Posts tagged McLaren
Spa Francorchamps – My favourite
Aug 26th
It’s been a long time between posts. Too long infact. I have not been regularly updating this blog due to a lot of other commitments in my life. The free time I do have is dedicated to other tasks. I mentioned in a previous post that I don’t plan on reporting post race, every race and reporting on quali, etc etc, instead I feel the need to just treat this blog as an outlet to share my love and passion for Formula1 with you. It is fitting then that I start the new era of this blog on the leadup to my favourite Grand Prix of the year…Spa!
After a long mid-season break we finally return to racing this Sunday in Belgium.
Circuit de Spa-Francorchamps has what is arguably the most famous corner in Formula1…Eau Rouge. I love sitting down with a good glass of wine, watching the modern F1 cars completely flat through this corner as it then rises into valley and launches them into the Kemmel straight.
So what should we expect this weekend from the top teams? RedBull still clearly have an edge over their rivals. The F-Duct however will prove to be important here. McLaren clearly have a top straight line speed advantage over the RB6 and that should play out well for them at Spa. However, there are a lot of corners of medium and medium-fast speed that will very much suit the superior handling and grip of the RB6.
Ferrari are very strong again. The revised front wing has paid for them and in the last race we saw a very strong finish for Fernando and Massa (2nd & 4th place). Ferrari should also be on pace and could very easily outpace either RedBull or McLaren.
Personally I think RedBull have the edge, but Mark Webber has got a very difficult task ahead of him with drivers such as Lewis Hamilton and Fernando Alonso nipping at his heels. Webber’s lead over Hamilton in the championship is only 4 points and his car is not streaks ahead of them in performance.
Mark has traditionally enjoyed Spa and has had decent results here in the past, but i’m sure he knows his toughest rival is his team mate. IQualifying (as always) will be very important for the RedBull drivers as passing each other on track will be near impossible (unless it is played out through pit strategy). So there for the first RedBull driver through turn1 will (barring any collisions or breakdowns) remain the leading RedBull driver.
Some of the most memorable overtaking moves have happened at Spa. Who could forget the scarp Hakkinen and Schumacher had at Spa in 2000! Here is the video for those who forgot:
This season is one of the most exciting seasons I can remember in recent times. We have had many changes in the championship leader (granted this is in part due to the points chanegs) and we also have a full grid with new teams and a bunch of new drivers. We have multiple world champions and there is no clear leader, like the “senna” ere followed by the “schumi” era. This is the era of multiple champions, maybe similar to the days of Hill, Moss, Clarke, Brabham, etc. We may be seeing a return to the old days of Formula1 where anyone could be a winner!
Friday Practice also co-incides with my Birthday this year. I plan on being glued to practice and have butterflies hanging out for Quali. With such a long break all the drivers are itching to go racing again and with Spa being a favourite circuit amoungst the majority of them, it’s sure to be a cracking weekend!
For those of you on twitter, try following @f1livetweets. If you step away from the tele or can’t catch the race, you can follow the action lap-by-lap.
Three on the Trot for Webber in Turkey
May 29th
Mark Webber has bagged a qualifying hatrick by claiming pole postion for the Turkish Grand Prix.
It hasn’t been smooth sailing this weekend for the Aussie. On Friday an engine failure in practice was played down by the team but it did mean less time on track for Mark. The during 3rd practice on Saturday Mark had a issue with the throttle system on the RedBull which saw him crawl back to the pits under idle and not record a time.
Vettel was a step ahead of Mark, recording better times during Q1 and Q2 however Sebastian locked a front wheel in the dying stages of Q3 and lost time, as a result he lost time and only narrowly finished in p3 splitting both the Mclarens. Mark had an excellent final run in Q3, lighting up the middle sector purple. He managed to beat Lewis hamilton to pole by more then .1 of a second.
Fernando Alonso had a dreadful day, making a mistake in Q2 and unable to recover he was knocked out and will start tomorrows race from 12th position. It continues a string of bad luck for Fernando who was forced to start from pitlane in Monaco due to a heavy crash in practice. Filepe Massa however was able to get his Ferrari into the top ten and will start from 8th place for the race.
