2010 F1 testing live: 26th February

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Lewis Hamilton in action today

It’s day two at Barcelona and Fernando Alonso is among the drivers finishing off their planned test programmes ahead of the first race of 2010.

Join us and follow testing as it happens below.

Times from today’s test

DriverCarBest timeLapsDifference
Nico HulkenbergWilliams-Cosworth FW3280.614990
Fernando AlonsoFerrari F1080.6371340.023
Pedro de la RosaBMW Sauber-Ferrari C2980.9731140.359
Vitantonio LiuzziForce India-Mercedes VJM0381.056900.442
Sebastian VettelRed Bull-Renault RB681.2581250.644
Jaime AlguersuariToro Rosso-Ferrari STR581.5711040.957
Michael SchumacherMercedes W0181.689851.075
Lewis HamiltonMcLaren-Mercedes MP4-2582.152931.538
Robert KubicaRenault R3084.912534.298
Jarno TrulliLotus-Cosworth T12785.524704.91
Timo GlockVirgin-Cosworth VR-0185.942525.328

Testing notes

Mark Webber was fastest of all yesterday but expect the times to get faster over today, tomorrow and Sunday as more rubber goes down on the track.

McLaren ran a set of sensors on the rear of Jenson Button’s car early in the session but the team suffered a blow when the car came to a stop late in the session.

But they were far from the only team to suffer problems. Fernando Alonso lost a lot of running after an electrical problem (he also tried a shark fin wing on the Ferrari F10) and Virgin’s test efforts suffered another setback after Lucas di Grassi crashed.

Several drivers are expected to make their last appearances in testing today before the Bahrain Grand Prix, including Alonso, Nico Hulkenberg, Pedro de la Rosa, Vitantonio Liuzzi and Jaime Alguersuari.

Today’s testing line-up

McLaren MP4-25Lewis Hamilton
Mercedes W01Michael Schumacher
Red Bull RB6Sebastian Vettel
Ferrari F10Fernando Alonso
Williams FW32Nico Hulkenberg
BMW Sauber C29Pedro de la Rosa
Renault R30Robert Kubica
Force India VJM03Vitantonio Liuzzi
Toro Rosso STR5Jaime Alguersuari
Virgin VR-01Timo Glock
Lotus T127Jarno Trulli

The track: Circuit de Catalunya

The final test of 2010 is being held at the Circuit de Catalunya, where the teams will return later this year for the Spanish Grand Prix.

Rubens Barrichello set the fastest time during last year’s Spanish Grand Prix race weekend with a 1’19.954 in Q2. The fastest lap of the race itself was also set by Barrichello, a 1’22.762,

For further comparison, Valentino Rossi lapped the track in a 2008-specification Ferrari on GP2 slick tyres in a time of 1’21.900 earlier this year.

Live Tweets and times

Check out MSFree.gr for live times from the track during the test.

Here’s the latest Tweets from people at the track (plus me):

If you would like to suggest a Twitter feed to add to the list, please name them in the comments. The list only updates when this page is refreshed.

2010 F1 testing

Author information

Keith Collantine
Lifelong motor sport fan Keith set up RaceFans in 2005 - when it was originally called F1 Fanatic. Having previously worked as a motoring...

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101 comments on “2010 F1 testing live: 26th February”

  1. Keith,
    There is a small change in today’s line-up: Kubica [friday, sunday]

  2. Schumacher is out very early this morning!! Looks like Mercedes mean business.

  3. Evening everyone… if anybody has the MSFree link for today’s test that would be awesome.. they always seem to be late getting it going… :)

    1. http://www.msfree.gr/ms.php?id=10980

      That was unfair… :) We are ready almost anytime on time :)

      1. I love your site. Thanks.

      2. 60% of the time, it works every time! :D

      3. Great site costas. Like it very much

      4. I would like to thank you for your site.
        I like the marker to let us know who’s on the track in a given time. Also total number of laps completed, and best of all the live updates as they cross the line.
        I like autosports site also, but mainly for the comments as their data run somewhat behind msfree.
        Having said all that msfree site has trouble updating today!!

  4. I apologize… and thank you very much.. :) I love your site.. is there any chance of getting an english version?
    Thanks again.. :)

    1. Actually… we thinking about it… For sure we are preparing a very good livetiming for the f1 periods with English commendatory…

      Thanks for your support!

