ESP: Free Practice 2

Pos	Driver	Nat	Constructor	Time
1.	Jenson Button	GBR	McLaren-Mercedes	1:23.399
2.	Sebastian Vettel	GER	Red Bull Racing-Renault	1:23.563
3.	Nico Rosberg	GER	Mercedes AMG	1:23.771
4.	Lewis Hamilton	GBR	McLaren-Mercedes	1:23.909
5.	Kimi Raikkonen	FIN	Lotus-Renault	1:23.918
6.	Romain Grosjean	FRA	Lotus-Renault	1:23.964
7.	Mark Webber	AUS	Red Bull Racing-Renault	1:24.065
8.	Michael Schumacher	GER	Mercedes AMG	1:24.080
9.	Kamui Kobayashi	JAP	Sauber-Ferrari	1:24.214
10.	Nico Hulkenberg	GER	Force India-Mercedes	1:24.365
11.	Felipe Massa	BRA	Ferrari	1:24.418
12.	Sergio Perez	MEX	Sauber-Ferrari	1:24.422
13.	Pastor Maldonado	VEN	Williams-Cosworth	1:24.468
14.	Fernando Alonso	ESP	Ferrari	1:24.600
15.	Paul di Resta	GBR	Force India-Mercedes	1:24.688
16.	Jean-Eric Vergne	FRA	Scuderia Toro Rosso-Ferrari	1:24.733
17.	Daniel Ricciardo	AUS	Scuderia Toro Rosso-Ferrari	1:24.769
18.	Bruno Senna	BRA	Williams-Renault	1:25.047
19.	Heikki Kovalainen	FIN	Caterham-Renault	1:26.296
20.	Vitaly Petrov	RUS	Caterham-Renault	1:26.740
21.	Timo Glock	GER	Marussia-Cosworth	1:27.314
22.	Charles Pic	FRA	Marussia-Cosworth	1:27.664
23.	Pedro de la Rosa	ESP	HRT-Cosworth	1:28.235
24.	Narain Karthikeyan	IND	HRT-Cosworth	no time

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ESP: Free Practice 1

Pos	Driver	Nat	Constructor	Time
1.	Fernando Alonso	ESP	Ferrari	1:24.430
2.	Serbastian Vettel	GER	Red Bull Racing-Renault	1:24.808
3.	Kamui Kobayashi	JAP	Sauber-Ferrari	1:24.912
4.	Jenson Button	GBR	McLaren-Mercedes	1:24.996
5.	Valtteri Bottas	FIN	Williams-Renault	1:25.120
6.	Michael Schumacher	GER	Mercedes AMG	1:25.187
7.	Romain Grosjean	FRA	Lotus-Renault	1:25.217
8.	Lewis Hamilton	GBR	McLaren-Mercedes	1:25.252
9.	Kimi Raikkonen	FIN	Lotus-Renault	1:25.285
10.	Nico Hulkenberg	GER	Force India-Mercedes	1:25.339
11.	Jean-Eric Vergne	FRA	Scuderia Toro Rosso-Ferrari	1:25.367
12.	Felipe Massa	BRA	Ferrari	1:25.433
13.	Mark Webber	AUS	Red Bull Racing-Renault	1:25.539
14.	Nico Rosberg	GER	Mercedes AMG	1:25.607
15.	Sergio Perez	MEX	Sauber-Ferrari	1:25.918
16.	Daniel Ricciardo	AUS	Scuderia Toro Rosso-Ferrari	1:26.226
17.	Pastor Maldonado	VEN	Williams-Renault	1:26.297
18.	Jules Bianchi	FRA	Force India-Mercedes	1:26.630
19.	Vitaly Petrov	RUS	Caterham-Renault	1:27.475
20.	Timo Glock	GER	Marussia-Cosworth	1:28.267
21.	Alexander Rossi	USA	Caterham-Renault	1:28.448
22.	Charles Pic	FRA	Marussia-Cosworth	1:28.633
23.	Pedro de la Rosa	ESP	HRT-Cosworth	1:29.107
24.	Dani Clos	ESP	HRT-Cosworth	1:31.618

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A tour of the Circuit de Catalunya

We join Williams’ Pastor Maldonado for a tour of Barcelona’s Circuit de Catalunya, home of this weekend’s Spanish Grand Prix.

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Credits: Williams F1

 

Teams Announce New Test Schedule

At the time the first race of the season in Bahrain was cancelled, due to the political demonstrations in the country, the final pre-season test was also cancelled.

The teams have now arranged to return to the Circuit de Catalunya in Barcelona for a four-day test however, not all teams will be running to the same schedule.

Red Bull Racing, McLaren, Renault Grand Prix, Force India, Sauber, Scuderia Toro Rosso, Team Lotus, Marussia Virgin Racing and Hispania Racing Team will be testing 8-11 March; Ferrari, Mercedes Grand Prix and Williams will start a day later, testing 9-12 March.

All teams will then have to get their freight ready for the 14-17 March, when it will be dispatched to Australia for the season-opener in Melbourne.

