2010 F1 testing: February 1st

February 1, 2010 at 2:00 am by
557 comments
Michael Schumacher drives the Mercedes W01 for the first time

Michael Schumacher drives the Mercedes W01 for the first time

F1 finally bursts back into life today as more than half of the 2010 F1 teams send their new cars out on track.

Michael Schumacher will get his first test of the first Mercedes F1 car since 1955. Williams and Toro Rosso will also be showing off their 2010 machines in public for the first time.

Join us and follow the first official test session at Valencia as it happens below.

Testing results

Driver Car Best time Laps
Felipe Massa Ferrari F10 72.574 102
Pedro de la Rosa BMW Sauber-Ferrari C29 72.784 74
Michael Schumacher Mercedes W01 72.947 40
Nico Rosberg Mercedes W01 73.543 39
Gary Paffett McLaren-Mercedes MP4-25 73.846 86
Rubens Barrichello Williams-Cosworth FW32 74.449 75
Sebastien Buemi Toro Rosso-Ferrari STR5 74.762 18
Robert Kubica Renault R30 75.000 69

Testing notes

The greatest point of interest today is the first official appearance of three new cars – the Mercedes W01, Williams FW32 and Toro Rosso STR5. The latter is especially interesting as it’s the first car the team have built without the assistance of sister team Red Bull (although certain common parts are allowed).

There’s lots more to look out for at the first test. Besides the first appearances of drivers at new teams (see below) we’ll also see the first Cosworth-powered F1 car since 2006 and BMW Sauber’s return to Ferrari power.

For all the anticipation, today will probably be a low-key day in terms of actual running. Expect lots of installation laps and settings checks. Reading too much into testing is a mug’s game at the best of times – especially on day one.

As tests go on we’ll build up data on which drivers and teams have done the most laps and had the most time in their cars.

Testing starts today at 9am British time (10am CET).

Update: the new cars have begun to appear:

Today’s testing line-up

The following drivers are expected to participate today:

McLaren MP4-25 – Gary Paffett
Mercedes W01 – Michael Schumacher and Nico Rosberg (Shared)
Ferrari F10 – Felipe Massa
Williams-Cosworth FW32 – Rubens Barrichello
BMW Sauber C29 – Pedro de la Rosa
Renault R30 – Robert Kubica
Toro Rosso STR5 – Sebastien Buemi

The track

Valencia’s Ricardo Tormo circuit is the venue for the first of this year’s tests, just a few miles away from the street circuit where the European Grand Prix is held:


View Larger Map

Last year BMW were the only team to test at the track and they did not release any lap times.

Weather at the track today is expected to be dry and sunny with temperatures around 12-14C.

Timing and other resources

The following sites often have live timing information:

Motor 21
F1 Today
Live GP

If you know of any others, please post details in the comments.

Another good source of live information from the tests is drivers’ and team’s Twitter pages. You can find them in the F1 Twitter directory

You can find details of future F1 tests in the F1 Fanatic Google Calendar

Pictures from today’s test

Pictures from today’s test:

Video from today’s test

Images (C) Red Bull/Getty images, Williams/LAT, Ferrari spa, Renault/LAT

Read more: 2010 F1 season | Articles in full | F1 Testing

Advert | Go Ad-free

557 comments on 2010 F1 testing: February 1st

1 2 3 4 5 … 19

  1. Salty said on 1st February 2010, 9:21

    Twitter really is coming into it’s own on days like this. eddstrawF1 and team feeds particularly fruitful.

    Reply

  2. wdf2 said on 1st February 2010, 9:34

    Could someone list the f1 teams’ twitter account names?

    Reply

  3. Scarb said on 1st February 2010, 9:34

    http://www.n-tv.de/mediathek/livestream/

    German TV, at this moment live from Valencia….

    Reply

  4. Vikas said on 1st February 2010, 9:37

    Barrichello 1:26.715

    Reply

  5. Vikas said on 1st February 2010, 9:38

    1:26.395 buemi

    Reply

  6. Victor said on 1st February 2010, 9:41

    what’s a ‘good’ time for this circuit?

    Reply

    • sumedh said on 1st February 2010, 9:45

      I have raced on this trackon my MotoGP URT 3.

      The best time is close to 1:23. But F1 cars will definitely be faster.

      Massa’s 1:32 here seems extremely bad. 1:26 by Barrichello seems ok, considering that it was his first lap.

      Reply
    • Avatar Image

      Keith Collantine (@keithcollantine) said on 1st February 2010, 9:55

      The last F1 test at the track I can find times for was BMW in February 2008 – Nick Heidfeld did a 1’12.258. Two weeks before that Heikki Kovalainen did a 1’11.000 in a McLaren. But these were 2008-spec cars, of course.

      Reply

    • ap said on 2nd February 2010, 0:18

      dont worry about times…it’s day 1 of 1st test of the year…todays test results = zero….

      Reply

  7. PaulRS said on 1st February 2010, 9:42

    what’s the lap record here?

    Reply

  8. Vikas said on 1st February 2010, 9:44

    @jay…check the motor21 link above or the twitter link by varun…

    Reply

  9. Jay said on 1st February 2010, 9:45

    1:39.489 was what Hamilton got for last years Pole Position

    Reply

  10. Jay said on 1st February 2010, 9:45

    1:38.683 Timo Glock got fastest lap in last years race here in a Toyota

    Reply

  11. PaulRS said on 1st February 2010, 9:47

    12 seconds dif?
    Any track changes?

    Reply

  12. fabzx said on 1st February 2010, 9:48

    http://www.f1-direct.com/include/livegp/we/temp/essais.php

    Reply

  13. Vikas said on 1st February 2010, 9:48

    jay, you’re talking about the valencia street circuit….but this test is happening at the nearby valencia ricardo tormo circuit…

    Reply

  14. sumedh said on 1st February 2010, 9:48

    @Jay:

    That is the Valencia street track. Which is not being used for testing. Check the image by Keith, it is fairly different.

    Which BTW begs to question, if the teams come to Valencia, why don’t they race on this track instead of the street one?

    Reply
    • Avatar Image

      Keith Collantine (@keithcollantine) said on 1st February 2010, 9:53

      Looking at the track layout I don’t think we’d see good races here at all – it’s far too short, tight and twisty. On the few occasions GP2 raced here the races were no good and if the GP2 cars can’t have a good race on it F1 definitely can’t.

      Having said that the street track seems little better!

      Reply

    • Varun Murthy said on 1st February 2010, 9:56

      I guess you cant shut down city roads just for the sake of testing..

      Reply

  15. Jay said on 1st February 2010, 9:49

    I was wrong about the times, sorry. I didn’t realise that this wasn’t the Valencia race track but a track down the road

    Reply
1 2 3 4 5 … 19

Add your comment

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *

All comments must abide by the comment policy. Comments may be moderated.
Want to post off-topic? Head to the forum.
See the FAQ for more information.