2009 F1 testing: March 19th

37 comments on “2009 F1 testing: March 19th”

1. 

   Cameron
   19th March 2009, 7:56

   Hopefully McLaren make some more inroads. It would be a pleasant surprise to see them near the front of the grid after Qualifying in Australia.
2. 

   David
   19th March 2009, 8:43

   Checked the championship results in the past, with the ner rules (the champion is the one with more wons).
   Mansell from one to three victories, Senna 4 in a row, Piquet and Lauda from three to one, Clark from two to four (!), Moss finally got a title.

   After all it seems that the fastest are awarded, and this would not be that bad. Lauda and Piquet (regularity based winners!) would have less titles.

   At the end, the more I think about the new regulations, the less I’m convinced of what’s better.
3. 

   skuzz
   19th March 2009, 9:14

   i dont think these rule changes will last long… i mean why fix something thats not broken? i think the aero changes are a good thing but the points system has been around since the start of f1 so why change it now???
4. 

   djdaveyp
   19th March 2009, 9:39

   Is there any live timing today? None of the sites seem to have it!
   1. 

      EGC
      19th March 2009, 10:16

      Today is holiday in spain, St.Joseph, Father’s day, may be this the reason.
      BTW, to all of you (the olders :-) ) happy Father’s day.
   2. 

      mail123456
      19th March 2009, 10:16

      http://www.f1today.nl/live-update/2009/03/19/circuito-de-jerez/
      this seems to work …
   3. 

      djdaveyp
      19th March 2009, 10:41

      Thanks :)
5. 

   Alex Cooper
   19th March 2009, 10:03

   Does anyone wonder if McLaren were sandbagging in order to (help) make Brawn look in better shape and therefore bag some more sponsorship?

   I’m sure that McLaren want a whole season of racing from Brawn GP and their Mercedes engines.
   1. 

      Williams 4ever
      19th March 2009, 11:56

      @Alex – Are you new to F1? How I wish the world was indeed that naive . Those that have been around know its a Dog eat Dog place. Mr Ron Dennis who claims to be best friend of Sir Frank Williams, doesn’t flinch for a moment when poaching Williams Sponsors, Used Alonso as a Ploy to Line up whole array of Big sponsors in 2007. Do you really thing that teams would be that kind to underperform and make an underdog look good.

      Unless of course they will get perverse pleasure ( like Motorsports Federation Boss) to steal the sponsors once the Brawn GP gets some by Stellar Winter testing performance….I wouldn’t discount the perverse part though
   2. 

      Alex Cooper
      19th March 2009, 22:06

      You proved my point – McLaren need Brawn to bring in the readies and the testing mileage.
6. 

   carl
   19th March 2009, 10:19

   Here is a Link for Timing
   http://www.f1today.nl/live-update/2009/03/19/circuito-de-jerez

   Kovi has done a 1:18.471. So yesterday was not a fluke. However Nakajima has done a 1:18.417 sofar.
7. 

   Chris
   19th March 2009, 10:23

   I think we may be over speculating here.

   In reality there was probably some really small thing that was like look for a neadel in a hay stack but now it is sorted and all they have to do is catch up devlopment they missed out on when looking for the other problem
8. 

   carl
   19th March 2009, 10:23

   Sorry didnt see mail123456’s post with the Link
9. 

   todd
   19th March 2009, 10:27

   well they look to have changed their entire weight distribution, they’ll catch up eventually…

   no point speculating anymore, the real test is only 7 days away!
10. 

    Madurai
    19th March 2009, 10:33

    Nakajima does 1:18:043..Kovi still 1:18:471.I suppose the very hot track conditions prevailing for the past two days helping them.If BRAWNGP was there we could have seen some lap record!!!!!
    1. 

       mail123456
       19th March 2009, 10:40

       I’m not sure but these times can’t be records … all timing unofficial is displayed always and records are from qualifications for example … but I can be wrong
11. 

    D Winn
    19th March 2009, 10:40

    17.644 Nakajima
    0.2 faster than Button
12. 

    GR
    19th March 2009, 10:47

    1:17.494 for Nakajima…

    Seriously, what’s going on here?? Is that Williams going all out and showing their true pace to be faster than everyone else or is everyone else is just sandbagging like crazy??
    1. 

       mail123456
       19th March 2009, 10:48

       if lap counter is right this was 3 laps stint …
13. 

    David
    19th March 2009, 10:57

    I believe track condition is helping a lot there. Hot and “rubbered”…
    You should understand the pace of each car when they go together on the same track and with the same conditions. Otherwise it’s less indicative.
14. 

    pSynrg
    19th March 2009, 12:30

    I think this just shows what a poor indicator test sessions are of anything really…
    We should know this from previous years!
15. 

    Phixx
    19th March 2009, 13:48

    Just the desprate teams are left while the teams who are sure of themself sit at their headquarters reading their data taken from the testing and refining their cars.
    1. 

       djdaveyp
       19th March 2009, 14:22

       I don’t think desperate is the correct word, seen as though williams have just put one of the fastest times in.
    2. 

       Phil
       19th March 2009, 14:23

       No, the teams who aren’t there have already crated their cars up for the chartered freight flight out to Oz. If they get onto that flight it significantly reduces their costs for the away races (which makes it quite strange that Williams is still testing).
    3. 

