Driver line-up for Barcelona test confirmed

2011 F1 testing

Posted on

| Written by

All bar one of the 12 teams participating in the four-day test at Barcelona have confirmed their driver schedules.

It remains to be seen who will be testing for HRT.

The Spanish team missed the previous test at Jerez and instead ran a car at a filming day for Pirelli at Monza.

Narain Karthikeyan is the only driver who is confirmed to be driving for the team this year.

The four-day test begins tomorrow. Here are the drivers who have been confirmed so far and when they will be driving:

Team Friday 18th Saturday 19th Sunday 20th Monday 21st
Red Bull Sebastian Vettel Sebastian Vettel Mark Webber Mark Webber
McLaren Jenson Button Jenson Button Lewis Hamilton Lewis Hamilton
Ferrari Fernando Alonso Fernando Alonso Felipe Massa Felipe Massa
Mercedes Michael Schumacher Nico Rosberg Nico Rosberg Michael Schumacher
Renault Nick Heidfeld / Vitaly Petrov Nick Heidfeld Vitaly Petrov Nick Heidfeld
Williams Rubens Barrichello Rubens Barrichello Pastor Maldonado Pastor Maldonado
Force India Paul di Resta Paul di Resta Adrian Sutil Adrian Sutil
Sauber Kamui Kobayashi Kamui Kobayashi Sergio Perez Sergio Perez
Toro Rosso Jaime Alguersuari Jaime Alguersuari Daniel Ricciardo / Sebastien Buemi Sebastien Buemi
Lotus Heikki Kovalainen Heikki Kovalainen Jarno Trulli Jarno Trulli
HRT TBC TBC TBC TBC
Virgin Jerome d’Ambrosio Timo Glock Timo Glock Jerome d’Ambrosio

2011 F1 testing

    Browse all 2011 F1 testing articles

    Image © F1 Fanatic

    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...

    Got a potential story, tip or enquiry? Find out more about RaceFans and contact us here.

    38 comments on “Driver line-up for Barcelona test confirmed”

    1. Hopefully Mclaren have sent enough spares to Barcelona! ;)

      I want to see the new car racking up the miles!!

      1. hopefully it rains so that they cantest the tires for rain

    2. I don’t know why mercedes always opt for different pattern in driver line up in tests compare to all other teams. It has been the pattern from 2010 testings. Idea any one what advantages or disadvantages cause of this?

      1. Feedback from both drivers after 2 days rather than 3?

        1. feedback from Michael on Day 1 …..that’s nice !!

    3. Ned Flanders picked up the suggestion, that Zsolt Baumgartner (remember him) is seriously considered for the second HRT seat (see forum for more on that).

      Kolles is always in for a supprise driver announcement, but this is getting a bit over the top I think.

      I hope we will get some more clues or at least wild guesses where the McLarens exhausts are and at least a few clues to what everyone is doing.

      1. Zsolt Baumgartner to drive for HRT? Well it fits in with their driver strategy and their acronym: Has-beens Replacing Talent.

        1. You should add that to the HRT acronym thread on the forum.

        2. Why can’t they pick someone with a simple name that is easy to pronounce.

          1. jsw11984 (@jarred-walmsley)
            18th February 2011, 7:58

            They did last year, unfortunately neither driver fitted the job description of providing millions of dollars to the team, they were both too focused on “racing” and being “actual drivers” whatever that means.

      2. I heard about the rumour as well, and it is absolutely shocking. Well.. whatever their decision is, I hope they make it soon, as I’m sick of the TBC sign next to their names on every schedule. HRT remind me of the kids who came late to school and never had their homework done, and needless to say, were constantly flunking out.

      3. Well, he knows the tracks and would be driving at about the same speed as usual… ;p

        1. Think it’s more like never has beens replacing talent though can’t really get the HRT in that one so good. Ya Todford, needless to say they were the same kids who dropped out of school early so maybe HRT will do that too. Can’t see them hanging around if start not qualifying inside 107%

    4. Ferrari seems to rack up the most miles in these test sessions

      In fact, the difference with other teams seem quite significant to me.

      Not only that, Ferrari have already had two ‘promotional’ sessions to test their cars.

      Why don’t other teams take full advantage of the time given to them?

      Surely Red Bull, who had the most reliability issues among the top teams, should rack up miles as much as they can?

    5. I do wish the FIA would at least force the teams to some kind of schedule so people could make some form of rough speculation about the tests, rather than wild guesses that Williams will win the WCC this year, or stuff along those lines.

      1. What a ridiculous idea. Where’s the excitment in that? It’s like when teams had publish their car weights after Q1 back in 2009. We knew what sort of fuel the cars had and when they would pit, removing a level of excitment for the racing the following day.

        It’s free testing, and the teams are free to run which ever programs they need to do. Remember that all teams are at

    6. Interesting to see that of Buemi and Alguersuari, it is Buemi that loses half a day to Ricciardo… or am I reading too much into it?

      Heidfeld gets more time…

      I’m worried about HRT – they really should’ve confirmed a second driver by this test.

      1. Interesting to see that of Buemi and Alguersuari, it is Buemi that loses half a day to Ricciardo… or am I reading too much into it?

        ———————————–

        I actually read it as Buemi doesn’t need as much time in the car, and I reckon he might make the step up to RBR in the future, depends on how much they value their own young driver program

        1. Off the top of my head, didn’t Alguersuari and Ricciardo share a day at Jerez?

          1. Yup, the 10th of Feb, the 1st day of the Jerez test, had Ricciardo in the car in the morning and Alguersuari in the afternoon.

            Seems like the teams going to great lengths to give their drivers equal testing…Mclaren put their test driver in for a whole day at Valencia, seeing as its an odd number of days long (3 days), partly so Lewis and Jenson could have equal time in the car, I suspect.

            This despite the fact that they were still using the MP4-25 at Valencia =P

          2. thats correct Keith. So makes sense that Buemi looses half a day this time round.

        2. ha, the guy who was arguably the most disappointing driver of last year steping up to the top team? No way Jose. Ricciardo will get to RBR long before Buemi will.

      2. HRT didnt confirm Chandok until days before the first practice session of the Bahrain weekend last year…

        1. I guess they did… he was part of the car launch.

    7. With a livery as nice as the HRT’s they needn’t bother with petty testing.

      1. Hahahaha! Well… the slower they go, the more clearly we can see the advertisements on the side of the car, front wing and rear wing. So it looks like HRT has a good plan.

        1. A good plan up to the point where they fail to qualify because of the 107% rule.

          :-)

      2. Quality! :D

    8. The other driver for HRT is probably Milka Duno.

      1. Dont even joke about that!

    9. Very worrying for HRT that they’re this far into testing and they still only have one driver. It would be awful if they had their first run in Bahrain again.

      1. Looks like Rosberg didn’t fancy having the 2 outer days again :)

      2. And some how beat out Virgin. At least according to the stats.

    10. Looks like Narain karthikeyan will test for HRT on all 4 days..the new guy coming in to this team will be at a severe handicap..

      http://www.gpupdate.net/en/f1-news/252809/barcelona-testing-the-line-up/

      but i dont expect much from YAMAMOTO anyways..

    11. Are HRT running the old car still?

    12. id quite happily drive for HRT for free :) :) :) :) :) :) :) aslong as they pay my travel/food costs.

      1. just a pity you’re competing with guys who are paying HRT to drive then.

    13. Is it just me, or are other people thinking HRT are in deep doo-doo?

    Comments are closed.