Rubens Barrichello, Williams, Jerez, 2011

Barrichello fastest of all on final day in Jerez

2011 F1 testing

13th February 2011, 16:0714th February 2011, 12:32 | Written by Keith Collantine

Rubens Barrichello set the fastest time of the Jerez test for Williams on the final day of running.

Barrichello’s lap of 1’19.832 was half a second faster than anyone else managed during the four days of running.

He also caused one of the day’s five red flags, coming to a stop on the track later on the day.

Kamui Kobayashi was second fastest and Fernando Alonso was third. The Ferrari driver once again completed the highest number of laps.

Bruno Senna posted the fifth fastest time in his first appearance for Renault, despite a spin at the hairpin on one lap.

The Lotus of Heikki Kovalainen was sixth-fastest but the car was once again hit by reliability problems including a water leak.

Testing was interrupted by red flags three times late in the morning – caused by Jerome d’Ambrosio, Nico Rosberg and Kamui Kobayashi, the latter making contact with the barrier at turn eight.

The final red flag came after Paul di Resta detected a problem with his car and pulled to a halt at Curva Dry Sack.

That coincided with a change in the weather. After three days of sunshine and clear skies the final day of the test was cloudy with track temperature around 20-25C, as much as 10C less than it had been earlier.

In the final half-hour rain began to fall and Barrichello, Alonso, Rosberg and Sebastien Buemi took the opportunity to sample Pirelli’s wet weather tyres.

	Driver	Car	Best time	Laps	Difference
1	Rubens Barrichello	Williams-Cosworth FW33	1’19.832	103
2	Kamui Kobayashi	Sauber-Ferrari C30	1’20.601	86	0.769
3	Fernando Alonso	Ferrari F150th Italia	1’21.074	115	1.242
4	Sebastien Buemi	Toro Rosso-Ferrari STR6	1’21.213	90	1.381
5	Bruno Senna	Renault R31	1’21.400	68	1.568
6	Heikki Kovalainen	Lotus-Renault T128	1’21.632	43	1.800
7	Nico Rosberg	Mercedes W02	1’22.103	45	2.271
8	Sebastian Vettel	Red Bull-Renault RB7	1’22.222	90	2.390
9	Jenson Button	McLaren-Mercedes MP4-26	1’22.278	70	2.446
10	Jerome d’Ambrosio	Virgin-Cosworth MVR-02	1’22.985	45	3.153
11	Paul di Resta	Force India-Mercedes VJM04	1’23.111	99	3.279

Best times at this test

Combined fastest laps for all four days.

	Driver	Team	Time	Gap
1	Rubens Barrichello	Williams	1’19.832	0.000
2	Michael Schumacher	Mercedes	1’20.352	0.520
3	Nick Heidfeld	Renault	1’20.361	0.529
4	Felipe Massa	Ferrari	1’20.413	0.581
5	Fernando Alonso	Ferrari	1’20.493	0.661
6	Kamui Kobayashi	Sauber	1’20.601	0.769
7	Jenson Button	McLaren	1’21.009	1.177
8	Lewis Hamilton	McLaren	1’21.099	1.267
9	Sebastien Buemi	Toro Rosso	1’21.213	1.381
10	Jaime Alguersuari	Toro Rosso	1’21.214	1.382
11	Bruno Senna	Renault	1’21.400	1.568
12	Sergio Perez	Sauber	1’21.483	1.651
13	Mark Webber	Red Bull	1’21.522	1.690
14	Sebastian Vettel	Red Bull	1’21.574	1.742
15	Heikki Kovalainen	Lotus	1’21.632	1.800
16	Daniel Ricciardo	Toro Rosso	1’21.755	1.923
17	Adrian Sutil	Force India	1’21.780	1.948
18	Nico Rosberg	Mercedes	1’22.103	2.271
19	Timo Glock	Virgin	1’22.208	2.376
20	Vitaly Petrov	Renault	1’22.493	2.661
21	Pastor Maldonado	Williams	1’22.591	2.759
22	Paul di Resta	Force India	1’22.945	3.113
23	Jerome d’Ambrosio	Virgin	1’22.985	3.153
24	Jarno Trulli	Lotus	1’23.216	3.384