       SamS
       19th March 2009, 14:51

       No it isn’t. The likes of Ferrari and Toyota are on their way because they spent extra time in Bahrain testing whilst others were on a break. That is why Mclaren are testing now. It has nothing to do with panicing which Phixx is implying
16. 

    ccolanto
    19th March 2009, 14:48

    Mclaren running a new diffuser.
    http://www.sutton-images.com/previews/djm0919ma32.jpg
17. 

    _Ben_
    19th March 2009, 15:13

    Good article by autosport unusual for them to go into such depth on their website unless you have paid for it…suppose it is the “New Look”. looks like it will be an interesting year! :-D

    http://www.autosport.com/news/report.php/id/73781
18. 

    Becken
    19th March 2009, 15:24

    Go, Go McLaren!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

    1. K. Nakajima Williams FW31 1:17.494 81
    2. H. Kovalainen McLaren MP4-24 1:17.946 +0.452 68
19. 

    Yusuf
    19th March 2009, 15:31

    ccolanto, nice article to share it with us. However, they should have waited a lil to check Nakajima and Kovy’s.
    1. 

       djdaveyp
       19th March 2009, 15:41

       They are for the barcelona times not the jerez ones :)
20. 

    Jorge H
    19th March 2009, 16:47

    1. K. Nakajima Williams FW31 1:17.494 102 laps
    2. H. Kovalainen McLaren MP4-24 1:17.933 +0.439 84 laps
21. 

    Jorge H
    19th March 2009, 16:49

    H. Kovalainen improving his lap time. I don’t know what kind of run was he making (5 lap stint ou more).
22. 

    GeorgeK
    19th March 2009, 16:58

    Have McLaren also lowered their nose height, similar to Brawn?
    1. 

       Jorge H
       19th March 2009, 17:21

       I don´t know if they lowered their nose height… it doesn’t seem lowered…

       But the front wing is new, as well as the diffuser. And they are testing modifications in the rear, near to the exausts and all these new parts seem to be responsible for the new lap times…

       Great amount of work being done there…
       http://www.sutton-images.com/preview.asp?filename=djm0919ma03.jpg
23. 

    ray
    19th March 2009, 20:25

    win at all cost rules mean cheating with engines,if you cant win pull out of race, save engine for next race.
24. 

    Keith Collantine (@keithcollantine)
    19th March 2009, 21:30

    Williams press release

    JEREZ TEST 19TH MARCH 2009

    Day 5 of 5

    Circuit: Jerez de la Frontera, Spain. 4.423km

    Objective: Final preparations of the FW31 ahead of the 2009 season: set-up tuning, aero work,
    reliability checks and tyre testing

    Weather: Hot and sunny all day.

    Average ambient temperature: 21°C

    Pos Driver Team Best Time Best / Total Laps
    1 K Nakajima AT&T Williams 1:17.494 31 / 102
    2 H Kovalainen McLaren Mercedes 1:17.946 57 / 84

    Sam Michael, Technical Director, Williams F1:
    “Kazuki was back in the cockpit today working through last minute reliability and performance items that required sign-off for Melbourne. We have put over 8,000kms on the FW31 in the last two months and, while there are always areas that require attention, reliability has been good. We’ve also been working hard with Toyota to achieve good reliability on the engine’s working range, which has been subject to a reduction in revs but an increase in mileage. Considering the time we’ve had to do this, the work has gone well.
    At Williams, we are fortunate in that we have an exceptionally strong group of people on our test team who really are the unsung heroes of the sport. Our crew has worked flat out over the winter, repeatedly taking the FW31 apart and putting it back together, checking everything over and over again to ensure reliability and re-building the car after incidents, all of which is usually done late into the night. We thank them for their tremendous efforts over the past few months and for their contribution to the FW31.”

    Kazuki Nakajima:

    “Firstly, I think we’ve had a successful run of winter testing. We’ve managed to put a lot of mileage on the car, mainly because we haven’t experienced any reliability issues. The team have done a lot of work on the car throughout this process and it’s looking quite good, but we will have to wait to see where everyone really is. I’m really excited about going to Australia and can’t wait to get there now. Many thanks to everyone at the factory for all their hard work, and especially thanks to the guys on the test team.”

    Nico Rosberg:

    “Now that we’ve reached the end of testing, I think that we are probably in a strong mid-field position, but we will have to wait until Melbourne to be certain. There’s great potential for development over the year with the new rules. If we take the right direction with that development from the outset, it will help us make good steps forward, so we will be pushing hard to make that happen.

    I’d like to thank everyone at the factory for their hard work with the FW31 but particularly the test team for their motivation and drive throughout the winter despite any uncertainties there might be following the in-season test ban that has been put into place. On the back of a difficult season last year, it’s been great to see everyone’s determination and I am grateful for all their efforts.”
25. 

    Richard
    19th March 2009, 21:54

    For the sake of the spectacle it is almost fortunate that it was mcalren and not a team like brawn that took the wrong aspect from the rule changes to make a bit of a dog, because of their extremely quick development seen by all the new parts, maybe they will be competitive anyone of 5-7 teams could claim a podium, forget the rules changes this season will be an awesome one not matter how hard bernie tries to change things

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