Perez fastest in his last test before F1 debut

53 comments on “Perez fastest in his last test before F1 debut”

1. 

   Ben N
   10th March 2011, 16:09

   I know we can’t take much from testing… but I think we could be in for some surprises this season…
   1. 

      Adam Tate (@adam-tate)
      10th March 2011, 18:09

      I agree Ben, I surely hope so!
   2. 

      AndrewTanner (@andrewtanner)
      10th March 2011, 19:20

      I hope so too. To actually beat Vettel over-all by a tenth is quite a big thing. Still…let’s not get excited until race conditions.
2. 

   Shimks
   10th March 2011, 16:11

   I’ve got my fingers crossed for Sauber. I hope they do well and gain a few more sponsors. A few more apart from the hundreds of millionaires who have opted to join ‘Sauber Club One’, I mean.

   ;O)
   1. 

      Shimks
      10th March 2011, 16:13

      By the way – completely off-topic – where do I add my avatar after creating an account?
      1. 

         DeadManWoking
         10th March 2011, 16:20

         https://www.racefans.net/f1-information/f1-faq/f1-fanatic-faq/#avatar
   2. 

      Calum
      10th March 2011, 18:32

      They have Telmex – is that Carlos Slim’s company, he is still richest man according to Forbes.
3. 

   Henry
   10th March 2011, 16:12

   Not really…that was a super low fuel run…and the reporters in the know have said sauber and torro rosso are right up there with renault, Mclaren, Mercedes: 5 teams which we will not be sure of their outright pace for a while yet, not till after the checkered flag in Melbourne…

   If the Red Bull went out and did a super low fuel lap on fast tyres, I think they may get into the high 1.20s…we will wait and see in expectation! But hats off to Sauber, clearly they have a good start of season car!
4. 

   King Six
   10th March 2011, 16:12

   Probably cut the chicane again, nobody noticed this time.
5. 

   Dougy D
   10th March 2011, 16:16

   Hmm, de us vu. Didn’t saber do well this time last year also only to then fall back in the race. Are they still fishing for sponsors?
   1. 

      Shimks
      10th March 2011, 16:19

      Yes.
6. 

   sw6569 (@sw6569)
   10th March 2011, 16:16

   Virgin seems like its doomed to be at the rear of the grid which is a shame. Was hoping it might be able to scrape a point
   1. 

      BasCB (@bascb)
      10th March 2011, 19:28

      Well ,they seem to have just about as much reliability issues as Team Lotus, Torro Rosso, Sauber and Williams. But speed is not really there, so they might be making up the back with McLAren, Mercedes and HRT!
   2. 

      BasCB (@bascb)
      10th March 2011, 19:31

      A shame the Honda sportscar looks more sculpted and refined than Virgins F1 car (it looks good compared to that Aston Martin and the Peugeot)
      http://www.racecar-engineering.com/news/honda-arx-01e-revealed/
7. 

   Tom
   10th March 2011, 16:19

   Given Williams were not running KERS today, it looks like they may have produced quite a fast (but rather fragile) car.
   1. 

      BasCB (@bascb)
      10th March 2011, 19:40

      But Renault too were having issues with KERS, as well as Sauber.
8. 

   Shimks
   10th March 2011, 16:22

   Kovalainen was almost 11 seconds faster than Trulli in the same car today. That just goes to show the difference in the quality of these two drivers!
   1. 

      VXR
      10th March 2011, 16:26

      I hope that was ‘tongue-in-cheek’ ?
9. 

   rui
   10th March 2011, 16:31

   Sauber was hidding us a REAL something, but before getting too exited we have to remember last season sauber’s testing. But in my case, i feel this time is lightly different from last season.
   And don’t forget Perez (of course Kamui will rock-on-track), keep an eye on perez.
   1. 

      simone
      10th March 2011, 17:34

      No, its the same, pure show of…
      1. 

         rui
         10th March 2011, 18:01

         Dontmisunderstandme -> RedBull and Ferrary are ahead of all, just i expected sauber near the bottom, this put them back to fight with mercedes, williams and renault whom havent show us what they got, but cant be far better from sauber’s.
10. 

    McG (@mcg)
    10th March 2011, 16:36

    Wow Sauber must be the team to beat.
    1. 

       silencer
       10th March 2011, 16:38

       No..

       HRT is the team to beat…

       :D
       1. 

          VXR
          10th March 2011, 16:45

          And tomorrow we find out!

          They should be a good deal much better than they were last season, however little testing they do.
          1. 

             S.J.M (@sjm)
             10th March 2011, 19:28

             im genuinley looking forward to tomorrow, to see if HRT are there or not. HRT is the F1 equivalent to an episode of Lost, so many questions that need answering that only lead to more questions. Will they be there? will it be this years car? will it still have filled the “This is a cool spot” advert space? Sooo many questions.
    2. 

       karan01 (@karan01)
       11th March 2011, 7:31

       Sauber did this last year aswell.

       My bet is it is purely public relations.
11. 

    F1iLike
    10th March 2011, 16:52

    This is interesting. Perez setting the fastest time says more about the rest of teams than it does about Sauber. Definitely this is a pure qualifying try and makes one wonder how much faster Red Bull and Ferrari really is..
    1. 

       Rob Wilson
       10th March 2011, 16:56

       My thoughts exactly, if a Sauber can come up with this sort of lap time when they take the fuel out what kind of time is an rb7 going to set with low fuel…Maybe on the last day we’ll see?
       1. 

          VXR
          10th March 2011, 17:18

          Maybe on the last day well see?

          No one will be setting any fast lap times on the last day of testing.
          1. 

