2010 Formula 1 Pre-season testing

[szhjcn]

[Julian Mayo]

One of Webbo's great pleasures this season will be driving around the outside of his good friend Schuey, as he has done in the past.
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The Mountain is a savage Mistress.

[Snowy]

Barcelona testing times for all four days:

http://spreadsheets.google.com/pub?key=tJgotByJ1qA5VpAXCj7NrZQ&output=html

Posted by imightbewrong at:
http://www.f1technical.net/forum/viewtopic.php?f=1&t=7911&start=1080
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Lewis Hamilton & Jenson Button World Champions

[szhjcn]

Hi Jim,

I hope you are wrong about position 1. and Vettel or Hamilton is up in that position. Mind you as you have indicated Hamilton will probably overcook it in a corner or make some other 'silly' mistakes which will cost him races and in the end the championship. Unless of course he learnt enough from last season to keep it together, but I have my doubts (unfortunately).

I think Schumi will do well but I hope he does not win the championship.

Yes I too think Button will be wondering what he's doing wrong and blame the car setup and maybe team bias when he's trailing his team mate.

If Saubers car performs then I'd like to see Kobi up in the top 10

[Jim Watt]

Greetings Ed & fellow fans:

Interestingly enough the last two pole sitters at Bahrain managed only the bottom step of the podium (Kubica in the BMW/Sauber in '08 & Trulli in the Toyota last year).

And Bahrain, so far, has pretty much belonged to the first three rows on the grid, which suggests that we can't expect a lot of overtaking in the desert.

Now you COULD, as team principal, put all your eggs into the qualifying basket by going with as light a load as possible, & a 'qualifying set-up' -- hoping that when you fill the tank you'll be able to overcome the handling problems presented by a car full of fuel by letting your driver 'hang on' by blocking any overtakers.

There is also, I think, some guessing going on about how little you can make your front brake air (cooling) ducts without losing the breaks before the race is over.

So. My guess is that Ross Braun will roll the dice and put Shuey as high in qualifying as he dares and let Nico use a more conservative race set up, hoping that he will be able to move up as high into the points as possible (maybe seventh or eighth?)

Fernando Alonso in a competitive car (which the Ferrari definitely is) can be counted on to move up two or three spots no matter who is in front of him, so Ferrari will probably be happy if he lines up anywhere in the top six.

I believe both he and Massa will be happy to let the pole go for this race in favor of having the chance to embarrass either Michael or Lewis or both.

However the teams decide to pursue qualifying, it is evident that the first three rows will consist in, probably, two Ferraris, at least one Mercedes (Shuey's) and one McLaren (Hambone's) and I'm going to say two Red Bull's. Frank Williams may also try to get Rubens in the mix --and he may even go for the pole (remember last year's Williams performances), but I can't see them finishing any better than seventh! Sutil has a fast car and if he's lucky, he may do well. But I'm going to say that poor Robert Kubica is going to be lucky to be in the points.

It is, of course, still too early to really pick the pole n' 10 (TEN! OMG, I had enough trouble with EIGHT!!) but just for fun on this slow afternoon, I'm going to try:

I'm going to award the pole to Lewis Hamilton; I think McLaren is desperate to embarrass Mercedes.

And for the race:

1. Fernando Alonso, Ferrari ... on his way to a third WDC!!
2. Sebastien Vettel, RedBull ... and he'll be trying all season to spoil Fernando's plans!
3. Lewis Hamilton, McLaren ... the car is fast, the driver is good, but...
4. Michael Schumacher, Mercedes ... No number eight for Michael, I'm afraid; the competition is just too fierce
5. Felipe Massa, Ferrari ... little phil will be chasing his team-mate all year
6. Mark Webber, Red Bull ... I hope I'm wrong, bc I love Mark... but I don't think this will be his year
7. Jenson Button, McLaren ... he'll be scratching his head a lot this year
8. Nico Rosberg, Mercedes ... at least he'll be doing better than Adrien!
9. Rubens Barrichello, Wms. ... not much hope for either of the Brazilians this year
10. Robert Kubica, Renault ... I'm starting to think his career is going to be more like Webber's than Vettel's!

And boy is this hard to do!! I think Felipe may be able to get past Shuey, but I can't see Jenson or the Webbo doing so ... and Rubens & Kubica: forget it!

Just sorry I have to wait two more weeks!

Jim Watt
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My Racing Gods: Fangio, Vukovich; Senna & Mears --all racers all the time; graceful winners & generous in defeat, but never giving up!!

[Ed]

Now with testing over and with less than 2 weeks until Bahrain, checkout the 10 'n' Pole competition where you pick the top 10 finishers in each race plus Pole. It is lots of fun and you can win great prizes

Introduction - Register
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Your predictions in 2010 - Drivers - Constructors

[Ed]

And it is the end of the session and that means the end of pre-season testing.

Fastest times of the day:

Driver - Team - Best Lap time - Laps
Hamilton - McLaren - 1:20.472 - 134
Webber - Red Bull - 1:20.496 - 61
Massa - Ferrari - 1:20.539 - 114
Sutil - Force India - 1:20.611 - 100
Vettel - Red Bull - 1:20.667 - 76
Schumacher - Mercedes - 1:20.745 - 123
Barrichello - Williams - 1:20.870 - 84
Kobayashi - Sauber - 1:20.911 - 67
Buemi - Toro Rosso - 1:22.135 - 88
Kubica - Renault - 1:23.175 - 107
Kovalainen - Lotus - 1:25.251 - 65
di Grassi - Virgin - 1:26.160 - 49
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Your predictions in 2010 - Drivers - Constructors

[Ed]

8 cars go out on the track for the final few minutes!
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Your predictions in 2010 - Drivers - Constructors

[Ed]

Session resumes with just 4 minutes remaining!
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Your predictions in 2010 - Drivers - Constructors

[Ed]

Less than 10 minutes since the session restarted and another red flag! This time it is Kovalainen in the Lotus!
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Your predictions in 2010 - Drivers - Constructors

[Ed]

Session resumes with just over 20 minutes remaining
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Your predictions in 2010 - Drivers - Constructors

[Ed]

Once the session was restarted, Barrichello went out and stopped on the track on his outlap causing another red flag!!
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Your predictions in 2010 - Drivers - Constructors

[Ed]

Red flag as Kobayashi stops on the track
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Your predictions in 2010 - Drivers - Constructors

[Ed]

Adrian Sutil puts the Force India into 4th place with an impressive time of 1:20.611

Fastest time with 1 hour remaining:

Driver - Team - Best Lap time
Hamilton - McLaren - 1:20.472
Webber - Red Bull - 1:20.496
Massa - Ferrari - 1:20.539
Sutil - Force India - 1:20.611
Vettel - Red Bull - 1:20.667
Schumacher - Mercedes - 1:20.745
Barrichello - Williams - 1:20.870
Kobayashi - Sauber - 1:20.911
Buemi - Toro Rosso - 1:22.135
Kubica - Renault - 1:23.175
Kovalainen - Lotus - 1:25.251
di Grassi - Virgin - 1:26.160
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Your predictions in 2010 - Drivers - Constructors

[Ed]

Webber jumps into second with a 1:20.496. That is just 0.024 slower than Hamilton!
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Your predictions in 2010 - Drivers - Constructors