Fernando Alonso concluded his three days of running at the Circuit de Catalunya by putting Ferrari on top of the times.
But his best effort of 1’21.875 was fractionally slower than the quickest lap of the test so far, set by Sergio Perez yesterday.
With wet weather expected tomorrow, several teams took the opportunity to conduct long runs in the afternoon session. Romain Grosjean completed a race distance in the Lotus, covering more laps in one day than Kimi Raikkonen managed in the previous two. He also set the third-fastest time behind Nico Hulkenberg.
Nico Rosberg was fourth-fastest for Mercedes ahead of the two Williams drivers, who shared the running in the FW35 today. Pastor Maldonado was 0.151s faster than team mate Valtteri Bottas.
Force India ran their fourth different driver in seven days as Adrian Sutil returned to the cockpit. He ended up eighth, almost exactly a second slower than Alonso in a closely-matched field.
The final moments of the session were disrupted by the only red flag of the day when Giedo van der Garde’s Caterham came to a stop on the run to turn three, just after setting his best time of the session.
Marussia kept Max Chilton in the car for the third day in a row and he ended the test tenth-fastest.
Driver | Car | Best time | Laps | Difference | Tyres | |
1 | Fernando Alonso | Ferrari F138 | 1’21.875 | 97 | Soft | |
2 | Nico Hulkenberg | Sauber-Ferrari C32 | 1’22.160 | 91 | 0.285 | Soft |
3 | Romain Grosjean | Lotus-Renault E21 | 1’22.188 | 119 | 0.313 | Soft |
4 | Nico Rosberg | Mercedes W04 | 1’22.611 | 108 | 0.736 | Medium |
5 | Pastor Maldonado | Williams-Renault FW35 | 1’22.675 | 79 | 0.800 | Soft |
6 | Valtteri Bottas | Williams-Renault FW35 | 1’22.826 | 68 | 0.951 | Soft |
7 | Jenson Button | McLaren-Mercedes MP4-28 | 1’22.840 | 71 | 0.965 | Hard |
8 | Adrian Sutil | Force India-Mercedes VJM06 | 1’22.877 | 78 | 1.002 | Soft |
9 | Mark Webber | Red Bull-Renault RB9 | 1’23.024 | 108 | 1.149 | Medium |
10 | Jean-Eric Vergne | Toro Rosso-Ferrari STR8 | 1’23.366 | 106 | 1.491 | Soft |
11 | Max Chilton | Marussia-Cosworth MR02 | 1’25.690 | 58 | 3.815 | Soft |
12 | Giedo van der Garde | Caterham-Renault CT03 | 1’26.177 | 93 | 4.302 | Soft |
Image © F1 Fanatic | f1fanatic.co.uk
@HoHum (@hohum)
21st February 2013, 16:10
Fast laps tell us a car is competitive but slower laps tell us nothing, however all indications are that it will be close at the front to begin with.
infy (@infy)
21st February 2013, 16:12
Most likely third, but probably closer to the top two than they finished the year.
@HoHum (@hohum)
21st February 2013, 17:45
Also, interesting wear pattern on the Ferrari, I thought this years tyres were supposed to have a broader contact-patch.
@HoHum (@hohum)
21st February 2013, 17:46
maybe it’s excessive camber.
Max Jacobson (@vettel1)
21st February 2013, 18:19
@hohum – Not exactly nothing: for instance, Caterham and particularly Marussia’s consistently slow laptimes suggest that they are still definitely behind the midfielders. Which is a shame really, as I would quite like to have seen Caterham challenging for points!
Lauri (@f1lauri)
21st February 2013, 20:02
Caterham hasn’t done anything to be faster. They’ve already written off this season. Two pay-drivers and slightly updated 2012 car. Marussia looks a lot better, newley designed car, new engineers and design team + KERS. Marussia will score this years in some crazy race. They almost did it last year.
@HoHum (@hohum)
22nd February 2013, 0:48
@vettel1, you are absolutely correct Max, the bottom order cars are of course trying to impress potential sponsors, may I call them the exceptions that prove the rule?
Beto (@chebeto0)
21st February 2013, 16:15
It seems to me this season will be closer than last one in terms of pace. Many different teams have shown some quite quick laps.
Does it mean something that Marussia has put faster laps than Caterham in the last tests?
Ivan B (@njoydesign)
21st February 2013, 16:17
As i said in the live feed I’m quite surprised with caterham putting their cards on the table. Failed glory run for Guido? Marussia had better time with more fuel.
It seems ferrari is focusing on testing certain aspects of the car while RB and lotus are now testing the whole package. And both show some nice consistency. Ferrari is looking good on pace but I’m excited to see their other exhaust at next test.
JB (@)
21st February 2013, 16:18
The good news is that at least Ferrari will seem competitive from the start but it´s just a darn shame that none of us know what fuel loads they run hence, leaving us to guesstimate…
dkpioe
21st February 2013, 16:24
thats an impressive showing from sutil. a year away and straight up to pace like the great driver he is.
Ace (@ace)
22nd February 2013, 7:36
Nice try, Adrian ;)
Robbie (@robbie)
21st February 2013, 16:33
I still don’t get why more teams don’t have two cars and both drivers out there on every test day possible. Rain is expected tomorrow, throwing a wrench into a rare test day. And with no in-season testing other than on Fridays, I still struggle with the concept of teams these days only having one car and driver per day at a test session. They’ve got the equipment there anyway…why not hit these days full force while they have them? Of course I trust that the teams know what they are doing and if it was better to do it as I suggest above, then I’m sure they would, but I can’t seem to wrap my head around not having both drivers there each in their own car for the only, mere handful, of test days in the year. Especially with the risk of weather hampering their programs. To me the doubling of the input from the drivers, of the testing of setups, and of the sussing out unreliabilites, would be worth the cost and the effort in the long run.
