Posts tagged Robert Kubica
Webber claims Pole in thrilling Monaco Qualifying
May 15th
Mark Webber after Monaco Qualifying (Photo: AFP/Pascal Guyout)
Mark Webber gave RedBull their 6th consecutive pole this season in arguably the most important race of the season. Mark was a bit behind the eight ball in Q1 and Q2, doing enough to stay ahead but it was Q3 where he came alive. After Robert Kubica put in a few astonishing laps taking provisional pole several times in a row it looked like Robert was set to give Renault their first pole of the season, however Mark out of no where smashed Roberts time by more then three tenths of a second. Mark was the only driver to break into the 1:13′s.
Vettel had a good late charge to take P3 ahead of Massa. The top3 finishers in qualifying were all on Renault engines. Sebastian Vettel made a remarks in post race press conference referring to critics of the renault engine this year who may now be atleast for this race be eating humble pie.
Fernando Alonso had a unfortunate crash in the final practice, damaging his car so badly that Ferrari will have to give him the spare car to drive in tomorrows race. Fernando will start from the pit lane but is still hopeful of a points finish.
The big disapointment of the day was Lewis Hamilton and Jensen Button who finished 5th and 8th respectively. They are split by the Mercedes’ of Nico Rosberg and Michael Schumacher. Nico has made up for the lack of pace he had over Michael in Spain and has been consistently quicker then his team mate over the weekend. Nico in the end just out-qualified Michael by less then 0.04 of a second.
Mark was trying to hide his enthusiasm as much as possible. He noted that it was a long hard race in Monaco and that they will have to navigate their way around many backmarkers on the tight Monaco streets. Mark said that he would use his experience to keep the car out of trouble tomorrow.
Full Qualifying results are below:
| Pos. | # | Driver | Car | Q1 | Q2 | Q3 |
| 1 | 6 | Mark Webber | Red Bull-Renault | 1:15.035 | 1:14.462 | 1:13.826 |
| 2 | 11 | Robert Kubica | Renault | 1:15.045 | 1:14.549 | 1:14.120 |
| 3 | 5 | Sebastian Vettel | Red Bull-Renault | 1:15.110 | 1:14.568 | 1:14.227 |
| 4 | 7 | Felipe Massa | Ferrari | 1:14.757 | 1:14.405 | 1:14.283 |
| 5 | 2 | Lewis Hamilton | McLaren-Mercedes | 1:15.676 | 1:14.527 | 1:14.432 |
| 6 | 4 | Nico Rosberg | Mercedes | 1:15.188 | 1:14.375 | 1:14.544 |
| 7 | 3 | Michael Schumacher | Mercedes | 1:15.649 | 1:14.691 | 1:14.590 |
| 8 | 1 | Jenson Button | McLaren-Mercedes | 1:15.623 | 1?15.150 | 1:14.637 |
| 9 | 9 | Rubens Barrichello | Williams-Cosworth | 1:15.590 | 1:15.083 | 1:14.901 |
| 10 | 15 | Vitantonio Liuzzi | Force India-Mercedes | 1:15.397 | 1:15.061 | 1:15.170 |
| 11 | 10 | Nico Hülkenberg | Williams-Cosworth | 1:16.030 | 1:15.317 | |
| 12 | 14 | Adrian Sutil | Force India-Mercedes | 1:15.445 | 1:15.318 | |
| 13 | 16 | Sebastien Buemi | Toro Rosso-Ferrari | 1:15.961 | 1:15.413 | |
| 14 | 12 | Vitaly Petrov | Renault | 1:15.482 | 1:15.576 | |
| 15 | 22 | Pedro de la Rosa | Sauber-Ferrari | 1:15.908 | 1:15.692 | |
| 16 | 23 | Kamui Kobayashi | Sauber-Ferrari | 1:16.175 | 1:15.992 | |
| 17 | 17 | Jaime Alguersuari | Toro Rosso-Ferrari | 1:16.021 | 1:16.176 | |
| 18 | 19 | Heikki Kovalainen | Lotus-Cosworth | 1:17.094 | ||
| 19 | 18 | Jarno Trulli | Lotus-Cosworth | 1:17.134 | ||
| 20 | 24 | Timo Glock | Virgin-Cosworth | 1:17.377 | ||
| 21 | 25 | Lucas di Grassi | Virgin-Cosworth | 1:17.864 | ||
| 22 | 21 | Bruno Senna | HRT-Cosworth | 1:18.509 | ||
| 23 | 20 | Karun Chandhok | HRT-Cosworth | 1:19.559 | ||
| 24 | 8 | Fernando Alonso | Ferrari |
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.
