Archive for February, 2010
Valencia: Day2 Testing Wrap-up
Feb 3rd
Day two at Valencia ended up in a similar way to Day1 with the pace setter again being Filipe Massa in the Ferrari F10.
Lewis Hamiltin and Kamui Kobayashi were also present on day2 and got to drive their respective 2010 challengers for the first time. Kobayashi however was the man on fire. He surprised onlookers by putting in some very good laps early and recording the 2nd fastest lap of the day, beating Hamilon, Rosberg and Kubica with a 1m12.056.
Fuel loads however are the obvious un-known variable. Williams were reportedly doing many ‘long run’ stints Knowing what kind of fuel loads were in the Ferrari or the Sauber are simply just a guessing game, Sauber most likely running the car very light to impress potential sponsors.
Lewis Hamilton was at the wheel of the new McLaren today for the first time. He did 108 laps and recorded the 3rd fastest time of the day being a 1:12.256, no bad and respectable enough. McLaren were reportedly performing aero tests on the car throughout the day, making use of special paint to measure flow vis.
Rosberg also did some long stints with an obviously heavier fuel load in the Mercedes, however he did complain of not being totally comfortable in the car yet. He also had to try an laugh off comments made by Rubins that he wouldn’t win the chamionship as long as Michaeal Schumacher was his team mate. Rosberg said he wasn’t worried about favouritism in the team .
Tomorrow we will see 2009 World Champion Jensen Button drive for his new McLaren team for the first time. The team is predicted to be running more aero testing on the car during the day and treating it as a bit more of a technical shakedown.
The top times from today are as follows:
1. Felipe Massa Ferrari 1:11.722 124
2. Kamui Kobayashi BMW Sauber 1:12.056 96
3. Lewis Hamilton Vodafone McLaren Mercedes 1:12.256 108
4. Robert Kubica Renault 1:12.426 119
5. Nico Rosberg Mercedes GP 1:12.899 119
6. Rubens Barrichello Williams 1:13.377 102
7. Sebastien Buemi Toro Rosso 1:13.823 107
Valencia: Day1 Testing Wrap-up
Feb 2nd
It was a busy day on Monday in Valencia with many 2010 cars breaking cover for the first time and the drivers stepping into their 2010 title contenders for the first time.
It was the first time the world got to have a look at the 2010 Toro Rosso, Williams and Mercedes W01.
RedBull and Force India were not present, instead opting to further develop their cars, also none of the ‘new’ teams on the grid this year were present.
Michael Schumacher finally stepped into the W01 after much anticipating. He was on the pace and very quickly bettered his team mate, Nico Roseberg’s, times. Schumacher was lapping in the mid 1:13.5′s before breaking into the low 1:13′s and even a very high 1:12.
The nose on the Mercedes W01 is a radical slopped nose similar to last years RedBull’s nose and the new Torro Rosso STR5 is and even more radical looking variation of the design.
Mercedes were the only team on the day run both their drivers on the day.
When asked about how he enjoyed his first day at the wheel of the W01, Schumacher responded: “It was a perfect roll-out for the new car today,” Schumacher commented. “I felt totally comfortable and really had a feeling that everything was very natural. It felt just like at the very beginning of my career in 1991 – when on the first lap, I thought, ‘Wow, that was really fast!’ and then on the second lap I was just extremely excited!
Schumacher “I feel like a young boy again and really enjoyed myself out there. We did a good job today, just making a few control checks, and the most important thing was that the car ran reliably. With Nico and I covering 79 laps between us, it was a superb job by the team.”
The big news of the day however was Filipe Massa’s successful return to Formula1 at the wheel of the new F10. He was on the pace from start to finish on the day. Ferrari’s F10 is already to be proving a far better package then lasts years car. Massa topped the morning sessions in the mid 1:13.5′s but then bettered his morning times to record a 1:12.574 which was not beaten. Massa however did record more laps then any other driver.
It was a dream start to the new season for Ferrari who’s reputation took a battering last year due to a very poor performance during the season and the loss of Filipe due to injury and lack of good reserve driver talent.
When massa stepped out of his car after his dream run, he said he felt “zero fear” he went on to say he was “happy to be back after such a long time watching the race on television and sometimes on the track,” he also said he felt very physically fit and could have easily done many more laps then he did.
A surprise pace-setter of the day was Pedro De la Rosa who managed to set the second fastest time of the day int he BMW-Sauber. He edged out both Rosberg and Schumacher in the Mercedes and Paffet in the McLaren to finish just two-tenths of a second of Massa’s fastest lap of the day.
Without getting too carried away, it is very hard to judge teams true pace this year during the pre-season testing, due to the large fuel tanks. The discrepency that is now possible between fuel loads means some cars could be running extremely heavy to do long distance runs and other teams could be cheating by only putting a small number of laps worth of fuel in their cars to impress the time sheets.
