2009 Formula 1 Pre-season testing

Discuss Formula 1 Testing

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Post by Ed » Thu Mar 05, 2009 1:51 pm

Fourth day of testing at Jerez where the weather once again caused some disruption. Fernando Alonso set the fastest time of the day ahead of Kimi Raikkonen and Nick Heidfeld.

It is likely that Alonso's time was a qualifying simulation run as Renault conclude their test today while most other teams stay another day.

Jarno Trulli covered the most number of laps with 131

It appears that the teams and drivers are struggling with the different compounds this season as Bridestone have been asked to increase the difference between the different compounds.

Adrian Sutil from the Force India team had this to say about the tyres:
... we then did quite a lot of tests with the tyres. We tried the soft, supersoft and medium compounds. On the long runs they behaved quite differently and the biggest problem was with the graining. It happens very quickly, then gets worse and the grip never comes back. We are talking big differences in lap times - I have never had such a big graining issue, but I can see nearly everyone is struggling with a similar problem
Meanwhile Fernando Alonso seemed pleased with the latest test and said:
I'm very happy with the result from this test as we had two trouble-free days, a very consistent car and the work we have done has been very useful.
I would like to thank the team for all their hard work this week as I know they have worked very hard to make sure we could do everything we needed to.
Full results

Rank Driver Team Best Laptime Total Laps
1 Fernando Alonso Renault 1:19.945 130
2 Kimi Raikkonen Ferrari 1:20.250 105
3 Nick Heidfeld BMW Sauber 1:20.520 99
4 Jarno Trulli Toyota 1:20.540 131
5 Mark Webber Red Bull Racing 1:20.894 107
6 Kazuki Nakajima Williams 1:20.948 83
7 Lewis Hamilton McLaren Mercedes 1:21.302 70
8 Adrian Sutil Force India F1 1:21.411 79

Renault and Force India have concluded their testing for this week while the rest of the teams conclude their test on Thursday

Julian Mayo
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Post by Julian Mayo » Fri Mar 06, 2009 7:34 am

Jim Watt wrote::D Sure hope you're right, Julian! I want Webber on the podium at every race this year and I hope they let him race!! :roll: Did you see what old Nige had to say about Lewis. Heh Heh Heh; he still knows how to stick in the old knife and make people wiggle, stirring up trouble and always with that grin on his kisser that, if it were in a pub, you'd know better than to follow him out into the street! betcha all the Hambone fans will rise to the bait, too! 8) 8)

jim watt

Well Jim, it's all pure guess work on my part, but then that is what the teams try to have us all doing at this time of year...................I reckon Vettel gave it enough welly to show them the thing is on the pace, then as usual, Mark has quietly gone about the the program for Melbourne, while building up the leg, and general cockpit fitness............................I HOPE !!!!! :)
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Post by Ed » Fri Mar 06, 2009 8:08 am

Final day of testing at Jerez and it was Nick Heidfeld who set the fastest time of the day ahead of Kimi Raikkonen and Lewis Hamilton.

Heidfeld also covered the most number of laps with 123.

The session started under wet conditions but conditions improved by midday and the teams switched to dry running.

Lewis Hamilton had an off in the afternoon as a result of strong winds and slightly damaging his car. Jarno Trulli damaged his front wing as a result of running over the kurbs and also brought his test session to an early end.

Full Results
Rank Driver Team Best Laptime Total Laps
1 Nick Heidfeld BMW Sauber 1:20.052 123
2 Kimi Raikkonen Ferrari 1:20.414 112
3 Lewis Hamilton McLaren Mercedes 1:21.272 58
4 Mark Webber Red Bull Racing 1:22.219 47
5 Kazuki Nakajima Williams 1:22.226 54
6 Jarno Trulli Toyota 1:23.119 35

Next stop for the Formula 1 teams is at Barcelona from the 9th of March

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Post by Ed » Tue Mar 10, 2009 3:00 pm

The biggest F1 pre-season test got underway on Monday at Barcelona with all 10 teams including the new Brawn GP (formerly Honda) were present.

Nick Heidfeld in the BMW Sauber set the fastest time of the day ahead of Kimi Raikkonen and Jarno Trulli.

Adrian Sutil in the Force India covered the most number of laps with 129.

It was the first test for both the Toro Rosso STR4 and the Brawn GP BGP 001 and both cars ran remarkably well for an initial run.

