2010 F1 testing: February 2nd
Nico Rosberg driving the Mercedes W01 at Valencia today
Lewis Hamilton joins F1 testing today and Kamui Kobayashi will get his first laps at the wheel of a BMW Sauber.
Join us as we follow the second F1 test day at Valencia.
Today’s testing times
| Driver | Car | Best time | Laps |
| Felipe Massa | Ferrari F10 | 71.722 | 125 |
| Kamui Kobayashi | BMW Sauber-Ferrari C29 | 72.056 | 96 |
| Lewis Hamilton | McLaren-Mercedes MP4-25 | 72.256 | 108 |
| Robert Kubica | Renault R30 | 72.426 | 119 |
| Nico Rosberg | Mercedes W01 | 72.899 | 119 |
| Rubens Barrichello | Williams-Cosworth FW32 | 73.377 | 102 |
| Sebastien Buemi | Toro Rosso-Ferrari STR5 | 73.823 | 107 |
Testing notes
Most of the teams are sticking with the same drivers they used yesterday, apart from the two exceptions mentioned above.
Nico Rosberg will get a full day in the Mercedes W01, with Michael Schumacher set to take over from him on Wednesday. The younger of the two Mercedes drivers has asked for some changes to be made to his seat to make him more comfortable in the car.
Surprisingly for the first day of testing, yesterday saw few interruptions and generally good reliability. The major exceptions were Toro Rosso, who had a problem with their gearbox actuator which they were unable to repair fully before the end of the session and were planning to work on overnight.
As well as getting our first look at three new cars yesterday, several teams had new parts on their cars. You can see pictures of those cars in yesterday’s post.
Today’s testing line-up
McLaren MP4-25 – Lewis Hamilton
Mercedes W01 – Nico Rosberg
Ferrari F10 – Felipe Massa
Williams FW32 – Rubens Barrichello
BMW Sauber C29 – Kamui Kobayashi
Renault R30 – Robert Kubica
Toro Rosso STR5 – Sebastien Buemi
Timing and other resources
The following sites often have live timing information:
Inocencio also suggested Spanish sites La Sexta and The F1 for live information from Valencia.
If you know of any others, please post details in the comments.
Several drivers, teams and journalists are providing updates from the track. If you’re on Twitter and would like to follow them you can find links to their accounts in the F1 Twitter directory.
The latest Tweets from people at the track today will appear below:
You can find details of future F1 tests in the F1 Fanatic Google Calendar.
Testing so far
Felipe Massa set the fastest time around Valencia yesterday with a 1’12.574. He also did the most laps, racking up over 100. (See yesterday’s post for a full list of times).
The charts below show how much testing each driver, car and engine had done before the start of today’s test.
The teams have a maximum testing limit of 15,000km. They’ll struggle to do that much in the 15 days’ testing they have between now and the start of the season, but the allocation also has to cover any extra testing they may need to do during the season if they choose to bring in a driver with no previous experience.
The data below also shows how many laps have been logged by each of the four different engine manufacturers in F1:
Drivers’ test mileages
Drivers' test mileages (click to enlarge)
Car test mileages
F1 car test mileages (click to enlarge)
Engine test mileages
Engine test mileages (click to enlarge)
The track
The teams remain at the Ricardo Tormo road course just outside Valencia in Spain (not the street track which is the venue for the European Grand Prix).
The weather is expected to remain much the same as yesterday – dry with temperatures peaking at around 14C.
2010 F1 testing
Andrew White said on 2nd February 2010, 9:26
First times, Kubica 1:15.6 and Hamilton 1:16.6. Very early days at the moment.
Andrew White said on 2nd February 2010, 9:28
OK, now Massa is straight in with a 1:13.3, Buemi with a 1:16.1 and Rosberg with a 1:17.0.
Victor said on 2nd February 2010, 9:33
Massa on 1m12.393s now according to autosport
Keith Collantine (@keithcollantine) said on 2nd February 2010, 9:30
Great stuff Andrew keep the times coming!
Tombong said on 2nd February 2010, 9:33
Felipe Massa 1:12.727
yeehaa
PJA said on 2nd February 2010, 9:34
Considering all the fuss about the McLaren diffuser yesterday I think they missed a trick by not having any sponsors on the back of the rear wing as they usually do, as everyone was trying to find pictures of the back of the McLaren.
narlen said on 2nd February 2010, 9:37
true! :D
Victor said on 2nd February 2010, 9:34
Hamilton at 1:13.161! =D
Victor said on 2nd February 2010, 9:38
any reason why the beeb don’t have more coverage of testing?
steph90 said on 2nd February 2010, 9:43
Waste of money for them really
Prisoner Monkeys said on 2nd February 2010, 9:45
No market. Only the die-hard would watch it, and there’s not a hell of a lot that goes on, anyway.
narlen said on 2nd February 2010, 9:42
Pics are here -> http://twitpic.com/photos/adamcooperf1 :)
walterswdf2 said on 2nd February 2010, 9:55
Kubica has a couple of transparent splitters on the black helmet that didn’t appear to be on his yellow helmet yesterday. One is near the base of the visor, the other a spoiler at the top/back. One would imagine that since he is one of the tallest drivers (or THE tallest this year?) he is even more concerned with buffeting.
narlen said on 2nd February 2010, 10:20
Vitalij is taller…
steph90 said on 2nd February 2010, 9:43
1 F.Massa Ferrari 1:12.227 +-.— 9
2 L.Hamilton McLaren 1:13.161 +-.— 8
3 N.Rosberg Mercedes 1:14.036 +-.— 7
4 R.Kubica Renault 1:14.714 +-.— 7
5 S.Buemi Toro Rosso 1:15.308 +-.— 11
6 R.Barrichello Williams 1:17.238
I think my timing keeps going mad though that may be my computer http://www.f1-direct.fr/live-essais-prives.php For anyone who wants it.
