Barcelona test - Day 3. Times after Lunch break
<table class="text_small" width="100%" align="center" border="0" cellpadding="3" cellspacing="1"><tbody><tr bgcolor="#eaeaea"><td height="20" align="center">1</td> <td align="left"> Petrov</td><td align="center">Renault</td><td align="left"> 1m26.342s</td></tr> <tr bgcolor="#ffffff"><td height="20" align="center">2</td> <td align="left"> Hamilton</td><td align="center">McLaren</td><td align="left"> 1m26.819s +0.477</td></tr> <tr bgcolor="#eaeaea"><td height="20" align="center">3</td> <td align="left"> Buemi</td><td align="center">Toro Rosso</td><td align="left"> 1m26.877s +0.535</td></tr> <tr bgcolor="#ffffff"><td height="20" align="center">4</td> <td align="left"> Maldonado</td><td align="center">Williams</td><td align="left"> 1m27.218s +0.876</td></tr> <tr bgcolor="#eaeaea"><td height="20" align="center">5</td> <td align="left"> Rosberg</td><td align="center">Mercedes</td><td align="left"> 1m27.793s +1.451</td></tr> <tr bgcolor="#ffffff"><td height="20" align="center">6</td> <td align="left"> Perez</td><td align="center">Sauber</td><td align="left"> 1m27.819s +1.477</td></tr> <tr bgcolor="#eaeaea"><td height="20" align="center">7</td> <td align="left"> Sutil</td><td align="center">Force India</td><td align="left"> 1m27.923s +1.581</td></tr> <tr bgcolor="#ffffff"><td height="20" align="center">8</td> <td align="left"> Ricciardo</td><td align="center">Toro Rosso</td><td align="left"> 1m28.329s +1.987</td></tr> <tr bgcolor="#eaeaea"><td height="20" align="center">9</td> <td align="left"> Webber</td><td align="center">Red Bull</td><td align="left"> 1m29.774s +3.432</td></tr> <tr bgcolor="#ffffff"><td height="20" align="center">10</td> <td align="left"> Mondini</td><td align="center">HRT</td><td align="left"> 1m29.829s +3.487</td></tr> <tr bgcolor="#eaeaea"><td height="20" align="center">11</td> <td align="left"> Karthikeyan</td><td align="center">HRT</td><td align="left"> 1m30.722s +4.380</td></tr> <tr bgcolor="#ffffff"><td height="20" align="center">12</td> <td align="left"> Massa</td><td align="center">Ferrari</td><td align="left"> 1m31.021s +4.679</td></tr> <tr bgcolor="#eaeaea"><td height="20" align="center">13</td> <td align="left"> Glock</td><td align="center">Virgin</td><td align="left"> 1m31.436s +5.094</td></tr> <tr bgcolor="#ffffff"><td height="20" align="center">14</td> <td align="left"> Trulli</td><td align="center">Lotus</td><td align="left"> 1m32.175s +5.833</td></tr></tbody></table>
Gary Anderson's pre-season blog
Barcelona testing: Day two
I spent a fair amount of this afternoon out on the circuit to see how the cars look and how consistent they are. There are some very interesting features that crop up.
The McLaren just doesn't look like it has got the grip. They are complaining about the tyres, but the tyres are the same for everybody - and the FIA has controlled the weight distribution so everyone is making the same use of the tyres. So it's largely down to aerodynamic balance, especially on entry, to dictates how you use them. It's very easy to accelerate the degradation of the rear tyres if the car is nervous on corner entry.
Turn 3, a long, fast right-hander here at Barcelona, is a difficult corner for the balance of the car because you are accelerating all the way through it. Normally, the car understeers a lot there and the McLaren certainly didn't lack that. It seems that they have a lot of work to do before they have a car that's capable of challenging at the front.
The Ferrari, in general, looks like a very well-settled car that doesn't do anything too dramatic and works well with the driver. We might get a better indication of where they are tomorrow because Felipe Massa is in and he generally drives the wheels off it, whereas Fernando Alonso works very closely to a programme and you can never be sure exactly what he is doing.
Kamui Kobayashi in the Sauber definitely doesn't lack commitment. The car looks reasonable and hangs on pretty well, but he's right on the limit. It would be no surprise to see him spear off the road at some point – he had one very wide moment getting onto the rubber marbles at the exit of Turn 3 that I'm sure got his pulse rate up.