2011 F1 testing

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130 comments on “Barrichello fastest of all on final day in Jerez”

ed24f1 (@ed24f1)
13th February 2011, 16:11
Webber, Massa, Schumacher and Button ahead of their team-mates. Not bad for number 2 drivers! :P
1. Fixy (@)
  13th February 2011, 16:29
  Especially Massa and Webber as they have driven the car before, when the track wasn’t as rubbered as now!
  But Massa, as last year, at the start of the season is up to the challenge, he let down towards the end of last year because he understood Ferrari wouldn’t have allowed him to win, but remember at the start of the season he was first in the Championship.
  1. Shiro
    13th February 2011, 16:54
    Disagree – Massa was a let down the entire year. Either that or Alonso is just that good.
    1. Fixy (@)
      13th February 2011, 17:38
      Disagree – I meant that Massa didn’t give up before the season started, he was fast in tests, 2nd in qualifying and race in Bahrain, 3rd in Australia (better than Alonso) and in Malaysia better than Alonso. At the end of the year he was really poor, but that was after he understood that had he been in a position of winning he would have been ordered to let Alonso by (and also Alonso, at the end of 2010, was in fantastic form).
      1. Bren
        13th February 2011, 21:13
        in australia alonso was last at turn 1. in malyasia he never had a a clutch yet at both event he managed to get right on massa rear wing.
        no offence to massa but alonso is faster. no need for a debate. it is what it is sadly.
        massa a nice guy tho. but the whole he gave up excuse is pretty pathetic dont u think? kimi never gave up when he was having to help massa….and that was kimi! MR laid back!
      2. Bren
        13th February 2011, 21:22
        ok perhaps im being overly harsh on massa.
        just dont get peoples excuses for him. there wasnt this fuss over kimi helping massa. and kimi still managed to keep his performaces up.
        Alonso is just very very fast. As is lewis. As is Vettel
      3. Fixy (@)
        13th February 2011, 21:26
        His performances late 2010 were appaling. Before he was not so bad. That’s what I meant.
      4. Fixy (@)
        13th February 2011, 21:29
        No offence to Massa but Alonso is faster.
        I am not going to say the opposite because I think Alonso is actually faster. Although Massa challenged for the Championship in 2008 that doesn’t mean he will always be good. But this year as last year Massa in tests is close, if not in front of Alonso, and last year at the beginning he was, not first, but near. His 2nd half was atrocious, I won’t argue, but that was once his feelings were hurt by the Germany team orders.
      5. ed24f1 (@ed24f1)
        14th February 2011, 6:15
        @Fixy – He wasn’t that bad at the end of the season. After Germany, he was always in the top 5 (apart from Japan) when the team didn’t ruin his race with mechanical failures, strategy mistakes or pitstop errors. Compared to Alonso, it wasn’t anything particularly special, but I don’t see why people have the perception that he gave up or whatever.
        @Bren – Alonso only got back to those positions at Melbourne, China and Monaco due to lucky safety cars, it wasn’t just pure speed that brought him back to Massa.
      6. Antifia
        14th February 2011, 12:03
        Bren: Massa also helped Kimi in 2007 (Brazil). In 2008, up to and including Spa, Kimi was fighting for himself, he was helping nobody. In the last three races of that year, when his chances were already over, he was only once in a position to help Massa and he did- that was China.
        The point in both 2007 and 2008 is that one driver only started helping the other after his own chances were over. That was not what happend last year and I clearly understand why Massa did not put much effort into it after Germany.
      7. Fixy (@)
        14th February 2011, 16:02
        @ed24f1 –
        He wasn’t that bad at the end of the season.
        That’s what I really think, but everyone seems to say he was really poor. I said he was bad just to emphasize the fact that after Germany he didn’t put too much effort in racing. But now, looking at statistics, he wasn’t so bad! The crucial point were Canada, Europe and Great Britain, but those were bad times for Alonso too. I know he wasn’t up to beat Alonso, but at the end of the year he was 4th, 4th, 3rd, 8th (started 24th), RET, 3rd, 15th and 10th, which isn’t bad.
      8. Fixy (@)
        14th February 2011, 16:03
        @Antifia –