Hamitlon was 2nd and Button 4th, making it an all RedBUll and Mclaren front two rows. Lewis Hamitlon said he believes they are in a good position tomorrow, claiming he felt the McLaren had very good race pace. Lewis noted it was a boot for the team and that he expects their pace to improve further when more ‘bits’ arrive for the car in the coming races. With Lewis Hamilton notoriously quick off the line it will be a made dash to turn1 with the Briton now doubt expecting he can beat Webber through the first turn.
Sebastian Vettel was upset about the front left wheel of his car. He said he locked the front wheel briefly under brakes, which usually wouldn’t be much of an issue, however the wheel for some reason stayed locked up and as a result he ran wide. Vettel spent some time inspecting the car as it was parked in parc’ ferme and was clearly not happy with his Q3 performance. He was quicker then Mark in the earlier session and no doubt was expecting to claim pole in Turkey, let alone be starting from the 2nd row.
The Big shock of the day was Michael Schumacher who bottom out int he high speed left hander and as a result lost control of his Mercedes. Schumacher had to park the car and is now left with enormous flatspots on his tyres. Michael will have to start the race on his damaged tyres, but since he recorded a time earlier in Q3 before his spin, he will start the race from 5th place just ahead of his team mate Nico.
The complete time sheet from all the sessions is below:
1. Webber Red Bull-Renault 1:27.500 1:26.818 1:26.295 2. Hamilton McLaren-Mercedes 1:27.667 1:27.013 1:26.433 3. Vettel Red Bull-Renault 1:27.067 1:26.729 1:26.760 4. Button McLaren-Mercedes 1:27.555 1:27.277 1:26.781 5. Schumacher Mercedes 1:27.756 1:27.438 1:26.857 6. Rosberg Mercedes 1:27.649 1:27.141 1:26.952 7. Kubica Renault 1:27.766 1:27.426 1:27.039 8. Massa Ferrari 1:27.993 1:27.200 1:27.082 9. Petrov Renault 1:27.620 1:27.387 1:27.430 10. Kobayashi Sauber-Ferrari 1:28.158 1:27.434 1:28.122 11. Sutil Force India-Mercedes 1:27.951 1:27.525 12. Alonso Ferrari 1:27.857 1:27.612 13. de la Rosa Sauber-Ferrari 1:28.147 1:27.879 14. Buemi Toro Rosso-Ferrari 1:28.534 1:28.273 15. Barrichello Williams-Cosworth 1:28.336 1:28.392 16. Alguersuari Toro Rosso-Ferrari 1:28.460 1:28.540 17. Hulkenberg Williams-Cosworth 1:28.227 1:28.841 18. Liuzzi Force India-Mercedes 1:28.958 19. Trulli Lotus-Cosworth 1:30.237 20. Kovalainen Lotus-Cosworth 1:30.519 21. Glock Virgin-Cosworth 1:30.744 22. Senna HRT-Cosworth 1:31.266 23. di Grassi Virgin-Cosworth 1:31.989 24. Chandhok HRT-Cosworth 1:32.060
Both RedBulls on front row for Spanish GP
May 9th
Webber claims his second pole of this season
Mark webber got one-up on team mate Vettel during Qualifying by pipping his German teammate to pole by two tenths of a second, Mark was the only man in qualifying to break into the 1’19′s when he set an incredible 1:19.995.
RedBull dominated final practice three on Saturday as well as all 3 periods of Qualifying, finishing 1-2 in every session.
Q1 saw the usual suspects securing the bottom 6 places, however the Lotus’s were showing very impressive pace, Trulli was only 1.5 seconds behind the Williams of Rubins Barichello who according to the team was caught in lap traffic. As a result he was unable to record a quick lap which saw him finish in 18th place and unable to proceed to Q2.
Michaeal Schumacher has had his most positive weekend of the season so far. His car has a new setup that he helped the team develop . The new car suits Michaels driving style very well and he has been faster then Rosberg all weekend. Michael put in some very impressive quali times and was consistently in the top 5 runners. In the end he was edged out of the top 5 qualifiers by Jensen Button. However, starting alongside the reigning world champion on the 3rd row of the grid put Schumacher in a great position to bag a bunch of points tomorrow.
Massa has been a lot slower then his team-mate this weekend. Massa qualified in 9th place just ahead of Kobayashi who put in a brilliant drive in the Sauber to claim the tenth spot. Kobayashi put in a brilliant drive in the dying seconds of Q3 and managed to push the Force india of Adrian Sutil just out of the top 10.
