Video: F1 testing in Valencia (part 1)
I came across a series of excellent videos covering last week’s F1 test in Valencia on Youtube today.
The footage includes the debut appearances of two new 2008 F1 cars – the Williams-Toyota FW30 and Renault’s new R28, the latter driven by Fernando Alonso.
See below for over half an hour of footage from the Valencia test.
The video from last Monday (21st) shows Fernando Alonso arriving to shake down the new Renault R28. There’s also some close-ups of Ferrari parts and then a few shots of Nico Hülkenberg in the new Williams FW30. Hülkenberg spun the car at one point, and there’s a shot of him standing behind a barrier. There’s also some footage of Alonso lapping the R28.
The other videos are all from the second day of the test, Tuesday, when a host of other teams joined Renault and Williams on the track.
A string of cars head out to begin testing including a pair of BMWs. There’s a lot of footage of cars coming in and out of the garages, with mechanics scurrying to erect screens around the new machines and draw garage doors shut as quickly as possible.
Among the runners is Kimi Raikkonen in the new Ferrari – another Ferrari returns to the pits on a flatbed truck later on in the video.
A BMW and a Toyota circulate together halfway through the video and you can see the Toyota twitch as the driver struggles to get the power down without traction control.
The next video begins with Alonso braking too late in the Renault and running wide. It shows the various cars at the test passing through Valencia’s turn ten, a tight right-hander preceded by a left-right flick.
This video starts with a close-up of Nico Rosberg in the Williams garage.
This one ends with some nice close-ups of Timo Glock’s Toyota and Alonso’s Renault going through the final turn.
But for me, the best thing about this footage isn’t the video – it’s the sound. F1 cars sound magnificent now that traction control has been banned. The clattering, choking sound of engine power being strangled by electronics is banished. It’s marvellous.
Photo copyright: Ferrari S.p.A.
More on the Valencia test and F1 video
Nice videos. It’s is definitely cool to see (and hear) the cars run without the TC. It doesn’t seem to be causing the drivers too much trouble though. They seem to have got a handle on it pretty well. But maybe that’ll change under race conditions.
Its so damn cool that Alonsos back at Renault, when he struts out the Renault motorhome in his overalls, Awesome
I wonder who owns the Audi R8 seen at the beginning of the first video. If it’s Fernando’s I suddenly respect him a whole lot more.