        The point in both 2007 and 2008 is that one driver only started helping the other after his own chances were over. That was not what happend last year and I clearly understand why Massa did not put much effort into it after Germany.
        Spot on!
  2. kowalsky
    13th February 2011, 17:14
    massa is one of the drivers that can get a lucky break after kubica’s accident. If he can do a better job than last year, and get closer to alonso regularly, he might be able to keep his seat. A seat that was very much in danger, when kubica was abailable.
    Even if kubica comes back into f1, and be competitive. I think is out of ferrari’s radar, and they will be looking at other options.
    1. Mike (@mike)
      13th February 2011, 19:57
      very much in danger, when kubica was abailable.
      Is this info the same as the info from the people who are sure Kimi is coming back? again?
      Or is there any actually evidence, at all, to suggest that Kubica and Ferrari have even had a coffee together?
      1. MinusTwo
        13th February 2011, 20:38
        I think I remember hearing that Ferrari had signed an option on Kubica, meaning that they could sign him when they chose. Not sure if that is real or just speculation, but for what it’s worth….
  3. ;379
    13th February 2011, 23:47
    read absolutely nothing into it- its testing
2. mr. zing zang
  14th February 2011, 1:23
  Not bad at all..still gonna get their but kicked over the season though.
Lee
13th February 2011, 16:12
im no mathematician but it looks to me like the car in 24th place is well within the 107% rule? I know its only testing but thats surely a good thing for the season.
1. Todfod (@todfod)
  13th February 2011, 18:01
  HRT haven’t tested yet. I was pretty sure the rest of the teams would be able to make the 107% mark.
2. Calum
  13th February 2011, 19:23
  I wish that they would allow the teams who miss the race because of 107% Rule do the equivalent number of laps of a race at the circuit on the Saturday after qualifying, or on the Monday so that it would allow the teams to get data in order to catch up!
  1. Tiomkin
    13th February 2011, 19:49
    I wish they didn’t reintroduce this stupid rule. F1 worked very well without it.
    1. Mike (@mike)
      13th February 2011, 20:00
      Exactly. The only team the rule could hurt would bee HRT. This, to me, seems unfair.
      I mean, there was an anti Ferrari rule with the whole, “banning manipulating race results”, but hey! they got rid of that! so good on you chumps, help the rich guy because for sure, he needed it most.
      /Sarcasm end/
    2. Fixy (@)
      13th February 2011, 21:33
      It’s useless for the fact that 2 cars less don’t make a difference. They only reduce the racing. There have never been problems with backmarkers (Montezemolo doesn’t agree!) and no safety issues. If, say, HRT are 108% and are out and Virgin are 106% and are in, Virgin in the race would perform as HRT would, causing traffic in the same way. HRT is no worse for safety and racing than Virgin and Lotus (regarding 2010), so why rule them out?
      1. Calum
        13th February 2011, 21:53
        The 107% rule should benefit HRT what with the price of fuel these days!
      2. US_Peter (@us_peter)
        13th February 2011, 22:17
        The 107% rule should benefit HRT what with the price of fuel these days!
        That’s got to be the COTD.
      3. BasCB (@bascb)
        14th February 2011, 6:33
        I also think the 107% suits no real purpose. If a team doesn’t make it, it will not be able to race, but also unable to improve.
        A real dead end.
        As you say, being 108% or 106% will make no difference in the races. Would it be dangerous, then we should ban testing different tyres and setups and fuel loads in FP as well as 3rd drivers having a go. The differences between cars on track can be a lot bigger there.
ed24f1 (@ed24f1)
13th February 2011, 16:13
Those combined times would give a pretty fascinating grid, especially with Rubens and Michael on the front row together and the Red Bulls buried in the pack!
1. BasCB (@bascb)
  13th February 2011, 17:44
  That shows us how much to read into testing times!
  1. Mef
    14th February 2011, 8:41
    I disagree
Abhijeet MS
13th February 2011, 16:20
Its really baffling to see the run of mercedes in this testing. you can see schumi topping the chart wherein rosberg really struggling with car.Also there are doubts on real pace of merc. Is this total schumi year where ross brawn and mercedes are going all out to give schumi the car just the way he wants and probably does not bother what rosberg requires? I hope it does not turn that way but all pre season testings are giving those indications. May be keith might have more details on this. what say keith?
1. Dianna