Hometown hero Fernando Alonso has been performing well infront of his fans this weekend. Alonso drove a brilliant lap which drove a thorn between the McLarens of Hamilton and Button. Alosno recorded a 1:20.937 which put him on the second row of the grid next to Lewis Hamilton. Alonso is in a very good position to claim a podium tomorrow infront of his home crowd if he can keep ahead of the McLarens.
The day however belonged to Mark Webber who recorded his second pole of the season and is in a very good position to claim his first win of the season. If Mark can remain ahead of his team mate through the first corner, there is every chance he will remain in front. However Vettel is on a points charge and knows if he wants a crack at the championship he needs to bag every point possible. Lew Hamilton is also a good starter and if Mark doesn’t get away well tomorrow he might very well have Hamilton and Vettel ahead of him before turn1.
The complete qualifying results are below:
| Pos. | # | Driver | Car | Q1 | Q2 | Q3 |
| 1 | 6 | Mark Webber | Red Bull-Renault | 1?21.412 | 1?20.655 | 1?19.995 |
| 2 | 5 | Sebastian Vettel | Red Bull-Renault | 1?21.680 | 1?20.772 | 1?20.101 |
| 3 | 2 | Lewis Hamilton | McLaren-Mercedes | 1?21.723 | 1?21.415 | 1?20.829 |
| 4 | 8 | Fernando Alonso | Ferrari | 1?21.957 | 1?21.549 | 1?20.937 |
| 5 | 1 | Jenson Button | McLaren-Mercedes | 1?21.915 | 1?21.168 | 1?20.991 |
| 6 | 3 | Michael Schumacher | Mercedes | 1?22.528 | 1?21.557 | 1?21.294 |
| 7 | 11 | Robert Kubica | Renault | 1?22.488 | 1?21.599 | 1?21.353 |
| 8 | 4 | Nico Rosberg | Mercedes | 1?22.419 | 1?21.867 | 1?21.408 |
| 9 | 7 | Felipe Massa | Ferrari | 1?22.564 | 1?21.841 | 1?21.585 |
| 10 | 23 | Kamui Kobayashi | Sauber-Ferrari | 1?22.577 | 1?21.725 | 1?21.984 |
| 11 | 14 | Adrian Sutil | Force India-Mercedes | 1?22.628 | 1?21.985 | |
| 12 | 22 | Pedro de la Rosa | Sauber-Ferrari | 1?22.211 | 1?22.026 | |
| 13 | 10 | Nico Hülkenberg | Williams-Cosworth | 1?22.857 | 1?22.131 | |
| 14 | 12 | Vitaly Petrov | Renault | 1?22.976 | 1?22.139 | |
| 15 | 16 | Sebastien Buemi | Toro Rosso-Ferrari | 1?22.699 | 1?22.191 | |
| 16 | 17 | Jaime Alguersuari | Toro Rosso-Ferrari | 1?22.593 | 1?22.207 | |
| 17 | 15 | Vitantonio Liuzzi | Force India-Mercedes | 1?23.084 | 1?22.854 | |
| 18 | 9 | Rubens Barrichello | Williams-Cosworth | 1?23.125 | ||
| 19 | 18 | Jarno Trulli | Lotus-Cosworth | 1?24.674 | ||
| 20 | 19 | Heikki Kovalainen | Lotus-Cosworth | 1?24.748 | ||
| 21 | 24 | Timo Glock | Virgin-Cosworth | 1?25.475 | ||
| 22 | 25 | Lucas di Grassi | Virgin-Cosworth | 1?25.556 | ||
| 23 | 20 | Karun Chandhok | HRT-Cosworth | 1?26.750 | ||
| 24 | 21 | Bruno Senna | HRT-Cosworth | 1?27.122 |
Button wins Chinese GP in a thrilling McLaren 1-2
Apr 18th
Jensen enjoying his 2nd win of the season. Photo: EPA
Jensen button won a thrilling Chinese Gran Prix and Hamilton provided McLaren with their first 1-2 finish of the season.