             Lee
             10th March 2011, 17:58

             Rain rain rain rain
             1. 

                BasCB (@bascb)
                10th March 2011, 19:41

                but rain is coming only later afternoon, so they might be doing some fast times before lunch or right after lunch.
12. 

    Mac v2
    10th March 2011, 16:55

    Well Massa did a quali run as well, fell short .3 sec
    1. 

       Rob Wilson
       10th March 2011, 17:06

       That settles it then, Kobayashi to win the Championship. Nah the Sauber isn’t exactly going to be the fastest car after being average all the other days is it..I doubt the true potential of most other teams has been shown yet.
13. 

    joac21 (@joac21)
    10th March 2011, 17:03

    VIVA MEXICOOO!
    1. 

       BasCB (@bascb)
       11th March 2011, 6:29

       Perez looks like a very good driver to have in that car, I am looking forward to seeing him racing. If that Sauber is half up to the job they will be a wonder to watch again this year.

       I saw Esteban Gutierrez (did I spell that right?) is going states side now. I hope he gets back as well, he looks very good as well.
       Bring on the Mexican GP rumours. At least Austin is relatively close by!
14. 

    Robbie (@robbie)
    10th March 2011, 17:09

    Regardless, even if Sauber surprise some in testing, even if they start the season stronger than most expect, they won’t be able to keep up to the pace of development throughout the season of several top teams on the grid. Not to mention their driver pairing is far weaker than several of the teams’. A one-off lap in testing is night and day different from racing in anger.
    1. 

       BasCB (@bascb)
       10th March 2011, 19:43

       Well, this is one of the few teams that actually have the ressources in house to do that kind of development.
       So compared to the FI, Williams, STR, Lotus and possibly Mercedes they might have a small advantage in developments.
15. 

    VXR
    10th March 2011, 17:12

    From BBC website:

    “Technical director James Key said this was the first time the team had run the car on a low fuel load and that Perez “did a good and controlled set of laps, setting a time of 1:22.042 minutes on soft tyres and 1:21.761 on the super-soft compound”.”
    1. 

       ed24f1 (@ed24f1)
       10th March 2011, 17:29

       The super-soft tyres aren’t even at this test, it’s only the soft and hard tyres.

       http://www.autosport.com/news/report.php/id/89776
    2. 

       BasCB (@bascb)
       10th March 2011, 19:43

       So that might have been on the hards and softs respectively.
       Not too bad then.
16. 

    slr
    10th March 2011, 17:18

    I really hope Perez does well, I’ve been waiting to see him in Formula One for over 2 years. I just hope he doesn’t let me down like Nelson Piquet Jr. did.
17. 

    VXR
    10th March 2011, 17:20

    Probably better to post this on this page. oops!

    BBC website:

    “Technical director James Key said this was the first time the team had run the car on a low fuel load and that Perez “did a good and controlled set of laps, setting a time of 1:22.042 minutes on soft tyres and 1:21.761 on the super-soft compound”.”
18. 

    OmarR-Pepper (@)
    10th March 2011, 18:14

    The testings añways provides some deceiving results. Even more, a little difficult tough. it’s that probably McLaren is proving different aero packages and then catch up with the top teams. But the flying lap set but Perez doesn’t point at Sauber as a top team or even an occasional contender. It’s an improve of course, but just among the pack teams. Let’s se how Renault evolves and if Heifeld is able to challenge the Bulls and Alonso (needless to think Massa as a real contender)
19. 

    rui
    10th March 2011, 18:29

    Im a Psychic you will see:
    –battle for the 1st———
    Ferrari
    RedBull
    –for the 3rd—————-
    Maclaren
    Renault
    –5th and 6th—————-
    Sauber
    Toro rosso
    Mercedes
    Williams
    –rest assured—————
    Force India
    –I dont want to be the last——–
    Lotus
    HRT
    Virgin
20. 

    Gp2
    10th March 2011, 19:59

    Perez’s time today was almost as fast as what Kobayashi managed last year in Quali, which got him to Q3:
    http://news.bbc.co.uk/sport1/hi/motorsport/formula_one/results/8498713.stm

    Taking into account the peformance loss due to lower downforce levels from new regulations and the drop-off from Pirelli tyres compared to the Bridgestones, his time looks very competitive.
    1. 

       BasCB (@bascb)
       10th March 2011, 20:05

       Now that is interesting.
    2. 

       Mike
       11th March 2011, 11:35

       Wow…
21. 

    tomforpresident
    10th March 2011, 21:22

    am i the only one impressed by Kovalainen’s lap? still not up with the big guys but hopefully that gap is closing.
22. 

    Don M.
    10th March 2011, 22:37

    All the cars have a certain amount of ballast added to bring them up to the minimum weight. Where you put the ballast can make a big difference, and I think this is the area where Sauber have found their speed. They’ve put their ballast in the corner of the garage with the spare wheels. I’d like to see them do well, so hopefully I’m wrong about that.
23. 

    NJB
    10th March 2011, 22:43

    This may have been a glory run but I’ve been impressed by what I’ve seen of Perez so far. He seems to have a quiet air of self-belief about him.
24. 

    wasiF1 (@wasif1)
    11th March 2011, 2:22

    What was that all about? that was a great lap. May not be the likes of Red Bull or Ferrari but I think with tyres rules Sauber & Torro Rosso can shed sweat from the big teams.
25. 

    DVC (@dvc)
    11th March 2011, 3:22

    I think Lotus should consider swapping courier companies.
26. 

    Lucas
    12th March 2011, 21:56

    I can see Kamui winning a race this year and possibly both cars in the points in Australia.

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