  13th February 2011, 16:58
  Schumacher ran with the kers on all the time with no problems.Rosberg has nothing but problems.
  Of course Brawn will favour MSC,why shouldn’t he,they are more like brothers.Michael is the best driver that team will ever have,so to discard him now would be folly.
  Next weeks test in Barcelona will be the better guide to all the cars 18th starting (I think).
  I hope Schumacher blows them all away,every single one of them..
2. kowalsky
  13th February 2011, 17:21
  schumacher like rossi, and even alonso to an extent, are pilots whose skills are not put into doubt. And if for some reason they don’t perform, usually the car takes the blame. So it’s a better business decision to give what michael needs, or mercedes would look bad in front of the potencial customers.
  1. Hare (@hare)
    13th February 2011, 23:06
    Except that Rosberg, son of Keke Rosberg, thumped him last season…
    I don’t disagree with you point though. This year could be different…. Could be.
    1. zecks
      14th February 2011, 11:09
      I am not so sure about Rossi point either. His team mate for the last few season was jorge lorenzo. He is the 2007 250 champion and the 2010 motogp champion, the latter effectively forcing rossi out of his own yamaha team
RandomChimp
13th February 2011, 16:25
So only the two and three quarter seconds between Rubens and Pastor.
1. kowalsky
  13th February 2011, 17:23
  chavez sure isn’t impressed.
  1. US_Peter (@us_peter)
    13th February 2011, 22:18
    Nor is Hülkenberg.
Fixy (@)
13th February 2011, 16:27
The Ferrari driver once again completed the highest number of laps.
It’s very good that, as last year, Ferrari particularly focus on reliability and have almost always completed the highest number of laps.
1. Ads21 (@ads21)
  13th February 2011, 16:58
  yer its a very good sign, I think Ferrari have completed the most laps on each day of testing so far except when Massa had that fire in Valencia, but even on that day they managed 100+ laps
  1. Hare (@hare)
    14th February 2011, 4:49
    Perhaps they should have called it.. The Ferrari F150-458 :)
Luis
13th February 2011, 16:28
Barichello 1st and Maldonado 21st? It’s just a test but someone already regrets dismissing Hulkenberg.
Poor Senna, even quicker than the world’s champion wouldn’t convince them.
1. luigismen (@luigismen)
  13th February 2011, 17:59
  It is just a test, and Maldonado had way too little testing time, a few mechanical problems with his Williams.
  And Williams with the Money he’s bringing highly doubt they are regretting his signature
2. Daniel
  13th February 2011, 23:04
  If you ignore the last day of Testing I don’t think Barrichello would be in the top 15. They only got the car sorted on the last day.
  1. Skett (@skett)
    14th February 2011, 2:21
    I wouldn’t go that far! The kers still doesn’t work, hardly sorted!
DobarDabar
13th February 2011, 16:33
But both Nick and Bruno are faster than Renault lead driver Petrov, heh.
1. bosyber (@bosyber)
  13th February 2011, 17:01
  I think Senna probably did a good job presenting him as a replacement for Petrov should the desire/need arise. Good job from him.
  1. S.J.M (@sjm)
    13th February 2011, 19:47
    I 100% agree with bosyber, I think Petrov (Despite whatever sums of cash he’s bringing in) should have 1 eye over his sholder and aim to improve on last year.
    1. Calum
      13th February 2011, 21:58
      Senna will understand Lotus-Renault’s need for a proven experienced hand from the start of 2011.
      While Heidfeld was testing to show he is erfect to lead Lotus-Renault, Senna was probably aware he was testing to prove he is the perfect replacement for the team’s other race driver, should results dictate that Petrov needs replaced.
      Also Senna brings the sponsorship money of a Brazilian Bank amongst others. ;)
      1. Luis
        13th February 2011, 23:12
        I just checked the press release from Senna, and he says that he couldn’t test the super soft tyres. When he left the pit lane with them, the test was red flagged and later on started to rain.
        And the difference between Bruno and Nick times using soft tyres was just 0.150s, remembering that Nick has 10 years experience and lots of mileage on these compounds.
        The press release is here, in Portuguese: http://www.presskit.com.br/remoto_template_processa.php?cliente=125&canal=-1&news=117198&k=54ec4ade94ca1b1e9012fdc0b0692d7f&url=http://www.mfdois.com.br/release.php
sw6569 (@sw6569)
13th February 2011, 16:51
I hope very much that this signals a return to winning ways for Williams.
Of course its only testing so it means nothing, but its been too long since they were on the top step of the podium!
