2009 F1 testing: March 3rd (Update: pictures added)

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The poor weather at Jerez is expected to remain

More rain at Jerez yesterday meant Ferrari didn’t even bother sending Felipe Massa out on track.

Fernando Alonso joins the test today and Adrian Sutil will get his first run in the Force India VJM02. But will they get a reprieve from the rain?

Today’s testing line-up

Ferrari: Felipe Massa
BMW: Robert Kubica
Renault: Fernando Alonso
Toyota: Timo Glock
Williams: Nico Rosberg
Red Bull: Mark Webber
Force India: Adrian Sutil
McLaren: Heikki Kovalainen

Pictures from today’s test

Live timing

For live lap times check out F1today.nl, Sportlifepress, MSFree or TheF1 (various languages).

If you find any more good sites for following testing lap times, please post details below.

If you’ve got images or video to share you can upload them to the F1 Fanatic drop.io.

Further updates will be posted in the comments and any images or video from today’s testing will be added here.

2009 F1 testing

Images (C) Force India, Getty Images, Toyota F1 World and BMW ag

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Keith Collantine
Lifelong motor sport fan Keith set up RaceFans in 2005 - when it was originally called F1 Fanatic. Having previously worked as a motoring...

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37 comments on “2009 F1 testing: March 3rd (Update: pictures added)”

  1. I am looking for a website which is in English and can provide the LIVE lap times.Do anybody know about the same?The above mentioned websites are in other languages

  2. Try babelfish, although it might be crappy at times.

    1. It also translates Massa as Bulk (:

    2. That translation is rather bad actually. Especially when you go to the live test pages (The “live” link next to the lap times)

      Does it matter really though? The live feed is basically a list of message stating who set the fastest time or who went out or came back in the pits.

      BTW In Dutch the word massa means “mass”. Not sure why it would be translated to “bulk” rather than “mass”, but it makes sense that it gets translated.

    3. What mess does it make of Red Bull ??

  3. What is going on with McLaren this week. Are they having problems or sandbagging ALLOT.. They are way of the pace. Strange. Hope all is well at Macca

  4. Why hasn’t Adrian Sutil set a time yet?

  5. LOL it translates Massa to ‘F Bulk’ – has he put on weight ?

  6. Heikki is driving for McLaren today. I guess they now stopped the morning session, as since Piquet is not running, Heikki has the slowest time so far!

    And surprisingly, or not that much, Alonso has the fastest time!
    So Piquet always slowest of the bunch, and Alonso one of the fastest (we had the fastest time of the 2009-spec cars in last month’s final test in Jerez)…
    So is the R29 a bad car, or a good car in Alonso’s hands?
    Or is it just that Piquet sucks?

    1. Piquet sucks, that’s all…

  7. I’d rather to say it’s just testing.

  8. I think each driver is doing a different work for the team so we can conclude almost nothing, although (SET irony mode ON)I’m pretty sure that ALO is better driver than PIQ.

    McLaren… weird.

  9. Little mistake in driver lineups: It’s Kubica who drives for BMW today, Nick will be driving last two days. Also Glock, not Trulli.

    1. Thanks have updated – not sure if I just got my days mixed up or if the teams have changed their line-ups.

  10. According to f1today.nl, McLaren is again testing 2010-spec tyres and rules. I really don’t understand why they do it with such limited test session available. Are they sandbagging? Nope, they are sandburied.

    1. I hope tomorrow Hamilton will not test 2010 tyres, but who knows…

    2. MacademiaNut
      4th March 2009, 3:06

      I hope they are not sand-buried! It is concerning that there’s no proper times available for McLaren on the proper 2009 spec car. It’s always some element that’s missing (rear wing, tyres, etc.)

  11. In addition to again testing the 2010 tyres (why spending 2 dry test days evaluating future tyres, they must be feeling very confident in the spped of the car for this season!), it looks like they again are evaluating the airflow in a real car in a track, now using a blue paint, like they did already this year (but used green paint).
    This is according to f1today.nl

    1. Thanks that makes me feel a bit better about the poor times

  12. Heikki got a fast time today only because he switched to the 2008 rear wing. For most of the day he was the slowest. What going on?

    1. Strange they’re still using the ’08-spec rear wing.

    2. According to F1 today they’ve done a “blue paint” flow analysis late this afternoon – I cannot help thinking they are either making sure their wind-tunnel is totally accurate for introducing mid-season parts or they are having major aero problems.

  13. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tR-omV9a_yM

    Spanish news bit about the test. Short (1m) clip of Alonso on the track.

  14. Red Bull press release:

    Driver: Mark Webber
    Car: RB5 – 02
    Laps: 98
    Best time: 1:21.021
    Circuit length: 4.423 km
    Fastest lap: T. Glock – 1:19.814

    Mark Webber brought better weather with him, as he took over from Sebastian Vettel today, although the track was still wet until late morning.

    After that, conditions steadily improved throughout the day.

