead of Williams test driver Nico Hulkenberg. Ferrari are scheduled to continue alone at the circuit tomorrow while the majority of the teams will be back at this circuit to start the final pre-season group test on Monday. © CAPSIS International
Thursday was the second day of testing this week for Ferrari, working again at the Catalunya Circuit, near Barcelona. On a day when the weather conditions were favourable, Felipe Massa and Luca Badoer continued with the development work which they begun yesterday, centred on reliability, electronics, set-up testing and development of new aerodynamic solutions. Massa completed 96 laps and was fourth fastest with a best lap of 1:22.213s, while test driver Badoer put in 102 laps and set the eighth fastest time, three-tenths adrift of Massa. The duo remain at the circuit tomorrow for the third and final day of testing for the week. Source: Ferrari
Look where the bar code begins on the front of the rear wing. That's the only new part I can make out.
more pics... clearly Phil is running a different wing than Luca... ...still no nose update... Image Unavailable, Please Login Image Unavailable, Please Login Image Unavailable, Please Login Image Unavailable, Please Login Image Unavailable, Please Login Image Unavailable, Please Login
day# 3 no front wing or nose cone tested. ????? maybe Schumacher will test the new aero pkg. next week. 12:40h Massa - 1:20.6 seg (qulay sim) 1.21.56 seg (race sim) Massa's last 10 lap stint 1:22.60 1:22.08 1:21.97 1:22.11 1:21.73 1:21.61 1:21.72 1:22.05 1:21.73 1:21.56 Costa: "It was a good working day today" It was a good working day today, even if it wasn't perfect. The gearbox of Luca's car leaked oil so he had to stop, while everything was fine with Felipe's car. That means, that we still have some work to do to be ready for the race in Melbourne: it's enough that a detail is not right to destroy the whole race. We are quite satisfied as far as the performance is concerned, but it's impossible to say where we stand compared to the others. We've used the track alone today so we don't have realistic lap times. Next week we have another three test days here at Barcelona. Also Schumacher wil be here for one day: it's important to be able to count on his help as a test driver. In qualifying Massa did a 1:20.508, in therace his best time was a 1:21.44. He completed the race simulation succesfully doing 65 laps. Badoer had to abort his race 15 laps before the end. Q & A with Felipe Massa By Michele Lostia Friday, February 22nd 2008, 14:37 GMT Q. How is the new aero at the rear going? Felipe Massa: "In my opinion it's going fine. It does what it was supposed to, nothing that we didn't expect from the aerodynamics." Q. How many tenths difference compared to the more traditional F2008? FM: "It's hard to be precise. Maybe a couple of tenths, but it's hard to make a precise comparison. However it's definitely what we expected, and we must carry on working to develop other things, and also to work on the car's set-up. But we are where we wanted to be." Q. This is the aerodynamics package for Melbourne? FM: "Yes, this is what we have. Maybe we'll have something more, but not in the aerodynamics, but this is more or less the car we'll bring to Melbourne." Q. McLaren seemed to be slightly ahead in this test. FM: "There's nothing to say. We've finished our program, we've done what we wanted. In the end, laptimes are important but they aren't the most important thing. We are behind by a few thousandths, so we have things to improve on the car, and things to develop for the future. As I said, we are where we wanted to be, but we can't give up and we must carry on working." Q. What do you expect from the qualifying/race simulation you'll do tomorrow (Friday)? FM: "I can't say to win, because it's not a race. To finish the race and bring the data home is important, to see where we have to work for the car's reliability, but this simulation is more - let's say 90% about reliability of the car, and the rest just to remember all the things we do in a GP and in qualifying." Q. Are you nervous that the media indicate Ferrari as the team to beat? FM: "Absolutely not. Last year we were always the fastest and they would say Ferrari was the team to beat. So nothing changes, the approach is the same. We must think about doing our job and not think about what it's being written or said." Q. Is the new work about being faster or also about wearing the tyres better? FM: "Both. If you can do both you've done the job you were supposed to." Q. Do you still remember what it was like to drive with traction control or has that been forgotten already? FM: "No, I've forgotten it, I can't remember how it worked (laughs). We'll certainly go quicker now without it than with it." Q. Laptimes have decreased a lot. Considering the changes in the electronics, why is that? FM: "For sure the cars get developed. They improve aerodynamically. The regulations are the same as last year, and the only change is in the electronics. Driving the car without traction control for the first time compared to driving it now, it's incredible how much the driver's mind develops from one day to the next to then be able to do what the electronics did. So in the end this means that driving without electronics is fairly possible. "The only thing is that in the rain it's much harder really. Sometimes you enter a turn with less grip than the others, you don't expect to then become a passenger with nothing you can do about it. So that's one negative point of the lack of traction control. However, it's a lot of fun to drive the car now." Q. Have the tyres made a big step forward? FM: "The tyres are the same." Q. Is there a particular area in the car that can be improved? FM: "That always exists. We are working on the engine, on the chassis, on the aerodynamics. Everything must always be worked on." Q. The race starts? FM: "In the end we are very close to what we could do at the starts last year. So there won't be much of a difference." Q. Have the engineers found some trick? FM: "No, the drivers have got used to do with the pedal what the electronics used to do. As I said: it's incredible to see the cars' developments, but so is seeing the development of the drivers when the rules change." Q. Are you surprised by that? FM: "Yes, because from the first time I drove (without TC) to now you can see that you have understood how the car works without traction control." Q. Does it feel more satisfying? FM: "In the dry it does, but it doesn't in the wet." Q. You and the car look to be in shape. How are the mechanics, with all the pit stop simulations you've done? FM: "They're in shape. They must be! They'll make a lot of training, because if we lose seconds in the pitstops it's no good. So we must be in shape in all areas." Q. Do you think Fernando Alonso is right about Renault being so far behind? FM: "I don't know. If he says so... He is the one driving the car. I am happy about my car. I think we are doing a good job. I don't know if we are first, second or third, but I think we are heading in the right direction." Q. Do you think it's just a game between Ferrari and McLaren? FM: "We'll see in Melbourne. I don't want to say anything before the first race because maybe we may get some surprises." Q. Has the handling of the car changed with the new aero package? FM: "No, the handling is similar. It's just a little bit more downforce to make the car slightly quicker and slightly more consistent, but the handling is similar." Q. It's not a smaller window to operate the car or anything like that? FM: "We didn't change the car, we just improved the car, so it's just something that goes in the direction that you expect." Q. Do you think you feel more gain in the lower to middle speed corners than higher speed, or do you feel the gain more here, with the new package here? FM: "I think the gain is a little bit general, all over the corners. So for sure when you work like that you work for every corner, not for just one kind of corner. So I think it's in general." photos of day 1&2 download:http://rapidshare.com/files/94024610/Barcelona_1_2.rar Image Unavailable, Please Login