1. Jamie Franklin
  13th February 2011, 17:24
  I reckon it was more of a glory run for them. I remember back in the 2009 pre-season testing that they were topping quite a few of the test sessions, but they didn’t exactly do well during the year.
  1. BasCB (@bascb)
    13th February 2011, 17:48
    They did top a lot of FP2 runs though :-D
  2. Skett (@skett)
    14th February 2011, 2:25
    They didn’t do well no, but bare in mind that brawn wasn’t in the first few test leaving only williams and toyota with a double diffuser. They genuinely were quick at that time.
    Plus, the car certainly wasn’t bad, all through the year Rosberg was picking up 4th, 5th and 6th places. Nakajima on the other hand…
    Lets just hope Maldonado isn’t a repeat of that!
budchekov (@budchekov)
13th February 2011, 16:53
Wish Kobayashi had landed Massa’s seat, reckon we’d have seen some real team fireworks …..
Based on last season and today just how quick is this guy?
…..given a drive with one of the big 3.
@Nice one Rubens.
1. Todfod (@todfod)
  14th February 2011, 6:06
  Its too early to judge Kobayashi’s raw pace. Hes a great racer, and overtaking is his forte, but he wasn’t that consistent in qualifying and he was compared to a rather slow De la Rosa for most of the year. I think we need another year to judge Kobayashi’s full potential.
sw6569 (@sw6569)
13th February 2011, 16:53
oh and my gut feeling is that the new teams haven’t improved that much. The virgin isn’t looking great. They are closer to the pace, but just still not on it yet
Scalextric
13th February 2011, 16:55
This amused me.
At this point in the BBC Valencia highlights an F-150 helps Massa’s F150. As it was then called.
1. PJ
  13th February 2011, 17:10
  Ha! Send it on to Ford!
  1. VXR
    13th February 2011, 17:36
    Better still, send this one.
    http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8RNbbDRdvBw
    1. US_Peter (@us_peter)
      13th February 2011, 22:23
      Haha! Those are both fantastic.
mcmercslr (@mcmercslr)
13th February 2011, 16:59
Both mclarens within a tenth of each others. Now that’s consistency
1. bosyber (@bosyber)
  13th February 2011, 17:06
  And very similarly for the two Ferrari’s (but on a different plan); not to mention the two Red Bulls within a half a tenth too. It probably shows that those teams are pretty good at setting up the cars consistently. It might also mean they are quite sure how much they could gain from going for a qualifier.
  1. Ian
    13th February 2011, 17:14
    …and the Toro Rosso, within 1 thousandth of a second!!!
    1. bosyber (@bosyber)
      13th February 2011, 17:34
      Torro Rosso, to me, look pretty good these last few days. They have been doing a reasonable amounts of laps, especially with Buemi in the last two days, and their times do seem to start reasonably, and the drop off, to me, didn’t seem that much worse than that of Alonso.
      During last year they looked lost a bit, but maybe we should have seen them also as a bit of a new team, with having to build their own car for the first time in years. Now, they look like they have a mission to show themselves a good pric/ze for a happy buyer.
2. SonJaM (@nosajm9bys)
  14th February 2011, 13:04
  Consistency for drivers or car? If for car then that is not possible as both drivers have different degrees of skill, so one of the drivers is either pushing the car to that time or one is not too intune with it yet. If driver, that is also not possible because again skill differs and over time, we know Hamilton is faster, so now….what is goin on with that time? Consistency per driver is good, not per two drivers together at almost exact times.
Calum
13th February 2011, 17:03
Is it coincidence that Williams need sponsors or am I being synical? ;)
1. Dianna
  13th February 2011, 17:09
  They definitely need sponsors,as many have departed.Rubens did his best for them today and well done to him and them.
  No one likes to see any of the teams in trouble,especially one so respected as Williams.
2. LHJBFTW (@lhjbftw)
  13th February 2011, 17:12
  I think synical but accurate :)
  1. Dianna
    13th February 2011, 17:28
    No synical is not accurate,it should be spelt CYNICAL :)
3. Maciek
  13th February 2011, 17:18
  Definitely a glory run from Rubens, but all’s fair in love and advertsing.
4. DeuceCoop
  13th February 2011, 17:33
  Cynical? Yes.
5. codesurge (@codesurge)
  13th February 2011, 17:33
  I remember them running lots of low-fuel glory runs in past Friday practice sessions to top the charts, yet usually ended up in the midfield during proper qualifying.
6. Calum
  13th February 2011, 17:38
  I knew that ‘A’ in English last year was a fluke….
  *Cynical.
