Robert Kubica better get accustomed to the rear end of the time sheets at this rate. Then again, he should already know this..since he’s driving last season’s car with an “updated” nose cone..hahaha.

Renault are known to have spent their first day testing fuel efficiency, especially with a heavier car. Last year the fuel tank was 60kg, so if someone was running 30kg and setting competitive lap times while you were running full fuel, it wasn’t so bad. But this year, the fuel tanks are holding 150kg, so if someone is setting fast lap times with 30kg in the tank and you’re fully-fuelled, you can expect to be four seconds a lap off the pace.

I also suspect that Renault are deliberately mixing and matching R30 parts with an R29 chassis. If they ran a full R30, they’d be testing the data as a whole. But since they already know how the R29 behaves, if they stick R30 parts like front wing, rear wing and diffuser on it, they can get individual data for them. It only gives them half the picture – they still need to run a full R30 – but it means they’ll have more data to develop future upgrades. Not because the the R30 is a bad car, but because all of the teams will upgrade their cars at some point or another. Renault are just trying to get ahead of the curve; they were surprised that the numbers they got from wind tunnel tests of the R30 were as good as they were, and Bob Bell reckons that what they set out to achieve in two years could actually be done in one if they play their hand the right way. Gathering early data in individual pieces is no doubt a part of that strategy.

What can we say about Schumi? Third fastest, faster than his team mate. This is just a test, but I think its a sign of things to come.

I wonder if Mika Hakinnen can be coaxed into a F1 come back after all this.