Williams seemed to struggle a little bit, with Rubins bringing out the red flag for a short time while his car was stopped out on track, however he managed to do over 70 laps in the car and set respectable pace ahead of the Torro Rosso and Renault team.
Renault were the slowest team of the day with Robert Kubica only managed a best time of 1:15 flat, however they managed to put in some decent track time with 69 laps.
On Tuesday we will see Hamilton step into the McLaren for the first time, with Jensen button taking over on the final day.
The times at the end of day 1 are as follows:
1. Felipe Massa, Ferrari, 1:12.574, 102 Laps
2. Pedro de la Rosa, BMW Sauber, 1:12.784, 74 Laps
3. Michael Schumacher, Mercedes GP, 1:12.947, 40 Laps
4. Nico Rosberg, Mercedes GP, 1:13.543, 39 Laps
5. Gary Paffett, McLaren, 1:13.846, 86 Laps
6. Rubens Barrichello, Williams, 1:14.449, 75 Laps
7. Sebastien Buemi, Toro Rosso, 1:14.762, 18 Laps
8. Robert Kubica, Renault, 1:15.000, 69 Laps
Radical Renault R30 Revealed
Feb 1st
Renault on Sunday at Velencia revealed the R30 to the world with aggressive yellow and black livery, free from it’s previous sponsor, ING.
Renault announced their second driver (as expected) to be Russian Vitaly Petrov, who will partner Robert Kubica in their 2010 title campaign.
The Livery is a bit of a hark back to the similar paint job of the late 1970s and early 1980s which made Renault famous in Formula1.
Total oil seems to have a similar sponsorship deal again this year, with Renault making up the majority of the livery on the car previously occupied by ING.
Once again, like all this years cars, the R30 has a longer wheel base to last years Renault and is wider to accomodate it’s larger fuel tank.
Rookie, Petrov, was runner up in GP2 last season and is as the first Russian driver in Formula1. “The new car looks stunning and the colours remind everybody of Renault’s great history in the sport. I can’t wait to drive the car for the first time and start working with the team.” – He stated.
New Renault team boss Eric Boullier was present and admitted he was full of anticipation prior to the start of the new Formula1 season. He went on to say: “For Renault, this is particularly true of the 2010 season as we begin a new era for the team.”.
“We’ve been working flat-out during the winter to ensure that we begin the new season in the best shape possible. The R30 should be a competitive, strong and reliable car, and we’ve opted for an aggressive development strategy throughout the season. Now we’re here ready for the first test, and we’re all excited to see if the car performs as we think it will.”
Robert Kubica said: “The team has been working on the new car for a long time and it’s clear that we are moving in the right direction. Now we need to maximize the winter tests to keep up this momentum and continue improving the car. Our priority is to make the car easy to drive because the new rules favor cars that are not too sensitive; we need a car that behaves consistently in a wide range of conditions.”
Testing will start on Monday 1st February at Valencia where will will see the majority of the 2010 challengers on track, including the new R30 and Sauber which were both revealed on Sunday.
BMW Sauber C29 released
Feb 1st
Pedro de la Rosa and Kamui Kobayashi were on hand to pull back the covers on this years BMW Sauber C29. The word BMW is still in the teams name, however BMW are just getting free advertising since they no longer support the team, the model disgnation has been dropped and the car is now powered by a Ferrari engine and even uses other Ferrari components such as it’s gearbox.
This years Sauer, like other 2010 cars, has a longer wheel base and is also wider then last years car to accomodate that larger fuel tanks. It also sports a new Dorsal or ‘shark fin’ similar to that seen on the 2010 McLaren.
Technical director Willy Rampf described some of the changes to the car:
“The increased length of the fuel tank means the car has grown longer overall. And because they are slimmer, the front tyres will be more heavily worked, requiring weight to be shifted further towards the rear of the car.
An eye-catching feature of the C29 is its highly intricate raised nose. Also very distinctive is an extremely long undercut at the transition from chassis into underbody. These and other aerodynamic measures also help to ensure optimum airflow to the double diffuser. Further changes were required to integrate the Ferrari engine and, in particular, the Ferrari gearbox.”.
Technical specs of the c29 are as follows:
Chassis: Carbon-fibre monocoque
Suspension: Upper and lower wishbones (front and rear), inboard springs and dampers, actuated by pushrods (Sachs Race Engineering)
Brakes: Six-piston brake callipers (Brembo), carbon pads and discs (Brembo, Carbon Industries)
Transmission: Ferrari Seven-speed quick shift gearbox, carbon, longitudinally mounted, carbon-fibre clutch
Chassis electronics: MES
Steering wheel: BMW Sauber F1 Team
Tyres: Bridgestone Potenza
Wheels: OZ
Length: 4,940 mm
Width: 1,800 mm
Height: 1,000 mm
Track width, front: 1,495 mm
Track width, rear: 1,410 mm
Weight: 620 kg (including driver, tank empty)
UBS Chinese Grand Prix