7. Bill
  13th February 2011, 21:30
  Williams confirmed they had sufficient funding last year before Pastor Maldonado came along. That time was also part of a 10 lap run, and wasn’t on the super soft tyre. The Williams is quick.
  1. Mike
    14th February 2011, 10:21
    I hope so more than much else.
Larcem (@)
13th February 2011, 17:10
Why is McLaren doing so little laps?
1. Dianna
  13th February 2011, 17:30
  Because they are ashamed of the ugly car?
  Don’t worry Ron will have them all sorted by next weekend.
  1. Hare (@hare)
    13th February 2011, 19:16
    Ron will? You mean Martin. Surely?
    1. LuvinF1
      13th February 2011, 20:48
      I was waiting for Dianna to write back to you with:
      Please don’t call me “surely”.
      1. Hare (@hare)
        13th February 2011, 21:12
        Haha, classic ;)
Arpi_
13th February 2011, 17:12
38,42,33 guess what are those? Yes, You’re right! Experience the most valuable thing these days. Mark, Jarno shame on you!
VXR
13th February 2011, 17:21
It seems that William’s used the super-soft tyre to get its head line grabbing lap time (ought to sell a few shares too).
Those tyres and little fuel will do that for you. Fastest time last season was in the 1.18’s, I believe. Nothing to see here really.
1. Andy c
  13th February 2011, 17:27
  Other than the fact that cars were expected to be a lot lower downforce to start this year due to no double diffuser.
  Testing is so unpredictable. Only in the last test will we see people putting on their best suits and pushing hard.
  Remember brawn flew in testing and then walked away with it, but sauber flew in testing last year and struggled.
  Much too early to say, but I would love it if Williams had a quick car.
  I still think the merc will be a bad car. My prediction for surprising pace will go to team lotus and lrgp
Joe
13th February 2011, 17:35
9 Sebastien Buemi Toro Rosso 1’21.213 1.381
10 Jaime Alguersuari Toro Rosso 1’21.214 1.382
Nice :P
1. kowalsky
  13th February 2011, 18:44
  they are driving for their careers, and it shows.
  1. Gaston
    14th February 2011, 4:36
    Beyond the test, I reckon this factor will make Toro Rosso one of the teams to watch this season. With Ricciardo watching over their shoulders, Toro Rosso is going to be an F1 version of The Apprentice or something. This guys will be pushing hard. I hope they have a good car, we might see some surprises.
BBT (@bbt)
13th February 2011, 18:11
Barrichello’s time was without KERS so not too bad even if they had barely just over 8 laps of fuel and super softs on.
Dianna
13th February 2011, 18:33
Just heard that Renault have chosen and it is Liuzzi,can this be confirmed?
1. VXR
  13th February 2011, 19:15
  Only if he’s bringing a sack full of money with him.
2. Rich
  13th February 2011, 19:20
  Just heard that Renault have chosen and it is Liuzzi,can this be confirmed?
  Boullier has publicly stated that the veteran German should be, “the logical choice to drive for us” but that he needs to convince the team in the day and a half that he will be testing in Jerez de la Frontera, or “we’ll have to look at other options”.
  I doubt they would confirm Liuzzi without testing him! Put it down to some wishful thinking!
3. Hare (@hare)
  13th February 2011, 21:47
  I would check your legs and see which one of them is being pulled… Then grab the other leg, and pull hard to remove the foot in your mouth ;)
  Oooooooo synical! :D
  1. Dianna
    13th February 2011, 22:08
    NO wrong again CYNICAL!
    1. Hare (@hare)
      13th February 2011, 22:34
      Yup…. Deliberate ;)
sumedh
13th February 2011, 18:36
Remember the interview of Christian Horner after Bahrain 2010 qualifying. He said that Q3 was the first time the Red Bull did a qualifying run.
I have a feeling that the Red Bull is scarily quick this time. I hope I am wrong. But all teams apart from Red Bull seem evenly matches right now. Michael has a good chance of finishing a distant third in the championship behind the 2 Bulls.
1. Dianna
  13th February 2011, 22:08
  Michael has years of experience that not one of the others has,I am sure he will come good this year.Anyway it is a long season,anything can happen.
  For me it will always be Schumacher while he still races.
  1. Hare (@hare)
    13th February 2011, 22:36
    Rubens is more experianced than Micheal, but not the wins.
    Damn, I’m started to sound like PM ;)
    1. Maksutov
      15th February 2011, 11:38
      “experienced”! :)
2. Luis
  13th February 2011, 23:33
  I have a feeling that the Red Bull is scarily quick this time. I hope I am wrong.
  Indeed they are suspiciously quiet at the moment!
3. BasCB (@bascb)
  14th February 2011, 6:40
