2010 Formula 1 Pre-season testing

[Ed]

Hi Ed,

Yes read that on the F1 website.

Do they normally just do one set of testing or will we see some of these teams at other testing venues?

In the past teams used to test at different venues but these days they are all testing at the same place. There are some exceptions, for example USF1 is likely to test in the US prior to the season start.

[Ed]

Valencia test - Day 3 (4 hours into the session):

Alonso - Ferrari: 1:11.470
de la Rosa - BMW Sauber: 1:12.094
Schumacher - Mercedes: 1:12.438
Alguersuari - Toro Rosso: 1:12.576
Button - McLaren: 1:12.951
Hulkenburg - Williams: 1:13.668
Petrov - Renault: 1:14.009

[szhjcn]

Thanks Ed, that was the answer I was looking for.

Obiovulsy this means testing is sort-of in isolation or at least groups of teams are, making it even harder to predict how the cars will perform in the first GP.

Saw the list of test dates/venues. Also read the US1 team were given permission to test outside of Europe.

[astar83]

do you know what teams are attending the jerez test next week?

[Ed]

I must chase my friend again who was trying to get tickets for Bahrain.

We offer tickets to Bahrain at competitve prices. If interested go to http://www.newsonf1.com/tickets/bahrain.htm

[Ed]

do you know what teams are attending the jerez test next week?

For the first test at Jerez, all the teams with the exception of Lotus, Campos and USF1

It is expected that Lotus will show up at the second test.

Hope this helps and welcome to our Forums

[szhjcn]

Thanks Ed,

I was not looking at buying tickets for Bahrain. A friend has some connections out that way. If this falls through, maybe I'll buy tickets for somewhere locally in Europe (local to Zurich, Switzerland, i.e. Germany) or Valencia where I have somewhere to stay. Obviously trying to keep costs to a minimum one way or another, but if my numbers come up in the lottery could be a different story

[Ed]

Thanks Ed,

I was not looking at buying tickets for Bahrain. A friend has some connections out that way. If this falls through, maybe I'll buy tickets for somewhere locally in Europe (local to Zurich, Switzerland, i.e. Germany) or Valencia where I have somewhere to stay. Obviously trying to keep costs to a minimum one way or another, but if my numbers come up in the lottery could be a different story

No worries, just thought I'd mention that.

[astar83]

virgin racing in jerez - very much looking forward, i expect much from them and eagerly anticipate how the CFD has worked out for them. i just hope they are not 3 sec off the pace of williams or toro rosso. will see. shame that lotus dont start testing with them - they grabbed experienced drivers and should show the pace of the car straight away.

[reynard863]

Hi does anyone know if you can purchase tickets yet for the barcelona test 25th - 28th Feb. Tried via circuit website but no joy, have they sold out already?

[Ed]

Hi does anyone know if you can purchase tickets yet for the barcelona test 25th - 28th Feb. Tried via circuit website but no joy, have they sold out already?

As it is a public F1 test, there is usually a small fee for entering the circuit. We don't have specific information for Barcelona yet but once we do we will post it here.

[Ed]

Valencia test - Day 3 (less than an hour remaining):

Alonso - Ferrari: 1:11.470
de la Rosa - BMW Sauber: 1:12.094
Schumacher - Mercedes: 1:12.438
Alguersuari - Toro Rosso: 1:12.576
Button - McLaren: 1:12.951
Petrov - Renault: 1:13.582
Hulkenburg - Williams: 1:13.669

[Ed]

Valencia test - Day 3 (session end):

Alonso - Ferrari: 1:11.470 - 127 laps
de la Rosa - BMW Sauber: 1:12.094 - 80 laps
Schumacher - Mercedes: 1:12.438 - 82 laps
Alguersuari - Toro Rosso: 1:12.576 - 97 laps
Button - McLaren: 1:12.951 - 82 laps
Petrov - Renault: 1:13.097 - 75 laps
Hulkenburg - Williams: 1:13.669 - 126 laps


Next test will be at Jerez from the 10th of February

[Ed]

Selected team and driver quotes from day 3

Pedro de la Rosa:

After the roll-out on Monday this was my second day of testing with the new car and I’m happy it was another positive one. We learned a lot about the set-up of the car with these tyres, and also about the direction we have to go in with our work for the future.

Willy Rampf (Technical Director) - BMW Sauber:

We are quite satisfied with the first test. We did exactly 1001 km in total. As well as being reliable, it was important to see that the car responded to changes in the way we expected. The drivers’ comments on the car basically were in line with that, which also helps the team to work in the right direction. In the morning we lost around one and a half hours of track time because of an incident with another car. We had to change the floor, the front wing and the engine cover and to prioritise our programme afterwards. But still it was a good day on the track. Again we were lucky with the weather, which gave us very good and consistent track conditions.

Michael Schumacher:

I'm very happy to have been back in a Formula One car this week. We had a short run on Monday and then almost a full day today which has been good. The experience has been very positive and the car is running smoothly with just a small hydraulic leak which stopped us slightly early today. The main focus is on reliability and doing as many laps as we can so we're not too worried about looking at the lap times right now. It's a new challenge and a new experience for me this year but knowing Ross so well and working with him again has made it very easy and I feel at home in the team already. I'm feeling fresh and motivated and very positive about the season ahead. I can't wait to be back in the car to continue the programme in Jerez next week.

Jaime Alguersuari:

It felt good to complete my first ever Formula 1 test session, as last season I was never able to do any testing. I was able to concentrate on understanding the car, without having to think about it in terms of a race weekend. Personally, I felt much stronger in the car, as I have been training hard in the three months since I last drove in Abu Dhabi. Today was a positive experience and I’m looking forward now to next week in Jerez. It’s too early to say much about the car’s performance, but it felt competitive.

Vitaly Petrov:

I really enjoyed my first day in the car and everything went well. The car is very impressive compared with a GP2 car and I enjoyed experiencing the power and braking performance. After about 30 laps I was starting to feel comfortable and understanding the limits of the car. It was also my first chance to work with my engineers and so far everything is going really well so I’m happy with the day.

Alan Permane, Chief Race Engineer - Renault:

This was Vitaly’s first day in the R30 and we concentrated on getting him comfortable and familiar with the car. There’s a lot for him to get used to in terms of the brakes, power and the extra downforce, but he adapted well and did a good job. Overall our first week with the car has been successful and we’ve come away with a lot of valuable knowledge about the car. We’re now looking forward to building on this work in Jerez next week.

Nico Hulkenberg:

We covered a lot of mileage today, which is good and allowed me to get used to the car, and my first impressions are all positive. We did a lot of long runs on heavy fuel loads which have given us a good baseline, but we need to keep on working.

Sam Michael, Technical Director - Williams:

Today, with Nico, we worked on putting as much mileage as we could on the FW32 and achieved over 500kms at the end of the day, bringing us to a test total of 1,213.5kms. We spent the three days working on set-up and long runs; the main systems on the car are proving reliable and are cooling sufficiently. There are the inevitable minor teething problems to resolve between now and Jerez, but it's been good to get out on track and start work with our new engine partner, Cosworth.

[szhjcn]

Brawn mentioned they will be in Jerez, but did not say which dates.

-- Update just read this will be next week according to the article on the BBC F1 site.