2009 F1 testing: March 18th

18th March 2009, 6:00 by Keith Collantine 82 Comments »

McLaren MP4-24: It's not fast, the photographer just lost his balance

And then there were two. Renault and Brawn GP polished off their pre-season preparations yesterday, with the BGP 001 on top yet again.

McLaren and Williams are the only two teams left at Jerez, but even that probably won’t be enough for the MP4-24 to hit the top of the times sheets. Unless McLaren have been having us all on up until now…

Today’s testing line-up

Kazuki Nakajima
Heikki Kovalainen

Live timing

You can find live lap times on the following sites (various languages):

Renault usually post details of their test on their blog.

If you find any more good sites for following testing lap times, please post details below. Further updates will be posted in the comments and any images or video from today’s testing will be added here.

2009 F1 testing

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82 comments on 2009 F1 testing: March 18th

Kovy said on 18th March 2009, 6:04

“It’s not fast, the photographer just lost his balance”

HA!

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- Tom said on 18th March 2009, 6:06
  
  i laughed too
  
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- Ali said on 18th March 2009, 6:39
  
  And together with his shutter speed (:
  
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- ajokay said on 18th March 2009, 9:00
  
  That caption did make me do a little bit of a laugh-out-loug… in a rather subdued and quiet office.
  
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zp said on 18th March 2009, 6:33

Is it just me or Lewis is getting more days then Heikki?

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- Ali said on 18th March 2009, 6:40
  
  Actually today Heikki should be testing but you may want to ask the same question for Renault by changing drivers. As far as I know, Alonso’s mileage doubled or something Piquet’s.
  
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Oliver said on 18th March 2009, 6:40

I think Heikki has done more tests that Lewis

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carl said on 18th March 2009, 7:07

I think its damage control time for McLaren. Get the car setup correct for the TOP driver at least. Maybe get a few tenths back on the others. Until the car is sorted out.

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Arun S said on 18th March 2009, 7:43

HAHA.. good caption Keith. I hope McLaran has it up for all of us and takes the top spot in testing, and races. Or, Lewis has to get vindicated to the thought that it was the car that won 2008 and he was helping only to take the fight to the last race by crashing idiotically and finishing in non-podium spots.

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Dank said on 18th March 2009, 8:23

Williams are also testing in Jerez today.

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- Dank said on 18th March 2009, 8:27
  
  Ah, pays if I read the first post correctly…
  
  *whistles to himself*
  
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- Keith Collantine said on 18th March 2009, 8:41
  
  Why weren’t Red Bull at this test? After all they weren’t at Bahrain, and they launched their car later than most…
  
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- Dank said on 18th March 2009, 8:51
  
  They’re putting their faith in their off-track facilities these days and have just upgraded their simulator(s) through Platform.
  
  That and the fact they want to save money by grabbing the FOM’s chartered flights to Australia I guess?
  
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- Scott Joslin said on 18th March 2009, 8:55
  
  Keith, some people were saying that the Bernie plane leaves shortly for Australia so those testing today would have to make their own way over there at their own cost. If this is true, why are Williams still testing, they can ill afford to the expense surely?
  
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- Keith Collantine said on 18th March 2009, 20:33
  
  They’ve probably flown some parts with Ecclestone but McLaren are flying a load of stuff out separately as well, so I think you’re right. I don’t know about Williams, but it’s probably the same for them too.
  
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christopher said on 18th March 2009, 8:36

looks like heikki is in the car today…

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- Keith Collantine said on 18th March 2009, 8:40
  
  ’tis indeed – Kovalainen’s in, not Hamilton.
  
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Cameron said on 18th March 2009, 9:25

This is going to be one frustrating year. While I be happy to see Brawn GP doing well, and possibly Toyota doing better, it will be sad to see the McLaren’s struggling at the back of the grid.

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djdaveyp said on 18th March 2009, 9:40

I think its going to be exciting actually, even if they’re not at the front, it’ll be great to watch lewis squeezing the ******** off that car!

Then hopefully if brawn are as fast as they look jenson and rubens should be having a fine battle!

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SamS said on 18th March 2009, 10:14

Keith, Just wondering in you last couple of posts for the testing there have been no images of the tests? I am bit of a kid at heart and like to look at pictures!!!

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- Keith Collantine said on 18th March 2009, 21:00
  
  I’ll sort some out later this week, promise!
  
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Chris said on 18th March 2009, 11:15

Bernie doesn’t seemed bothered about the possibility of a ‘row’ over the legality of certain teams’ diffusers -

“I guarantee whoever wins the races in Melbourne will be told they are cheating, and it doesn’t matter who it is,” he explained. “In this case it seems two teams, maybe three, certainly Toyota and Brawn, have interpreted the regulations in a different way to the other teams.

“The FIA at the moment says that interpretation is correct, but possibly some other teams will put in a protest before Melbourne. It won’t affect racing but will be looked at after.”
(Autosport.com)

I for one don’t want to see Brawn GP, or Toyota, or any other team winning in Australia, to then find out a couple of days later that the FIA have stripped them of the win due to an illegal diffuser.

Surely this issue should have been clarified by now?

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- djdaveyp said on 18th March 2009, 12:40
  
  It would be utterly ridiculous for them to say they’re ok now, only to disqualify them after australia. They should concretely confirm that they are ok now. Otherwise they would have to completely design the rear of the car after aussie within 1 week if they get DSQ!
  
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- ajokay said on 18th March 2009, 12:48
  
  The way I see it is if “…The FIA at the moment says that interpretation is correct…” then the FIA should also say that the interpretation is also correct post-Melbourne, protest or not.
  
  And thats they way they should see it too.
  
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- matt said on 18th March 2009, 16:51
  
  It will be looked at after? It sounds like they’ve already decided among themselves that it’s illegal and now they’re planning to remove the winning team of their victory. I guess that fixing race results after the race is the next best thing to a sex-scandol for generating publicity.
  
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carl said on 18th March 2009, 12:40

Why dont we hear anything from the McLaren team. No press release, interviews or anything. Surely they owe it to their fans to explain where they are and why they are where they are, and what they are doing to catch up. Even though I cant see much progress. I see they are running many laps. Does that mean they are not testing new parts and only consentrating on reliability?

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Chris said on 18th March 2009, 12:55

I don’t think i’ve ever experienced so much anticipation, nervousness, excitement or curiousity ahead of an F1 season before. And it’s only going to increase over the next week or so!

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sayonaraman said on 18th March 2009, 13:11

There’s only one thing definatelly sure about F1 this year:
Melbourne will bring many answers.

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Spiffy said on 18th March 2009, 13:18

McLaren MP4-24: It’s not fast, the photographer just lost his balance

I laughed, and then I felt bad. And I say that as a Ferrari fan!

(Additionally, Melbourne’s going to be a bit of a sleep-deprived nightmare for me – I’m seeing Metallica in London on Saturday the 28th!)

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