  I am pretty certain theirs is not the 7th fastest car.
  They will be pulling the speed out of that car at Q3 in Bahrain again, just like last year.
  Not too sure about the Mercedes though. If Rubens did that run without using KERS, there is a lot more time in all those cars and being half a second behind is not something to be too proud or secure about.
fatbloke76
13th February 2011, 19:14
Does anybody else find it a bit strange that macca/jenson/hamilton haven’t given any real press statements/releases for 2 days now? Yes we’ve heard the it first test with the new car, but ferrari were doing 100+ laps a day in valencia and competative times aswell.
Are they “sandbagging”, i dont think so. 2009 again im feeling. Now before ppl jump down my throat im a Mclaren/ button/ hamilton fan. Ask yourself if they were sandbagging surely they’d be doing lap after lap just to compute data on weight/tyres to find if there estimats are accurate?
1. Rich
  13th February 2011, 19:24
  If they were really struggling I think the flourescent paint would come out. I am not worried about Macca just yet and think the shortage of parts is that the final design is either not fully complete or they are wanting to keep it away from prying eyes.
  1. fatbloke76
    13th February 2011, 19:37
    I hope you’re right, there’s nothing i’d like more than to see them leave everyone in their wake come Bahrain. I cant help feeling that they’ll be between 7th and 12th tho.
    1. jake
      14th February 2011, 0:00
      I actually think mclaren are looking quite good. They have put in reasonable lap times, very consistent and we know they’re not really pushing the car yet. Jenson said he didnt use KERS, ARW or push hard when he set their fastest lap. ok there’s a slight lack of running but i don’t think thats a major problem…yet. Lets just wait till barcelona.
2. BasCB (@bascb)
  14th February 2011, 6:42
  One thing is them doing pretty much work switching between exhausts.
  But they are encountering quite a share of technical problems, otherwise they would have been running a lot more laps.
  As for speed, who knows.
VXR
13th February 2011, 19:33
McLaren statement:
“A frustrating day of running, with windy conditions compromising our data gathering programme and affecting efforts to find a satisfactory set-up for the MP4-26,” said a McLaren statement.
“Jenson was unable to find a suitable balance with the car, and the team’s progress was brought to an early end in the middle of the afternoon following the failure of an internal component.”
F1_Dave
13th February 2011, 19:35
im confident that come bahrain the red bull will be the fastest car again.
the red bull has enough mechanical grip that there able to run the adjustable rear wing in the fast corners like turns 3 and 4. Not so important in the races but in qualifying wher ethe wing can be used anywhere it could prove very important.
mclaren seem to be in some trouble. there car doesnt look fast & they seem to be eating the softer tyres a lot faster than others.
1. VXR
  13th February 2011, 19:47
  Yep! Can’t help but feel, barring mishaps and unreliability, that Red Bull have a bit of an animal straining at the leash.
2. fatbloke76
  13th February 2011, 19:48
  Am i right in thinking you’ve been at the tests?
  You seem to back up my thoughts, for all the pretest talk coming out of Mclaren they’re not very forth comin now and what they do say is’nt very convincing/believable. When was the last time you heard them say we’re out of parts, from the team that seems to get bits at allsorts of times and means.
  1. BasCB (@bascb)
    14th February 2011, 6:43
    But they have never been the most talkative during testing. Red Bull did not say a word yet as well.
    Just Ferrari kept saying how many laps they did.
VXR
13th February 2011, 20:02
I haven’t been ‘at’ the tests. ;)
McLaren, I feel, are just doing what the other teams did in Valencia. Making sure that things are reasonably reliable, and making a note of things that need to be done.
Barcelona will be to McLaren like Jerez was to the other teams. Bahrain will see them bring out the big guns.
1. Hare (@hare)
  13th February 2011, 21:49
  The big laser guns, that are rumoured to be secreted in the side pods ! :)
  1. BasCB (@bascb)
    14th February 2011, 6:45
    But they have teething problems fitting the planned rockets in those sidepods. And the laser cooling units caused some backfiring.
BROOKSY007 (@brooksy007)
13th February 2011, 22:12
I think williams are trying to inflate their share value!!! Why not if it earns you a couple more million!
1. Dianna
  13th February 2011, 22:44
  Patrick Head has the most floated shares,due to his impending retirement at the end of this year.