    2. I recommend you installing google chrome as web browser and getting the translator extension.
      It translates any page on the fly from/to a lot of languages! ( greek to catalan, for a strange but useful combination)
      auto-update of the page can be a bit frustrating, altough.

      1. Jarred Walmsley
        27th February 2010, 3:38

        MondoL where abouts do you get the translator extension for chrome?

  5. I just realized that it was me making the mistake.. I thought I was going to your home page and couldn’t find the testing.. I know now.. I wish it was all Greek to me.. 8)

  6. Today Alonso has pushed very hard.
    Seems like the track is much quicker. I think Alonso will like to set the pace at the end of his practice activity.
    Looking very exciting.

    1. Yes, it’s his last day today so I’m sure he would like to head the day’s timings. Hamilton and Schumacher have not realy push in 3 or 5 lap runs yet. When they do I expect them to run very close to Alonso’s times.

  7. Straight from Ferrari’s twitter…

    “First runs at Barcelona. We’ve started to look for performance, using the new aero solutions. Alonso’s quickest time so far is 1.21.183.”

    They will push very hard…

  8. Mercedes has been disappointing so far in all the tests… trailing by at least 1s from the top time. Anyone think this might change today ?

    1. I’m curious also.
      Among the supposed strongest team they are the ones that lapped with the slowest time so far…

      1. Aleksandar Serbia
        26th February 2010, 11:39

        yp they are on a full tank!

  9. what was the unofficial lap record? i saw yesterday somebody saying it was Barrichelo’s, but can’t remember the exact time.. anybody got any idea?

    1. The fastest time in the previous test in Barcelona is a 1:18.926, set by Rubens Barrichello in the Brawn in March last year (autosport)

    2. Nevermind guys, found a post from yesterday by Kris
      “Barrichello in testing did a 1:18.926 last year.”

  10. Ruebens was fastest in the last test last year with a 1:18.926.. on Wikipedia it says that the race lap record is a 1:21.670 in 2008… Fernando looks very quick today.. yesterday Webber went quickest but he was on 3 lap runs.. at least Fernando’s on 5 laps.. lol

    1. i think it has something to do also with the track…..all teams are improving yesterday’s time

      1. That’s true… the track will be rubbered in..

  11. ferrari is going really fast today…….com’on lewis go out

    1. seems there are a lot 5 laps runs going on at the moment

      1. yes it’s great atleast u can understand something about the cars which can go fast and which not

  12. Shumi didn’t like those changes… goes out and does a 1:26 then a 1:30 then pits..

  13. Yey ! looks like lotus have finally changed the stickers on their rear wing!

    1. Yeah, no more “naza/i group”

  14. Keith in case you didnt already know mark webber now has twitter according to jake humphrey i think its aussiegrit

    1. Jarred Walmsley
      27th February 2010, 3:40

      Yep, thats been confirmed by the RBR offical site

  15. Pilotes Equipes Temps Ecarts Trs
    1 F.Alonso Ferrari 1.20.738 +-.— 28
    2 V.Liuzzi Force India 1.21.812 +-.— 17
    3 J.Alguersuari Toro Rosso 1.21.989 +-.— 18
    4 P.De La Rosa Sauber 1.22.306 +-.— 31
    5 L.Hamilton McLaren 1.22.924 +-.— 18
    6 S.Vettel Red Bull 1.23.196 +-.— 30
    7 R.Kubica Renault 1.25.520 +-.— 10
    8 M.Schumacher Mercedes 1.25.693 +-.— 14
    9 N.Hulkenberg Williams 1.26.653 +-.— 23
    10 J.Trulli Lotus 1.28.676 +-.— 23
    11 T.Glock Virgin -.–.— +-.— 0

  16. Hi Costas your site looks really great, it would be awesome if you could set an english version, which seems hard enough, but maybe a lite version with timings, news or f1 goodies.
    Thank you so much!

  17. why are the twitterscomments not on this page but one the yesterday page?