Beri said on 2nd February 2010, 9:46
Seems to be that there will be short runs this morning. Would be logic. Test all the systems and run diagnostics, maybe get the drivers in a rythem. So probably we will see more long runs by the end of this morning/afternoon.
BasCB said on 2nd February 2010, 9:53
Now we have the first time for Kobayasi:
1 F.Massa Ferrari 1:12.227 +-.— 13
2 L.Hamilton McLaren 1:13.161 +-.— 11
3 N.Rosberg Mercedes1:14.036 +-.— 11
4 R.Kubica Renault 1:14.714 +-.— 13
5 K.KobayashiSauber 1:14.853 +-.— 6
6 S.Buemi Toro Rosso 1:15.308 +-.— 12
7 R.Barrichello Williams 1:15.493 +-.— 12
Keith Collantine (@keithcollantine) said on 2nd February 2010, 9:56
Not hanging about are they? Piling on the laps.
theo said on 2nd February 2010, 9:54
When is alonso testing?
walterswdf2 said on 2nd February 2010, 9:56
Wednesday. As well as Schumacher. :0!
Gill said on 2nd February 2010, 10:30
tomorrow….3rd feb
Prisoner Monkeys said on 2nd February 2010, 9:54
News just in: F1 Commission has apparently approved the following:
a) modified version of new points rules (greater difference between first and second)
b) all drivers in Q3 must start race on tyres they qualified on
c) weekend allotment of tyred dropped from 14 sets to 11
Tango said on 2nd February 2010, 9:56
b) is dangerous. If Q3 is dry and race is wet, front 10 drivers will be rammed in by Q2 and Q1 drivers at the first corner
walterswdf2 said on 2nd February 2010, 9:57
No. If the race is wet the officials will either allow a choice of starting on wets or they will dictate that all have to use wets.
Beri said on 2nd February 2010, 9:58
Tango, dont overdo it. Ofcourse they can change before the start to raintyres when needed. Thats logic.
Tango said on 2nd February 2010, 10:11
I don’t trust them to be logic anymore :). Anything for a great spectacle huh?
Cpt Chaos said on 2nd February 2010, 10:01
When the weather conditions change they will obviously change the rules.
Just like with the rule that you had to use both compounds during the race.
When it starts to rain this rule vanishes.
Prisoner Monkeys said on 2nd February 2010, 10:04
They’ll obviously allow an expcetion to the rule, as they did with 2005.
Beri said on 2nd February 2010, 9:57
Point C will be an edgy one. Seems that teams need to think their strategies over already on fridays and every run they make.
But still, the tyres should be more durable this year, so a rule change in this corner would have been logic.
Puffy said on 2nd February 2010, 10:01
I really wish they wouldn’t make ridiculous rules like (b), I see no benefit in punishing the top 10. And again they’ve made it better to qualify 11th than 10th.
NomadIndian said on 2nd February 2010, 10:13
Agree…
Keith Collantine (@keithcollantine) said on 2nd February 2010, 10:36
Article here: F1 Commission agrees new 2010 points and double diffuser ban for 2011
bwells said on 2nd February 2010, 9:58
That autosport site is awesome… no more translations!!
lol… good to see Ferrari fast again today… :) and the F1Today site is working fine… :)
http://www.autosport.com/news/report.php/id/81197
http://www.f1today.nl/live-update/2010/02/02/circuit-de-la-comunitat-valenciana/
Dave said on 2nd February 2010, 10:00
K. Kobayashi Sauber C29 1:13.486
kamui picking up the pace.
bwells said on 2nd February 2010, 10:00
why can’t they just stop with the changes!! It’s really getting ridiculous…
Prisoner Monkeys said on 2nd February 2010, 10:06
Why can’t they stop? Because they’re trying to promote better racing. The reliance on aerodynamic grip and the freedom allowed with diffusers means that there is a serious risk that the sport will be down on overtaking. The teams are clearly trying to remedy that, even if the changes artifically promote overtaking.
Dr Le Quack said on 2nd February 2010, 12:17
As you, I and others have noted though, the simpleast way to promote overtaking would be to decrease the amount of aero grip, making the cars more reliant on mechanical grip. Why no one within the sport seems to pick up on this, I just don’t know…
Here’s a controversial idea. Why not limit the wings to single plane, do away with diffusers (as they stand) and go back gto either a flat-bottomed car (no plank) or even introduce limited ground effect? When the cars last had ground effect the cars weren’t especially fast in a straight line but at least they could follow each other into the corners.
Do Indycars still have limited G.E.?
Bertie said on 2nd February 2010, 10:00
Twitter is blocked at work :’(
gabal said on 2nd February 2010, 10:48
Try one of the web clients for twitter – Brizzly for example.