  (When a company floats, details of the company’s future have to be revealed,and Patrick’s retirement has been confirmed)
  Sad loss to Williams as he is the head of their engineering..
TFLB
13th February 2011, 22:24
Paul di Resta hasn’t really lived up to the hype yet. He’s been a bit slow and crashy. But this is only testing so hopefully he can get it sorted by Bahrain.
1. Keith Collantine (@keithcollantine)
  14th February 2011, 9:03
  According to Force India he had suspension failure today.
Chris
14th February 2011, 1:01
Go Schumi GOOOOOO!!! :)
wasiF1 (@wasif1)
14th February 2011, 1:34
Good to see Sauber 6th in the overall lap chart tough to say the program of other teams but still that is a good sign.
1. BasCB (@bascb)
  14th February 2011, 6:46
  Yep, looks like they are a lot better in the financials, with less need for a glory run to attract sponsors :p
Gaston
14th February 2011, 4:41
I’m trying hard not to like the Renault’s livery.
But I’m failing at it.
*random comment*
Mattfd
14th February 2011, 7:04
From auto sport this is the interesting part…
ettel and Alonso did 13 and 16-lap stints respectively. The times jumped around a bit and Vettel’s is slightly shorter, but if you follow their general pace it’s pretty similar.
Vettel
26.4, 23.1, 22.2, 22.6, 23.0, 23.0, 28.5, 23.3, 24.6, 23.7, 23.5, 23.9, 34.1
Alonso
23.1, 23.1, 23.1, 24.2, 25.1, 23.7, 23.3, 23.7, 24.1, 24.2, 24.2, 24.3, 24.8, 25.2, 25.3, 25.5
Then we have Alonso and Button on 20 and 19-lap stints – the first long stint we’ve seen from the McLaren MP4-26. They start out very evenly matched, then the McLaren hangs onto faster times for longer but plummets further than the Ferrari.
Alonso
25.0, 25.0, 25.0, 25.2, 24.9, 25.6, 25.7, 25.7, 25.8, 26.0, 26.0, 26.1, 26.1, 26.5, 26.6, 26.8, 27.7, 27.2, 27.7
Button
24.5, 24.9, 24.9, 25.0, 24.9, 25.1, 25.3, 25.7, 25.7, 25.3, 25.5, 25.5, 25.7, 25.8, 25.8, 26.0, 28.6, 28.5, 29.7
1. Mattfd
  14th February 2011, 7:06
  looking in that, Mclaren look consistant on a long run, obviously loads of variables but anyone who says Mclaren are slow I think look at that. Red bulls have looked very very good on the long runs but still you just don’t know exactly whats going on
2. BasCB (@bascb)
  14th February 2011, 9:31
  That is about the only thing interesting about the times for us.
  Looks like Button can get a few more good laps out of the same tyres than Alonso in the Ferrari.
  It might make for some different variables when deciding strategies, that is a good sign. The more differences between the ways how to get there fastest, the more interesing it will be.
AG
14th February 2011, 9:04
For everyone who insists on trying to read into the lap times, here is a great quote I read yesterday:
Veteran F1 engineer Frank Dernie, who worked for Williams, Lotus, Benetton, Ligier, Arrows and Toyota, has been in touch with his thoughts on testing:
“Enjoying the live coverage from the test. I thought readers may be interested in the type of testing teams are likely to be doing.
“Every engineer has a different approach to keeping the others guessing. The fact is that, by miles, the most important thing everyone needs to do is learn how to get the best from the tyres. You learn almost nothing running light, so it is unlikely that any serious team will run low fuel at all, or if they do one or two runs only.
“A car set up well for the tyres whilst heavy will be good light, the converse is almost never true. It means that it is quite likely nobody important will show their true pace before the first race.
“Getting a race distance on the car is crucial. The best way to evaluate the competitiveness of the teams will be to compare the pace in the race simulations, but this data is rarely published, unfortunately.
“The list of fastest times, which is always published, is probably the least useful testing information an observer gets!”
1. AG
  14th February 2011, 9:08
  I personally look at the reliability and how much time a car is on the track. Next test should show us a little more about who is reliable. At this point, Ferrari and Red Bull seem to be looking reliable.
2. Mike
  14th February 2011, 11:20
  Yeah I read that, fantastic piece.
Meander
14th February 2011, 21:19
Has anybody paid proper attention to the extreme rear-end of the Williams, with their ultra-flat gearbox?
pic:
Link and pic posted by Olav Mol, Dutch F1 commentator.
1. Keith Collantine (@keithcollantine)
  14th February 2011, 23:20
  Yes, I remember mentioning it on here when it was first seen at Valencia.
  1. Meander
    14th February 2011, 23:51
    I missed it, sorry for my ignorance ;)
Nikos
16th February 2011, 14:20
Rubinhoooooo!!!!!

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