  18. Liuzzi now 1m21.056, just three tenths off Alonso. I think the track is with more rubber

  19. I was just going to say why are Mclaren doing so little running and then out pops Hamilton

    1. i think beacause yesterday was button’s day so now they’re trying to fit best set also for lewis

  20. Can’t seem to access msfree page. Is there anywhere else to see live timings?

      1. Thanks, David.

      2. Thank you very much David, god bless you ¡!

    1. Yeap…. We receiving a nice DOS attack… sorry for the problems guys

      1. really? bugger, …

  21. The fact that Ferrari tested the “shark fin” yesterday, shows they are not yet satisfied with their base car.

    Sometimes you develop in the wrong direction just as BGP did last year :-(

    1. It’s like building an upside down pyramid, you can go on building thinking you are doing fine then suddenly the pyramid falls because you have done too much!!

      1. If you build a pyramid it doesnt really matter when it falls over :-).

        1. Yes it does… a pyramid has a square bottom.

          You’re thinking of a tetrahedron ;)

          (Sorry for the pedantry!)

          1. Read again, “upside down pyramid”, that will get top heavy and fall.

            For an upside down pyramid your square bottom is the square top!! ;)

    2. I don’t think that testing new components means that they are in trouble. I personally think that meclaren are in troubles because they are testing the same components with all those aero devices on it exactly like last year. I hope I am wrong because I am JB`s fan.

  22. I Maybe jumping the gun here with this one, as i know everyone is saying you cant take anything from the times.

    But Virgin Racing i think nearly every session has been quicker than Lotus!? Not bad.

    I think there car is one of the best looking on the grid also, and no offense, i like lotus cars but this F1 car looks very boxy.

    1. That’s Gascoyne, he did the same when he started at Toyota. Apparantly to get a ‘baseline’, calibrate everything around that and then improve.

      Before we could see the result he was gone…

      Now Im wondering if he did the same at Renault?

  23. Is still Ferrari using the shark fin today?

  24. ferrari now using shark fin :P wonder what took them?

    1. Just copying McLaren!

      1. copying mclaren! red bull used it first in 2008 pre season, lool and ferrari used it in hungary 08 mclaren have never used it before 2010 launch.

      2. How does Mclaren get credit for the shark fin!?!?!

        Did they use it all of last year when Renault did?
        Did they develop it the way Redbull did?
        Hilarious!

        1. i know :P red bull get all the credit for this

        2. I think he’s suggesting that Ferrari are doing because McLaren are, not that McLaren pioneered it..

  25. Have a delicious lunch Keith.

  26. The only teams that aren’t using the shark fin is Mercedes and the new teams.

  27. P Pilotes Equipes Temps Ecarts Trs
    1 F.Alonso Ferrari 1.20.637 +-.— 60
    2 P.De La Rosa Sauber 1.20.973 +-.— 46
    3 V.Liuzzi Force India 1.21.056 +-.— 23
    4 S.Vettel Red Bull 1.21.258 +-.— 55
    5 J.Alguersuari Toro Rosso 1.21.571 +-.— 36
    6 M.Schumacher Mercedes 1.21.689 +-.— 45
    7 L.Hamilton McLaren 1.22.152 +-.— 39
    8 N.Hulkenberg Williams 1.23.513 +-.— 82
    9 R.Kubica Renault 1.24.912 +-.— 44
    10 T.Glock Virgin 1.26.622 +-.— 18
    11 J.Trulli Lotus 1.26.677 +-.— 40

  28. Please, can someone on site at Barcelona give the management a swift kick up the B*tt and get them to re-activate the webcams. Why would ya advertise, install, and run 2 webcams then deliberatley redirect them to the home page when we want to use them.
    Or is it another commercial rights issue?
    I for one would love to be able to see the cars on the pit lane.

    1. It will definitely be a broadcasting rights matter. Only official F1 broadcasters are allowed to film at tests, and if they choose not to then there won’t be any footage.

  29. http://twitter.com/clubforce/status/9676197865

    Force India about to start a full race simulation – this should give some great stats on the fuel usage as the laptimes come down, if they’re running at ‘proper speed’…

  30. Lap count
    Alonso 60
    De la Rosa 46
    Liuzzi 26
    Vettel 55
    Alguersuari 36
    Schumacher 45
    Hamilton 39
    Hulkenberg 82
    Kubica 44
    Glock 18
    Trulli 40