The Drama started early when Alonso jumped the start and was later penalised. It wasn’t long before the rain hit and most of the top teams were quick to react by opting to switch to intermediate tyres. This soon proved to be the wrong decision
For Jensen it is his second win of the season and smart strategy in changeable weather conditions again proved to be the key to winning. Button chosing his tyres wisely, opted to stay out on slicks in light rain. It was the right choice, the rain was only short lived for the time being and all those teams who dashed in for inters were quickly forced to pit again to put slicks back on the cars.
This decission was the turning point of the race for many drivers. It was what handed Button the advantage and it was also a decission to change to inters which ruled out the chance of RedBull claiming a podium position. Jensen’s smooth driving style again became crutial in the later stages of the race where he was forced to look after the intermediate tyres to maintain his lead over Hamilton. It was a classy drive and a smart drive from Button.
Nico Rosberg ran wide on slicks later in the race which gifted P1 to Jensen. Had it not been for this incident there was every chanee Nico could have scored his first GrandPrix victory and the first for the ‘modern’ Mercedes team. Nico Rosberg then lost P2 to hamilton in the pit stop, having a slow in lap combined with Lewis doing a few well timed quick laps, the German was relegated to 3rd.
Sebastian and Mark made their way up from P9 and P10 in the later stages of the race, however Vettel was unable to pass Kubica to claim 5th position due to his tyre wear. Tyres were even more of an issue for Mark who lost a place to Petrov in the dying stages due to there being no tread left at all on the intermediate tyres. Mark had to settle for 8th position.
With Jensen now top of the table and Nico Rosberg 2nd in the standings it has thrown the championship predictions out the window. Not many bookmakers predicted the table to look the way it is currently.
“This win is very special” said Button at the post race press conference. Button ‘s win also hands McLaren the lead in the constructors championship and with 11 points now separating him from his team-mate, it has been a very important morale boost for Jensen who many felt would be racing in the shadow of Hamilton at McLaren.
The race Steward had a busy day with several incidents needing investigation. The first obviously was a drive-through for Fernando jumping the start, however it was a scrap between Hamilton and Vettel on the entry then also the exit to the pits which raised most eyebrows. Lewis Hamilton was released from his box, however wheel spin saw him exit into the path of Sebastian Vettel. Both drivers were side by side down the pitlane with Hamilton even running over other teams air gun hoses before finally darting in behind Vettel as they exited the pits.
Further controversy happened in the late stages of the race when Button bunched the pack up eady for a post-safety car restart which nearly caused a mass pile up, forces some driver to take avoiding action onto the grass. The cars were forced to slow so much that no doubt some driver had to engage their clutch. The restart went all bad for Webber who was forced off by Hamilton who ran wide defending his position with Vettel. Under new regulations you can pass on the restart from pitlane entry.
If Bernie wanted to make Formula1 more exciting, then he has succeded by charming the rain gods on a Sunday. Changeable weather conditions during the race proving to be the missing ingredient in the sport.
The final race standings from China are below:
Pos Driver Team Time 1. Button McLaren-Mercedes 1h44:42.163 2. Hamilton McLaren-Mercedes + 1.530 3. Rosberg Mercedes + 9.484 4. Alonso Ferrari + 11.869 5. Kubica Renault + 22.213 6. Vettel Red Bull-Renault + 33.310 7. Petrov Renault + 47.600 8. Webber Red Bull-Renault + 52.172 9. Massa Ferrari + 57.796 10. Schumacher Mercedes + 1:01.749 11. Sutil Force India-Mercedes + 1:02.874 12. Barrichello Williams-Cosworth + 1:03.665 13. Alguersuari Toro Rosso-Ferrari + 1:11.416 14. Kovalainen Lotus-Cosworth + 1 lap 15. Hulkenberg Williams-Cosworth + 1 lap 16. Senna HRT-Cosworth + 2 laps 17. Chandhok HRT-Cosworth + 4 laps
Whincup and Button swap cars
Mar 23rd
It was a very special moment for reigning V8 Super Car Champion Jamie Whincup when he and reigning Formula1 world champion, Jensen button swapped car today in Melbourne as part of a promotion for Vodafone.
Button got to hop into the Team Vodafone reserve/passenger v8 Supercar while Jamie got to drive the 2008 McLaren that Lewis won the world championship in.
