The Final F1 Pre-Season Test :O

Posted by danm

Re: The Final F1 Pre-Season Test :O
Date: March 12, 2009 11:00AM
Posted by: vesuvius

Registered: 20 years ago

TS-report from yesterdays test:

Turun Sanomat, Barcelona

LUIS VASCONCELOS

BARCELONA TEST REPORT - DAY 3 OF 4

BEST TIMES

1) Jenson Button (Brawn BGP001-Mercedes), 1m19,127s (127), 2) Felipe Massa (Ferrari F60), 1m20,168s (109); 3) Robert Kubica (BMW F1.09), 1m20,217s (112); 4) Timo Glock (Toyota TF109), 1m20,410s (130); 5) Fernando Alonso (Renault R29), 1m20,863s (107); 6) Sebastian Vettel (Red Bull RB5-Renault), 1m21m165s (102); 7) Nico Rosberg (Williams FW31-Toyota), 1m21,324s (89); 8) Giancarlo Fisichella (Force India VJM02-Mercedes), 1m21,545s (97); 9) Sebastien Buemi (Toro Rosso TR4-Ferrari), 1m21,569s (143s); 10) Lewis Hamilton (McLaren MP4/24-Mercedes), 1m21,657s.

WEATHER

Dry track all day. Cloudy for most of the session. Max. temp: 16º (air), 24º (track); min. temp: 9º (air) 12º (track)

REPORT

Brawn Grand Prix is barely one week old but the team formerly known as Honda is already shocking the establishment. If Button and Barrichello had shown a lot of promise in the first two days of testing, running in very competitive times, no one was prepared to see the Brit shatter the 2009-spec cars lap record and beat everyone else by a full second! And that on a day where Felipe Massa did a low fuel run at the end of the morning, as Ferrari was doing a qualifying simulation!

On top of being quick the new BGP001 proved to be reliable, as Jenson Button managed to complete 127 laps, including a Grand Prix simulation, with two pit stops to get the race team up to speed and he was, obviously, delighted with the way things are going: "It's been good, isn't it? The car was straight out of the box and on top of that we managed to complete a lot of laps today. Up to now the car has completed 1700 kilometres and the more miles we manage to get, the better. We're obviously doing well, but we have to bare in mind that what we have here and will have in Jerez next week is what we'll have in Melbourne, while I'm sure the other teams will bring quite a few new parts. In any case we're obviously surprising people and I love surprising people!"

On the long runs, though, the BGP001 was not as impressive as in qualifying runs, as Button admitted: "It's true that we do struggle a bit with tyre degradation and that's something we'll have to work on, with Bridgestone, to improve the situation before the Australian Grand Prix."

Felipe Massa was second quickest of the day, beating Raikkonen's previous best time by 2/10s of a second, but his day, which included a Grand Prix distance, was not without trouble. After only eight laps in the morning the Brazilian had to stop on the track with a hydraulic problem, the second one in as many weeks. There were worried faces at Ferrari at the end of the day, with Luca Baldisseri returning home with Team Principal Stefano Domecali, who made a quick visit to testing on Wednesday, as the team prepared to make some changes to the F60 to make sure the car will be reliable in the first two races of the season.

Once Massa got going again, his lap times were as impressive as Raikkonen's had been in the previous day. He was able to run 20 laps stints in the 1m21s bracket, with his quickest times being always in the 1m20s bracket, showing that in race trim the F60 is still the pace setter.

Robert Kubica was third quickest, focusing on general set-up and evaluation of some new parts for the rear suspension but he also did a couple of low fuel runs - although not strictly qualifying runs - and was able to match Massa's times, like BMW had already done in Bahrain. In longer runs the F1.09 was also quite consistent and there were no reliability concerns, in what was a very positive day for the Polish driver.

Timo Glock set the 4th quickest time of the day, once again Toyota's good form and he was not far of the lap times achieved by Massa and Kubica. After Trulli had done the fine tuning of some new parts in the previous day, including a modified under floor and an optimised diffuser, it was Glock's turn to get used to the new parts and even though he was unable to complete his program, the German was happy with the way things had gone: "Once again, we had no major issues with the car, as we are able to run consistently and without reliability problems. The lap times are consistent, but there's still a bit more work to be done on Thursday, which will be our last day of testing before the start of the season. So far, so good, but only in Melbourne we'll know where we stand."

For Renault this was a slightly more positive day, after some of the suspension parts tried on Tuesday were discarded. A new under floor came overnight from the factory and was put in the car for the afternoon session. That seems to improve the handling of the car, as Alonso explained, "the new parts gave the results we expected and we keep making progress in every test we've done so far, but when you look at the lap times Button has done with the Brawn, in qualifying trim, or Massa in race trim, it's clear we're not in a position to beat those times at the moment."

Vettel had a less successful day, as a gearbox problem stopped him on the track during the morning and the he completed his day with a spin coming out of Turn 4, that brought out the third yellow flag of the day and effectively the session to an end, as there were just four minutes to go before the flag. In the sister car Buemi had a very productive day as Vettel's spin was the only reason he could not complete a Grand Prix distance, as he was just two laps away from completing the distance when the session was red flagged.

The team worked hard overnight, both in Spain and back at the factory in Faenza, to overcome the problems that had stopped Bourdais from running on Tuesday with some changed being made to the rear wheels and to the suspensions, to make sure there were no more safety concerns for the drivers.

Rosberg and Fisichella were able to complete their programs, although they were also delayed by the three red flags that stopped the session. The German did a good number of long runs in relatively competitive times, but it was clear the FW31 was more than half a second per lap slower than Felipe Massa's Ferrari, while Fisichella tried some new parts for his VJM02 and was happier with the balance of the car.

McLaren had another dreadful day, as Lewis Hamilton found himself at the bottom of the time sheets. His day was cut short by a high speed spin coming out of Turn two, when the rear of his MP4/24 ran away from him and the World Champion had an impressive trip over the gravel trap, hitting the tyre wall with the front of the car, without making too much damage. It took a couple of hours for him to return to the track and then Vettel's spin brought his day to a sudden and frustrating end.

There was no word from the team about the reasons for the spin, although the mechanics were seen inspecting the left rear suspension at the sight of the crash, but eye witnesses said Hamilton had just lost control of the car as he accelerated out of Turn Two, which is consistent with the fact the MP4/24 is lacking in traction in the last couple of tests, since the 2009 rear wing was put in the car.

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