    1. Lap time before lunch time

      1 Alonso Ferrari 1m20.637s
      2 De la Rosa Sauber 1m20.973s +0.336
      3 Liuzzi Force India 1m21.056s +0.419
      4 Vettel Red Bull 1m21.455s +0.818
      5 Alguersuari Toro Rosso 1m21.571s +0.934
      6 Schumacher Mercedes 1m21.689s +1.052
      7 Hamilton McLaren 1m22.152s +1.515
      8 Hulkenberg Williams 1m23.513s +2.876
      9 Kubica Renault 1m24.912s +4.275
      10 Glock Virgin 1m26.622s +5.985
      11 Trulli Lotus 1m26.941s +6.304

  31. Hamilton, Hulkenberg, Kubica and Glock are still to emerge after the break. Big lunches maybe (autosport) lol

  32. Another red flag.
    I think that during this official test the teams could agree to use the safety car, so that run simulation are not interrupted, and the simulation is complete.
    This could be a training session for SF driver also, and would avoid wasting time for the teams.

  33. What up with McLaren they’ve only done 49 laps!!!!

    Lets se Hammy do a quick lap!

  34. hi all.. can anyone share what is the latest time per lap

    1. Just take a look at the Live section of autosport.com

      http://live.autosport.com/

  35. P Pilotes Equipes Temps Ecarts Trs
    1 F.Alonso Ferrari 1.20.637 +-.— 78
    2 P.De La Rosa Sauber 1.20.973 +-.— 60
    3 V.Liuzzi Force India 1.21.056 +-.— 70
    4 N.Hulkenberg Williams 1.21.199 +-.— 85
    5 S.Vettel Red Bull 1.21.258 +-.— 88
    6 J.Alguersuari Toro Rosso 1.21.571 +-.— 70
    7 M.Schumacher Mercedes 1.21.689 +-.— 61
    8 L.Hamilton McLaren 1.22.152 +-.— 49
    9 R.Kubica Renault 1.24.912 +-.— 47
    10 J.Trulli Lotus 1.25.524 +-.— 62
    11 T.Glock Virgin 1.26.425 +-.— 32

  36. GO HULKBERG, GO!!! FASTEST with 1m20.614s!!

    1. on a 2 lap run… cheater.. lol

  37. P Pilotes Equipes Temps Ecarts Trs
    1 N.Hulkenberg Williams 1.20.614 +-.— 92
    2 F.Alonso Ferrari 1.20.637 +-.— 83
    3 P.De La Rosa Sauber 1.20.973 +-.— 65
    4 V.Liuzzi Force India 1.21.056 +-.— 74
    5 S.Vettel Red Bull 1.21.258 +-.— 88
    6 J.Alguersuari Toro Rosso 1.21.571 +-.— 72
    7 M.Schumacher Mercedes 1.21.689 +-.— 61
    8 L.Hamilton McLaren 1.22.152 +-.— 49
    9 R.Kubica Renault 1.24.912 +-.— 47
    10 J.Trulli Lotus 1.25.524 +-.— 63
    11 T.Glock Virgin 1.25.942 +-.— 35

    In fairness, Williams have been showing really good pace for the past few test days, they are looking good one would have to say.

    1. It is about time they were at the sharp end of the grid. It is has been far too long.

  38. I agree… this testing season has been great because just about all the teams have had a quick day.. so I think we’ll have to wait until Bahrain to see the real order.. man I can’t wait!! 16 days… 3 hours… 45 minutes and 35 seconds!!

  39. Looks like Fernando’s on a race sim and he’s lapping consistently in the 24’s… 38 laps so far.. :)

  40. with McLaren on 33 laps in high 27’s. don’t think Vettel or Alonso are going to lose much sleep !!

  41. I sure hope Lotus can upgrade the reliability of the car over the next two days considerably.

  42. I can’t help but feel underwhelmed by the laptimes so far.

    The teams were talking about major improvements of their cars over the winter. They also claimed several seconds improvement of their cars during the 2009 season.

    Yet they cannot even reach the times the cars set in the final test before the 2009 season.

    They should be several seconds faster than they were in last years test, but so far they are well over a second slower.

    Barrichello set a 1:18.926 at the end of last year’s Barcelona test en Heidfeld set a 1:20.339 on the first day.

    1. One word: fuel.

      1. It’s the only word!

        1. Seriously, fuel? In a 3 or 4 lap stint?

          If anything, the phrase would be “higher minimum weight” or whatever, but certainly not “fuel”.