Sebastien Bourdais driving the Toro Rosso said:
It's much too early to talk about performance, however, the car seems to work well and we've already learned a lot today. If we can carry on like this for the next few days, it will be a good starting point for the season.
Jenson Button driving the Brawn GP BGP 001 said:
It has been a good first day in the BGP 001 with our new team, Brawn GP. I'd like to start by thanking everyone at the team for all the hard work that has contributed to getting us here today. We have enjoyed a positive opening day of running at our first test and achieved a total of 82 laps, which we are all very pleased with. We did experience a problem with the gearbox late in the day but we knew we might face some reliability issues in view of our lack of testing. Fortunately, it's a minor problem that is easily addressed. It's early days yet but generally it has been a positive start to our pre-season preparations
Full results:
Rank Driver Team Best Laptime Total Laps
1 Nick Heidfeld BMW Sauber 1:20.338 96 *
2 Kimi Raikkonen Ferrari 1:20.908 81
3 Jarno Trulli Toyota 1:20.937 121
4 Jenson Button Brawn GP 1:21.140 82
5 Nelson Piquet Renault 1:21.662 126
6 Sebastien Bourdais Scuderia Toro Rosso 1:22.158 86
7 Mark Webber Red Bull Racing 1:22.246 117
8 Adrian Sutil Force India F1 1:22.452 129
9 Kazuki Nakajima Williams 1:22.813 111
10 Heikki Kovalainen Vodafone McLaren Mercedes 1:22.948 90

* For comparison: The pole time at Barcelona in 2008 was a 1:21.813

Testing continues on Tuesday

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Post by Julian Mayo » Tue Mar 10, 2009 3:17 pm

The Brawn was running on fumes, I reckon.
8)
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Post by Ed » Wed Mar 11, 2009 12:27 am


Julian Mayo
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Post by Julian Mayo » Wed Mar 11, 2009 6:46 am

Any team running "interim"wings on a new design has to be questioned.
I do think that McLaren have taken a wrong turn and will struggle in Melbourne.
Unless there was a heck of a lot going on at Brawn/Honda for a long time with Merc engines, I will be gobsmacked if they can fabricate a gearbox and suspension et al, marry it to a new engine, stick it all on a new chassis and produce a race winner in such a short time.
Of what I believe will be front running teams. it is a worry to me that Renault have run so few laps compared to the other major players, and it is equally worrying to me, if there is a reliability issue, that RBR have a Renault engine.
Toyota imho, have always pulled out all the stops in testing and look good, then seem to lose their way as the car evolves.
BMW continue their march to their inevitable, imho, manchamp title, and this could be their year.
It is exciting to note that the cars seem able to run a lot closer than in previous years, and ain't that tyre graining issue going to play a significant role in podium positions :lol:
Ferrari......hmmmmm, as always, who the hell knows til race three :?
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Post by Ed » Wed Mar 11, 2009 11:01 am

Julian Mayo wrote:Any team running "interim"wings on a new design has to be questioned.
I do think that McLaren have taken a wrong turn and will struggle in Melbourne.
Unless there was a heck of a lot going on at Brawn/Honda for a long time with Merc engines, I will be gobsmacked if they can fabricate a gearbox and suspension et al, marry it to a new engine, stick it all on a new chassis and produce a race winner in such a short time.
Of what I believe will be front running teams. it is a worry to me that Renault have run so few laps compared to the other major players, and it is equally worrying to me, if there is a reliability issue, that RBR have a Renault engine.
Toyota imho, have always pulled out all the stops in testing and look good, then seem to lose their way as the car evolves.
BMW continue their march to their inevitable, imho, manchamp title, and this could be their year.
It is exciting to note that the cars seem able to run a lot closer than in previous years, and ain't that tyre graining issue going to play a significant role in podium positions :lol:
Ferrari......hmmmmm, as always, who the hell knows til race three :?
Tend to agree with most of what you said Julian. I think McLaren are struggling a bit but they have the resources to recover but I must say that the number of new parts they are trying is a bit of a concern.

I think Brawn GP have had some time to adapt the suspension and gearbox to the engine, a lot of stuff was happening behind the scenes I suspect.

I don't think Renault have run fewer than the other teams, in fact at this test and the previous one they have been very reliable. And I woudn't worry about the Renault engines at the back of the RBR's, the engines have barely changed for over a year now.

Toyota may indeed surprise, actually they will have to surprise if they are to survive!

BMW and Ferrari look strong although Ferrari continue struggling with KERS.

In fact, I think the trickiest decision by the teams this season will be whether or not to use KERS.

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Post by Ed » Wed Mar 11, 2009 11:20 am

Day 2 of testing at Barcelona and Kimi Raikkonen set the fastest time of the day ahead of Kazuki Nakajima and Rubens Barrichello.

Nick Heidfeld covered the most number of laps with 127 followed by Jarno Trulli with 121.

A number of teams had their sessions interrupted by problems. Ferrari suffered a KERS problem while running a grand prix simulation. Red Bull had an electrical problem on their car while sister team Toro Rosso had a more serious problem with their front suspension limiting their running to just a few flying laps.

