Rain limits running in final day of testing

2011 F1 testing

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Fernando Alonso, Ferrari, Barcelona, 2011

The final day of pre-season testing saw heavy rain at the Circuit de Catalunya, which kept the few remaining teams present from completing all but a few laps.

Mercedes did the most, with Michael Schumacher and Nico Rosberg logging 40 between them.

Schumacher and Fernando Alonso did just five laps, each of which took over two minutes.

Rosberg set the fastest time of the day at the end of the session, but his 1’43.814 was over 20 seconds slower than dry-weather pace.

HRT did not participate in the test as some of their dampers were impounded by Spanish customs. A spokesperson for the team was unable to confirm where they had been manufactured or where they were being shipped from.

Driver Car Best time Laps Difference
1 Nico Rosberg Mercedes W02 1’43.814 35
2 Pastor Maldonado Williams-Cosworth FW33 1’44.333 23 0.519
3 Lewis Hamilton McLaren-Mercedes MP4-26 1’44.560 33 0.746
4 Fernando Alonso Ferrari 150?�?? Italia 5
5 Michael Schumacher Mercedes W02 5

Image © Ferrari spa/Ercole Colombo

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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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35 comments on “Rain limits running in final day of testing”

  1. Marcel Fonseca
    12th March 2011, 16:17

    McLaren is in terrible waters now. I admit I want to see how this will all play out in Melbourne.

    1. LOL, terrible waters, with the rain and all!

  2. Mclaren had a weeks warning that it would rain heavily today. Look at all the other teams testing today, they have all done thousands of miles and several full race distance, so they could afford to play in the rain.
    Mclaren on the other hand needed a dry circuit to get reliable data. Well they chose to skip wednesday and go swimming on saturday.

    1. I think it is because they haven’t got a car worthy of testing if they are taking days off.

      1. Yup mate i am totally agreeing with you. I think they are not fully prepared to make their upgrade package so they delay their test, but now they can test their MP-26B(oat) at Catalunya. And hamilton said at autosport that he is not frustrated, bcaz he knows that without update their car is same what they tried earlier……. So bad for the Mac, poor hamilton ;-)

        1. The Mclaren MP4-’26 laps would be deemed as a success in Melboure the way it’s going just now’

    2. I think they would have ran the car on thurdsay (they tested on Wednesday), if they did not have to wait for those parts to come in.

  3. A spokesperson for the team was unable to confirm where they had been manufactured or where they were being shipped from.

    they are still trying to figure out how the heck they are still alive as a team…

    1. Looks bad this. Now I’m getting worried about them…

    2. DeadManWoking
      12th March 2011, 16:44

      I saw a quote from Kolles somewhere saying they were coming from a mfr in the US.

      1. DeadManWoking
        12th March 2011, 16:49

        Q. When will the car run?

        CK: As soon as possible.

        Q. Today?

        CK: If possible, yes. We are still waiting for the dampers, which are in customs because they come from America.

        http://www.autosport.com/news/report.php/id/89872

        1. How many months do dampers take to be made and sent over? They have had several months to work this out and they would have thought that they needed them last week instead.

          1. -.- You try making F-1 spec dampers while building the rest of the team and car at the same time…

          2. Maybe they redid them at the last moment to better cope with the Pirelli tyres. You know, using the 2 weeks extra to develop something a bit better.

  4. Now we wait for the start of the season in Australia, and clearly see who has the fastest car on the grid. I wish it was McLaren but it’ll be Red Bull or Ferrari.

    1. Will not be surprise that if that is HRT.

  5. Mercedes look strong too

    1. Especially with Rosberg!

      1. Don’t rule out Schumacher, he still have the hunger in him.

  6. I cannot wait for this season to finally start. And to think we could’ve already seen the first race had there not been turmoil in Bahrain. Hopefully we’ll see a race in Bahrain, I like the idea of a 20 race calendar, more F1 will never sound bad to me.

    1. DeadManWoking
      12th March 2011, 16:53

      It would have been tomorrow, but I too hope they reschedule it and we still have 20. The more the merrier!

  7. Thought if Bahrain GP dose not postponed then may be Maclaren and Mercedes will now hitting their head with some thing as it will meant that they dont have enough time for their preparation for the round 1. Hope Ferrari perform well and also wishing best to Toro Rosso, Sauber, Lotus and Force India…………

  8. i think its clear as day now that mclaren do not have a car to even challenge for the podium in melbourne. Lewis and Jenson must be very frustrated to have such a slow and unreliable car to start the season with.
    Credit to Mercedes for turning it around, looking forward to seeing exactly how much they can mix it with ferrari and even red bull

  9. Sounds like everyone is writing McLaren off too soon to me…

    I admit things don’t look as bright and rosy for them as the other teams but don’t be so quick to write them off before it’s started.

    1. I agree with you there Andrew. although the lack of running is troubling for the Woking outfit. As we all know McLaren have the resources to develop a car faster than anyone else during the season-they’ve shown this the past two years. This years’ MP4 is extremely different from last years car, while the RB and Ferrari are evolutions of their predecessors. So clearly the Maca crew are faced with a much steeper learning curve when it comes to understanding the car. I think it will be interesting to see how this season unfolds as McLaren may stumble out of the starting blocks but have the talent and resources to catch up, and maybe if they come to grips with the unique design, have a winner. That being said, maybe they’ve missed the boat with the design, Guess we’ll see!

      1. Another water reference (missed the boat)!

        I hope you are right and McLaren will be in the run for wins at least sometime this season.

  10. Extremely glad testing is over.

    It’s just pointless. Boring. You know nothing will be settled until the first race… but you just can’t help yourself from checking it every day hoping there’s finally some actually usefull information leaving you time and time again with nothing but uncompetitive disappointment.

    I have to work on this media-addiction. Good luck to all the teams for the two weeks to come, bring on the race! :)

  11. It would have been interesting if Hispania had been able to run and so elected to do as much as possible on the wet tyres and went into a rain-soaked Australian Grand Prix with the most knowledge of the wet tyres …

    1. Would have been the best since Winkelhock leading the soaked GP 2 years ago.

      1. That race was awesome, for the only time I felt that it was wrong to bring red flag at that time (though now I am wrong). But sad that he never got a chance to race again.

  12. I thought that if it rains then it will be good for the remaining team they will have some time on wet weather tyre,but it backfires.

    1. McLarens and Mercedes only hope of early season podiums (maybe even wins), I would think

      1. It will be tough as may be so far both are lacking pace relative to Ferrari & Red Bull they have to depend on the development that the team is capable of doing while the season goes on.

  13. Would be nice to get accumulated testing stats for all the teams and drivers. It’d be no surprise to see the Ferrari at the front with mileage, but I’d like to see how low McLaren slots in.

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