KronicSonic (@kronicsonic)
21st February 2013, 16:41
I think they’re only ALLOWED one car each at the pre-season tests. Someone correct me if I’m wrong.
Robbie (@robbie)
21st February 2013, 16:45
I do note that Williams has two cars out there. Why not more teams?
KronicSonic (@kronicsonic)
21st February 2013, 16:48
It was the same car twice.
sam3110 (@sam3110)
21st February 2013, 16:48
Two cars are banned, Williams only had one car and swapped the seats out between runs
Fer no.65 (@fer-no65)
21st February 2013, 17:22
@robbie first off, no, Williams didn’t run 2 cars, they just swapped drivers during lunchtime.
Secondly, I doubt teams have the resources to run two cars. It’s not just putting another car there, you have to have another fleet of mechanics, spare parts, more data analysis… so it’s not that simple. It means more work, more costs…
Not to mention of course that it is banned ! :P
Robbie (@robbie)
21st February 2013, 19:59
Thanks, folks.
As to them not having the resources…while I do appreciate that it would be a saving to only have one car and crew there, I don’t think it would be double to have two, because they’re going there anyway, and also they probably would be able to double up on some staff that could do some work for both sides.
Somehow they managed to afford all kinds of in-season testing in the past, not just pre-season, so I would think that if you compare what they used to spend on testing vs. 2 cars and drivers for 12 days pre-season as I’ve wondered about, I wonder if most teams would have 2 there if they were allowed, seeing it as their only opportunity, and still a huge savings in money compared to when testing seemed ‘endless’.
And what is the cost of the unreliability that many teams experience? Perhaps doubling up pre-season testing might pay off in the first number of races that might otherwise end in tears.
Anyhoo…it is what it is…thanks again for the clarification(s).
Fer no.65 (@fer-no65)
21st February 2013, 21:22
@robbie well, for one they are getting impressive reliability, so that’s not much of an issue.
And yeah, it’d mean double the staff, double the resources. Sending twice the amount of spares and 2 chassis to Spain must be very expensive. It’s not just the team, also Pirelli, the fuel and oil suppliers, technicians from Ferrari, Renault and Mercedes for the engines and so on…
That’s a cost that’s not necessary. Specially with the long seasons we’re having lately.
Remember that back in the day they had dedicated “test” teams…
smokinjoe (@smokinjoe)
21st February 2013, 16:40
After a year off from the sport Sutil time looks respectable
dodge5847 (@)
21st February 2013, 16:46
My thinking exactly, I know it is just testing, but he seems to be on the pace, and didn’t prang it. Personally I would rather him not get the drive, but I think he will, it is just my opinion though.
Fer no.65 (@fer-no65)
21st February 2013, 16:44
Alonso’s definetly going to win the championship.
dodge5847 (@)
21st February 2013, 16:49
I’m not an Alonso fan, but I would give him odds on favourite to take it, however I don’t think he will walk away with it, Jenson, Kimi and Seb will be fighting it out until Brazil I think.
dodge5847 (@)
21st February 2013, 16:50
but watch out for that raw pace of caterham, lol.
Fer no.65 (@fer-no65)
21st February 2013, 17:18
@dodge5847 I was just kidding :P you know… testing troll !
Colossal Squid (@colossal-squid)
21st February 2013, 18:01
The Ferrari seems to be good, but how good relative to Red Bull, McLaren and Lotus? Plus pace is one thing but by the looks of how quickly the tyres degrade, a car that’s easy on its tyres may end up with a huge advantage.
JB (@)
21st February 2013, 20:08
Don´t jinx him for Christ´s sake…. to early to say anything…
Jay Menon (@jaymenon10)
22nd February 2013, 0:09
Fernando’s comments dont suggest he is very impressed with the car, he says its just ok.
Maybe he’s playing it down?..hope so.
TomEC1
21st February 2013, 17:04
Can anyone tell me what tyres Rosberg was on for his fastest lap?
ashermartin4 (@ahermartin4)
21st February 2013, 18:20
His fastest lap of 1:22.611 was completed on the medium tyre on lap one of a seven-lap run
Aldoid
21st February 2013, 18:29
I believe he was on mediums. I think Mercedes are looking pretty darn good, personally. On the one day they ran soft tires they topped the test, & since then they’ve not been too far from the fastest times while running on the medium & hard tires. They’ve also seemed to have worked out most of their reliability issues, & are quietly racking up quite a bit of mileage this test. I’m anxious to see another proper run on the softs (with Hamilton next time, preferably), but so far I think they’re right in the thick of it.
AceofSpades (@aceofspades)
21st February 2013, 17:12
Good to see Sauber finally doing some quick laps at last. I know it doesn’t mean much, but after six days of doing slower runs, it’s reassuring to see they can be on the pace.
Also Marussia have been quicker than Caterham for some good days now, hoping that’s a positive sign for their future!
Shri
21st February 2013, 18:33
testing tells us very little in terms of pecking order.
all i hope is no one team has a much quicker car and runs away with the championship.
Matt Clark (@mattc888)
21st February 2013, 22:39
Haha I think Ferrari and Sauber ran light because they know that the Force India board members will be looking closely at today’s lap times ;P
GongTong (@gongtong)
21st February 2013, 22:55
A very cynical but interesting point. I wouldn’t be surprised at all in a game like this…
BasCB (@bascb)
22nd February 2013, 7:42
not at all impossible @matc888