Jamie only had one word to describe the experience “unbelievable”. Jamie has not driven an open wheelers since 2002 when he raced formula fords. No doubt the McLaren MP4-23 was very different to anything he experienced in the Formula1 ford.
Due to works still being completed on the main straight, the drivers had to use there speed limiters as they passed the pits, however the could go full pace for the rest of the lap. Each driver did around 4 laps each.
For Jamie, his biggest concern was being able to successfully launch the F1 car without stalling it. A little push from the team assisted him in this feat. Jamie said taking off was the hardest part, but the F1 car did a lot of the work for him.
“It’s great that I knew the track and I’d done a few miles around here in the race car, but it gripped unbelievable. I was probably only using half of the brakes capacity. I should have been braking at the 100 metre mark, but I was braking at the 200 mark. I think I grained the tyre up a little bit, so I’m pretty proud of that! “ said Whincup
For Button who is a fan of the V8 Supercar series it was a great opportunity to sample the TeamVodoafone v8 supercar.
Jensen was surprised with the speed able to be carried through the corners in the V8 supercar “You can use more of the road! On the way into the fast left right, you can carry a lot of speed, but there’s not a lot of downforce. I ran off the tarmac and onto the astro turf,” he said.
Jamie however noted that it was very different using your right foot to brake in the VE Commodore. He went on to say “I’ll have to strengthen my right leg if I ever want to drive these again, or get the chance to drive these again. In the V8, you brake with your right leg, where as in our cars, it’s with your left. It’s quite difficult to get used to”.
Both drivers said that it was a great experience for them. Jensen was not dispelling rumours of an opportunity for him to race at Bathurst in the future. He noted that once he retires from Formula1, driving in a race such as Bathurst will hopefully be a possibility for him.
Photos courtesy of Australian GrandPrix Corporation
Vettel holds off Ferrari to take Pole.
Mar 14th
Sebastian Vettel has continued RedBull’s sucess from last season and proved the critics of the RB6 wrong by holding off Fernando Alonso and Filipe Massa in the Ferrari’s to take Pole Position at Bahrian. Vettel in claiming poe for the season opener has put himself in good stead to claim the first race win of the season, however with two Ferrari’s behind him, it won’t be easy andthe race-pace of the RedBull and the teams race strategy will be vital on Sunday.
During the post race press conference, Vettel was asked if he was suprised that he was able to take pole for Bahrain. He said: “A big surprise. I mean in winter testing no-one really knew where we were. Of course it was clear that there were four teams pretty strong, but close to each other. To be honest yesterday it was a very tough day for us and we had not as much running as we were hoping for. Another long night especially for the mechanics, not a lot of sleep, some tired faces, but everyone was still keen this morning to push. I knew we had a great car but first of all you have to get it together. I have to say practice this morning and qualifying went pretty smoothly. Obviously I am very, very happy to be on pole, so thanks to the team. As I said the boys didn’t get much sleep in the last month with a lot of testing in a short amount of time. To come here first time everyone really shows how strong they are and to be on top is definitely a very, very nice feeling.”
The critics have sighted that during testing, the RedBull had the pace, however not in lone race stint and race style simulations, that title seemed to belong to the Ferrari’s and the McLarens. RedBull have always been critisised for reliablity and in-particular a weak Renaul engine which is down on Power compared to the Ferrari and Mercedes engines. This point proved itself in Bahrain when Button’s McLaren was 9km/h quicker then Vettel through the speed trap.
Alonso appeared to have pace early on and looked set to take P2, however in the dying seconds of quali, team-mate Filipe Massa, on his first Quali since returning to the sport, pipped him off by less then .2 of a second.
Rosberg should be happy with his effort in beating 7-time world champion team mate Michael in order to take 5th spot on the grid, just ahead of the other RedBull of Webber in P6.
As expecting the two HRT’s of Senna and Chandhook finished 2nd last and last palce respectively. Chandhook was more then 10 seconds slower the Vettels pole time, no doubt there will be chaos during the race, with such a massive time difference just over a single lap in quali, it won’t be long befroe the HRT’s start to become lapped.