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Photo Credits: Andrew Ferraro/LAT Photographic

Third Test, Day 4: Sauber

Test in Barcelona – Day four

On the final day of testing in Barcelona Sergio Pérez completed 74 laps at the wheel of the Sauber C30-Ferrari in dry conditions. His main focus was working on the set up of the car.

Circuit: Barcelona / 4.655 km

Driver: Sergio Pérez (MX)

Weather: Sunny and dry, air 6 -16°C, track 7 – 21°C

Chassis / engine: C30.02 / Ferrari 056

Mileage today: 74 laps

Fastest lap: 1:24.515 min (in the afternoon)

James Key (Technical Director):
“It was the final day of quite a long test in Barcelona. It’s always good to use this track as a reference. You get a far better idea about what your car is doing and where its strong and weak points are. Today we spent most of the time working on the set-up of the car, and we tried some new test items. We have to look at the data, but certainly we found some new directions. We also found some useful directions with the different compounds of tyres between the start in the morning, which was cold, and the afternoon when it was quite warm. The temperatures, the set up and the tyre compound are all very closely linked. There’s a lot of factors to consider, and we were able to learn more about all of them. Now we head off to the next test where we will introduce onto the car the first part of the update for the start of the season.”

Sergio Pérez:
“It was another positive day. I learnt a lot, in particular about the tyres. They kept changing, but now we have the final spec for the beginning of the season, so it was good I was able to run them today to learn how to maximise their potential. We did a lot of work over the two days, so I’m quite happy.”

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Picture Credit: Sauber Motorsport

Third Test, Day 4: Renault Grand Prix

The final day in Barcelona saw Nick back in the R31 as the team wrapped up its third pre-season test session.

Driver: Nick
Chassis: R31-01
Fastest Lap: 1:23.657
Position: P4
Total laps: 95

What we learned today:
– A new front wing was fitted on the car and the team carried out some aero mapping to assess its effectiveness. First impressions were positive.
– The team completed its first race distance simulation and was pleased with the feel of the car on high fuel.

Nick: “In the morning we were not able to do most of our programme because we had an issue with the KERS. It’s a shame because track time is so limited, but it’s obviously better to have problems during testing before the season starts. In the afternoon we started the race simulation, which went reasonably well. We were using different tyre compounds and tried both scrubbed and new sets. We learned a lot by running the car on high fuel and have lots of useful data about the degradation rates. Then, at the end of the day, we returned to the set-up work.”

Alan Permane’s technical programme notes
– It was a difficult morning because we lost time with a KERS problem. We managed to resolve the issue before lunch and started with our set-up programme
– For the afternoon our target was a race distance. We pretty much completed the mileage we needed to, apart from a couple of laps due to a red flag. We ended the day with further set-up work and found some good directions.

Bahrain withdraws from first race
Today the Bahrain International Circuit announced that the Kingdom of Bahrain would withdraw from hosting this year’s Formula 1 Grand Prix so that the country and focus on its “process of national dialogue.”

Eric Boullier: “The recent situation in Bahrain has been very difficult for the country. We feel the decision taken by the Crown Prince is wise and we fully support it. The Bahrain Grand Prix has always been welcomed with enthusiasm from the Bahraini people, and we’re looking forward to going back there when they have healed their country. We will now amend our logistics accordingly and will get ready for Australia.”

Did You Know?
During heavy braking of 4.5G, a driver’s head weighs as much as 30kg.

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Picture Credits: Andrew Ferraro/LAT Photographic

Third Test, Day 4: Red Bull Racing

BARCELONA TEST – Day Four

Driver: Mark Webber
Car: RB7 – 01
Laps: 69
Best time: 1:23.442
Circuit length: 4.655km
Fastest lap: Felipe Massa (Ferrari) 1:22.625

After spending yesterday on race simulation work, it was back to business as usual for Red Bull Racing today, with Mark Webber completing 69 laps as the team evaluated development components on the RB07.

“Today we got through quite a lot of work in evaluating some development components on the suspension, brakes and aero package,” explained Head of Race Engineering Ian Morgan. “We got through the whole programme without any difficulties so, all in all, a useful day’s work.”

Summing up the Barcelona test, he added: “We set out a pretty ambitious schedule for this test and I’m pleased to say that we managed to get through almost all of it. Obviously, the weather yesterday hampered us a little but even then we got some wet weather running in, which helps us understand the tyres a bit better. Overall, I think we are quite pleased with the progress we’ve made here.”

Mark Webber said “Not too bad today. We had a few niggles here and there but we did well and that’s been the case over the whole weekend. We had a very productive test, no question about it. We have a whole raft of data to go through, so we’ll see where the next test is and get ready for that.”

Learning of the news that the first race of the season in Bahrain will not take place, Webber commented: “I think the right decision was made, in light of what is going on, so we look forward to Melbourne instead. It would have been nice to go to Bahrain, but hopefully it can stage the race again. As for starting in Melbourne, it’s my home race and, as always, I’m looking forward to it. It is a sensational event, we’re in good shape as a team, so I hope to go there and get a very good result.”

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Picture Credits: Vladimir Rys/Getty Images