Full Results
Rank Driver Team Best Laptime Total Laps
1 Kimi Raikkonen Ferrari 1:20.314 55
2 Kazuki Nakajima Williams 1:20.907 66
3 Rubens Barrichello Brawn GP 1:20.966 111
4 Jarno Trulli Toyota 1:21.182 121
5 Mark Webber Red Bull Racing 1:21.347 66
6 Nick Heidfeld BMW Sauber 1:21.615 127
7 Adrian Sutil Force India F1 1:21.834 82
8 Fernando Alonso Renault 1:21.937 111
9 Heikki Kovalainen McLaren Mercedes 1:21.991 88
10 Sebastien Bourdais Scuderia Toro Rosso 1:23.039 16
11 Sebastien Buemi Scuderia Toro Rosso No Time 6

Testing continues on Wednesday

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Post by Ed » Thu Mar 12, 2009 11:12 am

Stunning time from Jenson Button in the Brawn GP

Third day of testing at the Barcelona circuit saw Jenson Button set a stunning time of 1:19.127, nearly a full second quicker than Felipe Massa who was second quickest. Robert Kubica was third fastest.

At the other end of the timesheets, Lewis Hamilton in the McLaren confirmed the lack of pace of the McLaren at this track as he took over from Heikki Kovalainen.

There were a number of incidents on the track, Lewis Hamilton went off and slightly damaged his car, Sebastian Vettel went off in the gravel while Felipe Massa's car suffered from a hydraulic problem.

Sebastien Buemi covered the most number of laps with 145 followed by Timo Glock with 132.

Full Results
Rank Driver Team Best Laptime Total Laps
1 Jenson Button Brawn GP 1:19.127 130
2 Felipe Massa Ferrari 1:20.168 109
3 Robert Kubica BMW Sauber 1:20.217 114
4 Timo Glock Toyota 1:20.410 132
5 Fernando Alonso Renault 1:20.863 107
6 Sebastian Vettel Red Bull Racing 1:21.165 102
7 Nico Rosberg Williams 1:21.324 89
8 Giancarlo Fisichella Force India F1 1:21.545 97
9 Sebastien Buemi Scuderia Toro Rosso 1:21.569 145
10 Lewis Hamilton McLaren Mercedes 1:21.657 86

Testing concludes on Thursday

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Post by Ed » Thu Mar 12, 2009 11:18 am

Last edited by Ed on Thu Mar 12, 2009 10:40 pm, edited 1 time in total.

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Post by Lloyd » Thu Mar 12, 2009 2:35 pm

Have you seen the RB5, its running a full billboard on the back now that appears to be attached to the centre of the rear wing :?
Are they playing ducks and drakes :o
Maybe, perhaps, not sure

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Post by Julian Mayo » Thu Mar 12, 2009 3:49 pm

Some interesting pics on their website.............................. 8)
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Post by Ed » Fri Mar 13, 2009 10:23 am

The Red Bull sporting that shark fin!

Image
(Photo by Mark Thompson/Getty Images)

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Post by Ed » Fri Mar 13, 2009 10:36 am

4th and final days of testing at Barcelona saw another record time by the Brawn GP team, this time from Rubens Barrichello who set a stunning time of 1:18.926. Nico Rosberg was second and Timo Glock in 3rd.

Giancarlo Fisichella covered the most number of laps with 141.

Ross Brawn said after the first test for Brawn GP:
We are extremely pleased with the inaugural test of the BGP 001 car in Barcelona this week. The team made a very late start to our pre-season testing programme with only seven days in which to run the car before the first race in Melbourne, therefore our focus has been on reliability and achieving as much mileage as possible. Both of these aims have been successfully achieved this week. That the car has run so reliably 'out of the box' is a tribute to the strong team that we have at our factory in Brackley and they have done a great job during a very difficult period. The car is performing to our expectations and the feedback from Jenson and Rubens has been positive with both drivers completing full race distances. We have three further days of testing in Jerez next week to complete our preparations for the first race and I look forward to seeing how the car progresses from here
Full results

Rank Driver Team Best Laptime Total Laps
1 Rubens Barrichello Brawn GP 1:18.926 110
2 Nico Rosberg Williams 1:19.774 120
3 Timo Glock Toyota 1:20.091 128
4 Sebastian Vettel Red Bull Racing 1:20.576 83
5 Fernando Alonso Renault 1:20.664 64
6 Felipe Massa Ferrari 1:20.677 92
7 Robert Kubica BMW Sauber 1:20.740 134
8 Lewis Hamilton McLaren Mercedes 1:20.869 70
9 Sebastien Buemi Scuderia Toro Rosso 1:21.013 62
10 Giancarlo Fisichella Force India 1:21.629 141
11 Sebastien Bourdais Scuderia Toro Rosso 1:21.629 27

McLaren, Renault, Williams and Brawn head to Jerez for a 3 day test from the 15th of March. The rest of the teams have concluded their pre-season testing.

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