BAHRAIN GP – QUALIFYING RESULTS:
1. Vettel Red Bull-Renault 1:55.029 1:53.883 1:54.101
2. Massa Ferrari 1:55.313 1:54.331 1:54.242
3. Alonso Ferrari 1:54.612 1:54.172 1:54.608
4. Hamilton McLaren-Mercedes 1:55.341 1:54.707 1:55.217
5. Rosberg Mercedes 1:55.463 1:54.682 1:55.241
6. Webber Red Bull-Renault 1:55.298 1:54.318 1:55.284
7. Schumacher Mercedes 1:55.593 1:55.105 1:55.524
8. Button McLaren-Mercedes 1:55.715 1:55.168 1:55.672
9. Kubica Renault 1:55.511 1:54.963 1:55.885
10. Sutil Force India-Mercedes 1:55.213 1:54.996 1:56.309
11. Barrichello Williams-Cosworth 1:55.969 1:55.330
12. Liuzzi Force India-Mercedes 1:55.628 1:55.653
13. Hulkenberg Williams-Cosworth 1:56.375 1:55.857
14. de la Rosa Sauber-Ferrari 1:56.428 1:56.237
15. Buemi Toro Rosso-Ferrari 1:56.189 1:56.265
16. Kobayashi Sauber-Ferrari 1:56.541 1:56.270
17. Petrov Renault 1:56.167 1:56.619
18. Alguersuari Toro Rosso-Ferrari 1:57.071
19. Glock Virgin-Cosworth 1:59.728
20. Trulli Lotus-Cosworth 1:59.852
21. Kovalainen Lotus-Cosworth 2:00.313
22. di Grassi Virgin-Cosworth 2:00.587
23. Senna HRT-Cosworth 2:03.240
24. Chandhok HRT-Cosworth 2:04.904
Barcelona wraps up with McLaren, Ferrari & Red Bull all contenders
Mar 1st
Another dry day in Barcelona on Sunday marked the final day official pre-season testing in Barcelona and it was a day full of the top teams all trading top times whilst drivers worked on final setup of the cars.
All the times were very close, with the top 8 times all being within less then 1 second of each other. Massa, Hamilton and Webber traded top time throu-out the day, with the fastest man in the end being Lewis Hamilton in the McLaren with a 1:20.472. Hamilton spent a lot of time behind the wheel, notching up over 130 laps. Mark Webber was second fastest and did less then half the laps of Hamilton. He showed that RedBull has a very fast car this year when he recored a 1:20.496.
Massa was 3rd quickest just infront of Force India’s Adrian Suttil. Red Bull were the only team who had both their drivers for this year in the top 5. Sebastian Vettel was 5th quickest with a 1:20.667. Sebastian managed to do around 10 more laps in the car then Mark Webber managed. Sebastian’s fellow countryman and seven-time world champion, Michael Schumacher recorded 1:20.745 in the MercedesGP car to claim the 6th fastest time of the day.
Most teams were doing race distance simulations through the day and spending a lot of time measuring tyre wear.
RedBull allowed webber and Vettel to share the drives during the day due to both drivers having less time behind the wheel throughout testing, so they didn’t complete the same race distance simulations some othe teams did. None the less both of their drivers were on the pace placing in the top five.
With McLaren, RedBull, Ferrari and Mercedes all within a second of each other and holding out the top 5 spots on the timesheets. It appears the predictions that the title race this year could be a tight 4-way battle between said teams could prove to be true.
Massa emerged posative and said “We wanted a competitive car and I think we’ve achieved our goal. It’s difficult to say who worked best. Today the time sheet says Hamilton, but we’re all very close together, it’s just tenths of a second.” He did however mention that whilst they were very strong, he felt at this point they weren’t the strongest and needed to improve, but was very happy to be in the group of front runners.
Meanwhile, Michael Schumacher said “The four testing days here in Barcelona have helped us to make significant progress with the MGP W01 and I am feeling quite confident for the start of the season. It is always difficult to read too much into testing but knowing our programme, it is fair to say that the times did not always reflect the true picture. We have worked through many set-up and development evaluations this week and gained valuable information to study before Bahrain. We are heading the first race with a good feeling and we know that we will have our upgrades there. But most of all we know that our prospects for even the first races are looking very reasonable now.”
So at the end of the day, what do the times really mean? Well it is hard to judge, but the pace of the Ferrari’s, the McLarens, the RedBull’s and even Mercedes has been consitent thorugh-out the pre-season testing.