    2. Yes, but this year’s cars are heavier – even without the extra fuel they’ll carry when the tanks are brimmed…

      …also perhaps they underestimated how much time the narrower front tyres would cost them…

      …and perhaps the track conditions aren’t as optimal as they were last year…

      1. The teams all said that their new car is faster than last years car. Alonso even claimed this was the best car he ever driven.

        How am I supposed to take that as “Yeah it is faster, but only when we take the fuel tank and the extra weight out”?

        I guess I should wait till the end of the test to see if they can set a time under 1:18, but for now I really don’t see the 4 to 5 seconds improvement they claimed. Extra fuel or not.

        Besides the fastest laps are the ones set on lower fuel loads so they wouldn’t be that far apart from the fuel loads they were using in 2009 with the then almost completely undeveloped “2009 areo” cars.

        1. yes but

          1. the cars have a longer wheel base making it harder in the corners

          2. no matter how much fuel there is in the tanks if there bigger they’ll still weigh more.

          3. the test isnt even over yet so maybe we will see better results over the weekend

          :)

          1. You can think of a million excuses why the cars are in fact slower. The point is, many teams literally said that their car was faster than end of last year. Let alone faster than pre season testing last year.

            Of course it doesn’t matter really, but I’m just wondering why the bla bla if they aren’t faster at all. Who are they trying to kid?

            On the other hand, maybe they are doing their 3 lap stints with 150kg fuel on board …

  43. Would it be such a bad thing if this seasons cars were slower?

    Ultimate pace isn’t important now. It’s not going to do you any good to qualify on pole at every race if your long run pace is crap.

    1. maybe not but most drivers out there like schumacher, hamilton & massa are good at long run pace so qualifying will still be important.

      and still its fun to watch so qualifying is still a good thing.

      :)

      1. It’s the car that has to be good at long run pace, not the driver. ;)

        And it’s probably drivers like Button that can get make a set of tyres last a bit longer or go longer on the softer tyre compound. But ultimately it’s how the car uses the tyres that matters most.

    2. Aleksandar Serbia
      26th February 2010, 19:58

      They are going to be slower and then faster and faster!

      When they dump all that fuel on the end of the race, they will produce fast times!

      What bothers me the most, that they cannot see through the obvious, you cannot expect a show with these racing rules, high downforce and low grip is just the opposite what f1 needs!
      When they change these settings, racing will be as it once was!

      1. “When they dump all that fuel on the end of the race, they will produce fast times!”

        Probably around 5 seconds faster than at the start of the race.

        Will they be quicker than in 09? Well, they will have a much higher ride height at the end of the race, unless the teams have found a way of adjusting that during a tyre stop. The tyres will also be very worn by the end of the race, unless some manage to qualify and race on the harder tyre for the majority of the race and then pit and change the ride height and use the softer tyre for the last third or so of the race.

        It’s definitely going to be more interesting than before, because you will not know how the race is going to pan out, even in the latter stages.

        1. Aleksandar Serbia
          26th February 2010, 22:31

          I agree, but we are still with the same management issues as before!
          Everything is going to be strategy!
          We need more bravado and dogfight scenario, nut chess like thinking from Ross Brawn and company!
          It is really boring for the average spectator, to see one advance only through pit stop or better tire strategy!
          I know most of F1fanatic nerds would disagree, since they like to calculate time strategy.
          Considering the large picture, we are heading to a another epic boring season, where only thing that saves it is a better line up than the rest of the past ones.
          Overtaking scenario is not dependent on skilled drivers as much, but on the aero package drivers get!
          Champcar is a clear testament to what low aero and high grip can make in adding to a show, but you guys are just into geek kind of stuff.Spoiler here,fin there,diffuser here,fuel tank there bla bla bla…
          First question
          How large is a front wing on a Williams F1 car:
          1 1.60m
          2 1.45m
          3 1.85m



          And the correct answer is: who gives a sh**

  44. Word is that Mercedes have weight distribution issues and that it is having difficulty getting heat into its tyres (sound familiar?). Also that the Red Bull is a bit unkind to its tyres.

    1. hmmmm….that’s familiar too! :)

  45. Sauber’s times are really consistent… wouldn’t be surprised if got second or third row in Bahrain

    1. I’ve had Sauber as my surprise team since the launch of their car. That Radical front wing is really working for them I think. I’m not sure about a second row, but I say they’ll definitely be fighting for points.

  46. wow thank for the test updates kieth any chance of getting some of the pictures

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