    On the programme for RB5 were race weekend simulations. All went reasonably to plan despite two minor interruptions. Mark continues driving tomorrow.

  15. i am already loving Force Indias paint job especially the top shot over the engine covers

  16. To Phil: One possibility, in my oinion, is that they are preparing to the proposed cutdowns on wind tunnel usage, not usre if already in place for this season or just for future seasons.

    What seems to be more curious, and could be of concern to McLaren and their suporters is that they are always changing their rear-wing.
    And one thing that I don’t know if everyone noticed, the 2009 rear-wing De La Rosa and Heikki used this week in Jerez, is different than the one used in the previous Jerez test.
    This the wing De La Rosa used on Sunday: http://www.f1-live.com/f1/photos/2009/tests46/diapo_156.jpg
    This is the wing Hamilton used 3 weeks ago: http://www.f1-live.com/f1/photos/2009/tests24/diapo_152.jpg

    Considering this, plus the continuos re-usage of the 2008-spec wing, plus the aerodymic tests using coloured paints, indicate something is going on there…

  17. BMW press release:

    Day three – Tuesday
    Weather conditions: Overcast in the morning, some sun in the afternoon.
    Temperature: Air: 12 – 21 °C, Track: 12 – 23 °C
    Number of drivers participating: 8 of 8 teams
    Fastest lap overall: Timo Glock (Toyota) 1:19.814 min Circuit length: 4.428 km

    Robert Kubica
    Chassis / engine: BMW Sauber F1.09-03 / BMW 86/9
    Test kilometres today: 434 (98 laps)

    Fastest lap: 1:21.069 min
    Programme: In the morning, when the track was still damp, Robert Kubica concentrated on set-up work with the BMW Sauber F1.09 running on wet tyres. After the lunch break the team continued its development programme on a dry track. The main focus was evaluating different solutions for the car’s aerodynamics and set-up. Late in the afternoon Kubica stopped on the track after switching off the engine when a warning light came on. The reason was quickly traced to a faulty sensor, so minutes later the F1.09 was back on track completing a total of 98 laps over the day.

    “Overall it was a good day”, Kubica said after completing his third day of testing in Jerez. “We were able to make up some of the time we lost yesterday when rain meant we had to change our schedule. I started on extreme wet tyres, changed to wet tyres and finally drove slick tyres. Together with the various different set-up solutions I tried that helped me get an even better feeling for the car.”

    1. I’m looking forward to this year when we can get back to wets and intermediates.

  18. I think Mclaren have a problem with the rear wing. They are the only team using what I have now counted as 3 variants, the 2008, and two 2009 designs.

    1. I think McLaren is quiet. Very quiet. They are the guys who helped the FIA to shape the F1 that you are seeing now. In terms of aero concepts, they never would do a poor job in one of the key changes in the 2009 aero regulations, the rear wing.

      In Melbourne we will see some surprises, I bet…

  19. Kristian Eriksen
    3rd March 2009, 21:26

    Herr Glock rules again though… :D
    (oh ps i’m probably the only Toyota F1 fan on the northern hemisphere…:P)

    But also convincing by Force India! This could be a fun season!

  20. Toyota press release:

    RACE SIMULATOR
    Following yesterday’s rain, it was back to sunnier weather for Panasonic Toyota Racing and the seven other teams in action at Jerez today. The showers continued until shortly before the start of testing but the sun appeared soon afterwards. The tarmac took two hours to dry out but after that there was dry running for the rest of the day. Timo Glock spent the morning putting in a race simulation in the TF109. He completed the run without any problems in the changing conditions before moving on to set-up work, setting the day’s fastest lap during a late qualifying simulation. Jarno Trulli is scheduled to take over for the next two days.

    Timo Glock – Chassis TF109-03
    Best lap time: 1min 19.814s
    Position: 1st out of 8
    Total laps: 142
    “That was a productive day. This morning we were again a bit unlucky with the conditions, which made the race simulation quite tough. But it was useful to find out when to change to slick tyres and our pace wasn’t bad. Then we got some dry running for the rest of the day. We did a lot of set-up work and late on we did some shorter runs to make it through the programme. We’ve made it through a lot of miles over these two days and we’re making useful progress.”

    Pascal Vasselon, Senior General Manager Chassis
    “This morning’s race simulation went very well. We just had to manage very transient weather and track conditions which brought us from full wet conditions at the beginning to slicks in the course of our race. Still, we went from wet tyres to slicks at exactly the right time and Timo made it through without major difficulty. All in all it was fun, interesting and valuable mileage for the car in realistic race conditions. Because we were ahead with our schedule we spent the afternoon doing some set-up work.”

  21. Hi guys. I am new here, and i am italian.
    Just a question…On these latest two days of testing, and also the tests on Jerez 2 weeks ago, there are not any hight resolution pics of the RB 5, like above. Why? Does any ones know why?

    1. Actually I’ve just got some – refresh the page and you’ll see them.

  22. ok! perfect, thank you very much!

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