Massas is less then confident that his team will be the team to beat going into this season, however they have done more race-distance simulation and varying fuel load runs and varying tyre choice stints then other teams and they are still at the pointy end of the timesheets. Their car has also been very strong without many technical problems. They seem to have the pace and it appears that Ferrari are going to be one of the fastest teams in 2010, that cobined with obvioius reliability means the team should be a very strong title contender.
RedBull have had the apce, but not the ditance, meaning they have spent the least amount of time on the track compared to the otehr front runners. Engine reliability is also an issue for the team. They have the apce but could be let down by reliability.
McLaren were quickest over testing and have two very strong drivers. That combined with the reliability they have shown could mean that they are the team to rain on Ferrari’s parade and could also snatch the title this year.
Mercedes are also up their rounding out the top 4 teams. They have shown good strong pace at times, then also shown their pace can be a bit inconsitent. The team won last years championship and may not have done enough development on their 2010 package to fight with McLaren and Ferrari.
Time will tell however, with just 11 days left now till the first Friday practice in Bahrain, the teams have no more time for on-track testing. Will the practice sheets in Bahrain be reflective of Barcelona? most likely, yes.
A summary of the quickest laps from the final day in Barcelona are as follows:
1. Lewis Hamilton McLaren Mercedes 1:20.472 134
2. Mark Webber Red Bull 1:20.496 61
3. Felipe Massa Ferrari 1:20.539 114
4. Adrian Sutil Force India 1:20.611 100
5. Sebastian Vettel Red Bull 1:20.667 76
6. Michael Schumacher Mercedes 1:20.745 123
7. Rubens Barrichello Williams 1:20.870 84
8. Kamui Kobayashi BMW Sauber 1:20.911 67
9. Sebastien Buemi Toro Rosso 1:22.135 88
10. Robert Kubica Renault 1:23.175 107
11. Heikki Kovalainen Lotus 1:25.251 65
12. Lucas Di Grassi Virgin Racing 1:26.160 49
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
Hamilton and Button take the covers off the MP4-25
Jan 30th
2008 World champion Lewis Hamilton and 2009 World champion Jensen button pulled back the covers on McLarens 2010 Formula1 challenger the MP4-25 today at the Vodafone (the teams main sponsor) headquarters in Newbury.
Jensen button admitted he hadn’t had a chance to really look at the new car and couldn’t wait to step off that stage and inspect it more closely. Besides testing the 2010 car in McLarens simulator, he has had next to no contact with the car in the metal.
The most obvious change, besides the narrow front wheels and longer wheel base which will be a trait of every 2010 challenger, is that the the MP4-25 has a dramatic shark fin or dorsal fin running from the top airbox and roll over bar back to the rear spoiler. The nose of the McLaren is also similar to the 2009 RedBull, just like Ferrari’s F10 which was revealed yesterday.
Lewis Hamilton said that the team had been pushing like crazy to get on the podium last year and that same push has driven them to produce a radical new design for the 2010 car…”We’ve been pushing like crazy to find the performance and the result is something that looks very special and very uncompromising.” he stated.
Team principal, Martin Whitmarsh was far from humble when he said that the MP4-25 was the most developed car McLaren had ever produced. He said that “Our goal is clear, we aim to win”.
The team clearly plan on taking the title fight to Ferrari, with Italian news sources today reporting that the 2010 title will be a battle between Alonso and Hamilton, riding on the back of the Ferrari F10 launch hype.
The tone at McLaren is that of harmony and team work. Button and Hamilton didn’t come across at all as bitter rivals, but quite the opposite, both drivers praising each other and sticking up for each other when the questions from the press gallery got a little below the belt.
Lewis Hamilton was diplomatic when he said “Both Jenson and I are world champions, and we both want to add to the team’s incredible winning legacy,” he went on to say: “I think a strong driver line-up will be very important this year as there are a lot of very competitive teams and drivers – and the stronger we can be, the better chance we’ll have of winning races. We all understand that.”
It is important to race as a team rather then having two drivers who are bitter rivals trying to beat each other race in and race out, that is because racing this way is high risk and as a result it can cost you points and cost your team the contructors title. The theme of todays reveal was that Jensen and Lewis are both comited to winning McLaren the 2010 contructors title.