Nick Heidfeld again looks impressive in the Renault. It looks like it has got good grip. I think the exhaust system exiting at the front of the sidepod does make it quite difficult to drive and get the consistency on and off the throttle.
Rubens Barrichello seemed happy with Williams' day and did a lot of laps. As a team, they feel their performance is reasonable - and they have a major aerodynamic update kit for the first race, which they feel will move them a good step forward.
Red Bull attempted a race distance today, but had various car problems which interrupted it as well as a red flag, so it's very difficult to draw conclusions from the laps today. But the car is definitely quick and, as you'd expect with Adrian Newey packaging it, needs a little honing to reach the chequered flag.
Inside Testing : Daily Barcelona Blog
The question everyone is asking during pre-season testing is what is the competitive order? The fans want to know. The teams have an inkling, but still can't be sure about where they will be come the end of qualifying for whichever race opens the Formula 1 season. But with nine days of testing in the books, we're beginning to see some faint patterns emerging.
For this test, AUTOSPORT has a secret weapon in the form of our technical contributor, Gary Anderson. As a designer of grand prix-winning cars and with Formula 1 experience stretching back to the James Hunt days, a few hours spent wandering the pit lane and watching track side with him offers tremendous insight, not to mention a way to verify your own impressions.
You'll have read in Gary's blog some of his impressions from track side, and indeed it is from behind the tyre wall that you can learn an enormous amount. The Mercedes, for example, looks every bit as bad as you would expect from what became clear at the Jerez test.
Nico Rosberg was having to work the car hard to get it to turn into the faster stuff – at Turns 1, 3 and 9 this is particularly obvious. He just can't get it to turn in as he would like and carry the speed into the corner. There's a big upgrade planned and it had better be huge, because this car doesn't even look like a Q3 contender on its performance so far.
The McLaren, as Gary pointed out, isn't much better, while some of the less-fancied cars also caught the attention. The Sauber, in the hands of Kamui Kobayashi, looks very well-planted on turn in and he can carry good speed through the corner, although is a little less eye-catching in the slow stuff. I'm a little more confident than Gary of Kobayashi's ability to keep it on the black stuff - he has an impressive ability to look like he's near an accident without getting involved in as many as his rookie status last year might suggest. The Williams also looked good and stable, while the Toro Rosso was, although not spectacular, consistent and seemed very driveable.
All of that is bad news for Mercedes, in particular. If it continues to struggle, there is a very competitive midfield pack ready to fill the spots ahead of it. Looking at the longer run times, the car is slow and chews its tyres whoever is at the wheel. But let's accentuate the positive and say at least it topped the mileage chart today, which at least suggests reliability has been ameliorated.
Teams have turned around pre-season struggles before, but it's incredibly difficult and extremely rare. Remember BMW Sauber in 2008? It was deep in the mire until the final test and only a rare Robert Kubica blunder during qualifying cost the team pole position.
Back in the pit lane, there's the opportunity to take a closer look at some of the cars. One of the prime spots is at the pit exit, where drivers sometimes stop to complete a practice start.
It's an ear-shattering experience to stand two metres from a grand prix car doing a full race start, but one car in particular stood out. While the rest were merely loud, the Renault was at a whole new level - rattling your rib cage and sending shockwaves through your eardrums that made you question whether you had forgotten to put your earplugs in.
The Renault certainly looks promising, and there were times on-track when it really looked the part. Standing on the outside of Turn 1, Nick Heidfeld came through one lap awesomely committed, turned in, got on the power early and the car stuck. The next, the car didn't take kindly to the application of the throttle in the same place and he had to feather a little, so perhaps the blown floor isn't yet quite as consistent as he would like. But the car certainly has potential that, just maybe, will take the bearded wonder to his first grand prix win.
So, colours to the mast. If a grand prix were to be held tomorrow, my money would be on Red Bull or Ferrari with a sneaky each-way on Renault. The first two cars look quick and good on their tyres, while there's enough about the Renault to get excited about.
That begs the inevitable question what of McLaren? Let's give them a couple more days, but I wager that if that car went into a qualifying session tomorrow it wouldn't set the world alight. Fortunately for me, there's not going to be a grand prix tomorrow, so that prediction will never be falsified.
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